Friday, September 4, 2026

The Top 100 Restaurants Near The Chill Room

  1. 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.


  2. 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.




  3. Rank 5. The Chuckbox

    Southwestern American

    Somewhere between a diner and a log cabin, this cash-only Tempe burger shop has been grilling patties over a live mesquite fire since forever. You order at the counter while the smoke does its thing, then dress your own burger at the condiment table. Sizes run from a modest fifth-pounder up to a full pound of beef, which should cover most life situations. An old-school Valley institution, and the zucchini fries are not optional.


  4. Rank 6. Haji-Baba

    Middle Eastern


  5. Rank 7. Mandi House

    Yemeni Middle Eastern


  6. Named for the roadside pit stops where Indian truck drivers fuel up on cheap, filling food, this casual Punjabi restaurant in Tempe takes the concept seriously: long menu, affordable prices, homemade breads, and tandoori meats that smell like someone's actually cooking back there. The thali is the move if you want the full picture, chai and dessert included. Street snacks, deep-fried things, and curry round out a menu that rewards indecision.





  7. 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.



  8. Rank 14. Tacos Chiwas

    Chihuahuan Mexican



  9. Rank 16. Shaanxi Garden

    Northern Chinese


  10. 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.


  11. Rank 18. Pita Jungle

    Mediterranean





  12. 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.



  13. Rank 24. FnB

    Sonoran New American

    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.




  14. Rank 27. Hai Noon

    Japanese


  15. Rank 28. Happy Baos

    Northern Chinese

    Tucked just off the food court at Mekong Plaza, this Northern Chinese bao shop has outlasted neighbors that came and went while it quietly became a fixture. Handmade dumplings arrive chewy and properly sealed, with steamed buns and xiao long bao filling out the menu. Dan dan noodles and a cucumber salad round things out for anyone who wants something beyond the folded stuff. Phoenix New Times named it the best dumplings in Phoenix.






  16. Rank 33. Ban Chan Korean Cuisine

    Traditional Korean






  17. 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.




  18. Rank 41. Quiessence At The Farm

    Arizonan American



  19. 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.


  20. 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.




  21. 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.


  22. Rank 48. Que Chevere

    Venezuelan Caribbean

    Thick griddled corn arepas, stuffed or served alongside shredded beef and rice, are the spine of this Venezuelan Caribbean restaurant in downtown Mesa. The team graduated from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar, and the kitchen still rolls out hot cheese sticks every morning. The patacon swaps buns for fried plantains, and the cachapa, a sweet corn pancake, earns its own detour. A bar handles tropical drinks.


  23. The curved brick entryway opens into an oblong room of deep green walls, gold candelabras, and picture frames, which is a lot to pull off inside a Tempe strip mall. Bar Capri is an Italian restaurant and bar with the bones of a big-city neighborhood spot: cocktails and a tight wine list from a back bar, lasagna and arancini coming through the kitchen window. Tiramisu closes things out, and nobody seems in a hurry to leave.


  24. Rank 50. UNiQ Burger

    Vegetarian

    A fully plant-based burger shop where the patties, cheese, and buns are all vegan, yet every meat-eating friend you drag here tends to go quiet mid-bite. Counter service, casual prices, shopping plaza setting. The menu runs from a straightforward classic to pineapple or jalapeño-topped builds, with loaded fries worth the mess. Phoenix New Times has named it among the top burger joints in the metro two years running, vegan or otherwise.







  25. 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.




  26. At Sizzle, the servers run the grill, so you can just sit there looking relaxed and cosmopolitan while someone else does the work. This Korean barbecue spot builds its menu around pork or beef sampler platters, with different cuts arriving in waves alongside banchan, salad, and steamed egg. Soju cocktails filled with fresh fruit handle the drinks side. Phoenix New Times named it the top Korean barbecue in the area.


  27. 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.





  28. Rank 64. All Pierogi Kitchen

    Eastern European

    The attached market selling frozen pierogi and chilled soups to go tells you everything about the vibe here. This casual Ukrainian family restaurant in Mesa treats borders as a loose suggestion, pulling in beef goulash, plov over cumin-scented rice, pork schnitzel, and thick, buttery pierogi that pair well with griddled sausage. The chicken Kiev arrives loaded with dill and herb butter. Unpretentious, generous portions, and priced like someone actually wants you to come back.





  29. The cocktail list pulls from the shelves around you, which tells you exactly what kind of place this is: part upscale liquor store, part proper bar, and committed to being both at once. Depending on which Phoenix-area location you land in, the extras might include a golf simulator, pinball, a pizzeria, or a cigar lounge. The drinks run from spritzes to stirred classics, and the bottles for sale are genuinely worth browsing.


  30. 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.


  31. 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.


  32. Rank 71. Tacos Chiwas

    Chihuahua-style Mexican

    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.


  33. 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.



  34. 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.





  35. Rank 78. Élephante

    Mediterranean



  36. Rank 80. T. Cooks

    Mediterranean


    Awards
    Address
    5200 E Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ · Phoenix
    Hours
    Fri 6:30 AM–1:30 PM, 5:30 PM–9:30 PM
    Reserve
    Tock
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram

  37. Rank 82. Supreme Shawarma

    Spit-roasted Middle Eastern





  38. Rank 86. Bacanora

    Mexican, Regional Cuisine

    Rene Andrade runs a short, rotating menu over a mesquite grill in a small, triangular room, and the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest followed. This Sonoran Mexican restaurant in Phoenix trades in carne asada, caramelos built on crisp flour tortillas, and beans that make you reconsider how seriously you've been taking beans. The menu is a handful of items on any given night, many of them changing, all of them smelling like fire.



  39. The chef here trained at Tsuji Culinary Institute and cooked at Nobu before settling into a ramen shop in Ahwatukee, which is either a surprise or exactly what someone like that would do. The menu runs classic: tonkotsu, miso blended from Hokkaido pastes, rice bowls, takoyaki. The broth is unhurried and clear in its intentions, the kind of ramen that makes the fast-food versions feel a little embarrassed about themselves.


  40. Rank 89. Kai

    American

    Saguaro fruit, tepary beans, and wild sumac foraged from Gila River Community land anchor the tasting menu at this fine-dining room on tribal grounds. The team turns those Sonoran Desert ingredients through a global fine-dining lens, so cactus lime pie and buffalo with saguaro syrup land somewhere genuinely unexpected. It holds a Forbes Five Star and AAA Five Diamonds, a combination that signals dress-up territory before you've even looked at the menu.


  41. Rank 90. Chilte

    Modern Mexican

    The restaurant's unofficial motto translates roughly to "I don't give a damn," which is a curious thing to post when your birria arrives in hand-pressed squid ink tortillas with miso consommé. Chilte is a modern Mexican restaurant and bar in a revamped motor hotel on Grand Avenue, and Food & Wine named the chef one of its Best New Chefs. The seasonal menu shifts often, and the team pulls in guest chefs regularly, so the room rewards repeat visits.



  42. Rank 92. Latha

    African, Caribbean

    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.


  43. The Arcadia Burger, topped with grilled onions, guacamole, and the house sauce, is the one to order at this drive-thru-only burger shoppe with no indoor seating whatsoever. The double-stacked patties are properly juicy, the fries are the obvious companion, and the milkshakes invite mixing flavors in combinations you'll immediately claim were your idea. Phoenix New Times put it in the top ten burger joints in town, and the neighborhood regulars roll through like they know something.


  44. Rank 94. pa'la wood-fired cooking

    Wood-fired Mediterranean


  45. Rank 95. Francine

    Mediterranean French

    High ceilings, gold cocktail shakers, and a rack of lamb that belongs nowhere near a mall, yet here we are at Scottsdale Fashion Square. Francine is a Mediterranean-French restaurant with the polish of a countryside manor and the energy of a room where people came dressed to be seen. The bar pulls its own weight if you're not staying for dinner, and the wine list gives everyone a reason to linger.



  46. Glowing red neon and a tight menu of smash burgers and waffle fries in a downtown Phoenix storefront that used to pour rum cocktails. Bad Jimmy's is a casual burger shop that moonlights as a cocktail bar, which explains why half the room looks like they just escaped a nearby venue. The rotating specials reward repeat visits, and vanilla soft serve finished with olive oil is the kind of thing that sounds wrong until it doesn't. Phoenix New Times named it the city's top smashburger spot.




  47. Rank 100. Cala

    Mediterranean


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