The Best Places in Scottsdale

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Nobuo Fukuda, a James Beard Award winner, runs this intimate Japanese small-plates bar in Scottsdale, where the menu reads like a quiet argument against doing anything halfway. Most dishes land under twenty dollars, from panko-fried tofu with green papaya curry to sunomono with watermelon radish. The sashimi spoons have their own cult following, and an omakase is available by reservation for when you're feeling like committing to the evening.

1. Phoenix Magazine Sashimi Spoons · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
2. Eater Sashimi Spoons · The Most Iconic Dishes in Phoenix
3. Eater The 38 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. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Ice Cream · Best of the Valley
2. Phoenix New Times Where to find the best ice cream in Phoenix

1. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Ice Cream · Best of the Valley
2. Phoenix New Times Where to find the best ice cream in Phoenix

A wood-fired pizzeria in the middle of Old Town Scottsdale that leans into the craft-beer-bar half of its personality as much as the pizza half. The dough is thin but sturdy enough to carry generous toppings without folding, and the homemade mozzarella shows up like it has something to prove. A serious Arizona craft beer list keeps the mood convivial. Ranked 29th on 50 Top Pizza USA, which is a lot for a place with a patio and wooden tables.

1. 50 Top Pizza #29 · 50 Top Pizza USA
2. Phoenix Magazine Honey Bee Pizza · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Top Chef · Alex Trujillo
2. Phoenix Magazine Carpaccio · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

A private cottage across the street from its louder sibling, Reserve runs on dress codes, flickering candles, and soft piano, which tells you exactly what kind of evening this is. The tasting menu leans into caviar, dry-aged duck, and wagyu, while an enormous wine cellar offers options at most price points. The service team controls the pace deliberately, so no one is rushing you anywhere. Note that it operates seasonally.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Phoenix Magazine Date Shake · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona
2. Eater Date Shake · The Most Iconic Dishes in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Winner · Exceptional Culinary Experience

A steak-and-sushi restaurant inside Scottsdale Fashion Square, which tells you exactly who the room is built for. The menu runs from raw fish and specialty rolls through wagyu and pasta, so you can arrive with shopping bags and leave with a bill to match. The herb-roasted branzino, served over lemon rice, has drawn particular attention from local critics. Not cheap, but the kitchen takes the food more seriously than the setting might suggest.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix New Times Herb-Roasted Branzino · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

1. AAA Approved
2. Phoenix Magazine Ankimo · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Food Pioneer · Matt Carter

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

A roll-up garage door on a repurposed corner house sets the tone for this tiny Old Town Scottsdale coffee shop, which doubles as a weekend car show venue. The counter fits maybe two people standing, but a shaded patio and a quiet garden out back absorb the overflow. Weekend mornings bring themed gatherings of Porsches or vintage off-roaders, which pairs better with a lavender honey latte than you might expect.

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix

1. Wine Enthusiast Top 50 New Restaurants

A wood-fired pizza spot set inside an actual house, backyard patio and all, in a neighborhood that otherwise runs on bottle service and valet queues. Chef Gio Osso, known for finer dining elsewhere in the Valley, keeps things loose here: simple salads, pies with charred, bubbled crusts, and toppings that lean toward chestnut honey and rapini pesto rather than the standard playbook. Bring a bottle and a friend who won't mind lingering.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Pizza · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

At Sizzle, the servers run the grill, so you can just sit there looking relaxed and cosmopolitan while someone else does the work. This Korean barbecue spot builds its menu around pork or beef sampler platters, with different cuts arriving in waves alongside banchan, salad, and steamed egg. Soju cocktails filled with fresh fruit handle the drinks side. Phoenix New Times named it the top Korean barbecue in the area.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Korean Barbecue · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Korean Barbecue · Best of Phoenix

A wood-fired oven big enough to anchor the room sets the tone at this Neapolitan pizza restaurant in Scottsdale, where the dough is certified by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association, which is Naples's way of saying they're watching. The menu fans out across Italian regional cooking, with a lean toward pasta, but the Margherita is the honest measure of the place. Outdoor spaces and a lively room mean the noise level is part of the deal.

1. 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza USA Excellent Pizzerias

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 best breakfast spots in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 best breakfast spots in Phoenix

The pastry case sets the pace at this all-day French cafe in Scottsdale: grab a croissant on your way out, or settle into the chic little dining room for a proper quiche with a flaky crust and a side salad dressed in a vinaigrette so good they bottle it for sale. Crepes, eggs Benedict, and omelets round out the menu. French conversation drifts out from the kitchen, which feels less like ambiance and more like a genuine reflex.

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 best breakfast spots in Phoenix

Turquoise booths and a menu that hasn't needed rethinking in decades: this Scottsdale franchise of the national pancake-house chain has been the neighborhood's default breakfast spot for a long time. The Dutch Baby, finished with lemon and whipped butter, is the order that regulars treat as non-negotiable. Griddle-focused, diner-priced, and reliably packed on weekend mornings with people who had the good sense to arrive early.

1. Phoenix New Times The 10 best breakfast spots in Phoenix

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

High ceilings, gold cocktail shakers, and a rack of lamb that belongs nowhere near a mall, yet here we are at Scottsdale Fashion Square. Francine is a Mediterranean-French restaurant with the polish of a countryside manor and the energy of a room where people came dressed to be seen. The bar pulls its own weight if you're not staying for dinner, and the wine list gives everyone a reason to linger.

1. Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale
2. Phoenix New Times Delicious dozen: The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

A gelato shop in Old Town Scottsdale where the owner brought recipes from his hometown in southern Italy and hasn't wavered since. The flavors run classic, almond with orange, hazelnut, milk cream, plus dairy-free fruit options, and the affogato is the move if espresso is involved in your afternoon. The crowd is half tourists already pretending they're somewhere else, and the gelato gives them a reasonable case.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Gelato · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times Where to find the best ice cream in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times These Valley smokehouses serve the best barbecue in Phoenix

A mirrored peacock spreads its feathers behind the bar, setting the tone for what this North Scottsdale spot is going for: upscale Indian dining with cocktails, high ceilings, and a room dressed for date night. Curries run from butter chicken to lamb vindaloo, the dal makhani is rich enough to warrant extra naan, and the shareable starters give you an excuse to linger. Phoenix New Times named it the city's top upscale Indian restaurant in 2025.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Upscale Indian Food · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Indian restaurants in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times Where to find the best ice cream in Phoenix

This is a gelateria in a Shea Boulevard shopping center, where you order on an iPad before you ever meet a human, which feels very Scottsdale until the scoops arrive. Flavors lean adventurous, with mesquite honey lavender and a ricotta studded with fig sharing the case with mint cookies and cream. You can taste before committing, and each cup or cone gets a crisp wafer on top. Cheap enough, casual enough, flip-flops welcome.

1. Phoenix New Times Where to find the best ice cream in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner · Outstanding Bar/Nightlife Experience
2. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
3. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Scottsdale

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Scottsdale

Mirror-glazed, multilayered pastries from a chef whose résumé includes Chez Panisse, Tartine, and Noma, now available at a small South Scottsdale walk-up bakery open Wednesday through Saturday evenings. Mark Chacón's desserts were already circulating through Phoenix's better cafes before he opened this shop, so the crowd showing up already knows what it wants. Top sellers go fast, which at these hours is less a warning than a scheduling note.

1. Eater The Best Bakeries in Phoenix, Arizona

A donut shop in Old Town Scottsdale that leans into vintage furniture and bright walls, making it feel more like a coffee shop than a bakery. The donuts themselves split the difference between cake and yeast, landing somewhere denser and breadlike, which gives toppings like strawberry shortcake crumbles or Lucky Charms marshmallows something to push against. The pizza donut and mac and cheese fritter are exactly as committed to the bit as they sound.

1. Phoenix New Times A delicious dozen: The 12 best doughnut shops in the Valley

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Common Ground Culinary · Outstanding Hospitality Group

1. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

1. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Phoenix

Din Tai Fung is a dressy dumpling house at Scottsdale Fashion Square, where a glass window lets passersby watch the kitchen staff fold each dumpling by hand. Inside, a bonsai-style tree anchors the dining room, and nearly every table has a silver steamer of soup dumplings and a diner learning about molten broth the hard way. Reservations are less a suggestion than a survival strategy, and 2:30 on a Tuesday is a fine time to eat.

1. Phoenix New Times Steamed, boiled or fried: Where to find the best dumplings in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist · Brunch With a Punch

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Common Ground Culinary · Outstanding Hospitality Group

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

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Scottsdale

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Lobstah Roll · Standout Signature Dish

Prep & Pastry is a sunny, white-washed brunch spot near Fashion Square, the Scottsdale outpost of a Tucson original, with a menu that runs to dossants, which are exactly what they sound like. Expect a cast iron duck confit, a chickpea scramble, and a Monte Cristo built on herb brioche French toast with pineapple and jalapeño mascarpone. It opens at 8 a.m. daily, and Eater has put it on a list of Phoenix brunches.

1. Eater The 15 Best Brunches in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times A delicious dozen: The 12 best doughnut shops in the Valley

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Common Ground Culinary · Outstanding Hospitality Group

1. Phoenix New Times Where to find the best ice cream in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner: Strawberry Marzipan Shortcake · Most Delectable Dessert

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Common Ground Culinary · Outstanding Hospitality Group

1. Eater The Best Bakeries in Phoenix, Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Potato Pureé · Best Dish in a Supporting Role

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Maggiore Group · Outstanding Hospitality Group

A tiny donut shop tucked into a shopping center off Hayden, where the menu categories are literally named Classy, Fancy, and Schmancy, so expectations are appropriately calibrated. Yeast donuts, cake donuts, mochi donuts, fritters, and seasonal pastries all share the case, and the creme brulee donut gets a kitchen torch before it reaches you. Phoenix New Times put it on their list of the Valley's top dozen donut shops.

1. Phoenix New Times A delicious dozen: The 12 best doughnut shops in the Valley

The Thumb is a north Scottsdale gas station where you pump gas outside and order brisket by the platter inside, under a chandelier that looks lost. Counter service, cash-register prices, and a gift shop and coffee bar to browse while your number comes up. The beans are so meaty they flirt with chili. Phoenix New Times has named it one of the Valley's top barbecue spots, which is a sentence about a place with a fish tank.

1. Phoenix New Times These Valley smokehouses serve the best barbecue in Phoenix

A fully plant-based burger shop where the patties, cheese, and buns are all vegan, yet every meat-eating friend you drag here tends to go quiet mid-bite. Counter service, casual prices, shopping plaza setting. The menu runs from a straightforward classic to pineapple or jalapeño-topped builds, with loaded fries worth the mess. Phoenix New Times has named it among the top burger joints in the metro two years running, vegan or otherwise.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Vegan Burger · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Vegan Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Common Ground Culinary · Outstanding Hospitality Group

The lighted bays stay open until 9 p.m., which tells you everything about who this driving range is for. Coronado is the anti-Topgolf: no bay reservations, no cocktail menus, no Instagram moments, just a bucket of balls and a borrowed wood if you need one. A nine-hole course and chipping greens round things out. Happy hour drops ball prices and brings $2 cans of beer, which is about as civilized as a Tuesday evening gets. Bring cash.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Driving Range · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Driving Range · Best of Phoenix

Duckpin bowling, axe throwing, and a copper frog you try to land coins into: Lane Park is an adult games hall in Old Town Scottsdale where the activity rotates with the season, shuffleboard in summer and curling when it cools down. Craft cocktails and pizzas keep things going between rounds. It reads like someone asked what a bar would look like if it took the games as seriously as the drinks.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Upscale Indoor Fun · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best International Games · Best of Phoenix

A rusted steel and glass aquatic center building that people apparently stop and stare at instead of swimming. The complex packs in a lap pool, diving well, tube slide, lazy river, and a splash pad, all framed by McDowell Mountain views and a public art installation that, yes, belongs to the pool. Non-Scottsdale residents pay a modest surcharge for the privilege of wondering why their city's public pools don't look like this.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Public Pool · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Public Pool · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Public Pool · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mall · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Mall · Best of Phoenix

Thirty-two soundproofed, air-conditioned lanes with touch-screen targets that rotate 360 degrees give this indoor shooting range a distinctly modern feel, even if the members-only lounge looks like a hunting lodge from another century. No membership is required to rent from one of the largest firearm selections in the state, and safety classes run from beginner family sessions to holster-draw practice. The Cosmic Shooting night, with blacklights and color-changing ammo, is either inspired or unhinged, possibly both.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Indoor Gun Range · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Indoor Gun Range · Best of Phoenix

Some Scottsdale hotels park the hot tub by the pool, which means sharing the water with strangers and their unexplained rashes. Scottsdale Parkview puts one in your room instead, spacious enough for two, in full view of the TV and the windows, the latter detail left to your judgment. It's a hotel that won a Phoenix New Times Best of Phoenix nod for exactly that setup, which tells you where the priorities are.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Hotel Rooms With Ensuite Hot Tubs · Best of Phoenix

The slot machines alone number over a thousand, which tells you something about the scale of Talking Stick Casino before you've even found the table games. It's a full-on resort casino with blackjack, craps, roulette, sports betting, a spa, hotel rooms, a pool that hosts live concerts, and enough restaurants to cover everything from Mediterranean to fine dining. The outside world does tend to dissolve once those doors close behind you.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Casino · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Casino · Best of Phoenix

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.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Karaoke · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Karaoke · Best of Phoenix

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.

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Late Night Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix

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.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Liquor Store · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Liquor Store · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix

A gallery and gift shop in Old Town Scottsdale where a Chuck Jones Looney Tunes painting might hang next to Dr. Seuss drawings and a rack of stickers. The mix is deliberately eclectic, leaning into pop culture without apology, and the shelves stretch into jewelry, books, and children's items. It anchors the Thursday Scottsdale Art Walk but stays open seven days a week, which is a quiet mercy for anyone who can't do crowds.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Stop During the Scottsdale Artwalk · Best of Phoenix

A drum shop tucked into an unremarkable strip mall in Scottsdale, stocked deep enough that "in stock" is practically the store's motto. The owner, Ron, runs the place himself, steers you toward what you need rather than what costs more, and knows his inventory cold. If you're scrambling to replace a snare head before tonight's gig, this is the call to make before you panic-order online.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Drum Shop · Best of Phoenix

An open-air pedal bar that trundles through Old Town Scottsdale with a ring of barstools, a cooler stocked with canned drinks, and a rotating set of bar stops along the route. Yes, it looks exactly like the thing you made fun of from the sidewalk. The joke is that it's a good time, provided your group has at least some tolerance for novelty and zero tolerance for dignity. Pack your friends, grab a Beatbox, and let Scottsdale happen to you.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Way to Party in Old Town Scottsdale · Best of Phoenix

A baseball bat bracelet modeled after Cartier's nail design tells you everything about this Old Town Scottsdale shop's angle. Baseballism sells clothes and accessories that celebrate the game in general rather than pushing straight team merch, so the hoodies and glove-leather bags work year-round, not just during Cactus League season. It skews tasteful, which is a word that doesn't get used much in the souvenir aisle.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Spring Training Souvenirs · Best of Phoenix

Blacklight lanes, craft cocktails, and a Skee-Ball machine are all doing equal work here, which tells you what kind of bowling alley this is. Bowlero's Scottsdale spot near Old Town leans hard into the party-night format, with arcade classics and a food menu that runs from nachos to birria tacos. It's the kind of place where a date night can quietly become a group outing, and nobody minds.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bowling Alley · Best of Phoenix

Guitar repair and setup shop run by a luthier who is also a working musician, which turns out to matter. John Bronson has set up acoustics and electrics for the Gin Blossoms, Billy Corgan, and Roger Clyne, and when Geddy Lee's bass needed work, Fender routed it here. Beyond repairs, he understands how an instrument should feel and sound after adjustments, not just how to tighten the screws. Half the visit is talking gear with the staff, which is either a feature or a warning depending on your schedule.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Guitar Repair · Best of Phoenix

Cooking classes in Scottsdale where you leave with recipes, technique, and, if the timing works out, a container of leftovers. The academy has been around forever, running small-group sessions that range from a single afternoon on pizza or barbecue to multi-week deep dives into whole cuisines. Instructors teach proper knife work and the kind of baking that actually scares people, then let you cook and eat the results yourself.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Cooking Classes · Best of Phoenix

A gas station liquor store that actually gives you something to browse, Food & Things pairs Shell fuel and a solid six-pack selection with a snack and treat aisle deep enough to lose track of time in. The quirky range of goods skews more corner-store-with-personality than pit stop, and the whole operation runs with the easy warmth of a place that would rather keep you than just move you through.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Convenience Store · Best of Phoenix

Reclining seats, genuine leg room, and a full bar serving cocktails make this Scottsdale multiplex feel less like a trip to the cinema and more like a minor lifestyle upgrade. Harkins Camelview 14 runs blockbusters alongside art house titles, and the outdoor patio pulls double duty as a pre-show gathering spot and, during cooler months, an actual screening venue. Phoenix New Times named it the valley's top luxury movie theater in 2025.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Luxury Movie Theater · Best of Phoenix

An 11-mile paved path running along Hayden Road through Scottsdale, the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt draws cyclists, joggers, and walkers in numbers that ensure you'll never feel like you've discovered anything. Parks, ponds, and the occasional heron break up the route, and restrooms appear often enough that you won't have to make any difficult decisions. Flat, shaded in stretches, and loaded with infrastructure, it's a reliable weekend afternoon loop for anyone who finds mountain trails more punishing than fun.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bike Path · Best of Phoenix

Mac repair shop in Old Town Scottsdale that's been around forever, predating Apple's own retail stores and the genius bars inside them. The pitch is that Apple stores are busy showrooms; MacMedia is where you go when you need someone who actually knows your machine, including the older ones Apple would rather you forget. House calls for Wi-Fi setup are on the table too, which the Genius Bar decidedly is not.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mac Repair · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Cheap Fun for Kids · Best of Phoenix

At 21,000 acres, McDowell Mountain Regional Park is the largest in the Maricopa County system, which means you can spend a serious stretch of trail watching saguaros go from ankle-height seedlings to forty-foot elders without repeating yourself. The upper Sonoran Desert does its most theatrical work out here, all wide sky and arm-waving cacti. Bring water, wear shoes with grip, and resist the urge to touch anything that looks huggable.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See Saguaro Cactuses · Best of Phoenix

A dry cleaner that does the one thing dry cleaners are supposed to do: returns your clothes clean, pressed, and intact, on the day they said they would. Broken buttons and vanished jackets are someone else's problem here. Prices sit a notch above budget, but the little black dress comes back sequins and all, which turns out to be the part that matters most.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Dry Cleaners · Best of Phoenix

Sea turtles the size of coffee tables, otters doing their otter thing, rays gliding overhead in a walk-through tunnel. OdySea is a full-scale aquarium in Scottsdale, with touch tanks, penguin encounters, and a Starbucks that quietly serves cocktails, which is either inspired or deeply on-brand for the desert. Tickets run around $50, though evening hours drop the price and some nights go adults-only for anyone who finds the school-group energy a bit much.

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

A strip-mall shop in Scottsdale where the glass cases hold digital recorders, door alarms, throwing stars, and bulletproof backpack inserts, all arranged with the cheerful practicality of a hardware store. It's the kind of place that makes you feel both safer and slightly paranoid in the same visit. They also handle fingerprint clearance cards, which is either very convenient or a little on-the-nose depending on why you're there.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Do a Little Recon · Best of Phoenix

A craft brewery taproom in north Scottsdale that solved the age-old standoff between beer nerds and sports fans by simply installing TVs everywhere. The brewmaster leans toward classic European styles, rotating Czech lagers, English milds, and an Oktoberfest marzen through the taps. The covered patio connects to a permanent BBQ food trailer, so there's no reason to leave at halftime. Phoenix New Times named it Best New Brewery of 2025.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best New Brewery · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix

A blowout bar that will take your hair wet, dry, or fresh from the shampoo bowl, which removes at least one reason to cancel. Primp and Blow runs through blowouts, braids, up-dos, and extensions across a string of Valley locations, with stylists who move fast enough to have you looking camera-ready in under 40 minutes. Makeup appointments are available too, if you'd like to commit fully to the bit.

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

Signed albums and framed lyrics line the walls of this Scottsdale gallery, which sits somewhere between a serious auction house and a very good argument for obsession. Original paintings by Paul McCartney and Ronnie Wood hang alongside a Stratocaster signed by all three members of Nirvana during an SNL taping. Gold records and signed drum heads fill the gaps. Most people leave empty-handed and perfectly happy about it.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Music Memorabilia · Best of Phoenix

A men's clothing shop in downtown Scottsdale where the vibe is rustic and unhurried and the music is actually good. Rooster Bus stocks brands like Faherty, Howler, and Goorin Bros., the kind of labels that read as put-together without announcing it. The edit skews versatile, covering a backyard cookout as easily as a night out. For anyone who finds clothes shopping a quiet ordeal, this place has a way of making it something closer to an afternoon off.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Men’s Clothing · Best of Phoenix

A public tennis facility where the courts were recently resurfaced and reservations happen with a single phone call. Drop-in doubles, leagues, lessons, and ball machine time are all on the menu, and the lights stay on until 10:30 p.m. Court fees are a few dollars a session, which makes the regulars here less precious about their backhands than at most places. Phoenix New Times named it the best tennis courts in Phoenix in 2025.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Tennis Courts · Best of Phoenix

Hot pink walls and poster collages that look borrowed from a college dorm set the tone at this maximalist charm shop and trinket store in Scottsdale. The charm bar is the main event, with gold-plated options running from tiny martini glasses to handmade tomato seed charms, because a butter stick on your wrist is a personality statement. Clothing and a house swimwear line round things out. Groups can book time to browse together, which is the intended vibe.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Charm Store · Best of Phoenix

A strip-mall card shop in Scottsdale where the staff can tell you whether that rookie pull is worth grading and will handle the PSA submission paperwork so you don't have to. The hobby has gotten expensive and a little arcane since the '90s, and Valleywide seems to exist specifically to meet that confusion with a straight answer. Weekend afternoons draw collectors of every age, which is either heartwarming or proof that the hobby never really left.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Sports Card Shop · Best of Phoenix

Sunrise over the Sonoran Desert looks different from a Robinson R66 at altitude, which is the whole argument for booking with this family-run helicopter tour company out of Scottsdale. Routes cover metro Phoenix, Sedona, and the Superstition Mountains, with mountaintop picnic flights for anyone who finds restaurants too horizontal. Pilots are seasoned and apparently good at talking first-timers off the ledge before liftoff does it for them.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Helicopter Rides · Best of Phoenix

Film cameras are having their moment, and Wilson Camera has been ready since the Eisenhower administration. This old-school camera shop in Scottsdale sells and services vintage gear and develops nearly every film format you can feed it. The new owner leaned hard into analog when everyone else went fully digital, so you can actually drop off your rolls here rather than mailing them to some lab in Brooklyn like everyone else apparently does.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Old-School Camera Shop · Best of Phoenix

More than 400 Indigenous-owned small businesses share a permanent indoor market in Old Town Scottsdale, selling handmade goods that range from beaded jewelry and hand-carved pottery to soaps and sand art. The nonprofit vending program requires all participants to be of Native American descent, so purchases go straight to the makers. A seasonal outdoor market runs on weekends in cooler months for anyone who prefers browsing under the sky.

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Indigenous-Made Goods · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Indigenous-Made Goods · Best of Phoenix