The 23 Best Places to Eat and Drink in Glendale

Mesquite charcoal does the heavy lifting here, giving the carne asada a smokiness that flour tortillas, silky and lightly crisped, are well suited to carry. This is a no-frills Sonoran taco shop in Glendale with a salsa bar and a menu that runs from al pastor to tripa to cabeza, none of it timid. Phoenix New Times gave it Best Tacos and Best Carne Asada in back-to-back years, and USA Today named it a Restaurant of the Year.

1. USA Today Restaurants of the Year
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Carne Asada · Best of Phoenix

1. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix

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

1. Phoenix New Times Tellicherry Lamb Fry · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Indian restaurants in Phoenix
3. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Indian Cuisine: West Valley · Best of the Valley

1. Phoenix New Times Our top 12 favorite sushi restaurants in Phoenix
2. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best West Valley Sushi · Best of the Valley

The line at this cash-only Mexican bakery in Glendale moves slowly because everyone freezes in front of the cases. Giant pink pig-shaped cochinitos glazed with molasses, chamoy-dipped apples, tamales, fresh tortillas, and trays of pan dulce all compete for your attention at once. Phoenix New Times named it the best Mexican bakery in the city, and the regulars waiting ahead of you look like they already knew that.

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

Frida Kahlo shares wall space with a pink-legged chameleon and a saguaro the size of a doorway, which tells you a lot about this cheerful Mexican brunch spot in downtown Glendale. Weekend mornings fill with families and kids while the drinks arrive dressed up: horchata in a jar with a peanut dulce de leche rim, cafe de olla in mismatched earthenware. The pambazo, a football-sized sandwich dunked in guajillo chile, is not a thing you order by accident.

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 best brunch restaurants in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times Our top 12 favorite sushi restaurants in Phoenix

Life-sized Spider-Man watches you eat your burger, which feels about right for a counter-service spot where the menu hangs on the wall and you can hear the flat-top sizzling from the register. The patties come on sweet King's Hawaiian rolls, loaded with things like mac and cheese or pastrami, while Marvel films loop on the TVs and kids work free arcade games. Gyros and other diner bites round out the menu for anyone not in a superhero mood.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Restaurant to Take a Geek · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

1. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Place to Have Quiche for Breakfast · Best of the Valley

The shelves here hold Virgin of Guadalupe candles alongside powders for luck or love, Florida water, and statues of the Seven African Powers, which gives you a sense of the range. This is a Mexican botanica and natural remedies shop serving practitioners of Catholicism, Santería, and a few other traditions, as well as anyone whose lung tea is running low. The staff fields questions without making you feel like an outsider, which helps when you're not sure what you need.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Yerberia · Best of Phoenix

A counter-service wing spot on the west side where the fryer does most of the talking. Wings come out plump and crisp, then get sauced or dry-rubbed, and the curry dry rub has a way of turning fingers an incriminating shade of yellow. The rest of the menu leans into the fryer too, with onion rings, egg rolls, and beignets to round things out. Phoenix New Times named it the best chicken wings in Phoenix in 2025.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Chicken Wings · Best of Phoenix

A one-pound schnitzel is quietly doing a lot of the marketing here. Haus Murphy's is an old-school German restaurant in Glendale that has been around forever, serving bratwurst, sausage samplers, and house-made sauerkraut to a crowd that has clearly memorized the menu. The patio strings up lights and leans into a vaguely Bavarian mood, and the bar stocks the oversized bottled biers to match. Call ahead for a table.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best German Restaurant · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Japanese Curry · Best of the Valley

The tortilleria runs all day, turning out fresh corn and flour tortillas while the panaderia stocks pan dulce, bolillos, and pasteles. Los Altos Ranch Market is a full Mexican grocery and mercado, with a butcher counter, seafood section, house-made tamales, and a lunch counter called La Cocina serving cheap tacos and tortas. The stores are massive, the prices are not, and the Phoenix New Times has named it the area's top Mexican grocery store five of the last six years.

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Mexican Grocery Store · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mexican Grocery Store · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix Magazine Falafel · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Phoenix Magazine Ropa Vieja · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Phoenix Magazine Salt & Pepper Pork Chop · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Phoenix Magazine Italian Beef · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

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

A Sonoran seafood chainlet wedged into the strip-mall sprawl near Westgate, Los Arbolitos de Cajeme handles ceviche tostadas, fishbowl cocktails, and stone molcajetes with more care than the surroundings would suggest. The grilled octopus arrives sizzling with a smoky morita chile sauce that makes a convincing case for the detour. Go before a game when you want real mariscos and the other options are the usual suspects.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to Eat Before a Glendale Event · Best of Phoenix

Order-at-the-counter fish and chips in a strip mall, priced mostly in the teens, with your choice of fish battered and fried to order. The clam chowder is the thick, goopy kind you feel slightly embarrassed to enjoy, and the fried shrimp are plump enough to make you forget you're in Glendale. Tartar sauce is creamy, cocktail sauce has actual kick. Phoenix New Times named it Best Fast Food in 2024, which is either a surprise or exactly right depending on how you feel about Long John Silver's.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Fast Food · Best of Phoenix