The Best Places in Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

SumoMaya is a Scottsdale fusion restaurant that treats brunch as a team sport, with unlimited shared plates and desserts and one entree per person, so pork al pastor pad Thai shows up at the same table as a carne asada scramble. Pan dulce and mini churros kick things off, and the bottomless drinks come with a two-hour limit and no switching mid-session. It's AAA Three Diamonds, in case you needed permission to order a third round.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Eater The 15 Best Brunches in Phoenix

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

The burritos here come open at both ends, more like fat rolled tacos than anything you'd expect, and ordering one is a mistake because you'll immediately want another. Testal is a casual counter-service taco shop on Grand Avenue doing Chihuahuan cooking, a regional tradition that gets less attention than it deserves in Phoenix. The rajas, spicy and cheesy with roasted poblano, are a reason to make the trip on their own.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Chihuahuan Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
3. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Mexican Restaurant · Best of Phoenix

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

1. AAA Three Diamonds

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.

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
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 · Winner: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group

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

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

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Genuine Concepts · Outstanding Hospitality Group
3. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Eater The 15 Best Brunches in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix
3. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Neighborhood Coffee Shop: Phoenix · Best of the Valley

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner · Most Creative Handcrafted Cocktail
2. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Beef Wellington · Standout Signature Dish
3. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Top Chef · Ivan Gonzalez

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

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 Magazine 2025 · Best Chai High · Best of the Valley
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Halal Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Indian restaurants in Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A Mexican restaurant in a converted brick building in Garfield, where the large windows keep things bright enough that you don't feel like you're day-drinking when you order a Paloma at noon. Gallo Blanco runs all three meals, so the crowd shifts from coffee-and-eggs regulars to the burrito-and-margarita contingent by midday. The guacamole and chips make a persuasive case for arriving hungry and starting slow.

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Paloma · Best of Phoenix
3. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

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

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The cardstock to-go box comes with chopstick handles built into the sides, which is either the cleverest packaging in Phoenix or a sign that the city has simply been doing lunch wrong. This grab-and-go dumpling shop on a downtown corner keeps the menu short: pick your base, pick your filling, pick a sauce. The whole thing runs about thirteen dollars, which buys considerably more than whatever sad situation you had going on at your desk.

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Affordable Downtown Lunch · Best of Phoenix
3. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A chalkboard of rotating cocktail specials and a basement bathed so completely in red light that no other color survives the trip down. This speakeasy-style cocktail bar is tucked beneath the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel, behind a mural and open only two nights a week, which is exactly the energy. Vintage velvet chairs and low tables give it the feel of a sitting room someone forgot to leave, and the drinks arrive in coupes and crystal-cut rocks glasses.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Top Mixologist/Bartender · PJ Vader Baron
2. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Speakeasy · Best of Phoenix

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

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
3. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Chinese restaurants in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Exceptional Culinary Experience
2. Phoenix Magazine Navarro Grain Bowl · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
3. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Phoenix

A coffee shop where you can also get clay under your fingernails, PIP Coffee + Clay pairs a small cafe with a ceramics studio on North 24th Street. Wheel-throwing classes run about two hours, keep group sizes small, and require you to put your phone away, which turns out to be the whole point. Your mug may come out lopsided. That's fine. Grab a coffee or a beer while the creative juices do their thing.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Art Classes · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Ceramics Studio · Best of Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best Coronado coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner: Barter & Shake · Outstanding Hospitality Group
2. Eater The Best Bars in Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Foodist Awards 2023 · Food Pioneer · Mark Tarbell

1. Eater The Best Bars in Phoenix
2. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

1. AAA Four Diamonds

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

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.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Outdoor Dance Party · Best of Phoenix
2. Eater The Best Bars in Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A chrome Dayton wire wheel serves as the flower pot, and the espresso machine has been custom-painted, and that sets the tone. Xolo is a coffee shop that doubles as a rotating gallery of Chicano and lowrider art, with tuck-and-roll chairs and vintage photography that looks lifted from an East L.A. album. The family next door runs a tattoo shop with the same soul. Pop-ups bring lowriders into the lot and zoot suits through the door.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Chicano Art Space · Best of Phoenix
2. AZ Central Best Midtown Phoenix coffee shop for working or studying · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

The outdoor bar lives inside a repurposed shipping container, which tells you something about this brewpub's sensibility. Arizona Wilderness pours a rotating slate of seasonal ales alongside house classics, and the kitchen keeps pace with oversized burgers, an Arizonan hot fried chicken sandwich, and duck fat fries that have developed their own following. The vegan options are less afterthought than actual draw. Bench seating, a beer garden, and desert weather do the rest.

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner: Vegan Bahn Mi · Best Vegan Delight
2. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Refuge IPA · Favorite Local Craft Beer
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Birthday Beer Deal · Best of Phoenix

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Three Diamonds

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

This is a small, family-run Northeast Chinese spot in a Chandler strip mall, where one wall is so thickly framed with press clippings that the decor doubles as a reading list. The dumplings are handmade in assorted shapes and sizes, and the soup dumplings arrive with chewy skins and scalding broth, so patience is a skill here. Order at a casual counter pace, wear whatever, and bring someone who'll split the cumin lamb.

1. Phoenix New Times Steamed, boiled or fried: Where to find the best dumplings in Phoenix
2. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Part coffee shop, part design store, part Taschen outpost, Dialog sits at the base of a mural-wrapped building on Roosevelt Row and dares you to categorize it. The matcha is stone-ground and ceremonial-grade, with baristas reaching for a scale before the whisk ever touches the bowl. Beans come from Stereoscope in LA. Browsers drift between arched light fixtures and esoteric objects while something simmers on the U-shaped bar.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Coffeehouse · Best of Phoenix
2. AZ Central Best downtown coffee shops for working or studying · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Matcha · Best of Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

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

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The tortas here are the size of a small architectural project, stacked high on soft telera rolls with combinations like fried beef, ham, egg, chorizo, and avocado all grilled together. This casual Mexican sandwich shop in Sunnyslope sprawls through several rooms, and the menu takes real time to navigate. The juice bar deserves equal attention, especially the agua cremosa, a condensed milk and fresh fruit drink that arrives under a paper umbrella, which feels right.

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Tortas · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Tortas · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Mexican restaurants in Phoenix

The dining room is painted in every color someone could fit on a wall, which turns out to be solid preparation for the menu that follows. This Sinaloan seafood restaurant in Phoenix runs a multi-page spread of aguachiles, whole fried fish, grilled shrimp Micheladas, and molcajetes loaded with carne asada alongside whatever came out of the ocean. A serrano margarita handles the heat. Families book out the patio on weekends, so call ahead if you're bringing a crowd.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Mariscos · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Mexican Seafood · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mexican Seafood · Best of Phoenix

Lines form before the doors open at this specialty seafood counter, which tells you most of what you need to know. Faroe Island salmon, live sea urchin, razor clams, and whatever else flew in that morning fill the case alongside premium tinned fish and prepared foods. The shop insists it isn't a restaurant, then sells poke banh mi and sashimi boxes to go. Wednesday's lobster roll has its own cult.

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Lobstah Roll · Standout Signature Dish
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Fish Shop · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Fish Market · Best of Phoenix

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Food Pioneer · Chris Bianco

A coffee shop where the décor has opinions about where you sit. PHX Cat Cafe is a nonprofit cat lounge in downtown Phoenix where a rotating crew of adoptable cats nap in elevated perches, bat at toys, and occasionally judge you from across the room. The small admission fee buys you time among the felines, decent coffee, and access to events like cat yoga and drag bingo. Over a thousand cats have found homes through the place, which gives the whole thing a satisfying excuse.

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Way to Cuddle Cats · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Cat Cafe · Best of Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best downtown Phoenix coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

A 1982 Piaggio Apé truck imported from Italy parks in the garden and pulls espresso, which tells you most of what you need to know about Pueblo's priorities. This plant shop and coffee stop on Grand Avenue occupies a lush warehouse where indoor tropicals crowd every corner and a vintage gardening library invites you to stay longer than planned. The pottery, succulents, and houseplants are the main event, but the outdoor patio has a way of making an errand feel like an afternoon.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best Grand Avenue coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The build-your-own bouquet bar is the first thing you notice, a wall of loose stems you pull and arrange yourself while your coffee order is being made. This is a coffee and flower shop in downtown Phoenix, the kind of concept that sounds precious until you're standing in it and it actually works. The rose latte has become something of a signature. Breakfast and lunch round it out, and private floristry classes are available for groups.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to Get Coffee and Flowers · Best of Phoenix
2. AZ Central Best downtown Phoenix coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
3. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Peonies and Pick-Me-Ups · Best of Phoenix

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist · Outstanding Bar/Nightlife Experience

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

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner: Vegan Bahn Mi · Best Vegan Delight
2. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Refuge IPA · Favorite Local Craft Beer
3. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

Frosted mugs pulled straight from a freezer behind a bar draped in kitschy tchotchkes: this Grand Avenue tiki dive bar has been an institution since truckers were rolling through on Route 60. Wood paneling, tiki-style tables, a pool table, and a patio where the smoking happens. On Tuesdays a DJ spins vinyl, playing what the regulars call "funky mutant dance music," and somehow the night outlasts your intentions. Cash only, so plan accordingly.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Dive Bar · Best of Phoenix
2. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix