The Best Restaurants in Phoenix, by the Record
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Rank 405. Asi Es La Vida Restaurant
Upscale Mexican
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Rank 405. Casa de Falafel
Middle Eastern
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Rank 405. D & Y Chinese Food
Chinese
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Rank 405. Diego Pops
Mexican
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Rank 405. Fabio On Fire
Italian
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Rank 405. Franco's Italian Caffe
Old-School Italian
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Rank 405. Inca Fusion
Fusion Peruvian
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- AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times Chicken Tecolota @ Requinto · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants
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Rank 405. Marcellino Ristorante
Classic Italian
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A pirate-themed dive bar in Sunnyslope that opens at 6 a.m., which should tell you most of what you need to know. Drink specials are listed on the wall under "Grogs," free pool and shuffleboard tournaments fill the back, and biscuits and gravy come with your first drink if you show up early enough to need them. Burgers and corn dogs handle the rest. The merch, featuring a peg-legged mascot, is genuinely good.
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Rank 422. Alzohour Restaurant
Moroccan Middle Eastern
A Moroccan restaurant tucked inside a hybrid dining room, market, and clothing boutique, where the same woman cooks your tagine and then comes out front to seat you. Steaming lamb tagines and bastilla, the savory-sweet phyllo pie dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar, are the reasons to linger. Patience is part of the deal, but the food rewards it. Phoenix New Times named it the valley's best North African restaurant in 2024.
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Rank 422. Call Her Martina
Modern Mexican
A black-and-white dining room tucked into the Scottsdale Waterfront strip mall, where the guacamole arrives studded with pomegranate seeds and warm steak cubes, which sounds like a gimmick until it doesn't. This modern Mexican restaurant runs from quesabirria tacos to charred octopus, and the cocktails come dressed with flower petals and charred cinnamon sticks, because subtlety is apparently optional. The flan, cracked with caramel shards, lands the ending.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Guacamole · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Guacamole · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 422. Com Tam Thuan Kieu
Vietnamese
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Rank 422. Cool Vybz Jamaican Restaurant
Caribbean
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Rank 422. Cornish Pasty Co
British
A pasty bar doing roughly fifty fillings, from tikka masala to cheeseburger, in a cavernous downtown Phoenix space that somehow feels more Cornish pub than desert Southwest. The multi-story room stays dark despite the chandeliers, and the second-floor railing gives you a perch over the pool tables below. Draft Guinness is the obvious move. Phoenix New Times named it among the top 100 bars in the city.
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Late-Night Eats · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 422. Deseo A Coffee Shack
Mexican Coffee Shop
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Rank 422. El Norteño
Mexican
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Rank 422. Goldman's Deli
Jewish American
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Rank 422. Juanderful Tacos
Mexican
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Rank 422. Kare Ethiopian Restaurant
Ethiopian
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Rank 422. La Mejor Barbacoa
Mexican
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Rank 422. Mimi Forno Italiano
Italian
Arancini the size of baseballs are the opening argument at this Italian restaurant tucked into a southwest Valley strip mall. The room runs small and lively, with couples and regulars filling tables over Neapolitan-style pies, both red and white. The pizza list skews local-neighborhood-Italian in the best way, and the Phoenix New Times named it Best Pizza in 2024. Worth the drive from central Phoenix if you're tired of pretending the closer options are just as good.
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Rank 422. Oaxaca Restaurant
Oaxacan
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Rank 422. Seamus McCaffrey's
Irish British
Pint glasses hang from the ceiling and dollar bills plaster the columns at this Irish pub tucked into the back of a downtown Phoenix hotel. The menu runs shepherd's pie, fish and chips, and beef stew, with Guinness on draft doing most of the heavy lifting. A jug of apple pie shots on the bar suggests the night can go a few different directions. Phoenix New Times named it one of the top 100 bars in the city in 2025.
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Irish Pub · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 422. Taqueria El Trompo
Mexican
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Rank 422. Ted's Hot Dogs
American
Charcoal-grilled hot dogs at a counter where the walls are buried in memorabilia: Ted's is an old-school hot dog shop with roots in upstate New York. The White Hot, dressed with sauerkraut and mustard, is the move, but the real sleeper is the fries with gravy, a combination rare enough in Phoenix that people drive across town for it. The buns come toasted or plain, which feels like a small thing until you're asked.
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Rank 422. Tortas El Rey
Mexican
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Rank 422. Tortas Manantial
Mexican
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Aguas Frescas · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Aguas Frescas · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 453. Birrieria Tijuana
Tijuana-style Mexican
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Rank 453. Carolina's
Mexican
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Rank 453. Cocina 10
Sonoran
The kitchen inside Crescent Ballroom wraps burritos in foil and marks them with stickers bearing faces like Morrissey and Mr. Bean, which tells you most of what you need to know. This Sonoran Mexican spot was shaped by Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco fame, and it runs until midnight, so the crowd skews toward concertgoers and touring bands who just rolled off I-10. Sonoran dogs, tacos, nachos, and burritos, done with more care than the venue setting suggests.
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Rank 453. El Bravo Mexican Food
Mexican
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Rank 453. El Rinconcito Del D.F.
Mexican
The huaraches here come on hand-pressed masa that's thick enough to hold its shape under a pile of toppings, queso fresco, onion, and cilantro. This casual Mexican counter runs through tacos, tortas, burritos, and those huaraches all day, with carne asada and al pastor doing the heavy lifting. The building from the outside makes no promises, but the salsas inside range from warm to genuinely alarming, which seems to be the point.
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Rank 453. La Frontera #1
Sonoran
A taco truck parked in a lot on 16th Street, deep into the night, serving Sonoran Mexican to anyone who finds their way there. The meats are the point: carne asada, sure, but the lengua is rich and fatty, the buche carries real animal intensity, and the tripas come out screaming hot and crackly. Onions and chopped herbs are all they need. Burritos and vampiros round things out, and yes, there is a cheese-buried Sonoran dog.
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Rank 453. Presidio Cocina Mexicana
Michoacán-style Mexican
A narrow strip-mall storefront off Thomas Road that serves Michoacán family recipes to a weekend brunch crowd that knows exactly what it came for. This festive, casual Mexican restaurant keeps its menu rooted in the cooking of one region, which tends to produce that rare strip-mall meal you find yourself describing to people. When mole negro is on the specials board, the table next to you has probably already ordered it.
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Rank 453. Sushinola Roll
Sinaloan Japanese
Sinaloan-style sushi, where the emphasis lands firmly on Sinaloa. This casual roll shop in west Phoenix leans into the coastal Mexican seafood traditions of the northwest, so expect aguachile poured over crab rolls and shrimp cocktail ladled on top in a gloriously soupy heap. The kitchen rotates experiments freely, meaning octopus, mango, or caramelized banana might all show up on a roll depending on the week.
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Rank 453. Tumi 2.0
Peruvian
Peruvian cooking has always been a quiet argument that fusion was never a modern invention, and this Mesa restaurant makes that case across a menu that moves from Japanese-inflected ceviche to Chinese-Peruvian lomo saltado to chicken stew finished with Parmesan. The chef behind it has opened more Peruvian spots around Phoenix than anyone, and calls this one his last. The spit-roasted chicken, served with fried yuca, tends to do the convincing.