Cayton’s Burger Bistro – Tucson

Days: Daily (except Mondays when Cayton’s is closed this summer) 
Times: 3-6pm 
Food Deals: 2 Half-Price Appetizers 
Drink Deals: Half-Off Select Beers and Wines 
Parking: Free lot 

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Drink Up! Cool desert resort bar, right off the golf course with good food and beverage! 

Spill the Wine: Happy Hour food and drink selections are somewhat limited (my guess is because most guests don’t visit this out of the way spot for Happy Hour!) 

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Up on Dove Mountain...

Picking right back up where we started from (cue the Maxine Nightingale), JB last left off at the Lodge in Tucson, with its kick-ass comfortable Happy Hour. The next day, the crew and I headed to Cayton’s Burger Bistro at the Ritz Carlton’s Dove Mountain resort. With its wide open desert spaces, Tucson is ripe for these sorts of resorts – sprawling estates packed with several bars/restaurants, golf courses, and more! Some of the bars often feature Happy Hour (like Primo at the JW Marriott Starr Pass), but they’re not always easy to find on the expansive property. Be prepared to ask the dude at the resort check-in for explicit directions! 

Cayton's is basically a 19th Hole on the Golf Course. 

 

So it was in the spirit of Wild West Happy Hour adventures that we headed to Dove Mountain to see how the other half lives. Okay, the other 10%. Okay, the other 1% :). And Cayton’s is a great place to see it – they’re essentially a 19th hole on the golf course. You know – a place where you can pour yourself out of the golf cart and enjoy some cocktails with your golf-mates/drinking buddies. It’s recently changed from a steakhouse to a burger joint, which makes total sense. I’m not a golfer (or a meat-eater!), but using my imagination here – I can’t imagine it would be fun to eat a large steak after a day in the hot sun. Easy-breezy burger, drinks, fries – yes! An Old 96-er? (because I compare everything in life to THE GREAT OUTDOORS) – no! 

Panoramic Desert Views from inside Cayton's

 

Upon arrival, we grabbed a seat in the restaurant in the dining room with a great panoramic view of the desert golf course (Happy Hour is served everywhere). Other diners included rather intoxicated golfers with the most colorful stories… “I was in the south once. Some of those folks still call it the War of Northern Aggression.” 

The good news was that the golfers were having such a good time that we didn’t feel bad for bringing a baby in the bar, hehe! Also helping baby matters was the awesome Ladies Room – outfitted with a nice seating/nursing area and shower stalls (cos who wants to go to Happy Hour sweaty after playing 18 holes?! Not this non-golfer!). 

Inside the bar and restaurant

Given that the bar caters to such an “other half” clientele, we weren’t shocked when the restaurant didn’t quite have its Happy Hour altogether. The website lists 8 appetizers without prices as part of their Happy Hour menu, but when we arrived, we discovered that only 2 of the items were discounted during HH. We of course ordered those items: 

  The Sonoran Quesadilla ($5) 

and the Chili Lime Dusted Potato Chips ($5)

Those were fine, but we were still hungry so we made a dinner of the night with several non-HH menu items: – Loaded Tater Tots ($11), the Veggie “Greek Burger” ($11), the Crab Cake “Burger” ($14), and orders of Hand Cut Fries ($5) and Onion Rings ($5). For dessert (because yes, dessert is the 5th food group or at the top of the food pyramid, or whatever they’re teaching kids now) – we shared Cayton’s doughnuts – a tower of sourdough doughnuts served with fondue dipping sauces. 

 

Loaded Tater Tots ($11) 

 

 Veggie "Greek Burger" ($11) with Hand Cut Fries ($5) and Onion Rings ($5)

Cayton's Doughnuts ($7)

Luckily, select beers and wines are half-priced during Happy Hour; the beer list is a good one featuring plenty of local brews and the wine list is okay too. And also luckily, our server was pretty great. He treated me to a local Tucson beer flight for half-price (normally $10, half-price at $5) though it wasn’t on the HH menu, and automatically split our burgers into quarters so we could more easily enjoy them individually. Plus he was way cute. Bon appétit! 

 

Tucson Beer Flight (normally $10)!

Given the resort’s remote location, the bar’s Happy Hour Tour quotient is low, meaning that you visit Cayton’s and you will not be making any other Happy Hours for that night. But that’s okay because if you don’t mind paying for the “experience,” you can have a fab dinner with half-price beer and wine. And I’m always okay with that! 

The Tucson Happy Hour Tour Crew!

-JB 
 
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Cayton’s Burger Bistro 
Neighborhood: Marana 

Ritz Carlton at Dove Mountain 
15000 North Secret Springs Drive 
Marana, Arizona 85658 
(520) 572-3000

www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/DoveMountain/Dining/caytons 
twitter.com/ritzcarlton