Trail Dust Town's signature restaurant went through a bit of an identity crisis this summer.
In late July, operators of the 32-year-old restaurant changed the name from Dakota Bar & Grill to Rounders Grill. They tweaked the menu, tossed in a few gambling-inspired dishes and decor and invited everyone to bring their dogs along.
Two weeks in with dozens of customer complaints logged in, management at the restaurant at 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road rethought that whole name-changing idea.
βOur guests spoke up and they were not having the whole change of the name of the restaurant and everything else so we went right back to what we were doing before," GM Juan Figueroa said.
So they changed the name of the restaurant that has anchored Trail Dust Town since 1984 to Dakota βΒ just Dakota.
Three names in three weeks.
Figueroa said the name change roller coaster did the restaurant a lot of good. It gave them a chance to breath new life into the family-friendly mission and the menu.
βWe knew it was time for a change for the menu," he said. "We had the same menu for 5Β½ years."
Figueroa said that he learned an important lesson about the culinary legacy of the restaurant he has managed since April: His guests really, really like Dakota's burgers.
"A lot of our guests would say that our burgers β even though we only have the Dakota burger and create your own burger β are better than Zin Burger," he said.
Zin Burger has two Tucson locations including one not far from Dakota at 6390 E. Grant Road.
Dakota is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
