The Top 100 Places to Eat Near Chocofin Fine Handmade Chocolates

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Bonbons · Best of Phoenix

A strip-mall address in Scottsdale is doing its best to throw you off, but step inside Course and it's a full tasting-menu restaurant, white-tablecloth intentions and all. The kitchen runs a rotating seasonal menu, five courses on weeknights and eight on weekends, with a James Beard semifinalist nomination for the chef and another for pastry. The Pinnacle Guide awarded it one Pin for 2026.

1. The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
2. USA Today Restaurants of the Year
3. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Exceptional Culinary Experience

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Top Mixologist/Bartender · Lexi

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

A banana leaf-wrapped branzino arrives at the table and you unwrap it yourself, releasing a cloud of curry-leaf steam. Indibar is a fine dining modern Indian restaurant, all desert neutrals and Art Deco curves, with the white-glove service of a high-end resort. The kitchen applies globe-spanning fine dining technique to tandoori and regional traditions. A James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist in 2026, and named by USA Today among its Restaurants of the Year.

1. USA Today Restaurants of the Year
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now

The shelves of imported flour, olive oil, and canned goods are the first thing you navigate on the way to ordering lunch, which about sums up what Andreoli is: a north Scottsdale Italian grocer where the sit-down dining room is just as serious as the pantry. The chef hails from Calabria but ranges freely across the regions, and the whiteboard specials tend toward the kind of dishes that take some explaining. A James Beard nominee.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Southwest · Giovanni Scorzo
2. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group

The chef still works the line most nights, which tells you something about a creative restaurant that's been an Old Town Scottsdale fixture long enough to feel inevitable. Vegetables are taken seriously here, pulled from Arizona farms and steered through a menu that drifts from the Sonoran Desert to the Levant without announcing itself. The wine list leans hard into Arizona producers, and the tucked-away bar is a fine place to work through both.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Arizona Wine Selection · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Thai Peanut Poke Bowl · Standout Signature Dish
3. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Gorditas · Best of the Valley

Mesquite and pecan wood smoke drifts out of the open kitchen at this Chihuahuan-rooted restaurant inside Tempe's Culdesac neighborhood, where the grill does serious work on meats, peppers, and open-faced quesadillas. The team behind Tacos Chiwas built something more personal here, moving from taqueria to family table. Moles, micheladas, and brunch dishes like concha French toast fill out a menu that runs morning to night. A James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur semifinalist in 2024.

1. USA Today Restaurants of the Year
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Chiles Rellenos · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bakery
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best breakfast spots in Phoenix
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Thai Peanut Poke Bowl · Standout Signature Dish
2. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept
3. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

The name means "far from home," which tells you something about what the chef is doing here. This central Phoenix Thai restaurant draws on Bangkok street food and the cooking of the Isan region, with a tight menu of small plates, noodles, and skewers that reads like a personal dispatch rather than a crowd-pleasing survey. The cocktail program is serious enough to make parking on this stretch of Osborn Road feel like a design choice. A James Beard semifinalist, 2024.

1. USA Today Restaurants of the Year
2. Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner · Best World Flavors
3. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Mango Sticky Rice · Most Delectable Dessert

The line forms before the doors open at this Texas-style BBQ shop, and a strip of tape slapped over a sold-out item on the menu board is a genuine source of anxiety by the time you reach the counter. The team came up out of competitive barbecue, and the Hill Country influences show in the smoke. A James Beard semifinalist in 2026, the place draws a crowd happy to stand outside in the Phoenix heat for brisket and jalapeño cheddar grits.

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

The oxtail Italian beef sandwich, melting with cheese and spiked with giardiniera, tells you right away what kind of chef is running this upscale New American kitchen. Hush is an intimate room in a Scottsdale strip mall, open kitchen sending smells out front, nostalgic rock at a volume that invites conversation. The menu shifts often, but the kitchen's touch with vegetables, fish, and meat stays constant. Reservations through Tock are a smart move.

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner: Cast Iron Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist · Brunch With a Punch
3. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Scottsdale

Tyson Cole's Austin-born Japanese fine dining concept has colonized Old Town Scottsdale, and the food makes it hard to resent the expansion. The menu runs well past sashimi and nigiri into tempura, grilled meats, and crudo, and you can order à la carte, build a tasting menu with your server, or hand over full control with an omakase. The room runs on polished service and the kind of care that makes a chain feel like a local obsession.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Top Sushi Restaurant
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to Take a Foodie · Best of Phoenix

1. USA Today Restaurants of the Year
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Milkshakes · Best of Phoenix

The Original Chopped Salad has its own Facebook page, which tells you something about the regulars here. Citizen Public House is a polished American restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale that manages to feel genuinely comfortable despite looking like it shouldn't. Classic dishes get quiet, confident upgrades, the room runs warm without trying too hard, and the kitchen keeps the kind of hours that make it useful for more than just dinner plans.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: In-Good Spirits · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Salad: The Original Chopped Salad · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: In-Good Spirits · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Salad: The Original Chopped Salad · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix Magazine Lucky 7 Cereal Bowl · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

A black bungalow in downtown Phoenix that turns out northern Thai food rooted in Chiang Rai, where the chef grew up cooking alongside her mother and grandmother. The menu is built to share, the flavors run deep, and the cocktails are doing interesting things with fish sauce and fresh coconut cream. Yotaka Martin took the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2025, which in Phoenix is basically a neighborhood fact at this point.

1. Food & Wine Yotaka Martin · Best New Chefs
2. James Beard Awards 2025 · Winner · Best Chef: Southwest · Yotaka Martin
3. Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner: Yam Mamuang Boran · Best Dish in a Supporting Role

Chris Bianco's trattoria keeps a rotating pasta menu built around local flours matched to specific shapes, which sounds precious until you taste it. The kitchen runs classic cacio e pepe alongside whatever Arizona's season hands them, and the drink program goes equally deep into esoteric Italian amari and house-made liqueurs. The New York Times put it on their restaurant list, and the room feels like it earned that quietly.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Food Pioneer · Chris Bianco
2. The New York Times The Restaurant List
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The broad patio sweeps out from a small turquoise-trimmed adobe inn with the Camelback range as a backdrop, which is doing a lot of work before the food even arrives. Lon's is a white-tablecloth Southwestern restaurant in Paradise Valley, seasonal and quietly inventive, with weekend brunch drawing the kind of crowd that lingers over customizable margaritas and monkey bread loaded with caramel and cream. The bar is serious, the mountain views are free.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Ultimate Patio Atmosphere
3. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Sticky Toffee Pudding · Most Delectable Dessert

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Exceptional Culinary Experience
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Christopher Gross
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Double Burger · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

A red mirrored hallway leads you down into this speakeasy-style cocktail lounge beneath a north Scottsdale restaurant, which is exactly the kind of entrance that makes people feel they've earned their drink. Inside, gold ceilings, red velvet drapes, and live music set a mood that commits fully to the bit. The cocktails lean sweet-and-savory strange, and small bites keep the evening going. Phoenix New Times named it Best Bar in 2025.

1. Industry Excellence Awards Bar of the Year
2. Sunset Better Bars · Where to Eat and Drink
3. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Iconic Speakeasy Experience

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: The Great One · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Phoenix Magazine Pan con Tomate · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Exceptional Culinary Experience
2. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
3. Phoenix Magazine Hiramasa Ceviche · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Food Pioneer · Matt Carter
2. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Italian · Best of the Valley
3. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist · Top Mixologist/Bartender · Abby Kate Larson

A churro waffle with a cult following and a soft pretzel served with butter blended from guinea hen fat says about everything you need to know about Valentine's priorities. This all-day cafe and restaurant in the Melrose District does wood-fired Sonoran cooking with Arizona ingredients treated like the whole point, not a talking point. The chef is a James Beard semifinalist, and the elote pasta has its own fan club. The vintage furniture store in the back is not a joke.

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Crystal Kass
2. James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Crystal Kass
3. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Desert-toned walls and a condensed, always-shifting wine list set the mood at this neo-bistro and wine bar on Seventh Street. The team pulls from old and new world bottles for both pours and a rotating spritz selection, while small plates from the kitchen give you a reason to stay for another glass. A James Beard semifinalist for Best New Bar, it draws the kind of crowd that actually talks to the table next to them.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group

The injera arrives with every order, a spongy sourdough flatbread that doubles as plate and utensil, and first-timers get a menu with a glossary to help them figure out what they've just ordered. This Ethiopian restaurant has been an ASU rite of passage for what feels like forever, a family-run strip mall spot that leans hard into vegetarian dishes and fragrant stews. The dining room is cozy and carpeted, and the coffee ceremony is not decorative.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

Chihuahua-style street food is the whole point here, counter-service and no-frills, with a menu tight enough that everything on it earns its spot. The gorditas have won over Phoenix two years running, and the tacos, barbacoa through lengua, hold up across multiple locations without the usual chain drift. A James Beard semifinalist, which for a fast-casual taco spot is its own kind of statement. Patio seating available if the line moves fast enough.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept
2. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now

Thirteen seats arranged at an L-shaped bar set the scale here: this is a reservation-only omakase counter in Old Town Scottsdale, two seatings a night, no improvising. The chef behind it, Shinji Kurita, is a name Phoenicians say with a certain reverence. Courses run for about two hours, and the sake list includes a bottle priced like a used car, should the mood strike. A James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Japanese Restaurant · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Double Burger · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner: Cast Iron Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: Hush Burger · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
3. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner: Hush Burger · Standout Signature Dish

1. AAA Four Diamonds

The 1889 Saloon inside is supposedly designed by the cattle baron's wife, which is exactly the kind of detail that makes this old-school Phoenix steakhouse feel like it earned its spurs. Corn-fed aged beef and prime rib anchor the menu, alongside bison meatloaf and baking soda biscuits that haven't changed much since the place opened. The Western décor leans hard into its ranching roots, and nobody seems to mind.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Historic Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
2. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Phoenix Magazine Lobster Tarte · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: In-Good Spirits · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Phoenix New Times Our top 12 favorite sushi restaurants in Phoenix

The rotisserie smoke reaches you before you open the door, which is either a warning or a promise. This counter-service Peruvian chicken shop on East Thomas keeps things focused: whole or half birds off a hulking oven, Peruvian sauces on the side, and thick-cut fries that Phoenix New Times handed a Best of Phoenix nod to. Wash it down with an Inca Kola and you're done. Eater named it one of the best new restaurants in America in 2025.

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants in America
2. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bagels · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept

The line outside most mornings tells you what kind of place this is before you even smell the smoke. Little Miss BBQ is a Central Texas-style barbecue shop where the brisket gets sliced to order with a thick smoke ring, and the Thursday-only pastrami runs a deep, almost beet-red from its pepper rub. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the team behind it earned a James Beard semifinalist nod.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Phoenix Magazine Pastrami · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southwest · Scott Holmes

The family owns a 68-foot harpoon fishing boat that works the Pacific for swordfish, which is a more convincing sustainability pitch than a wall decal. This fast-casual seafood spot in Uptown Plaza keeps the fish never-frozen and the menu wide, running from poke bowls and swordfish tacos to grilled oysters and a lobster BLT on weekends. The chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2026, which is notable for a counter-service fish place.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Thai Peanut Poke Bowl · Standout Signature Dish
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Double Burger · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

A moody Old Town Scottsdale cocktail bar where the olive oil-washed dirty martini is only the beginning. The menu swings between arancini for two and a full table spread of ceviche, burrata, and pasta, and it changes often enough to reward regulars. The duck bolognese tossed with mafaldine and garlic crumble has become something of a signature. It reads equally well as a date bar or a group dinner, which is a harder trick than it sounds.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Most Luxurious Meat Board · Best of the Valley
3. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Chinese restaurants in Phoenix

Old Town Scottsdale runs heavy on sushi and gourmet burgers, so a candlelit Mexican restaurant with a serious tequila program reads almost as contraband. The Mission leans modern Latin rather than strictly regional, but the street tacos and bacon-wrapped hot dogs hold their own against the fancier plates. The room is dark and unhurried in a way that makes a second round of $15 cocktails feel inevitable.

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Food Pioneer · Matt Carter
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Tequila Selection · Best of Phoenix
3. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Scottsdale

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Chinese restaurants in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner · Top Arizona Brewery, Winery, or Distillery Experience
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Mango Foxtrot · Favorite Local Craft Beer
3. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: American Pie · Favorite Local Craft Beer

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: Beef Rendang · Standout Signature Dish
2. Phoenix Magazine Chili Crab · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

A ramen shop where the broth might arrive laced with matcha or built around five preparations of garlic in a single bowl. Mensho brought its Japanese noodle concept to Arizona with this Mesa outpost, a light-wood room centered on an open kitchen where handmade noodles go into thick, creamy broths. The kind of place where the bowl keeps revealing itself as you eat, which is a polite way of saying you'll want to stay longer than you planned.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Emerging Restaurant of the Year
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Ramen · Best of Phoenix

The entire menu is gluten-free, which sounds like a warning but reads more like a dare. Jewel's is a breakfast and brunch cafe on the east side of Phoenix where the doughnut holes are light, the tortillas stretch properly, and the waffles hold up under chicken and spicy bacon without apology. Dairy-free, vegan, and vegetarian options run alongside bottomless mimosas and locally roasted coffee. Nothing on the plate telegraphs its constraints.

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 best brunch restaurants in Phoenix
2. Eater The Best Bakeries in Phoenix, Arizona

Chris Bianco is the Bronx-born pizzaiolo who convinced the rest of the country that Phoenix belongs in the pizza conversation, and this snug 42-seat brick room in Heritage Square is where it started. Wood-fired Neapolitan pies come out of an oven that has been running for decades, drawing lines that have shown no signs of shortening. Bianco holds two James Beard Awards, which is two more than most people who make pizza for a living.

1. 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza USA Excellent Pizzerias
2. Foodist Awards 2025 · Food Pioneer · Chris Bianco
3. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

A globe-hopping dinner spot in Old Town Scottsdale built as a love letter to Anthony Bourdain, which means handmade pasta shares the menu with egg yolk nigiri and bison ribeye without any of it feeling like a theme park. The warm, conversation-friendly room earns its vibe. The bar team applies something closer to lab technique to the cocktails, and the mocktail program picked up a Phoenix Magazine Best of the Valley nod, which is a sentence Bourdain would have found deeply funny.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Mocktail: Smartest Cocktail in the Room · Best of the Valley
3. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Indian restaurants in Phoenix

Red lights, pool tables, a game room, and flatbreads until 2 a.m.: The Little Woody refuses to be just one kind of place, and Arcadia has loved it for years because of that. It's a dive bar with cocktail lounge bones, where dart nights blur into dancing and the Gun Shy Sour keeps the bourbon crowd happy. Weekend nights draw a younger crowd who treat the arcade games as warmly as the drinks.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner · Outstanding Bar/Nightlife Experience
3. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group

The red weathervane out front reads "BBQ," which is all the signage a place like this needs. Walk past the giant mesquite smokers on your way in and you'll already be hungry before you hit the counter. This Gilbert BBQ shop does Texas-style brisket with a coarse peppercorn crust, served by the pound on tin trays at wooden picnic tables. Order early; the popular cuts sell out, and nobody drives out near Mesa Gateway Airport to settle for sides.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Expansion · Best of Phoenix

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants in America
2. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Roberto Centeno

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept

Specials scrawled on brown paper rolls and a pastry case worth a long look set the tone at this low-key bakery and brunch cafe on McDowell Road. The kitchen leans on local ingredients, and the menu changes with what's good, so regulars learn to check the case before committing. Patio seating in the Phoenix sunshine makes the wait easier. Easy to miss from the street, which keeps it mercifully manageable on a weekend morning.

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 best breakfast spots in Phoenix
2. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix Magazine Kash O'Bademjan · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

Marinated skewers sit in the case waiting their turn over live coals, and a haze of mesquite smoke follows the grill man out of the kitchen on a good night. This Armenian kabob counter on 16th Street landed on the New York Times restaurant list and keeps turning up on every Phoenix rundown worth reading. Combos come with enough meat, basmati, and Shirazi salad to feed two people, and regulars treat first-timers like a conversion project.

1. The New York Times The Restaurant List
2. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

Rotating TV screens overhead walk you through the menu before you've even sat down, which sets the tone for this welcoming Indian restaurant on the east side of Phoenix. The family behind it grew up in the restaurant business back in India and brought that instinct for hospitality with them. Dosa arrives shattering crisp, the malai kofta is deeply comforting, and the staff nudges you toward something unfamiliar if you let them.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Halal Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Chai High · Best of the Valley

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Exceptional Culinary Experience

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Uniquely Arizona

A bright red neon sign marks this Sichuan restaurant tucked into a Tempe strip mall, where turquoise booths and mural-covered walls set the scene for lazy Susans loaded with mapo tofu, braised eggplant, and the Chongqing-style spicy chicken that Phoenix Magazine named one of Arizona's top dishes. The batter is thin and shatters, the peppercorns do their characteristic lip-numbing work, and the portions are large enough to make you reconsider your afternoon plans.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Traditional Chinese Restaurant · Best of Phoenix

The salsa bar alone could justify a visit: nearly a dozen house-made salsas, each in its own small cup, running from tangy pineapple to smoky morita to a bracingly fresh serrano. Casa Corazon is a gourmet Southern Mexican restaurant tucked into a small red building on Phoenix's 16th Street corridor, where the menu leans into regional dishes and pairs naturally with Mexican wine or a fresh-fruit margarita. Eater counts it among Phoenix's best.

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Mexican Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Upscale/Modern Mexican · Best of the Valley

The fry bread here comes out puffy and golden, stuffed with ground beef and beans or finished with chocolate, and it gives the whole menu its name. This family-run Tohono O'odham restaurant has been an anchor in Phoenix's Melrose District long before the neighborhood got interesting, serving tacos, stews, and tostadas alongside it. The kind of spot where out-of-towners finally understand what Arizona actually tastes like.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Authentic Arizona Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Authentic Arizona Restaurant · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Top Sushi Restaurant
2. Phoenix New Times Our top 12 favorite sushi restaurants in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Emerging Restaurant of the Year

Plastic dinosaurs lined up on the ledge, a letterboard menu that changes whenever it feels like it, and a taproom that still reads as someone's living room because it used to be one. This community-focused brewpub in Green Gables pours the Spellbinder hazy IPA alongside a rotating cast of fruit-forward beers, and food trucks regularly pull up out front to fill the gap. Small, friendly, and a little cluttered in the best way.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Spellbinder · Favorite Local Craft Beer
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Brewery · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Brewery · Best of Phoenix

The laminated dough at this French patisserie takes the kind of patience most kitchens quietly skip. Croissants, kouign-amann, pain au chocolat, and thick slices of quiche fill the cases, alongside macarons and fresh-baked loaves worth tucking under your arm on the way out. Seasonally flavored coffees keep the morning crowd happy while they deliberate. A James Beard Outstanding Bakery semifinalist, this uptown Phoenix spot makes a convincing case for the detour.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Pastries · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Pastries · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Emerging Restaurant of the Year
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Pizza With Puppies · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix Magazine 20-Layer Short Rib Lasagna · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

Latha means "flavor" in Swahili, which the kitchen takes as a brief. Housed in the bungalow-style Silva House in Heritage Square, this downtown Phoenix restaurant traces the food of the African diaspora through Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the American South, on both prix fixe and à la carte menus. The cooking has range, from piri piri chicken over jollof rice to Southern pound cake finished with tropical marmalade. A Michelin Selected restaurant.

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Best World Flavor
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Emerging Restaurant of the Year
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Most Creative Handcrafted Cocktail Program
2. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Iconic Speakeasy Experience
3. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

The steaks arrive already drenched in butter, with truffle butter on standby if you feel that wasn't enough of a statement. Steak 44 is a high-end steakhouse on the north side of Phoenix that somehow sidesteps the usual corporate-vault atmosphere, landing closer to a neighborhood spot where the bar fills with regulars and families stake out booths for birthdays. The menu wanders past its brief with soft-shell crab in vanilla tempura alongside the expected shrimp cocktail.

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Steakhouse · Best of the Valley
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Steakhouse · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Ultimate Patio Atmosphere
2. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

A European restaurant tucked into the Melrose District's Wagon Wheel building, where the back patio's twinkle lights and two-top tables make the whole thing feel like a date you actually planned. The menu changes with the seasons and you can do a five-course tasting or just pull a bottle from the adjoining wine shop and order à la carte. A James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Southwest.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Date Night Spot · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Food Pioneer · Matt Carter
2. Phoenix Magazine Dungeness Crab Salad · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Food Pioneer · Chris Bianco
2. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Artisanal/Fancy Pizza · Best of the Valley
3. Phoenix Magazine Francesca's Meatball Sandwich · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

An old house in Tempe that may or may not be haunted, depending on how many drinks in you are. Casey Moore's is a seafood and oyster bar that's been around forever, and it draws the full cross-section of college town life, from freshmen to people who were freshmen here decades ago. The patio, the well-priced drinks, and the raw bar keep everyone coexisting peacefully, which is harder to pull off than it sounds.

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Bar · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Neighborhood Bar · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Neighborhood Bar · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Coffee Roasters · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Ultimate Patio Atmosphere

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

Pink and orange neon casts a moody glow over the Camelback Road location of this coffee shop, which leans into creative, photogenic drinks alongside the usual caffeine agenda. The menu runs from lattes built around burnt cream or cookie flavors to matcha, ube, and Lotus energy drinks for the non-coffee contingent. A second, sunlit outpost sits inside the Melrose District's Royale collective, better suited to a quick grab-and-go.

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best Uptown Phoenix coffee shops for working or studying · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: In-Good Spirits · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Phoenix Magazine Original Chopped Salad · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

Challah soaked in Grand Marnier, griddled until the sugar crust cracks like a crème brûlée top, is the thing people come back for at this Southern brunch spot in Scottsdale. Catfish and grits, chicken and waffles, and a waffle so light it barely holds its own weight round out a menu that swings comfortably between sweet and savory. Weekends bring a DJ and mimosas on every table; weekdays are quieter and the wait is shorter.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Brunch · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Brunch · Best of Phoenix

The sushi counter is the point here, not the parade of sauce-heavy rolls that crowds the competition. This upscale Chandler sushi restaurant leans traditional, pulling in harder-to-find cuts like escolar and sea urchin alongside the usual nigiri and sashimi spread. A few hot dishes and tempura round things out, but the kitchen knows where its priorities lie. Phoenix New Times has named it the area's top Japanese restaurant.

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist · Best World Flavors
2. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Japanese Restaurant · Best of Phoenix