The Top 100 Things to Do Near The Mexicano
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A dedicated saltwater taffy department is either a sign of a candy superstore done right or a sign your dentist is about to buy a boat. Sweeties is a sprawling bulk-candy shop where nearly everything sells individually or by the pound, the shelves run floor to ceiling, and the childhood nostalgia is stacked as deep as the gumdrops. The staff is genuinely warm, which softens the blow of the inevitable sugar spiral on the drive home.
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Discount Movie Theater · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Discount Movie Theater · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Discount Movie Theater · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bookstore · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Bookstore · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Bookstore · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best LGBTQ Game Night · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Coffee Shop for the LGBTQ+ Community · Best of the Valley
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Yucca Tap Room is an old-school dive bar and live music venue where cheap drinks and a no-fuss atmosphere have kept generations of Tempe regulars coming back. The punk shows are a fixture, and moshers in Halloween costumes remain a perfectly normal Tuesday-in-October situation. Half the space now belongs to Electric Bat Arcade, a pinball room that on some nights draws a bigger crowd than the bar itself.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Go-Karts · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Go-Karts · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Art Supplies · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Art Supplies · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Store for Horror Buffs · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place for Horror Buffs · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Buy a Band Shirt · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Band T-Shirts · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Secondhand Punk Clothes · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Alt Fashion · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Trade Vinyl or CDs · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Store for CDs · Best of Phoenix
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Shelves of wine bottles line every wall of this small, happily unpretentious wine bar tucked into a strip mall on Indian School. The vibe is couch-and-conversation, the kind of place where you sit down next to strangers and somehow end up closing it down with them. The food menu runs to pimento cheese and Moroccan spiced meatballs, which is a perfectly reasonable way to soak up a second pour. Phoenix New Times named it one of the top 100 bars in the city.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bottle Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Eater The Best Bars in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Art Classes · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Ceramics Studio · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best Coronado coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Chicano Art Space · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best Midtown Phoenix coffee shop for working or studying · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Way to Cuddle Cats · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Cat Cafe · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best downtown Phoenix coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best Grand Avenue coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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- Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Lobstah Roll · Standout Signature Dish
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Fish Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Fish Market · Best of Phoenix
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A neighborhood dive bar that fully commits to the bit: vintage furniture with backstories, a cigarette machine, free arcade games, and a jukebox that always has Marty Robbins on deck. The drinks are cold, the Old Style is colder, and the backyard patio with lawn games fills up with the kind of crowd that looks like they've been regulars for years, even if they just discovered it last week.
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Climbing Gym · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Climbing Gym · Best of Phoenix
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- Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Outstanding Bar/Nightlife Experience
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Bougie Bowling · Best of Phoenix
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Frank Lloyd Wright designed this 3,000-seat performing arts auditorium for Baghdad before it ended up on a college campus in Tempe, which tells you something about its scale and ambition. The circular hall sits on the ASU campus flanked by pedestrian bridges and hosts touring Broadway shows, opera, symphony, and lectures. It's a proper night-out venue, the kind where you dress up a little and feel like the evening has stakes.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Musical · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to See a Broadway Show · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Large Playhouse · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Aquarium · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Aquarium · Best of Phoenix
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Karaoke spills out of this LGBTQ+ bar at Park Central before you even reach the door. Inside, Kobalt runs on the pleasant fiction that everyone already knows each other, with drag shows, RuPaul's watch parties, and trivia filling the calendar alongside the sing-alongs. Show tunes, '80s ballads, and early-aughts pop keep the room generous and loud. Cocktails hover around eleven dollars, which makes it easy to stay for one more song, then another.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Gay Bar · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Drag Shows · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
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The Stormrider drops you roughly 70 feet into the water, which is one way to spend a Tuesday in Mesa. Golfland Sunsplash is a full-scale water and amusement park with a wave pool holding 450,000 gallons, a raft ride that starts nearly seven stories up, a lazy river, a toddler pool, miniature golf, and an arcade big enough to lose an hour in. Bring the whole chaotic family; the park has something for every age group and nerve tolerance.
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Spring Training Game · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Watch a Spring Training Game · Best of Phoenix
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The taco truck parked out front sets the tone before you even get inside. Charlie's is an old-school gay bar and dance hall on Camelback with a big outdoor patio, bleacher seating, two bars, and a dance floor that earns its own reputation after midnight on weekends. The calendar runs from drag nights and karaoke to Latin and country two-stepping, so the crowd varies wildly depending on when you show up, which is most of the fun.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Gay Bar · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
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The front door looks like it belongs to a golf pro shop, but step through it and you're heading downstairs into a candlelit, white-tablecloth seafood restaurant that has been around forever. The menu pulls from coasts plural, Boston to New Zealand, with lobster, scallops, and a bucket of Blue Hill Bay mussels in drawn butter that earns its own sentence. Subterranean and unapologetically old-school in the best Scottsdale way.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Late Night Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Attraction Gift Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Nighttime Encounters With Wildlife · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Attraction Gift Shop · Best of Phoenix
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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.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Liquor Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Liquor Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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A private nonprofit zoo spread across 125 acres, where you can pet a stingray, feed a giraffe, and ride a camel before anyone in your group agrees on what to see next. Five trails loop through over 1,300 animals, and the Red Barn Petting Zoo handles the younger crowd's demands nicely. Bikes and roller blades are welcome, which says a lot about how far you'll walk. Zoo Lights draws a faithful crowd every holiday season.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Watch the Sunset · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to Take an Out-of-Town Visitor · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Watch the Sunrise · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best View of Phoenix · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Watch the Sunset · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mexican Candy Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Buy a Pinata · Best of Phoenix
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The floor doesn't fill until after midnight, which tells you everything about the kind of night Karamba is built for. It's a Latino gay nightclub where dancers in little more than underwear work elevated platforms while the DJs do the heavy lifting, threading reggaeton into club classics into top 40 without a seam. The pours are generous enough that an Uber home counts as planning ahead, not an afterthought. Phoenix New Times named it the best after-hours dance spot in town.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Driving Range · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Driving Range · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mexican Imports Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Da De Los Muertos Treasures · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best International Games · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Upscale Indoor Fun · Best of Phoenix
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The DJ here plays real saxophone solos during your Motown number and rosins up an actual fiddle when someone calls "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." This folksy Scottsdale bar and grill runs karaoke every night of the week, which already puts it in rare company in the Valley. The live accompaniment means no one has to endure a slide that reads "Instrumental Break, 16 Bars" while the singer reconsiders their choices.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Karaoke · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Karaoke · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Ice Skating · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Ice Skating · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mall · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Mall · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Outdoors Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Outdoors Store · Best of Phoenix
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A small live music venue on a one-way stretch of Central Avenue, south of downtown in a neighborhood that keeps the vibe honest. Touring acts and local bands share the bill, and people show up on a Tuesday without needing much convincing. Parking and security have been sorted, which clears the last excuse. Phoenix New Times named it the city's top small music venue in 2025.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Small Music Venue · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Small Music Venue · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Arcade · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Arcade · Best of Phoenix
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An artist-run collective on Roosevelt Row, Eye Lounge has been the gravitational center of Phoenix's First Fridays artwalk for years, which is either a sign of quality or a sign that everyone else gave up. Contemporary exhibitions rotate through, the murals outside change with the shows inside, and the crowd on a First Friday runs heavy on the local artists whose work might be on the walls next month.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Stop During the First Friday artwalk · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best First Friday Stop · Best of Phoenix
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A mid-size indoor concert hall seating around 5,500, sitting in that useful gap between arena and nightclub. Downtown Phoenix's go-to for touring musical acts, stand-up comics, Broadway productions, and the occasional boxing card. George Lopez filmed a live HBO special here, which tells you something about the room's range. It handles Doc Severinson and Nickelback with equal indifference, which is either a compliment or a programming philosophy.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Large Music Venue · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Large Music Venue · Best of Phoenix
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The tiered stadium seating along the back wall means you never spend a show craning around someone's hat, which is a small miracle for a mid-size Phoenix music venue. Crescent Ballroom books a steady diet of indie, art rock, and folk acts, with a candlelit bar and lounge up front serving tacos and cocktails alongside free sets from local musicians on quieter nights.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Medium-Size Music Venue · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Small Music Venue · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Vintage Clothing · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Vintage Clothing · Best of Phoenix
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Koi drift under a 12-foot waterfall while the rest of Phoenix does whatever Phoenix does. This three-and-a-half-acre Japanese garden, formally called Ro Ho En, sits inside Margaret T. Hance Park and moves at a completely different speed than the city around it. Stone lanterns, quarried Arizona rocks along the shore, and a traditional teahouse pull the place toward genuine stillness. A quiet hour here requires almost no effort and costs almost nothing.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place for Meditation and Quiet · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Oasis in the Desert · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Buy a Turntable · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Record Store · Best of Phoenix
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A checkerboard dancefloor, light-up floors downstairs, and a patio that sulks attractively outside, all packed into a small downtown nightclub that drew a line around the block on opening night. DJ sets and pop-up food nights keep the calendar full, but the periodic Dance Dance Revolution parties and lube wrestling events are what really set the tone. The crowd is genuinely mixed in the best way, and nobody seems to be here ironically.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best New Nightclub · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Boutique · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Boutique · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Park · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Urban Park · Best of Phoenix
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Over 17,000 works spread across 285,000 square feet put this art museum firmly in the "clear your afternoon" category. The collection runs from American and European classics to Latin American, Asian, and contemporary work, plus a fashion design wing that earns its place on the same floor. A dedicated kids' gallery keeps the family from splitting up at the entrance. Free admission on Wednesday evenings and the first Friday of each month.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Art Museum · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Art Museum · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Buy a Housewarming Gift · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Housewarming Gifts · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Upscale Party Supplies · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bilingual Bookstore · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Spanish-Language Bookstore · Best of Phoenix