The Best Restaurants in Phoenix, by the Record
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Doug Robson built his name on Mexican food at Gallo Blanco and Otro Cafe, then opened Tesota and threw the rulebook out entirely. The menu roams from poke to pasta to Asian noodles to chicken wings without apology, and the sunny Camelback Road room, all natural light and colorful paintings, makes the whole thing feel coherent somehow. A comfortable, come-as-you-are restaurant where the logic is less "theme" and more "make it well."
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The whole room is built around the idea of Anthony Bourdain, which sounds like a gimmick until you see how it plays out. Warm lighting, close tables, and a menu that wanders from handmade pasta to egg yolk nigiri to a Japanese Wagyu sando without apologizing for any of it. The drinks menu leans into clarified and precisely mixed cocktails. A global restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale that earns its ambition more often than not.
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Rank 304. Guadalupe On Main
Jalisco Mexican
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Margaritas · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix Magazine Street Corn Queso · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
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The draw at this Thai bar and mookata spot is the tabletop grill sunk into a pot of bubbling broth, where you cook your own meal at the table. It lives on the patio behind Lom Wong, small and casual, with craft cocktails doing serious work alongside the smoke. The New York Times put it on their Restaurant List, which is a lot of attention for a patio bar where dinner is technically a DIY project.
- The New York Times The Restaurant List
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Cook-It-Yourself Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Most Creative Use of Tallow · Best of the Valley
- Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Pork Jowl · Best of the Valley
- Phoenix Magazine Pork Belly · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
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Rank 307. Alebrije Neveria
Mexican
A blue-and-gold accent wall is doing a lot of work inside what looks, from the parking lot, like absolutely nothing. This Mexican neveria in a north Phoenix strip mall serves raspados in flavors that run well past the usual strawberry and tamarind, and the horchata version, cold and cinnamony, has a following. Elote bowls round out the menu. Phoenix New Times named it the city's top neveria.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Aguas Frescas · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Neveria · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Authentic EthioAfrican
Ethiopian
The wooden furniture and décor came over from Ethiopia, and the feel of the room followed. This kitchen and bar on McDowell Road serves Ethiopian combinations the right way, on a wide round plate loaded with stews, greens, and a scoop of homemade cheese that cools things down. The injera does its job as utensil and bread at once. Order for the table and let it fill up; solo dining works, but barely.
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Rank 307. Cocina Madrigal
Mexican
The green chile enchiladas arrive with a tight zigzag of crema piped over the top, which tells you something about how seriously this neighborhood Mexican spot takes even the modest stuff. Chef Leo Madrigal slow-cooks the pork barbacoa-style until it's yielding enough to disappear into the green chile sauce. Corn tortillas, beans, pico-topped rice, melted cheese, the whole plate quietly assembled and not trying to impress anyone, which is exactly why it does.
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Rank 307. Dick's Hideaway
New Mexican New American
There's no sign out front, which is either a design choice or a test. Dick's Hideaway is a small New Mexican-leaning bar and grill tucked along 16th Street, where seated at the bar you can feel the heat off the open-flame grill. The bloody marys and margaritas have a following, and the green chile burger earns its real estate on the menu. Getting a table for five on a Friday requires more optimism than planning.
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A bacon-wrapped hot dog forced into a charred, fluffy split-top roll under a parking lot tent, open from six in the evening until two in the morning. This beloved outdoor cart has been a late-night Phoenix institution forever, and the Sonoran hot dog it serves, loaded with beans, grilled onions, guacamole, cotija, and a generous zigzag of mayonnaise, is about as close to an Arizona signature dish as anything gets.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Sonoran Hot Dog · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Sonoran Hot Dog · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Elvira’s
Innovative Mexican
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Rank 307. Feta Cowboy
Mediterranean
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Rank 307. Golden Restaurant & Bakery
Levantine Middle Eastern
The flatbread menu alone runs past thirty varieties, which tells you something about priorities at this Levantine restaurant and bakery in Tempe. Manakeesh, slow-cooked meats, hummus, and baba ganoush fill out a menu rooted in the kind of food that takes real patience to make. The kenafa, a cheesy semolina pastry dessert, is the thing people come back for. Casual, inexpensive, and easy to overorder.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Middle Eastern Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Middle Eastern Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Haus Murphy's
German
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.
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Rank 307. Hola Cabrito
Mexican
While the internet fell for drip-cheese quesabirria, the regulars in South Phoenix kept quietly lining up for goat. This South Phoenix Mexican spot has been doing birria de chivo the old way, slow-roasted in banana leaves with an adobo that gives the meat a gentle gaminess you don't find in the viral stuff. Order it in consommé, on fresh-pressed tortillas, or as birria tatemada, pressed on the griddle with fat skimmed off the broth until it crisps.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Birria · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Birria · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Birria · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Irish Wolfhound Pub
Irish British
Guinness signs and hand-drawn maps of Ireland cover the walls of this Irish pub and restaurant in the far western suburbs of Phoenix. Fish and chips, corned beef and cabbage, and a full Irish breakfast on weekends anchor the menu. Bartenders know regulars by name, and the event calendar stays busy with live music, karaoke, and trivia nights, which is a lot to offer a neighborhood that doesn't always get this kind of attention.
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Irish Pub · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Japan Express
Japanese
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Rank 307. Le Sans Souci
French
A cozy, tiled dining room in the Cave Creek hills serving classic French fare across brunch, lunch, and dinner, the kind of place that still does cherries jubilee without irony. The menu runs from croque monsieur to crepes in béchamel, onion soup to crème brûlée, and the whole thing feels like it's been there forever because it has. The drive from Phoenix is real, but so is the feeling that you've wandered somewhere far less frantic.
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Rank 307. Los Altos Ranch Market
Mexican
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mexican Grocery Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Mexican Grocery Store · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Mariscos San Diego Bay
seafood Mexican
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A 17,600-square-foot pool area anchors this sprawling dayclub and nightclub on Scottsdale's main party corridor, where the outdoor scene runs on cabanas, three bars, and a taco stand beneath what's reportedly the Valley's largest LED video wall. When the sun goes down, the indoor club takes over with a vortex-shaped dance floor and the kind of bottle service that keeps the staff very busy. The crowd skews young, attractive, and aware of both facts.
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Rank 307. Mi Patio Mexican Food
Mexican
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Cheap Margaritas · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Cheap Margaritas · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Original Breakfast House
Californian American
- Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Sweet-Savory Breakfast: Fried Chicken with Deep-Fried French Toast · Best of the Valley
- Phoenix Magazine Chicken-Fried Chicken with French Toast · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
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- Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Prosciutto · Best of the Valley
- Phoenix Magazine Charcuterie Board · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
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Rank 307. Pescada
Coastal Mediterranean
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The meat and cheese counter anchors this Italian deli in West Phoenix, where a full antipasto bar, housemade sauces and dressings, and shelves of pasta and olive oil fill out the rest. Sandwiches are built to order, and the Italian bread carries them better than the alternatives. Homemade lasagna, meatballs, and cannoli round things out for anyone who came in for cold cuts and left with dinner.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Italian Deli · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Italian Deli · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Rosita's Place
Sonoran
Colorful tiles, rough-hewn furniture, and a small waterfall with fish in the pool beneath it set the tone at this Sonoran Mexican spot on McDowell. It's been around forever, and the room has the comfortable confidence of a place that doesn't need to try hard. The chimichangas have taken home Phoenix New Times honors two years running, which tracks for a kitchen where the frijoles alone could change someone's afternoon.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Chimichanga · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Chimichangas · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Scott's Generations
Kosher-style American
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Rank 307. Taco Viva
Mexican
Murals outside, a fast-moving line inside, and a cook who will ask "con todo" before you can overthink it. Taco Viva is a bright, modern taco shop in the Arcadia area serving tacos, vampiros, tostadas, and carne asada fries that took a Phoenix New Times Best of Phoenix nod in 2025. The orange salsa is genuinely alarming in the best way, and the answer to "con todo" is always yes.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Carne Asada Fries · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Carne Asada Fries · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Taco’s Javi
Mexican
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Rank 307. Tacos Veganos
Vegan Mexican
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Rank 307. Tapas Papa Frita
Spanish
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Rank 307. Taqueria El Fundador
Mexican
The trompo in the window does most of the advertising at this west-side taqueria, shaving al pastor to order in a way that settles the argument before you've even sat down. The menu runs deep: carne asada, spicy chicken, tortas crisped on the flat top, overstuffed quesadillas, and menudo on weekends for the regulars who plan around it. Phoenix New Times named the al pastor among the city's best bites in 2025.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Al Pastor · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times Tacos al Pastor · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants
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Rank 307. Tatemados
Sonoran
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Every entree at this old-school Italian chain restaurant comes with bread, soup or salad, coffee or tea, and spumoni ice cream, which makes the price feel almost suspicious. It's casual and family-friendly, the kind of place where portions are generous and no one is pretending otherwise. The Mizithra cheese with browned butter has a following of its own. Phoenix New Times named it the best haunted restaurant, so apparently there's atmosphere in more ways than one.
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Outdoor Hangout · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Downtown Hangout · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Farmers’ Market · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Farmers Market · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 307. Valle Luna
Mexican
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Rank 307. Vincent on Camelback
Southwestern French
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