What is Julio’s Too?
The stretch of Camelback Road east of Scottsdale Road has become one of the most expensive blocks in Old Town. The W Scottsdale has Sexy Roman downstairs and Cottontail Lounge on the roof, and Shiv serves tomahawks a few doors east. In between sits Julio’s Too, which sells chips and salsa by the quart.
Julio’s is a neighborhood Mexican restaurant in the Arizona mold. The menu, refreshed for 2026, still carries the header “The Original Julio’s, Est. 1986” and the promise “Eat In and Take Out.” It reads like a Valley menu from that era: cheese crisps, chimichangas fried and smothered, green corn tamales, red and green chili plates, albondigas soup, and a combo section where you pick two or three items with rice and beans.
Two dishes carry the reputation. Pollo Magnifico is printed as “our house specialty.” The spinach con queso, which the menu calls “our famous,” shows up as a dip, in the spinach enchilada, on a burrito, and by the quart for takeout.
There is a bar with margaritas and cold beer, a patio facing Camelback, and prices from before the block went upscale. It is the kind of place locals use and visitors walk past.
What to order and when
Lunch is the deal. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., an 18-item lunch-special board covers most of the menu at lunch prices: carne asada tacos, a sour cream enchilada, a chile relleno, Julio’s chimichanga, a green corn tamale, flautas, and a lunch-sized Pollo Magnifico.
At dinner, go classic. The chimichangas come with eight fillings, including shredded beef, machaca, red beef chili and green pork chili, deep-fried, covered in sauce and served with sour cream, guacamole, rice and beans. The spinach enchilada dinner shows off the house queso. The Camelback Burger, a half-pound brisket burger with pepper jack and chipotle aioli, is for the person who did not want Mexican. Fajitas come as a plate, a burrito, a quesadilla or a bowl.
Order the dips to share and to take home. Spinach con queso, guacamole, bean dip, salsa and hot sauce are all sold by the half-pint, pint and quart, along with bags of chips. It is an easy party order for anyone staying in a nearby condo or hotel.
Practical notes. Hours run 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. There is a children’s menu and a breakfast burrito. Fashion Square and the Waterfront are a short walk west.
An old-school menu on a changing block
The corner of Camelback and Scottsdale roads has a long Mexican-food history. In the mid-1970s, Garcia’s on the southeast corner was by regulars’ accounts the busiest restaurant in the area, with half-hour waits and margaritas on the sidewalk. Old Town’s Mexican tradition runs from Los Sombreros to modern rooms like The Mission and the scene at Toca Madera.
Julio’s belongs to the earlier tradition. Its menu dates the business to 1986, and nothing on it has been designed for photos: chimichangas, cheese crisps and combination plates, the dishes that defined Arizona Mexican food in the 1980s. The “Too” in the name suggests a second location, and the menu still advertises the separate juliosaz.com web address; the restaurant does not explain the history on its own site.
What has changed is the street. The W opened a few doors west in 2008, the Waterfront towers rose to the west, and the 2020s brought high-end nightlife to this block, from Shiv’s supper club to Sexy Roman’s martini carts. Julio’s prices and menu stayed roughly where they were.
The honest assessment: this is not the most refined Mexican food in Old Town, and it does not try to be. It is a reliable, inexpensive lunch and a good takeout order, and on a block where dinner can easily cost $100 a person, that makes it valuable.