went there a few years ago and won;t be going back when we go to williams tomorrow. on here looking for anything else to try. my whole family made the ame comment - anywhere but there.
overpriced. horrible service. long waits for no good reason. save time and money go somewhere else

My wife and I were in Williams recently to escape the Phoenix heat. Wanting to experience the Route 66 experience, we decided to try lunch at Rod's since this is/was an icon of old route 66.

As other reviewers have noted, the building is dimly lit inside and has dank musty smell. After walking up the stairs to get to the dining room we were met by no one... There was one server in the place and he actually was doing a fairly decent job. After waiting a few minutes we flagged him down and he seated us.

The table cloth was stained from ketchup or steak sauce. The selection on the lunch menu was quite limited but I ordered the sourdough bacon cheeseburger and my wife ordered the prime rib sandwich.

The food arrived in a fairly timely manner and my burger was actually not that bad. A little greasy but I have had far worse. My wife took one bite out of her sandwich and frowned and then stated, "I can not eat this." Being the gentleman, I offered her my burger and took her sandwich. It was pretty bad. The meat was overspiced and very rubbery. It reminded me almost of eating wet beef jerky. It seemed to taste worse, the more I ate of it. I did manage to eat half but couldn't take any more of it after that. It left a horrible aftertaste in my mouth as well.

If I had just had the burger, I would have given this place three stars for being mediocre but the "prime rib" sandwich was horrible. It reminded me of eating mystery meat from my navy days.

The server was ok so I gave him a decent tip but the food was not ok.

We were looking for a family-friendly restaurant that served steak, so we thought we'd give this a try. When we entered the restaurant, we were greated by a dingy bar area and a steep flight of stairs. We were shown to a table in a dark room, and noticed a musty smell in the restaurant. White tablecloths, dim lighting, this is more like the place you take a junior prom date, NOT a place to eat with young children. Before sitting down, we snuck a look at the menu, which was not easy to do, because it's printed very tiny. I suspect that's because they're trying to conceal their outrageous prices! A typical steak dinner was about $23 per person. Yikes! I grabbed my husband and kids, and ran out the door. We ate at the Pine Country place instead, and the prices were much better, around $10 a person.

The first time I visited Rods was on my honeymoon as I traveled with my new wife, in late June by VW Bug on old Route 66 in 1970. The motel next door was small and seedy but quaint to two youngsters in love. Back then it was supposed to be home/ranch raised beef and both my wife and I remember it fondly for the great steaks, mine “Charred Rare”, hers “Well Done?” [Yuck]

Since then, maybe fifteen years later we tried to relive the experience and found it to be severely wanting but not awful. Just not good. Apparent change of ownership.

The third time, more recently it was a nightmare. Maybe because the interstate bypassed Williams to the North but the experience made it clear that I won't be taking the Williams off ramp to grab a bite to eat at Rods anymore.

We still cherish the little creamer with the maroon cow on it the owner gave us on our first visit. We just won't be back to rekindle fond memories of those halcyon days of yore.