I want to give places the benefit of the doubt. Especially ones that have positive reviews, have been recommended by locals and have been around awhile even with heavy competition close by and a fairly pricey menu. So when our first round of drinks took 15 minutes to arrive, and our old fashioned was made incorrectly (a place like this with an expansive bar should know how to make an old fashioned, yes?), I reminded myself that the food was supposed to be awesome. We were on vacation, with good friends and were prepared to have a great evening so I really was not looking to spoil it for myself. \n\nAnd then our waiter opened his mouth. I asked for some explanation of menu items, many of which had either no explanation or description or was a puzzling mess of adjectives and much-too-hip-and-cool titles.  When asked for some help to decipher parts of the menu that - while it appeared to be in English - might as well have been written in a foreign language, our waiter started in with a host of racist remarks - like maybe he could find his Vietnamese friend to interpret for me, or go get me some dim sum instead. When I didn't laugh, he asked what I wanted an explanation of but I was so over it. He returned to the table after a few minutes, likely feeling slightly remorseful about his inappropriate comments (or more likely trying to resurrect his shrinking tip potential) and started rattling off at 100mph a verbal dissertation of a few menu items. No one at our table could understand much of what he said. I guess he was having a bad night and unfortunately it did rub off some on us. One bright star was the manager who came by to drop off a list of breakfast and lunch places he wanted to recommend after having had a conversation about this with our friends before our arrival. We did not mention our waiter - no one wanted to have a negative conversation and further spoil what was supposed to be a fun evening.  \n\nAs for the food, well, it's hard to be fair given the bitter palate created by the waiter. I had the mini mushroom pan fry (serious potential, but slightly greasy and sadly under salted) and a salad (which was \""fine\""). My husband had the swordfish (butter sauce was yummy), our friends the bison meatloaf and the filet mignon. Both were pretty good. Desserts earned higher praise, allowing me to move Cowboy Ciao up to 2 stars - bread pudding, ice cream trio and the birthday cake were all delicious and a satisfying end to an otherwise disappointing experience. \n\nI would not recommend Cowboy Ciao to anyone visiting the Scottsdale - there are too many fabulous restaurants in this area to waste time with poorly trained staff.