Every Scottsdale restaurant worth knowing — past and present
Scottsdale has been feeding people theatrically since the first mesquite-broiled steak hit a checkered tablecloth: cowboy steakhouses with neckties stapled to the rafters, resort dining rooms that chased five stars, and today’s chef-driven blocks in Old Town. This is the working archive — 143 places to eat right now and 76 legends we’ve lost, each with what to order, what it costs, and the story behind it. Every page has a reading-depth toggle: skim it in 30 seconds or go full rabbit hole.
Openings by decade
Tap a decade to filter to the restaurants born in it. Height = how many opened.
219 of 219 showing
Cafe Monarch
A family-owned, reservation-only Old Town dining room serving a weekly-changing four-course prix fixe — routinely ranked among the top fine-dining restaurants in the entire country and the Valley's default special-occasion table.
$$$$ Old Town institution
FnB
Charleen Badman and Pavle Milic's Old Town restaurant put Arizona farm-to-table cooking on the national map — a James Beard Award, an all-Arizona wine list, a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the best plate of leeks in America.
$$$ Since 2009
Los Olivos Mexican Patio
The Corral family's adobe landmark has fed Old Town Scottsdale since the late 1940s — Sonoran enchiladas, margaritas, and a sculpted folk-art facade that's been a rite of passage for first-time visitors for nearly 80 years.
$$ Since 1947
Maple & Ash
Chicago's glamorous hearth-fired steakhouse landed at the Scottsdale Waterfront in 2019 with two-Michelin-star chef Danny Grant's menu, a fire-roasted seafood tower, and the loudest, best-dressed dining room in the city.
$$$$ Since 2019
P.F. Chang's (the original)
The very first P.F. Chang's opened July 20, 1993 at Scottsdale Fashion Square, founded by Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang — and the flagship still operates today, just across the street at the Scottsdale Waterfront.
$$ Since 1993
The Mission Old Town
Chef Matt Carter's modern Latin flagship beside the historic Old Adobe Mission — a moody, candlelit room of tableside guacamole, salt-slab searing, and wood-grilled pork shoulder that has defined Scottsdale dining since 2008.
$$$ Since 2008
The Sugar Bowl
A shocking-pink ice cream parlor that has anchored Scottsdale Road since 1958, immortalized in hundreds of Family Circus cartoons and still serving hot fudge sundaes to the grandchildren of its first customers.
$ Since 1958
Cowboy Ciao
Peter Kasperski's whimsical 'modern American with global influences' flagship helped invent contemporary Old Town dining, launched chef Bernie Kantak and the legendary Stetson chopped salad, and anchored Stetson Drive until tax debt and bankruptcy ended its 21-year run in October 2018.
$$$ Closed 2018
Don & Charlie's
Don Carson's Chicago-style chophouse was the Cactus League's living museum — every wall covered in signed balls, bats, and jerseys, with Hall of Famers at the next table each March. For 38 years, it was where baseball ate in Scottsdale.
$$$ Closed 2019
Greasewood Flat
For 40 years, an open-air burger-and-beer roadhouse built around an 1880s bunkhouse near Pinnacle Peak, where bikers, cowboys, snowbirds, and CEOs shared picnic tables and fire barrels until the land sold in 2015.
$ Closed 2015
Mary Elaine's
The Phoenician's rooftop French dining room was Arizona's standard-bearer for formal fine dining for two decades — a AAA Five Diamond room with a Grand Award cellar where Alex Stratta and Bradford Thompson won James Beard Awards before it closed in April 2008.
$$$$ Closed 2008
Pink Pony
For nearly seven decades, Old Town's legendary steakhouse doubled as the unofficial clubhouse of the Cactus League — owner Charlie Briley helped bankroll Scottsdale Stadium itself — before three closures between 2009 and 2016 ended it for good.
$$ Closed 2016
Pinnacle Peak Patio
For 58 years, the giant of north Scottsdale: a mesquite-smoke cowboy steakhouse that seated crowds by the thousand, hung tens of thousands of severed neckties from its rafters, and taught generations of visitors that Scottsdale dinner could be a rodeo.
$$ Closed 2015
Trader Vic's Scottsdale
For nearly three decades, Victor Bergeron's famed tiki empire held court at Fifth Avenue and Craftsman Court, pouring mai tais for Paul Newman, Eva Gabor, and every Scottsdale local with a date to impress — Polynesian glamour, 1962 to 1990.
$$$ Closed 1990
Andreoli Italian Grocer
Chef Giovanni Scorzo's strip-mall grocer-trattoria on Via Linda is a national cult favorite — bread, mozzarella, pasta, and gelato all made in-house by the Calabrian-born James Beard semifinalist, worth every minute of the fluorescent-lit line.
$$ Since 2005
Atlas Bistro
A tiny South Scottsdale strip-mall dining room serving serious globally-inspired tasting menus with a no-corkage BYOB policy fed by the AZ Wine Company shop next door — Valley food insiders' favorite open secret.
$$$ Since the mid-2000s
AZ88
A glass-walled Civic Center landmark serving martinis, burgers, and towering fries until midnight since 1988 — with rotating avant-garde art installations, no reservations, and the best people-watching in Scottsdale.
$$ Since 1988
Barrio Queen
The original Barrio Queen by the Old Town canal bridge pairs regional Mexican cooking — cochinita pibil, birria, house-pressed tortillas — with more than 400 tequilas and a riot of Dia de los Muertos color, and launched a statewide restaurant family in 2011.
$$ Since 2011
Berdena's
A tiny, minimalist specialty coffee bar tucked off 5th Avenue in Old Town Scottsdale, famous for honey lavender and rose cardamom lattes and a line that regularly stretches out its very small door.
$ Since 2017
Blanco Cocina + Cantina
Fox Restaurant Concepts' splashy Sonoran-style cantina anchors the redeveloped Borgata of Scottsdale near the Paradise Valley border — short rib tacos, guacamole, and margaritas on one of the busiest patios on lower Scottsdale Road.
$$ Since 2022
Bootleggers Modern American Smokehouse
Bootleggers pairs low-and-slow smoked brisket and ribs with a deep American whiskey list in a moody, Prohibition-styled Old Town room — one of the only serious barbecue operations in a city that mostly outsources its smoke.
$$ Smoking since the 2010s
Bourbon & Bones Chophouse
Square One Concepts' contemporary chophouse opened in 2016 and became an Old Town anchor — prime and wagyu steaks, an extensive raw bar, and one of Arizona's deepest whiskey collections at 600-plus bottles.
$$$$ Since 2016
Bourbon Steak
Michelin-starred chef Michael Mina's AAA Four Diamond steakhouse at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, where butter-poached prime cuts, duck-fat fries, and a roughly 3,000-bottle cellar have set the Valley's resort-steakhouse standard since 2007.
$$$$ Since 2007
Brat Haus
Old Town's European-style beer garden — scratch-made bratwursts, poutine, soft pretzels and 28 craft taps under the trees, with ping pong, giant Jenga and a dog-friendly gravel patio that makes it Scottsdale's most reliable group hang.
$$ Since 2012
Breakfast Club
One of the originals of Scottsdale's modern breakfast boom, the Breakfast Club's Old Town flagship has fed hungover bar-crawlers and business breakfasts alike for two decades — diner classics on one side of the menu, cheffier fare on the other, and a weekend line to prove it.
$$ Two decades running
Butterfield's Pancake House
A Shea Boulevard staple since 2005, Butterfield's is Scottsdale's old-school pancake house — oven-baked apple pancakes, super omelettes, corned beef hash, and bottomless coffee served by staff who know the regulars' orders by heart.
$$ Since 2005
Butters Pancakes & Café
The family-owned original of a Scottsdale-born breakfast chain: scratch-made pancakes, crepes, and fresh-squeezed OJ served daily from 6:30 am to 2:30 pm on Hayden Road since 2005, with weekend waits to prove it.
$$ Since 2005
CALA Scottsdale
Celebrity chef Beau MacMillan's splashy 2022 return to Valley dining — a 5,000-square-foot coastal-Mediterranean room at the Senna House hotel bringing Greece, Spain, Italy and Morocco to the eastern edge of Old Town.
$$$ Since 2022
Carlsbad Tavern
A veteran-owned, family-run Scottsdale tavern serving bold New Mexican cooking since 1995 in a cave-themed room of bats, waterfalls, and Roswell kitsch — with a late-night kitchen that made it a legendary industry hangout.
$$ Since 1995
Cartel Roasting Co.
Cartel helped launch Arizona's third-wave coffee movement from Tempe in the late 2000s, and its 5th Avenue outpost brings house-roasted single origins to Old Town in an industrial, bohemian room — the coffee nerd's pick in a neighborhood of latte art.
$ Roasting since the late 2000s
Cholla Prime Steakhouse & Lounge
Casino Arizona's white-tablecloth steakhouse on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Community serves prime rib and classic steak dinners at prices the Scottsdale resort corridor can't match — a longtime local secret hiding in plain sight.
$$$ Decades running
Chompie's
The Borenstein family built Arizona's definitive New York deli starting in Phoenix in 1979, and the Scottsdale location on Shea keeps the hand-rolled bagels, matzo ball soup, and Sunday bagel-run tradition alive for the northeast Valley.
$$ Valley institution since 1979
Chula Seafood
The Heflin family — commercial swordfish fishermen out of San Diego — opened this fish market and lunch counter at Hayden and Roosevelt in 2016, serving swordfish off their own boat, FV Chula. The best seafood story in landlocked Arizona.
$$ Since 2016
Cielito
The rooftop restaurant and bar atop the AC Hotel Scottsdale Old Town, serving seafood-forward flavors of Mexico's northwest coast on a skyline patio — one of the buzziest recent additions to Old Town's upscale Mexican scene.
$$$ 2020s newcomer
Cien Agaves Tacos & Tequila
An Old Town original since 2007, Cien Agaves pairs scratch-made Mexican cooking with more than a hundred agave spirits — a taco-and-tequila bar that USA Today readers have ranked among the best Mexican restaurants in the country.
$$ Since 2007
Citizen Public House
Chef Bernie Kantak's upscale gastropub on 5th Avenue, opened in 2011 and home of the cult-famous Original Chopped Salad — one of Arizona's first cocktail-driven kitchens and still the gastropub Scottsdale measures the rest against.
$$$ Since 2011
Coach House
Scottsdale's oldest tavern has poured under the same family since 1959, opens at 6am and closes at 2am, and every winter disappears beneath thousands of Christmas lights — the great equalizer of Old Town, where bikers and CEOs share the patio.
$ Since 1959
Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers
Born in north Scottsdale in 2011, this truth-in-advertising sports bar grew into one of Arizona's most successful homegrown chains on legitimately great burgers, a deep beer list, and roughly 30 TVs per location.
$$ Since 2011
Course
Chef Cory Oppold's tasting-menu-only dining room hides in a Shea Boulevard strip mall and serves some of the most visually precise food in Arizona — a Chopped champion's answer to resort fine dining, minus the resort.
$$$$ Since 2022
Craft 64
This Main Street brewpub-pizzeria pairs wood-fired pies made with housemade mozzarella and local ingredients with 30-plus Arizona craft taps — earning a spot among the top 50 pizzerias in America from Italy's 50 Top Pizza guide.
$$ Since 2013
Culinary Dropout
Sam Fox's rebellious gastropub at the Scottsdale Waterfront is Fox Restaurant Concepts at its most fun — pretzels and provolone fondue, 36-hour pork ribs, yard games and live music — the default group-hang restaurant for a generation of Scottsdale diners.
$$ A 2010s original, still packed
Daily Dose Old Town Bar & Grill
Locally owned by Matt and JenLyn Long, Daily Dose is Old Town Scottsdale's scratch-kitchen breakfast standby — cinnamon roll pancakes, breakfast nachos, and Hangover Sandwiches served to neighborhood regulars and the walking wounded of Saturday night alike.
$$ An Old Town morning standby
DeFalco's Italian Eatery, Grocery & Deli
The DeFalco family has run this combined Italian grocery, deli, and red-sauce eatery on South Scottsdale Road since 1972, working from recipes brought over a century ago — the Valley's most authentic slice of the old neighborhood.
$ Since 1972
Diego Pops
Inspired by taco-and-tequila conversations on Yucatan beaches, Diego Pops brought a playful, pink-hued modern taco shack to Old Town in 2015 — home of the cult Brussels sprout nachos and one of the most photographed dining rooms in Scottsdale.
$$ Since 2015
Dierks Bentley's Whiskey Row
Country superstar and Phoenix native Dierks Bentley's modern honky-tonk anchors Old Town's entertainment district with Southern comfort food, nightly live music, and one of the deepest whiskey walls in Scottsdale — the corner where cowboy boots meet bottle service.
$$ Since 2013
Dominick's Steakhouse
The Mastro brothers' Scottsdale Quarter steakhouse stacks prime and wagyu beef under one of America's strangest restaurant amenities — a rooftop pool deck where you can eat cabana-side above Scottsdale Road.
$$$$ Since 2011
Eddie V's Prime Seafood
Darden's flagship luxury seafood brand at Scottsdale Quarter pairs prime seafood and steaks with live jazz nightly in the V Lounge — a location so successful the company closed its nearby Wildfish rather than compete with it.
$$$$ A Quarter fixture since the early 2010s
Eggstasy
The Shea corridor's maximalist brunch destination piles on creative benedicts, red velvet pancakes and morning cocktails — all the flourish of the Old Town brunch scene without the Old Town parking.
$$ A Shea standby for years running
El Chorro
One of Arizona's most storied restaurants: an adobe dinner house between Camelback and Mummy mountains, serving complimentary sticky buns and lawn-party sunsets to generations of Valley celebrations since 1937.
$$$ Since 1937
El Hefe
Riot Hospitality's 'super macho taqueria' — legitimate tacos and margaritas by day, DJs and dancing on the tables by night — the archetype of the taco-to-club formula that defines modern Old Town Scottsdale nightlife.
$$ Since 2013
Elements
The clifftop restaurant of Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort — for two decades the launching pad of celebrity chef Beau MacMillan, and still the Valley's definitive view table for seasonal American cooking with Asian accents.
$$$$ Since 2001
Farm & Craft
A Scottsdale-born 'sustainable wellness' restaurant that tags its menu by health benefit — anti-inflammatory, probiotic — without surrendering brunch-crowd fun, holding down a big Scottsdale Road patio daily from morning through dinner since 2016.
$$ Since 2016
Fat Ox
Chef Matt Carter's sleek 7,000-square-foot modern Italian room on the Scottsdale-Paradise Valley border, named for Italy's Bue Grasso festival — handmade pastas, slow-roasted meats, and one of the Valley's top Italian dining rooms since 2017.
$$$$ Since 2017
Fate Brewing Company
Steve 'McFate' Fate's 11,000-square-foot south Scottsdale brewpub pairs Great American Beer Festival-winning house beers with a full scratch kitchen and wood-fired pizzas — the anchor of the south Scottsdale Road craft scene since 2015.
$$ Since 2015
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse — DC Ranch
Fleming's has anchored Market Street at DC Ranch since the development's early years, giving North Scottsdale's master-planned communities a neighborhood prime steakhouse — co-founded by Paul Fleming, the restaurateur who launched P.F. Chang's in Scottsdale.
$$$$ Since the early 2000s
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar
The upscale national steakhouse keeps two Scottsdale rooms — the longstanding Lincoln Village dining room and a DC Ranch sibling — making Fleming's the neighborhood's reliable choice for prime beef and a hundred wines by the glass.
$$$$ Decades on Scottsdale Road
Flo's - New Asian Cuisine
Locally owned since 1997, Flo's is north Scottsdale's neighborhood Chinese-American standby — famous lettuce wraps, Mongolian beef, and a Thompson Peak dining room that has fed McDowell Mountain Ranch families for nearly three decades.
$$ Since 1997
Flower Child
Born from Scottsdale-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, Flower Child turned organic grain bowls and wraps into a sunny fast-casual formula that spread nationwide — and the 90th Street location near Shea is the local office crowd's weekday-lunch mainstay.
$$ A 2010s Fox Concepts original
Fogo de Chao
The Brazilian churrascaria's Scottsdale steakhouse at Lincoln Village brings the full gaucho experience — fire-roasted meats carved continuously tableside until you flip the card to red — to the Scottsdale Road resort corridor, a high-volume favorite for celebrations.
$$$ Fires burning for years running
Frank & Lupe's Old Mexico
The cheerful cantina that dished New Mexico-style enchiladas to Old Town's gallery district for three decades, quietly closed in 2025 — then came back to life in 2026 at Gainey Ranch, original scratch-made recipes and all.
$$ Since 1995
Goldman's Deli
Tucked into a Hayden Road strip near Hilton Village, Goldman's is Scottsdale's old-school Jewish deli — chopped liver, gefilte fish and corned beef made the way transplanted East Coasters remember, a beloved holdout of a vanishing genre.
$$ Decades running
Goldwater Brewing Co.
Old Town Scottsdale's own production brewery since 2015, named for Arizona's most famous political family, with small-batch and barrel-aged releases poured in a below-street-level taproom locals call the Draft Mine.
$$ Since 2015
Grassroots Kitchen & Tap
A dark-wood neighborhood tavern with a chef's touch, Grassroots serves southern-leaning American comfort — fried chicken, short rib grilled cheese, bourbon — to a McCormick Ranch crowd that treats it like an extension of their own kitchen.
$$ A 2010s-era neighborhood fixture
Grimaldi's Pizzeria
The Brooklyn Bridge coal-oven legend chose Old Town Scottsdale for its Arizona debut in the early 2000s — then moved its company headquarters here, making the blistered, smoky Grimaldi's crust the Valley's benchmark for New York pizza.
$$ Since 2003
Handlebar J
Scottsdale's original rib house has been run by the musical Herndon family since 1975 — fall-off-the-bone ribs, live country six nights a week from the Herndon Brothers Band, and free Wednesday dance lessons keeping the two-step alive.
$$ Since 1975
Hash Kitchen
Chef Joey Maggiore's brunch-only party palace opened at Gainey Village in 2015 and turned Scottsdale mornings into a scene — a 50-topping build-your-own Bloody Mary bar, DJ weekends, and cereal-crusted French toast that launched a growing chain.
$$ Since 2015
Hearth '61
The signature restaurant of the rebuilt Mountain Shadows resort, named for Paradise Valley's 1961 incorporation, pairs chef Charles Wiley's ingredient-driven American cooking with floor-to-ceiling Camelback Mountain views just over the Scottsdale line.
$$$ Since 2017
Hillstone
Long known to locals as Houston's before taking the parent company's name, Hillstone is the dark-boothed clubhouse at the Paradise Valley border where half of Scottsdale closes deals over spinach dip, French dips, and ribs.
$$$ Decades running (as Houston's, then Hillstone)
HULA'S Modern Tiki
The Scottsdale outpost of Phoenix's modern tiki pioneer strips the genre of its kitsch — scratch Hawaiian-inflected food, award-winning tropical cocktails, and giant roll-up glass walls that open Old Town onto a street-side patio.
$$ Since 2016
Hush Public House
Chef Dom Ruggiero's unassuming strip-mall restaurant opened in February 2019 and became one of the Valley's worst-kept secrets — elevated pub-influenced cooking that earned a spot in the inaugural Michelin Guide Southwest.
$$$ Since 2019
Ironwood American Kitchen
The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess's all-day American restaurant serves local, organic, sustainably sourced comfort cooking on a plaza-facing patio — the relaxed, family-friendly anchor of one of Scottsdale's deepest resort dining lineups.
$$$ Princess mainstay
Isabella's Kitchen
American-Italian comfort food and wood-fired pizzas at Grayhawk Golf Club since 2012, with a patio pointed straight at the McDowell Mountains — the rare golf-club restaurant North Scottsdale locals treat as their own.
$$ Since 2012
J&G Steakhouse
Jean-Georges Vongerichten's steakhouse at The Phoenician replaced the legendary Mary Elaine's in 2009 and remains the resort's fine-dining flagship — globally spiced prime steaks and seafood served with the best sunset terrace in Scottsdale.
$$$$ Since 2009
Jalapeño Inferno
For decades this family-run cantina has been north Scottsdale's neighborhood Mexican restaurant, feeding the Pinnacle Peak and Troon crowd Sonoran platters and seriously good green chile in a part of town where restaurants rarely last.
$$ Decades running
JING Scottsdale
The Aspen-born glam-Asian concept opened its fourth location in 2025 after an $11 million transformation at Scottsdale Road and Shea — waterfall chandeliers, velvet booths, and the JING portfolio's first Spanish Josper charcoal oven behind sushi, prime steaks, and premium seafood.
$$$$ Since 2025
La Hacienda
The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess's storied Mexican restaurant has run since the resort opened in 1987, later reimagined by chef Richard Sandoval — long ranked among the finest upscale Mexican dining rooms in the country, with a tequila library to match.
$$$ Since 1987
La Zozzona
The fine-dining centerpiece of the Grand Hyatt Scottsdale's $115 million renovation, created with Top Chef All-Stars winner Richard Blais — handmade pastas and charcoal-grilled steaks in a love letter to Italian-American cooking at Gainey Ranch.
$$$$ Since 2024
Ling & Louie's Asian Bar and Grill
The Arizona-born Asian-fusion grill on Shea Boulevard, open since 2008 and frequently cited as the brand's first location — playful mashup cooking built on the fictional romance of Ling from Taiwan and Louie from Ohio.
$$ Since 2008
Local Bistro + Bar
A chef-driven independent near Hayden and Pinnacle Peak serving handmade pastas, wood-fired pizzas, and hand-cut steaks — the Grayhawk area's quiet answer to the resort corridor for well over a decade.
$$$ Over a decade running
Loco Patron
A homegrown Arizona cantina-sports bar hybrid, Loco Patron's Old Town location is the unpretentious counterweight to the neighborhood's clubby taco spots — big patios, big TVs, and margaritas priced for regulars, with a beer-brewing sibling up north.
$ An Arizona-grown cantina, decades running
Lon's at the Hermosa
The AAA Four Diamond restaurant of the Hermosa Inn occupies cowboy artist Lon Megargee's hand-built 1930s adobe hacienda, where executive chef Brian Peterson's wood-fired, Arizona-rooted cooking meets one of metro Phoenix's most atmospheric dinner settings.
$$$$ Decades running
Los Sombreros
Chef Azucena Tovar turned a 1930s house on south Scottsdale Road into the Valley's temple of interior Mexican cooking in 1994 — lamb adobo, real mole, killer margaritas, and a twinkle-lit patio that still feels like a secret.
$$ Since 1994
Luna by Giada
Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis's flagship Arizona restaurant inside Caesars Republic Scottsdale pairs her Roman family recipes with California brightness, live music at the bar and a front-row seat to the Fashion Square scene.
$$$ Since 2024
Malee's Thai Bistro
A fixture of Old Town's Main Street arts district since 1987, Malee's has served Thai curries and pad thai to gallery-goers for nearly four decades — one of Scottsdale's longest continuously running restaurants.
$$ Since 1987
Marcellino Ristorante
Roman-born chef Marcellino Verzino and his wife Sima run one of Scottsdale's most personal Italian dining rooms on Stetson Drive — daily handmade pasta, live jazz nights, and old-world service from a chef who still works his own stove.
$$$ Two decades running
Mastro's City Hall Steakhouse
The Old Town outpost of Scottsdale's homegrown Mastro's steakhouse dynasty, serving steaks on 400-degree sizzling plates, towering seafood platters and warm butter cake to a piano-bar crowd for over two decades.
$$$$ Since 2003
Mastro's Ocean Club
The seafood-forward sibling of Scottsdale-born Mastro's Steakhouse anchors Kierland Commons with dry-ice shellfish towers, prime steaks, nightly live music, and the warm butter cake that ends every big night out in North Scottsdale.
$$$$ Since 2008
Mastro's Steakhouse (the original)
The first Mastro's Steakhouse opened in 1999 near Pinnacle Peak and Pima, where the Mastro family's 1,500-degree broiler, sizzling-plate service, and piano-lounge glamour created a luxury steakhouse template later exported to Beverly Hills, Chicago, and New York.
$$$$ Since 1999
Mowry & Cotton
The Phoenician's approachable-but-ambitious restaurant opened during the resort's 2017 reinvention, pairing fire-driven modern American cooking with a lively, DJ-scored room by the pool — the grande dame's deliberately unbuttoned side.
$$$ Since 2017
Nobu Scottsdale
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa's world-famous Japanese-Peruvian empire anchors Scottsdale Fashion Square's luxury wing — miso black cod, yellowtail jalapeño, and omakase that announced Scottsdale's arrival on the global luxury-dining circuit.
$$$$ Since 2016
North Italia (the original)
Sam Fox and chef Christopher Christian opened North in a vacant Kierland Commons space in 2002; the handmade-pasta concept became Fox Restaurant Concepts' flagship brand, sold to The Cheesecake Factory in 2019 — and location number one is still rolling dough daily.
$$ Since 2002
OBON Sushi + Bar + Ramen
Tucson-born OBON brought its mix of sushi, ramen, and pan-Asian street food to Scottsdale Quarter in 2017 — a modern, approachable room where the maki gets Southeast Asian accents and the daily happy hour does heavy lifting.
$$ Since 2017
Ocean 44
The seafood-focused sibling of Steak 44 from the Mastro restaurant family, Ocean 44 has been the Valley's benchmark for high-end fish since 2018 — a massive, clubby Fashion Square room built on daily-flown seafood and prime steaks.
$$$$ Since 2018
Olive & Ivy
Fox Restaurant Concepts' Mediterranean restaurant-and-marketplace has anchored the Scottsdale Waterfront's canal bank since 2007 — mezze, brunch and a sprawling patio over the Arizona Canal, steps from Fashion Square.
$$ Since 2007
Orange Sky
Talking Stick Resort's signature fine-dining room sits 15 floors up with 360-degree glass, named for the blazing desert sunsets it frames — steak, seafood, and an award-winning wine list east of the 101.
$$$$ Since 2010
Oregano's Pizza Bistro
Mark Russell opened the first Oregano's in a 1930s Old Town adobe in 1993 as a tribute to his father's 1950s Chicago pizza days — and the retro-stuffed-pizza bistro that birthed the Pizza Cookie grew into a homegrown Arizona empire.
$$ Since 1993
Original ChopShop
Ryan and Caitlin Jocque opened this Old Town juice-and-bowl shop on 5th Avenue in 2013, betting early on the fast-casual healthy wave — the chain it spawned now spans Arizona and Texas, but the original still feeds Old Town daily.
$ Since 2013
Over Easy
Chef Aaron May's diner-inspired breakfast concept — a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives alum — brings waffle dogs, crisp hash browns, and chef-technique griddle classics to the Ancala corner of North Scottsdale.
$$ An Arizona morning staple
Pescada Scottsdale
An upscale seafood restaurant and raw bar on North Pima Road near DC Ranch, bringing fresh oysters, coastal plates, and craft cocktails to a stretch of north Scottsdale that had everything except a proper fish house.
$$$ Since the 2020s
Pita Jungle
Founded by three ASU grads in Tempe in 1994, Pita Jungle pioneered healthy Mediterranean eating in Arizona long before hummus went mainstream — and the Shea Boulevard location is Scottsdale's reliable standby for shawarma and wood-fired lavosh.
$$ Since 1994 (Tempe original)
Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana
Pomo holds the Verace Pizza Napoletana certification — dough, San Marzano tomatoes, and a 90-second wood-fired bake vetted to Naples' strict standards — making its Scottsdale dining room a pilgrimage for Neapolitan pizza purists since the early 2010s.
$$ Since the early 2010s
Postino Highland
The Scottsdale outpost of Arizona's beloved wine-cafe family delivers the formula locals swear by: bruschetta boards, approachable wines, $6 glasses before 5pm, and the famous weeknight bottle-and-bruschetta deal that made Postino the Valley's default first date.
$$ An Arizona original, decades running
Prado
The flagship restaurant of the Omni Scottsdale Resort at Montelucia, where Moorish-Andalusian architecture sets the stage for Spanish-leaning Mediterranean cooking, wood-fired dinners and one of the Valley's grandest Sunday brunches.
$$$ Since 2008
Press Coffee
The homegrown Phoenix roaster's Scottsdale Quarter cafe has anchored north Scottsdale's specialty coffee scene since the center's early days, with serious sourcing and barista training that keep it a clear step above the mall-coffee norm.
$ Since 2008
Rehab Burger Therapy
A beach-shack-themed Old Town burger joint slinging peanut butter bacon burgers, mac-and-cheese-topped patties and boozy shakes since 2012 — with a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives stamp from Guy Fieri to prove the indulgence is doctrine.
$$ Since 2012
RESERVE
An ultra-intimate, appointment-only tasting-menu hideaway on 1st Avenue with a dress code, live piano, and an 8,000-bottle cellar — earning Michelin recognition in 2026 and the inaugural Michelin Southwest Sommelier Award for wine director John Germain.
$$$$ Since the 2020s
Roaring Fork
Founded by James Beard Award-winning chef Robert McGrath, Roaring Fork defined upscale 'American Western' cooking in Arizona — wood fire, green chile pork, and the famous big-ass burger keep its Scottsdale Road saloon an institution decades on.
$$$ Decades running
Roka Akor
The steak-and-sushi concept built around a Japanese robata charcoal grill, with Scottsdale among its flagship U.S. locations — binchotan-grilled prime beef and pristine sushi that keep it atop every local Japanese-dining list.
$$$$ Since 2011
Rusty Spur Saloon
Scottsdale's oldest saloon pours drinks in the 1921 Farmers State Bank building — the vault now holds the liquor — with live country music every day and night, no cover, and a guest list that has included John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.
$ Since 1951
Salt & Lime Modern Mexican Grill
A locally owned modern-Mexican grill that gives the Shea corridor its own taco-and-margarita destination — scratch salsas, fresh-squeezed margaritas, and lighter, brighter takes on cantina classics without the drive to Old Town.
$$ Since the 2010s
Sel
Chef-owner Branden Levine's jewel-box dining room among Old Town's Main Street galleries pairs refined French technique with global flavors — three parallel five-course prix fixe menus make it Scottsdale's most flexible fine-dining ticket.
$$$$ Since 2017
ShinBay Omakase Room
Arizona's most rarefied sushi experience: an intimate Old Town counter led by Osaka-born chef Ken Tanaka, serving a $285 two-hour omakase at two nightly seatings and recognized in the inaugural Michelin Guide Southwest in 2026.
$$$$ Since 2021
Sip Coffee & Beer House
Old Town Scottsdale's hybrid coffeehouse-and-craft-beer bar, where remote workers, first dates, and open-mic musicians share the same worn couches from morning espresso through late-night pints.
$ 2010s and running
SOL Mexican Cocina
The Newport Beach-born Baja concept that landed at Scottsdale Quarter in 2012 and never left — coastal Mexican plates, a serious tequila list and one of north Scottsdale's most dependable patios.
$$ Since 2012
Sorso Wine Room
Scottsdale Quarter's anchor wine bar hands you a card and a wall of enomatic machines — dozens of wines poured by the ounce, self-serve — paired with flatbreads and boards in a room built for groups and grazers.
$$ Scottsdale Quarter era
Spinato's Pizzeria & Family Kitchen
The Spinato family's Chicago tavern-style thin crust and cult-favorite spinach pizza, served at The Block near Talking Stick by one of Arizona's most beloved family-run restaurant groups, in business since the 1970s.
$$ Since the 1970s
Starfish Scottsdale
Orange County's Starfish Hospitality Group picked McCormick Ranch for its first restaurant outside California, opening May 5, 2026 at Hayden and Via de Ventura with a 5,200-square-foot dining room and 90-seat patio of polished coastal-Asian cooking.
Since 2026
SumoMaya
The high-energy Mexican-Asian mashup at Scottsdale Road and Lincoln that pioneered the Valley's fusion-party-dining genre in 2013 — shareable plates, a legendary patio, and DJ-fueled weekend brunches that remain a Scottsdale scene staple.
$$$ Since 2013
Sweet Republic
Two former finance professionals opened this artisan ice cream shop in a Shea Boulevard strip mall in 2008 and built one of America's most nationally praised scoop shops, churning small batches from Arizona dairy.
$ Since 2008
Talavera
The Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale's signature restaurant serves Spanish-accented prime steaks against boulder-strewn Pinnacle Peak sunset views — the fine-dining anchor of the city's far-north resort corridor since 2009.
$$$$ Since 2009
The Americano
Celebrity chef Scott Conant's Italian-inspired steakhouse in North Scottsdale pairs dry-aged bistecca with his famous spaghetti pomodoro — and in 2026 handed the kitchen's direction to fellow Food Network star Beau MacMillan.
$$$$ Since 2021
The Breakfast Joynt
A north Scottsdale neighborhood breakfast house near McDowell Mountain Ranch serving honest home cooking — biscuits and gravy, big omelets, friendly counter-style service — in a corner of the city otherwise dominated by chains.
$$ Years running
The Canal Club
The stylish restaurant of The Scott Resort & Spa serves Caribbean-inflected American cooking and rum cocktails in a 1930s Cuban-colonial setting — a favorite hidden patio-and-bar scene between Old Town and Camelback Mountain.
$$$ Since 2017
The Capital Grille
The national steakhouse's Scottsdale outpost at the Promenade near Kierland dry-ages its beef in-house, keeps a 350-plus-label wine list, and quietly runs the business-dinner economy of the Airpark corridor.
$$$$ Decades running
The Ends
Tommy Plato's Anthony Bourdain-inspired restaurant on Stetson Drive hops borders course by course — Laos sausage to bison with bone-marrow butter — with a visible pasta room and the craft DNA of his old speakeasy, Second Story.
$$$ Since 2024
The Greene House
Fox Restaurant Concepts' Craftsman-styled one-off at Kierland Commons has been north Scottsdale's special-occasion standby since 2007 — seasonal American cooking from an open kitchen, in the rare Fox room that never became a chain.
$$$ Since 2007
The Guest House Scottsdale
Austin's 'vibey' steakhouse opened January 9, 2026 in the former Etta space at Scottsdale Quarter, bringing DJ energy, tableside grill theatrics, tuna-caviar cones, and a wagyu program to North Scottsdale's most-watched new room.
$$$$ Since 2026
The Herb Box
Founded as a 1990s Scottsdale catering company by Susan Wilcox and Becca Windsor, The Herb Box grew into one of the city's most enduring farm-to-table restaurants — its Old Town 5th Avenue room and Shea Boulevard outpost still set the local brunch standard.
$$ 1990s roots, on 5th Ave since 2021
The Mission Kierland
Chef Matt Carter's modern-Latin hit expanded from Old Town to Kierland Commons in 2017, bringing candle-lit drama, tableside guacamole, and a Spain-to-South-America menu — North Scottsdale's rare chef-driven Latin room.
$$$ Since 2017
The Montauk
A Hamptons beach house teleported to Old Town Scottsdale — lobster rolls, clam chowder, smash burgers, frozen drinks, and DJ-driven weekend brunches that bridge the neighborhood's restaurant and nightlife scenes better than almost anyone.
$$ Since 2017
The Morning Squeeze
A cheeky, retro-styled Old Town diner where classic breakfast meets day-drinking energy — banana Nutella crepes, carne asada frittatas, and a mimosa list that fuels the Scottsdale brunch crawl from a prime people-watching patio.
$$ Since 2013
The Salt Cellar
A Valley landmark since 1971, the Salt Cellar is built entirely underground — descend three flights into a subterranean dining room where the Huie family has flown in fresh seafood daily since 1980, king crab legs first among equals.
$$$ Since 1971
The Thumb
A working gas station, car wash, gourmet market, and legitimate competition-style barbecue joint in one North Scottsdale building — founded by a former surgeon, blessed by Guy Fieri's Triple D crew, and beloved by locals eating ribs while their SUVs get detailed.
$$ Since 2011
The Vig McCormick Ranch
Genuine Concepts planted its popular Phoenix tavern brand in McCormick Ranch in 2014, styling the mid-century-meets-rustic patio and lawn-games backyard as a salute to the classic Scottsdale neighborhood around it.
$$ Since 2014
Tiki Taka
Richard Blais's playful Japan-meets-Spain restaurant at the renovated Grand Hyatt Scottsdale pairs sushi with Spanish tapas — the most original concept among the resort's six-venue dining overhaul at Gainey Ranch.
$$$ Since 2024
Toca Madera
The Madera Group's modern Mexican steakhouse brought Los Angeles nightlife-dining to Scottsdale Fashion Square — tableside-torched tomahawks, theatrical mezcal cocktails, and DJ-driven energy that defines Old Town's vibe-dining wave.
$$$$ Since 2021
Tommy V's Urban Kitchen & Bar
A dinner-only Italian room on Indian School Road running on old-school supper-club energy — veal, chops, house pastas, a deep wine list and regular winemaker dinners — that has held its ground through Old Town's churn since 2012.
$$$ Since 2012
Toro by Richard Sandoval
Richard Sandoval's pan-Latin restaurant at the TPC Scottsdale clubhouse — Latin grill cooking, sushi-crudo crossovers, and a rum bar overlooking the 18th green of the course that hosts the WM Phoenix Open.
$$$ Since 2015
True Food Kitchen
Dr. Andrew Weil and Sam Fox's wellness restaurant at Scottsdale Quarter, serving anti-inflammatory bowls, seasonal vegetables, and clean-eating comfort food since 2010 — the Arizona-born concept that took healthy dining national.
$$ Since 2010
U.S. Egg
A family-run Arizona breakfast institution since 1986, U.S. Egg invented its cult-famous protein pancakes decades before high-protein menus were a trend — and the Old Town location still runs the formula: big omelets, fast service, done by mid-afternoon.
$ Since 1986
Uchi Scottsdale
James Beard winner Tyson Cole's acclaimed Austin sushi house opened its Arizona outpost at Scottsdale Road and First Street in February 2024, instantly joining the top tier of Scottsdale sushi with its non-traditional, chef-driven Japanese cooking.
$$$$ Since 2024
Veneto Trattoria
A quietly excellent Venetian trattoria at Hilton Village that has served fegato alla veneziana, salt cod and proper risotto to a devoted crowd since 1997 — the last of Scottsdale's old-guard regional Italian rooms still going.
$$$ Since 1997
Village Coffee Roastery
Roasting its own beans in the same McCormick Ranch plaza since 1996, Village Coffee is the rare independent that predates — and outlasted — every specialty coffee wave around it, a neighborhood institution in the fullest sense.
$ Since 1996
Virtù Honest Craft
Chef Gio Osso's intimate Mediterranean restaurant inside the Bespoke Inn courtyard made Esquire's best new restaurants list in 2013 and has kept him a perennial James Beard semifinalist — the most romantic chef-driven room in Old Town's arts district.
$$$ Since 2013
Voila French Bistro
A genuinely French neighborhood bistro tucked into a Via Linda shopping plaza in east Scottsdale — escargot, duck confit, and classic technique from French owners, without resort pricing. One of the city's last true French dining rooms.
$$$ Since the 2010s
Wasted Grain
Wasted Grain stacks three venues into one Old Town address on Stetson Drive — a gastropub kitchen, a tree-shaded patio, and the upstairs Old Town Ski Lounge dance club — with national touring bands giving it more substance than its party-district neighbors.
$$ Since the 2010s
Weft & Warp Art Bar + Kitchen
The Andaz Scottsdale's signature restaurant cooks Sonoran Desert flavors over a custom mesquite hearth in a room named for weaving, with an art-bar concept that channels the Cattle Track Arts Compound next door.
$$$ Since 2017
Zinc Bistro
Chef Matt Carter's first restaurant, a faithful Parisian brasserie anchoring Kierland Commons since 2002 — zinc bar, garden patio, moules frites, and onion soup that have made it the Valley's benchmark French bistro for over twenty years.
$$$ Since 2002
Zipps Sports Grill
A Valley institution since the 1980s, Zipps is Arizona's definitive neighborhood sports grill — famous wings, the cult 'golden' buffalo sauce, and an Old Town location that turns into a clubhouse every game day.
$ Since the 1980s
ZuZu
The mid-century-modern restaurant of the landmark 1956 Hotel Valley Ho, reborn in 2005 — turquoise banquettes, retro American classics, and the famous rotating Show Stopper milkshake make it the most photogenic slice of Scottsdale's Hollywood-hideaway history.
$$ Since 2005
5th & Wine
For seven-plus years, the unpretentious wine bar of the 5th Avenue shops — weeknight bottle deals, patio tables, and low-stakes charm that made it Old Town's default first-date and Wine Wednesday spot until it closed in 2017.
$$ Closed 2017
8700 at the Citadel
Named for its own address, 8700 was the big-ticket, big-view dining room of the late-1980s Citadel complex — the restaurant that taught Scottsdale fine dining could live at Pinnacle Peak, years before the Troon resorts arrived.
$$$$ Closed
Anderson's Fifth Estate
For 25 years, Anderson's Fifth Estate on Fifth Avenue was downtown Scottsdale's restaurant-nightclub hybrid — burgers by day, packed dance floors and live acts by night — evolving with every era of Valley nightlife before its 2007 rebranding ended the run.
$$ Closed 2007
Asia de Cuba
The China Grill Management import inside the ultra-hip Mondrian Scottsdale brought big-city Asian-Cuban fusion and scene dining to Indian School Road during the boom years — and vanished with the hotel when the recession crushed it around 2009.
$$$ Closed 2009
Avanti of Scottsdale
The Scottsdale sibling of Benito Mellino and Angelo Livi's continental-Italian institution — black-lacquer art deco glamour, piano music, career waiters, and tableside fettuccine Alfredo that made it a see-and-be-seen anniversary room for decades.
$$$ Closed 2010
Ayako of Tokyo
For three-plus decades, Scottsdale Fashion Square's teppanyaki steakhouse — communal grill tables, knife-flipping hibachi chefs, and the onion volcano that headlined a generation of Scottsdale birthdays, proms, and anniversaries.
$$$ Closed 2019
Bandera
The Hillstone Group's rotisserie-driven American grill on Scottsdale Road was a quarter-century neighborhood default — wood-fired chicken, ribs, and famous skillet cornbread with a bar that filled nightly — until the March 2020 shutdown ended it for good.
$$ Closed 2020
Bobby McGee's Conglomeration
Nightclub impresario Bob Sikora's campy supper-club-meets-disco, founded in Scottsdale in 1971, where servers dressed as pirates and superheroes, the salad bar filled a claw-foot bathtub, and the formula spawned a chain of two dozen locations from Arizona to Australia.
$$ Closed
Buster's Restaurant, Bar & Grill
For two decades, the polished-casual seafood grill on Hayden Road was McCormick Ranch's de facto clubhouse — mesquite-grilled fish, strong martinis and a bar full of regulars — before closing in the late 2000s.
$$ Closed 2009
Cafe Terra Cotta
The Scottsdale outpost of Donna Nordin's pioneering Tucson restaurant brought founding-document contemporary Southwestern cuisine — and a cult-favorite garlic custard — to the Borgata's Italian-village shopping center before both faded in the mid-2000s.
$$$ Closed 2005
Chaparral Room
The celebrated continental dining room of Marriott's Camelback Inn — for decades one of the Valley's premier special-occasion rooms, where tuxedoed captains carved chateaubriand tableside until a resort renovation retired it around 2008.
$$$$ Closed 2008
Chart House
For 41 years, the Chart House occupied one of the Valley's dreamiest settings — a lakeside pavilion on McCormick Ranch's Camelback Lake — serving prime rib, fresh fish, and mandatory mud pie until it closed in 2025 to make way for a new Mastro family steakhouse.
$$$ Closed 2025
Chez Louis
Louis Germain's French restaurant opened on Brown Avenue in 1958 and reigned for more than 30 years as Scottsdale's fine-dining landmark — famous for flying in fresh seafood and hosting stars like Jimmy Stewart before closing around 1990.
$$$ Closed 1990
China Lil's
A memorable name from mid-century Scottsdale dining — the Chinese-American restaurant remembered alongside Hobo Joe's and Trader Vic's from the era when Scottsdale Road was lined with themed dining rooms. Its dates are hazy; its place in local nostalgia isn't.
$$ Closed
Deseo
For nearly two decades, the Westin Kierland's signature restaurant brought Nuevo Latino cooking to north Scottsdale — a ceviche bar shaped by Douglas Rodriguez, the godfather of the genre, with muddle-your-own mojitos as the opening act.
$$$$ Closed
Digestif
Payton Curry's rustic Cal-Italian kitchen in Peter Kasperski's SouthBridge cluster paired house-cured salumi and handmade pasta with one of the Valley's first serious craft-cocktail bars — short-lived, but quietly influential.
$$$ Closed 2009
Distrito
Iron Chef Jose Garces' colorful Mexico City-inspired cantina inside the Saguaro hotel gave Old Town's Drinkwater curve a jolt of jet-set energy in 2012 — and closed mid-decade when the hotel reworked its dining lineup.
$$$ Closed 2016
Drift Lounge
Scottsdale's early-2000s tiki outpost — a moody Polynesian lounge of vintage decor, scorpion bowls, and late-night DJs that predated the national tiki comeback, then closed in the early 2010s and seeded the scene that followed.
$$ Closed 2013
Eddie's House
Celebrity Valley chef Eddie Matney brought his exuberant personality and Lebanese-influenced American comfort cooking to Old Town for nine years — surviving a 2014 bankruptcy before closing in 2017, when Blue Clover took over the space.
$$$ Closed 2017
Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour
The Scottsdale outpost of the turn-of-the-century-themed ice cream chain, where birthday kids got free sundaes, drums banged, sirens wailed, and The Zoo arrived on a stretcher carried by sprinting servers — a Los Arcos-era memory that vanished with the 1980s.
$ Closed
Francine
Laurent Halasz's glamorous French Riviera dining room at Scottsdale Fashion Square's luxury wing brought Cote d'Azur polish, bouillabaisse, and a see-and-be-seen patio to the mall's Nobu corner from 2020 until its abrupt closure in May 2026.
$$$$ Closed 2026
French Quarter (Safari Hotel)
Paul Shank's famed supper club inside the modernist Safari Hotel brought New Orleans nightlife to Scottsdale Road for nearly four decades, drawing John Wayne and Bing Crosby before dying with the hotel itself in 1998.
$$$ Closed 1998
Geisha A Go Go
For 17 years, this poster-plastered sushi den brought Harajuku energy to Old Town — rock-and-roll rolls, pop-art walls, and birthday-party chaos — before closing in June 2024 as its block of Old Town turned over.
$$ Closed 2024
Golden Swan
The Hyatt Regency Scottsdale's signature restaurant for over two decades — a canopied dining room at the edge of the Gainey Ranch water gardens where anniversaries, proposals, and legendary champagne brunches played out until the resort retired it around 2009.
$$$$ Closed 2009
Grabbagreen (the original)
Childhood friends Keely Newman and Kelley Bird opened the first Grabbagreen in 2013 at Loop 101 and Frank Lloyd Wright in Scottsdale, franchised the healthy-fast-food concept nationally, and sold it to Kahala Brands — though the original location has since closed.
$ Closed
Grazie Pizzeria & Wine Bar
For nearly two decades, Grazie was the Main Street arts district's pizzeria-enoteca — wood-fired thin-crust pies and Italian wines poured for gallery browsers and date nights until it closed at the end of 2019.
$$ Closed 2019
Italian Grotto
A red-sauce fixture at Main Street and Scottsdale Road for 42 years, the Italian Grotto fed spring-training crowds and family celebrations from the heart of Old Town until May 26, 2019 — joining Don & Charlie's and the Pink Pony on the list of lost Cactus League hangouts.
$$ Closed 2019
Kazimierz World Wine Bar
Peter Kasperski's candle-lit, speakeasy-style wine bar hid behind Cowboy Ciao with an unmarked door reading only 'the truth is inside' — 15 years of cave-like rooms, live music, and a 3,000-bottle global list that anchored Old Town's grown-up nightlife.
$$ Closed 2018
Kona Grill (the original)
Kona Grill was born at Scottsdale Fashion Square on September 18, 1998, grew into a NASDAQ-listed national chain on macadamia nut chicken and mall sushi, and quietly closed its original location in April 2024 after a 25-year run.
$$ Closed 2024
L'Ecole (Scottsdale Culinary Institute)
The white-tablecloth teaching restaurant of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute — later Le Cordon Bleu Scottsdale — where student brigades served bargain-priced classical French menus under instructor supervision, until the school's December 2017 shutdown closed it for good.
$$ Closed 2017
La Chaumière
One of old Scottsdale's fabled French restaurants — a snug, formal cottage near the Fifth Avenue shops where duck à l'orange, tableside classics and maître d' ceremony defined 'fancy dinner' for a generation of Phoenicians.
$$$ Closed 1995
Lulu Belle
An internationally known Main Street bar and restaurant whose Old West-meets-Gay Nineties-meets-riverboat styling made it THE place to see and be seen in 1950s and 60s Scottsdale, drawing celebrities and tourists through the city's formative resort decades.
$$ Closed
Mabel Murphy's
Bob Sikora's 1972 follow-up to Bobby McGee's — a Scottsdale drinking-and-dancing spot built to soak up his flagship's overflow crowds, which outlived the fern-bar era as a beloved Main Street watering hole before closing in the late 2000s.
$$ Closed 2009
Mancuso's at the Borgata
The Mancuso family's grand Italian-continental dining room anchored the Borgata's faux-Tuscan towers for over two decades — tuxedoed service, veal scaloppine, and every prom and anniversary on the books — until redevelopment forced it out in 2005.
$$$ Closed 2005
Marquesa
The Scottsdale Princess resort's opulent Spanish colonial dining room held AAA Five Diamond and Mobil Four Star honors for its Catalan cuisine, and its lavish market-style Sunday brunch was voted the Valley's best — before regular service ended around 2010.
$$$$ Closed 2010
Martini Ranch
For nearly two decades, Martini Ranch and its Shaker Room stage anchored Stetson Drive nightlife — martinis by the dozen, touring bands before they were famous, and every bachelorette party in Scottsdale — until it poured its last in October 2013.
$$ Closed 2013
Merkin Vineyards Old Town
For five years, Maynard James Keenan of Tool poured a 100 percent Arizona wine list on Stetson Drive, pairing it with housemade pastas built on his own Verde Valley produce — Scottsdale's highest-profile case for Arizona wine until the tasting room closed in April 2024.
$$ Closed 2024
Michael's at the Citadel
Chef Michael DeMaria's elegant dining room in the Citadel complex below Pinnacle Peak was north Scottsdale's premier special-occasion restaurant of the late 1990s and 2000s, famous for its romantic waterfall courtyard and chef's-table cooking classes.
$$$$ Closed 2008
Modern Steak
Sam Fox's short-lived reinvention of the steakhouse at Scottsdale Fashion Square traded dark wood for pink leather and chandeliers — a recession-era Fox Restaurant Concepts experiment aimed at a younger crowd that lasted roughly three and a half years.
$$$ Closed 2012
Old Town Tortilla Factory
Set in an 85-year-old adobe home with one of Old Town's prettiest patios, the Tortilla Factory served Southwestern-Mexican dinners and premium tequila for three decades — until ownership announced in summer 2026 that it would not reopen.
$$ Closed 2026
Orange Table
A beloved, slightly eccentric breakfast-and-lunch cafe on Scottsdale's Civic Center mall, where locals lingered over coffee, board games, and chimichurri corned beef hash until it closed on September 7, 2014.
$ Closed 2014
Palm Court
The formal continental dining room of the Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch, where tuxedoed captains finished Caesar salads, steak Diane, and flaming desserts tableside for four decades — a grand-hotel time capsule that vanished around 2016.
$$$ Closed 2016
Papago Brewing Co. Taproom
Tucked into Papago Plaza at Scottsdale and McDowell, Papago Brewing's taproom pioneered Arizona craft beer — 30 taps, a legendary bottle cooler, and the famous Orange Blossom ale — until the aging plaza was razed for redevelopment in 2019.
$ Closed 2019
Petite Maison
Chef James Porter's shoebox French bistro on Shoeman Lane won critics over with soulful onion soup, escargots, and charcuterie in a converted little house — one of Old Town's most charming chef-driven rooms until its final service in November 2014.
$$$ Closed 2014
Pig & Pickle
A chef-driven gastropub at Hayden and Thomas that gave unglamorous south Scottsdale a legitimate craft kitchen — whole-animal butchery, house pickles, serious burgers, and local beer — before closing in the mid-2010s, still mourned by the neighborhood.
$$ Closed 2016
Pischke's Paradise
Chris Pischke's funky, memorabilia-crammed comfort-food joint opened on Columbus Day 1986 and fed downtown Scottsdale's cops, city workers, and hungover locals for two decades — a beloved institution whose run ended not long after its founder's death in 2007.
$$ Closed 2008
Posh Improvisational Cuisine
Chef Josh Hebert's sleek downtown Scottsdale dining room flipped fine dining on its head — diners checked off ingredients they hated and the kitchen improvised a multi-course menu on the spot, making Posh one of the Valley's most adventurous tables for eight years.
$$$$ Closed 2017
RA Sushi (the original)
Born in October 1997 at Scottsdale Road and First Street, RA Sushi invented the party-sushi happy-hour formula, got bought by Benihana, went national — and the Old Town original closed in August 2025 after 28 years, replaced by an STK Steakhouse.
$$ Closed 2025
Rancho Pinot
Chef Chrysa Robertson's kitschy-chic bistro at Scottsdale Road and Lincoln championed Arizona farmers for 27 years before farm-to-table was a phrase, closing in May 2021 as one of the Valley's most mourned pandemic-era losses.
$$$ Closed 2021
Rawhide Steakhouse
The 1880s-style steakhouse at Rawhide Western Town, the faux-frontier attraction that served mesquite-grilled steaks, rattlesnake, and gunfight shows to millions of visitors in north Scottsdale from 1971 until land values pushed it out in 2005.
$$ Closed 2005
Razz's Restaurant & Bar
Flamboyant Venezuelan-born chef Erasmo 'Razz' Kamnitzer — trademark braid, early Food Network appearances, boundless charm — ran his eclectic namesake near Scottsdale and Shea for a quarter century, cooking globe-trotting food years ahead of its time.
$$$ Closed 2016
Reata Pass Steakhouse
A cowboy steakhouse built on an 1880s stagecoach stop between Phoenix and Fort McDowell, run for decades by 'Doc' Cavalliere's family alongside Greasewood Flat — one of the trio of Old West eateries that ruled far-north Scottsdale until 2012.
$$ Closed 2012
Remington's
For thirty years, the clubby American dining room and jazz lounge at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort — rack of lamb, prime rib, live jazz five nights a week, and every Easter brunch of a generation. It closed in May 2017.
$$$ Closed 2017
Restaurant Hapa
James and Stacey McDevitt's intimate Asian-fusion dining room at Lincoln Village earned Food & Wine Best New Chef honors and James Beard nominations, proving in the late 1990s that Scottsdale could cook at a national level.
$$$ Closed 2005
Sandolo
The Hyatt Regency Scottsdale's lagoon-side Italian trattoria, where the point wasn't the pasta — it was the complimentary gondola ride afterward, poled across the Gainey Ranch waterways by your singing server.
$$$ Closed 2009
Sassi
For 14 years, a purpose-built Mediterranean stone villa in the Pinnacle Peak foothills served refined southern-Italian cooking and hosted half of Arizona's dream weddings — until its owners retired and closed the restaurant in June 2018.
$$$ Closed 2018
Sea Saw
A tiny 28-seat Japanese tapas counter on Stetson Drive where chef Nobuo Fukuda cooked some of the most acclaimed food in Arizona history, winning the 2007 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest before closing in 2009.
$$$$ Closed 2009
Second Story Liquor Bar
For a decade, Old Town's craft-cocktail pioneer hid up a staircase off Scottsdale Road, pairing speakeasy rigor with fine-dining plates until owner Tommy Plato closed it in May 2024 to launch The Ends.
$$$ Closed 2024
Sushi Roku
The high-style LA sushi import inside the W Scottsdale paired inventive rolls and Japanese small plates with a nightlife-adjacent crowd for 15 years, ranking among metro Phoenix's best sushi rooms before pouring its last sake on July 31, 2023.
$$$ Closed 2023
Tapino Kitchen & Wine Bar
Chef James Porter's north Scottsdale small-plates-and-wine spot rode the mid-2000s tapas wave for five years before the recession and a landlord dispute forced an abrupt May 2009 closure — a loss that promptly gave Old Town the French gem Petite Maison.
$$$ Closed 2009
The Drunk Munk
Old Town's flagship modern tiki bar — a dark, bamboo-lined hideout on Stetson Drive serving flaming rum drinks in ceramic monkey mugs with Polynesian-fusion bites, for most of a decade before closing around 2024.
$$ Closed 2024
The Impeccable Pig
A quirky Scottsdale institution of the 1970s and '80s that fused restaurant and antiques shop — you lunched on continental fare and wine surrounded by purchasable furnishings and art — before quietly fading from the scene by the late 1990s.
$$$ Closed
The Other Place
Dale Anderson's dependable American restaurant at the Smoke Tree Resort on Lincoln Drive, named by accident when regulars of his first restaurant kept calling it 'the other place' — a Scottsdale-Paradise Valley border institution for decades.
$$ Closed
The Quilted Bear
For 35 years, Dale Anderson's old-school American eatery near Scottsdale and Lincoln was the Valley's quintessential ladies' lunch: stained-glass windows, an epic salad bar, and models strolling among the tables in informal fashion shows.
$$ Closed 2009
Tuba City Truck Stop
A tongue-in-cheek 'truck stop' planted in the middle of Scottsdale's boutique district, where 1970s shoppers and night owls ate chili and diner grub in a room done up like a highway pit stop — a cult favorite remembered in every local nostalgia roundup.
$ Closed
Twisted Grove Parlor + Bar
The Scottsdale sibling of the Grassroots Kitchen & Tap family served modern comfort food on Hayden Road from 2015 until 2022, when owner Christopher Collins converted the space into Collins Bros. Chophouse.
$$ Closed 2022
Voltaire
For more than 30 years, a defiantly traditional French dining room at McDonald and Granite Reef served escargots, Dover sole, and soufflés to a devoted clientele — until chef-owner David Antonelli conceded to changing tastes and closed it in July 2013.
$$$ Closed 2013
Windows on the Green
For nearly three decades, the Phoenician's elegant Southwestern dining room overlooked the resort's fairways, serving refined chile-driven regional cooking — and quietly outlived its famous sibling Mary Elaine's by almost ten years.
$$$ Closed 2017
Zinqué
The LA-born French-inspired cafe brought all-day lounging, natural wine and le grand plate to Scottsdale Fashion Square's luxury wing in 2020, then shut down in mid-2026 with California bistro Porta Via announced as its replacement.
$$ Closed 2026
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“Gone but not forgotten” entries cover restaurants that shaped how Scottsdale eats but have closed. They’re kept here as local history — and as an argument for going to the good ones while they’re still open.