The 31 Best Restaurants in Tempe

The injera arrives with every order, a spongy sourdough flatbread that doubles as plate and utensil, and first-timers get a menu with a glossary to help them figure out what they've just ordered. This Ethiopian restaurant has been an ASU rite of passage for what feels like forever, a family-run strip mall spot that leans hard into vegetarian dishes and fragrant stews. The dining room is cozy and carpeted, and the coffee ceremony is not decorative.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

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

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 Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

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 2024 · Best Neighborhood Bar · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Bar · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Neighborhood Bar · Best of Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: Church Music · Favorite Local Craft Beer

1. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe
2. Phoenix Magazine Curry Lamb Pot Pie · Top 100 Dishes of Arizona

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Phenomenal Fast Casual Concept

The curved brick entryway opens into an oblong room of deep green walls, gold candelabras, and picture frames, which is a lot to pull off inside a Tempe strip mall. Bar Capri is an Italian restaurant and bar with the bones of a big-city neighborhood spot: cocktails and a tight wine list from a back bar, lasagna and arancini coming through the kitchen window. Tiramisu closes things out, and nobody seems in a hurry to leave.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best new Phoenix restaurants of 2025
3. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Day Drinker · Favorite Local Craft Beer

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist: Portobello Mushroom Pita Pocket · Best Vegan Delight

1. AAA Approved

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

Named for the roadside pit stops where Indian truck drivers fuel up on cheap, filling food, this casual Punjabi restaurant in Tempe takes the concept seriously: long menu, affordable prices, homemade breads, and tandoori meats that smell like someone's actually cooking back there. The thali is the move if you want the full picture, chai and dessert included. Street snacks, deep-fried things, and curry round out a menu that rewards indecision.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Neighborhood Indian Spot · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The 10 best Indian restaurants in Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

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

1. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

The Kilt Lifter Scottish Ale has been filling pints here long enough that it's practically a local institution, and the Mission Revival warehouse it lives in only adds to the effect. Four Peaks is a full-scale brewpub with a cavernous brick interior, a sprawling patio, and a menu that covers wings and nachos but also green chile mac and cheese for anyone who needs more than bar food. Spring training crowds and ASU students pack the place, which tells you most of what you need to know about the vibe.

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner: The Joy Bus · Favorite Local Craft Beer
2. Eater The Best Bars in Phoenix

The homemade pita, puffy and fresh, is the detail that keeps ASU students coming back across generations at this no-frills Tempe restaurant and grocery. Shawarma, falafel, kebabs, and baba ghanoush fill the menu at prices that don't require a financial aid disbursement. Baklava in pistachio and Arizona pecan closes things out. The strip-mall setting is deeply unromantic, which seems to be the point.

1. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Koffee Kolsch · Favorite Local Craft Beer

1. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

1. Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe

1. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Workday Lunch Break · Best of the Valley

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.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Middle Eastern Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Middle Eastern Restaurant · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Cold Brew: Chocolate Peanut Butter Shaker · Best of the Valley

1. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Cold Brew: Chocolate Peanut Butter Shaker · Best of the Valley

1. Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Ice Cream · Best of the Valley

Pears, gorgonzola, dried cranberries, and toasted hazelnuts in a house cider vinaigrette is the move that explains the name at this family-owned East Valley bistro. Ten composed entree salads anchor the menu, with enough add-on proteins (salmon, shrimp, falafel, mock chik'n) to handle any table's dietary politics. Quinoa bowls, tacos, pasta, and a full bar round things out for groups that can't agree on anything except where to go.

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

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.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Hot Dogs · Best of Phoenix