The Top 100 Places to Eat Near Salt River Tubing

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 2024 · Winner · Emerging Restaurant of the Year

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

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

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

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

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. 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

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. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist · Brunch With a Punch
3. The Infatuation The 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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 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 2024 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept
2. 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. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 2025 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept

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 10 best new Phoenix restaurants of 2025

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. 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

String lights, a sprawling patio, and a wedding venue next door set the tone at this cozy modern bistro tucked behind an office park in Mesa. It reads like an elegant garden party that wandered off and found a better location. The menu rotates with the seasons, leaning toward steaks, fresh seafood, and handmade pasta, with shareable starters and a dessert list worth saving room for. A Phoenix New Times top 50 pick.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now

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

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

1. AAA Four Diamonds

The lines at this Mesa plate lunch counter are long because the menu is short and the food moves. Hapa is one of the few independent Hawaiian spots holding its own against the chains in Phoenix, and it earned a Phoenix New Times Best Hawaiian Restaurant nod for the effort. Check their Instagram before you go since daily specials rotate fast. Save room for the malasadas, fried to order and stuffed with vanilla custard or ube cream.

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Hawaiian Restaurant · Best of Phoenix

The glazed donuts here come out warm if you time the drive to east Mesa right, and that detail explains most of what you need to know about this family-owned donut shop. The menu stays classic on purpose: pillowy raised donuts, apple fritters, old-fashioned buttermilk bars. No novelty toppings, no Instagram bait. Phoenix New Times named it Best Doughnuts in 2024, and the regulars in line at opening would find that completely unsurprising.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Doughnuts · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times A delicious dozen: The 12 best doughnut shops in the Valley

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

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 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 2024 · Best Sushi · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist · Best World Flavors
2. Phoenix New Times Our top 12 favorite sushi restaurants in Phoenix

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

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 · Finalist · Exceptional Culinary Experience

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Uniquely Arizona

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

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

The roaster works in plain sight at the back of this Brazilian crop-to-cup coffee shop, which pulls beans from the Peters family farm in Minas Gerais. No flavored syrups, no blenders, just coffee, milk, and water in various combinations, which sounds austere until you taste it. Pastries come from a local bakery and empanadas round out the food side. A second location sits inside Epicenter at Agritopia.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Coffee Roasters · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Coffee Roasters · Best of 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. AAA Four Diamonds

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

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Voodoo Fried Rice · Best Dish in a Supporting Role
2. Phoenix Magazine New Orleans Shrimp and Grits · 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 2025 · Best Neighborhood Bar · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Neighborhood Bar · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Bar · Best of Phoenix

Sundubu jjigae arrives at the table still at a full boil, in a black earthenware bowl that stays screaming hot long after it lands. This Korean tofu house in Mesa's Asian District is the kind of place where a server drops off a raw egg and you crack it straight into the broth. The house-made tofu is silky, the broth is deeply red, and the white-shirt warning is sincere. Bulgogi and bibimbap round out the menu for anyone not ready to commit to the fire.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Korean Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
2. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Espresso Martini · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best New Pizza Hot Spot · Best of the Valley
3. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Scottsdale

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner: Barrio Blonde · Favorite Local Craft Beer

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

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

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

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

1. Eater Sashimi Spoons · The Most Iconic Dishes in Phoenix
2. Phoenix Magazine Sashimi Spoons · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
3. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Uniquely Arizona

White tiles, pastel trim, and a cartoon burger grinning at you from the wall set the tone at this retro counter-service burger joint on downtown Mesa's main drag. The team behind Tacos Chiwas and Espiritu kept things deliberately simple: a short menu of semi-smashed burgers, hot dogs, loaded fries, and aguas frescas. The Sonora burger, stacked with griddled cheese, chiltepin, and bacon, is the one people talk about.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best new Phoenix restaurants of 2025
3. Phoenix New Times Sonora Burger · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Top Chef · Alex Trujillo
2. Phoenix Magazine Carpaccio · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Day Drinker · Favorite Local Craft Beer

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Ultimate Patio Atmosphere

1. Eater Date Shake · The Most Iconic Dishes in Phoenix
2. Phoenix Magazine Date Shake · 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 2025 · Best Brunch · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Brunch · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: Church Music · Favorite Local Craft Beer

A private cottage across the street from its louder sibling, Reserve runs on dress codes, flickering candles, and soft piano, which tells you exactly what kind of evening this is. The tasting menu leans into caviar, dry-aged duck, and wagyu, while an enormous wine cellar offers options at most price points. The service team controls the pace deliberately, so no one is rushing you anywhere. Note that it operates seasonally.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

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

A wood-fired pizzeria in the middle of Old Town Scottsdale that leans into the craft-beer-bar half of its personality as much as the pizza half. The dough is thin but sturdy enough to carry generous toppings without folding, and the homemade mozzarella shows up like it has something to prove. A serious Arizona craft beer list keeps the mood convivial. Ranked 29th on 50 Top Pizza USA, which is a lot for a place with a patio and wooden tables.

1. 50 Top Pizza #29 · 50 Top Pizza USA
2. Phoenix Magazine Honey Bee Pizza · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

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

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

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

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Tucson Import · Best of Phoenix
2. Eater The Best Bakeries in Phoenix, Arizona

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

The name means "foreigner," which sets the tone for a modern Indian restaurant that treats the cuisine as a starting point rather than a finish line. Tucked into a Chandler strip mall, it runs cocktails spiked with masala chai vodka or ghee-washed whiskey alongside small plates, large plates, and pani puri worth sharing around the table. The room skews upscale without being stiff about it.

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Best World Flavor
2. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Upscale Indian Restaurant · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner · Exceptional Culinary Experience

1. Wine Enthusiast Top 50 New 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

Dark walls, checkerboard tile, and a four-course French tasting menu in a Gilbert strip suite, which is not a sentence anyone expected to write. Maeva runs all day, so you can stop in for a lavender latte in the morning and then come back dressed up for dinner. The kitchen does a la carte too, but the tasting menu is the main event, with servers who steer the pairings and explain each plate without making you feel like you're being graded.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best new Phoenix restaurants of 2025
3. Phoenix New Times Chicken Soup en Croute · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants

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 New Times 2025 · Best Steakhouse · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Steakhouse · Best of the Valley

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Food Pioneer · Matt Carter

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

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Voodoo Fried Rice · Best Dish in a Supporting Role
2. Phoenix Magazine New Orleans Shrimp and Grits · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

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