Tombstone is such a tourist trap and Big Nose Kate's is no exception. Â They have a huge bar that lines one wall, full of old timers, and a token loud mouth, wasting their day away. Â We had somebody approach our table inviting us downstairs to their gift shop for pictures or something and the decor is just...touristy.
The service was good and our food, a couple of hot dogs and a sandwich, was good and the prices were fair. If in Tombstone again we would probably come here because we know we can get a decent meal for a decent price.
They have a very narrow and windy staircase going down to their gift shop that my son fell down and got hurt on and everybody was very  nice about it.
Stopped in tombstone for a day, and heard Big Nose Kate's was the place to go. The service was great, and the food was pretty good. Not the best meal I've had in my life, but nothing to complain about. There were dress up items and props available to take pictures, as well as live music. Will definitely return to Big Nose Kate's next time I am I Tombstone!
Review Source:If you want to just have a drink and enjoy the performer who is very lovely and talented then go ahead and stop in here. But that is where it ends. Â
the food was HORRID. Â Well at least the burgers were. Â I ordered my burger medium rare and our server informed us that all burgers were done well done, I asked my husband if he wanted to reconsider our order and he said no that was fine, so we went ahead and ordered them anyway. Â Well when they came out it was very clear why they're all well done, they are precooked and processed and loaded with fillers. Cut in half and they looked like a dry meatloaf and tasted just as bad. Â
Silly us for not reading our four square reviews before ordering lunch or we'd have gone across the street to the Crystal Palace. Â
There are plenty of places on the Tombstone strip to have a beer or a cocktail, so there really is no reason to waste your money here, just walk across the street.
Of all the places we ate on our vacation to tombstone, Big Nose Kate's was my favorite. Â The food is excellent. Â The first time I had a burger and last night I had a calzone. Â Both times I visited they had live music and dancing. Â The waitstaff is dressed for the time period (1800's) Â Â A very fun place to get awesome food!
Review Source:OMG this place is a blast. The singer was great, I was drinking so can't remember his name, but he knows ever song ever written, just remember not to request "chic songs", he gets bitchy.
The bartender Rebecca was sweet, charming and funny and the other bartender....Mike.....eye candy and very funny. Easy to make blush. Ask him to take off his shirt tell him the redhead with Santa sent you :) He'll know.
Now the food. Being from Chicago (land of awesome food) and being a chef, I am very picky. I didn't expect much. But I was blown away. The Honey Hot Wings were unbelievable and unlike wings I have had here around Tempe Az, actually had meat on them, quite a lot. Then for dinner 4 hours later (yes I was there most of the day lol) I had there Reuben. Keep in mind my pasty Irish ass is a Reuben fanatic. It was hands down the best Reuben I have ever had. The meat was flavorful and juicy, the kraut was not overwhelming and "Katies Sauce" Amazing! Â
I am seriously going to start heading down to Tombstone once a month just to hang out there. Rebecca is not allowed to leave ever
This is a great old western saloon type restaurant. Yes, they do have TVs, which defeats the purpose of being authentically old fashioned, but I love the atmosphere. The servers are dressed up in costumes and the food is amazing! My mom and I had The Reuben and my dad had a Hamburger. The Reuben was excellent. A large amount of lean meat to make every bite filled with corned beef. My dad loved the hamburger. Very filling and very tasty. When I go back to Tombstone in October, I will definitely go back here and would recommend this place to all people who pass through Tombstone, AZ!
Review Source:If your looking for atmosphere and Ice Cold Beer, this is a good stop. Our mistake was thinking the food was going to be as good as the beer and the service. It was not! I would not recommend ordering a hamburger nor the French Fries here! The French Fries reminded me of McDonalds. I'm used to going into places like this and enjoying hand cut fries not the frozen variety such as what was served at this place.
The burgers are even worst. The burgers were perfectly formed which tells me..the ground beef is pre-packaged and could possibly be frozen when delivered to the restaurant. The burger was extremely dry and lacked the great quality flavor I'm used to when ordering burgers in the Southwest! Can't comment on other items listed on the menu since my wife also ordered a hamburger and had the same opinion.
We didn't eat the food so can't comment on that, but getting a sasparilla and watching the crazy fun costumes, kitsch, and bizarre mix of cowboys and tourists and costumed actors was a blast. Â Loved the old timey atmosphere. Â Also, any sex researcher would appreciate the funky art on the wall as this was a working brothel in the day.
Review Source:This was a great place to have lunch. Â We took a nice motorcycle ride from Tucson to Tombstone. Â Even thought it was a little after 1 when we got there, it was pretty crowded. Â We all mossied up to the bar. Â The bar keeps were friendly and helpful in letting us know what was good to eat. Â I had the Motherload - a hamburger with cheese and mushrooms. Â It was very good and the fries that came with the burger were really good too. Â
The Saloon had several old pictures on the wall, some were paintings of nude women as was the stain glass above the door. Â The movie Tombstone was playing on the bigscreen. Â The movie was in close caption. Â There was also a guy playing on an electric piano and singing various cowboy songs. Â All in all it was not too bad. Â I was not too impressed with the souvenir shop in the basement, but the rest of the saloon was very interesting.
I'm sure this place is filled with history...if you can get over the cheesiness that is pervasive in Tombstone. We stopped for a bite and a beer, knowing what we were getting ourselves into. The food was pretty basic pub fare - nothing original or exciting about it. Beer was overpriced. It was crowded and there was a musician singing silly country tunes. Everything about it felt "put on" but that seems to be par for the course in Tombstone these days. I'm sure a lot of people love it.
Review Source:Everything you hope for in a Tombstone saloon.
The decor, the locals in 'costume', the no-frills service.
For a place like this, three stars equals five stars.
Meaning that, anything higher than this would be simply be out of character for what they are looking to achieve.
I'll definitely be stopping in again during my next trip
Disappointed - after we sat at a table for about 10 minutes finally somebody came by to greet us.  We wanted to order  lunch and drinks.  She informed us they were short on menus and it took awhile for her to return with 1 menu for the four of us.  Note there was only 3 other tables of guests, none with food just drinks.  We left and had at great lunch at Longhorn ( along with some of the cowboy characters..
who also must know the right place for lunch!
This place is sweet! It's full of old west and cowboy knick-knacks. There's kool stained-glass art of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Big Nose Kate too. It's dark like the old saloons, with outside light peeking through its swinging saloon doors. But the staff is really helpful and up for friendly chat.
We stopped by for grub after visiting the OK Corral show, another gun side-comedy show and other touristy stuff. I ordered a big plate of nachos which was pretty good. The nachos had all the fixings, including the goop-y nacho cheese sauce on top of regular melted real cheese. It added flavor and texture, but got the chips soggy a little faster than normal. I can't remember what my sister ordered, but her fiance got a big, juicy burger. He gave it a big thumbs up.
The saloon also has a full bar. We had a few beers and sarsaparilla. After a handwritten note on the men's bathroom wall discouraged patrons from ordering vodka in a cowboy saloon, but to order whiskey - we drank whiskey too!
Also I noticed an extra from the OK Coral show stopping by for a drink. He left his gun outside (real guns, but they use blanks; not allowed inside most businesses) with another actor and sat at the bar. Just before 4pm, the other actors came to drag him to the next show in a fake fight/struggle scene. This was a nice touch to an awesome experience in Tombstone, AZ. This place is awesome fun.
Wanted to find a place to have a quick beer at a real bar!! Â Chose Big Nose Kate's, mainly because I thought it actually had SOMETHING to do with Big Nose Kate. Â But as it turned out, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with Big Nose Kate. Â But that was okay, I guess...because all I really wanted was to say that I had a beer in Tombstone.
So I stroll on in, mosey on up to the bar (after I find a place to squeeze in) and wait for an eternity to get some service. Â I believe I ordered a simple Bud or Bud Light, which was crisp and cold. Â I milked it, because I never saw the bartender again. Â But one cool thing about my experience was seeing four authentic looking cowboys ride up to the saloon on horseback and then stroll on into the place, nice and slow-like.
They moseyed on up to the bar (like I did) and actually came to my end of the bar. Â They gathered round, ordered some beer, leaned on the bar, stepped up their boots, tipped their hats, and...wait for it...pulled out their cell phones and started texting. Â Talk about a true authentic atmospheric buzz-kill...THAT was it!!!! Â Oh well, I guess even a Modern Day Cowboy has to "check-in" on facebook once in a while.
All in all, the place had a cool vibe, but was too packed and too loud. Â I didn't try the food, but saw some of it being passed around. Â Didn't look too exciting. Â But if you're hungry, I guess it could pass as edible. Â There were too many people dressed in costume attire scattered about the place. Â It was hard to tell who was for real and who was for a quick tip. Â My cell phone cowboys looked more authentic than anyone else in the place...even though they did have cell phones...I forgave them for that.
Not a bad place to stop into in Tombstone...you should do it, just to say you did!!
We went here for lunch. Â I had a burger and my daughter had a pizza.
I have to say I was not too impressed.
Positive: I loved the atmosphere (even though it was very busy), the man singing was hilarious and very talented
Negative: the burger was gross, the pizza was not all the way cooked through, the woman at the front was rude and told us that we would have to sit with someone else because she didnt have any other tables
When we first arrived in Tombstone, we decided to eat lunch here. Â It's a cute if a little kitchy bar, but there was an old cowboy dude singing. Â There were lots of TV's showing some Rodeo, but we felt the TVs weren't needed, and actually detracted from the feel of the town.
For lunch, Kevin got the "Ruben that won the west" and I tried the sliders. Â Good news first: The ruben was very good, one of the better he's had. Â Now for the bad news, the sliders were barely passable. Â McDonalds makes a tastier hamburger. Â Good thing they only served two. Â Our waitress was acceptable, but not the best server we've ever had.
The clothing store in the basement was neat, there's a mine shaft and some neat history, but the items were of mediocre quality and way overpriced.
Now, while we were hardly blown away with this place, we ended up going back a second time... (See my review of the Four Dueuces). Â Wow, was that a mistake.
This time it was dinner time, and they were far less busy than during lunch. Â The TV's were still showing Rodeo, and there was no live music.
We were waved in the general direction of a dirty table, and waited for about 10 minutes before a server showed up. Â I don't know if her corset was laced too tight, or if she just had a house fall on her sister, but man, what a witch. Â She should have been a main feature on the ghost tour!
Finally she took our orders and the beer was delivered in a reasonable amount of time. Â Kevin tried the chili, and I decided on the chicken strips. Â
A quick side note, their menu is very disjointed - Paninis and pizza - WTF? Â How is that old west. Â I would have killed for a decent steak!
Our food arrived, and Kevin's chili was good, and nicely filling. Â The chicken strips....oh, the chicken that was too tough to die was on my plate. Â The "sauce" that they served it with was prepackaged in plastic tubs, and Wendy's makes a much better honey mustard. Â The breading on the chicken was flavorless and barely crunchy, I actually had to check that the chicken wasn't pink in the middle.
Here's where it get's ugly.... I asked for a BBQ sauce since the honey mustard was terrible. Â The waitress said she would have to charge me - in about the snottiest tone I have ever heard. Â I was starving and a little cranky, so I asked her to take the honey mustard that I didn't open back or off the bill, and she just walked away with it and under her breath said "It's not on the bill."
I was very disappointed with the entire experience, but because Kevin had decent food, gave them the second star.....and out of the other places to eat in Tombstone, they are, sadly, near the top of the list. Â Just get drunk enough to not give a shit about the service first, and you should be good to go.
Named for the girlfriend (or wife?) of Doc Holliday, this classic old saloon is more of a tourist draw than anything. The food is what you would expect, fairly predictable, tasty but overpriced and not that memorable. The drinks are good, but not very strong and just too pricey. It's the place you go for live music and to take home a souvenir glass. A cowboy will round you up to take your photograph in a coffin for a tip. It's pleasant, probably a good place to go for bringing tourists. But I would much rather get something more authentic, local, and less gimmicky.
But the building is really cool and the history in this place is exciting!
This place is super cool and has a ton of history! It's decorated in a very eye-pleasing fashion with a lot of old west nostalgia mixed in with modern neon accents. The place is a bit small but then again buildings were a lot small back then.
I didn't get a chance to sample the food or drinks, but the atmosphere itself was fun and allowed for a lot of great picture taking opportunities. I can't wait to go back for something to eat, drink and to catch a live show!
I would love to be able to rate this higher, but the service was far from desirable. The look of the bar was fantastic. The maitre d' was nice, but not exceptionally helpful. He sat us quickly , which was great. However, the table was dirty. I had to go ask for the table to be cleaned after 10 minutes of waiting for the waitress to appear. She seemed annoyed that we were there. It was busy. Yet, any request that was made was incorrect or forgotten. The bartender was more helpful than the waitress. The drinks were greats and food was decent.
This is a cool place to check out, but I would only go there for drinks or try to get served at the bar.
Loud. Rowdy. Â Food overpriced and eh. Â Cool downstairs.
Ok. Â Big Nose Kate's Saloon. Â Formerly the Grand Hotel which burned down. Â Historic site. Â They've turned it into a colorful bar with live band. Lots of stained glass, photos, and wild west memorabilia. Â
The service was practically non-existent. Â I have no memory of the person who waited on us other than the fact that she was in a costume and seemed annoyed to take our order or refill water. Â I don't think it was a part of the "character" but just that she was not very helpful or good with customers. Â If she was outlandishly rude in a saloon persona, that could have been fun.
There was a guy there (the Marshall?) in costume who went around and greeted people, took them to an area where he dressed them up and helped with photo ops (tips suggested). Â That was kind of fun.
A friend had recommended it, so I had decided on Big Nose Kate's as our spot for lunch. Â I don't really recommend it for a meal. Â It was loud and I couldn't hold a conversation with my mom who was sitting next to me. Â She didn't really like it there either. Â The food wasn't that good and it was overpriced for what we got. Â Plus it took quite a while and killed more time than I expected. Next time, I would go just for a short time - perhaps one drink at the bar or an appetizer just so you can have seen it. Â
The best part of the place is the winding staircase that goes downstairs to their gift shop. Â I was surprised to find the entrance to an old mine and a story about a ghost called "The Swamper" who supposedly haunts the site. Â They don't let you take photos down there (except of the mine). My initial impression as soon as I entered was of a photo Nazi who immediately got on my case because I had my camera in my hand and she thought I was going to take a picture. God forbid. Not sure why they would care if you take pictures in the giftshop but whatever. After I assured her I would obey the rule, she was friendly and informative.
I noticed some signs for interesting things to look at near the restrooms - an art gallery and a display of some sort.
Everyday at the same time, they kick out one of the actors from the saloon for the gunfight re-enactment.  The story about the actual "Big Nose Kate" is really interesting.  I didn't know about her until getting to Tombstone.  <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBig_Nose_Kate&s=328d269ab1b44beaed51cb4cecd58f048d71976888728a3ec662975ed0f9ebce" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/…</a>
First ever saloon visit and I had to suffer through a drunk, 80 year old weekend cowboy hit on my friend for most of the meal. Trust me you would not want to giddyup with this "cowboy". But I digress that isn't poor Kate's fault.......
This was our second stop in Tombstone and it was everything you would expect and old western saloon ! Dark, crowded, loud, half dressed waitresses and drunk cowboys ( but again no need to dwell on the fact Mr John Wayne wannabe wouldn't leave us alone....) .
We sat at the bar and service was slow. They had one bartender on staff for an extremely  packed house. He was friendly when we could catch him! Food was decent but nothing special.
Next time I think we'll mosey on down and check out another saloon !
Tombstone is a fun quaint place to visit. The show is a must see.
Big Nose Kate's:
Great atmospher, they had live music. The guy playing the piano was hilarious, making pointed jokes at the audiences expense. Check out the basement, cool little historical site. The food itself was "ehh...". Unfortunately, it's mostlikely the best food in town :-/
Only having set foot in here a couple times, I can impart that both experiences were polar opposites regarding service and attitude.
The first time, the host was a kind gentleman resembling Sam Elliot, who was only too kind to find a place for us to sit. Then, our experience was pleasant and fun, however campy.
The second time around came with a few unfortunate stipulations. For one thing, one person in our party was carrying a cup of hot chocolate, which she refused to throw out or consume before entering. The host, a shorter scraggly-looking, old timer dressed as a cowboy, jerked down her cup to look inside and told her to get out. When she argued that we want a table he looked the rest of us over and went, "We don't HAVE any tables ANYWAY," without providing the option of putting us on a list.
With the place having a "no outside drinks" policy, I won't fault them for making no exceptions. Still, he was pretty rude.
Perhaps it was lucky, because they were playing REALLY loud, live music, which was accompanied by the excited clapping of diners. We would have spent our entire meal shouting at each other.
In truth, the place is a novelty. Stop in for a drink and set a spell just so you can take in the setting and leave it at that.
I probably wouldn't give this bar 4 stars on a normal day, but we stopped in after being ignored, mocked and mistreated by the bartender at Crystal Palace, and the difference in service was night and day.
Big Nose Kate's was much busier than Crystal Palace when we stopped in during the afternoon for a drink, but the bartender was very attentive and friendly and probably refilled my boyfriend's whiskey glass 4 times in 20 minutes. Â There was a live singer, country, of course, not really my cup of tea but it's nice that they provide that sort of entertainment.
Can't speak to the food as I didn't eat here, but if you want to go somewhere where they won't treat you and your business as a nuisance, I would recommend Big Nose Kate's over some of the other saloons in town.
All the Tombstone reviews said to stop by for Big Nose Kate's for a drink so we did and had lunch too.
At first we stopped by around lunch and the place was absolutely packed, Â there was no way we were ever going to get a table so we left and came back a couple hours later and got a table right away.
Obviously this place only good for the experience, the food was very Denny-ish, the drinks were fine but the atmosphere was fun.
I wouldn't travel all the way out there to dine here but if you happen to find yourself in Tombstone then stop by.
If you're going for food, you can skip Kate's. The food every time we've been there has been lackluster. It reminds me of the food at a theme park - lots of quick fried foods designed for quick table turnover.
I suppose that is appropriate since it is in one of the strangest theme parks in existence - Tombstone, AZ. I could write volumes on the disregard for actual history in this town (landing it on the National Register's most endangered list for many years). But, I'll confine this one to Kate's.
It was not a "saloon" but was a hotel. It is currently missing 2/3 of that hotel as it has been reduced to a single story and the downstairs with the gift shop. It was never owned by Kate Elder, Doc Holliday's sometime companion. Also, while the owners trade heavily on the story that Kate Elder was the "first prostitute in Arizona" the fact is she was not a prostitute at all. There was a prostitute in town known as "Rowdy Kate" but they are not the same person. As always in Tombstone, believe 1/2 of what you hear as "history."
So that's history. The other drawback to Kate's is loud and rather mundane live music and many loud and drunk tourists.
If you find yourself stuck in Tombstone (my advice would be to get back on the road and drive on down to Bisbee) - but if you're stuck in Tombstone and want a rowdy place with lots of alcohol then Kate's is a good choice. If you're looking for a decent meal in an environment where you can hear yourself think then try Nellie Cashman's.
This place was interesting. 1st place i picked...figured it's actually a real saloon. In the middle of the dinning there's stairs leading down to the store where you can buy memorabilia's, t-shirts, caps, etc.
I think i ordered the Buffalo Burger... not bad, juicy... entertainment was pretty good. There was a guy playing a piano singing cowboy music and always yelping LOL... heeehaw, and some other loud noise. Figured i'd tip the guy entertaining me and my brother.
Not much really to say about the place, everyone is dressed to their likings. Got a Marshall always walking around greeting us. Few other cowboys at the bar yelping noises or making some comments to the piano player.
Food's great... I recommend this place if you guys are out in the Arizona area. It's about 1hour 45min drive or less from Tucson, AZ
OMG ... 117 degree's out there.. actually it cooled off when i was in Tucson... however as for Tombstone... about 87 to 90 not bad... it wasn't California weather for sure !!!!!
Nothing special. Do all Asians have to carry cameras?!
I didn't get that special "old, western" feel when I walked into this place. For being such an old bar, I felt like i was walking into a silly bar that was just built the day before in a carnival. The large, stained glass photos of people on the big wall of the saloon felt more "sideshow" than old western. Maybe sideshow is supposed to be the historic feeling?
The bar service was pretty slow considering there were two people behind the bar and the whole restaurant/bar was NOT packed. Fortunately, the place redeemed itself by offering $3 "BIG ASS BEER" mugs if you purchase a BIG ASS BEER. It ended up being my dad's birthday present that he loved.
While hanging out at the bar, the host, who is all dressed up in old western clothes told us that we could get all dressed up, and  take pictures on the old piano if we wanted to. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera that day, I actually don't even own a camera. After I told the host man this, he looked at me like I was some sort of alien. "AN ASIAN...GIRL....WITHOUT A CAMERA?!!? BLASPHEMY!!"
They have a gift store downstairs that's full of mostly Big Nose Kate Saloon t-shirts. I ended up buying a khaki hat that for myself that was attached to a shirt I didn't want. They also randomly had kids' clothing - most of which had nothing to do with the saloon (i.e., Mickey Mouse). Also in the gift store, they had a set of jail-like vertical bars that allows you to look into the old mine shaft. Apparently, all or most of the establishments in the area have a connection to the underground mines. The view from the gift store was of a very dirty bed in a mine shaft. How realistic that was is beyond me, but I didn't want to believe it.
I was visiting from Portland and we went to do the touristy thing. We were hungry and we read the menu. The menu stated they had fried cheddar cheese. We are from Wisconsin and we love fried cheese curds. When we got our plate of fried cheese-it was pretty much mozzerella sticks-pretty lame marinara sauce too. The nachos were disgusting. They were like movie nachos with that artifiical canned cheese then some ground beef on top. Gross!. There should be a disclaimer on a nacho descriptions-"we use plastic cheese sauce".
The live  solo country singer however was good
The prices at this place are definitely right, lower than anyone would expect at a tourist hot spot. The five of us stopped in during our day trip to Tombstone. It was nice to get a little break out of the hot Arizona sun, and something cold to drink. We managed to get two beers, two soda pops, and one coffee for less than $12.
It took the old west-garbed server a little while to get to us, but the place was pretty packed so I don't fault her for it. Once she got there, she was very friendly. She brought the drinks with a quickness. The only thing I might deduct a star for is the amount of time it took her to get to us initially, but her friendly attitude, willingness to answer questions, and the large amount of people she was serving made up for it.
Debbie N. covered the decor pretty well. It has large windows that I think were painted to look like stained glass, but were very cool. There is funny signage throughout, a small stage where the band plays, and a platform where a keyboard player sings country songs. That guy was pretty awesome. He was funny too.
If you make it to Tombstone, check out Big Nose Kate's for some hot food and cold drinks at reasonable prices.
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