What was Mon Cheri?
Mon Cheri was a champagne cafe and charcuterie bar in a converted 1953 house at 7014 E 1st Avenue, on First Avenue just east of Goldwater Boulevard in Old Town. Founder Lexi Caliskan, who had started the cosmetics brand Original MakeUp Eraser in 2013, opened it in March 2024 with Uno Más Hospitality Group. AZ Big Media described the building as the former Arcadia Farms house; it sits across First Avenue from the address of Arcadia Farms Cafe, which is still serving lunch.
The name means “my dear,” and the idea was what Caliskan called “the girlfriend style of eating”: shareable boards and plates, champagne cocktails, desserts, and a room designed with the camera in mind. The renovation took months and, by the restaurant’s own account, gallons of pink paint. Guests walked a pink carpet under a towering awning of faux pink roses into rooms with their own names, House 54 for the bar, The Coliseum for the patio and Passport de Paradis for the dining room, under deep crimson roses and gold chandeliers. Plates were pink and silverware gold, the bathroom had a gilded swan theme, and a ring-lit photo booth framed a heart-shaped rose wall.
It was built for bachelorette parties, bridal and baby showers and visiting friends, and that is who came. New Times’ first look in April 2024 expected a gimmick and found “a well-executed design that could easily lean towards gimmicky but instead comes off as fun and self-aware,” with a menu to back it up.
Its last year was a run of bad headlines. A burglary in October 2025 went viral when the security video showed the intruders’ “alleged amorous activities” under the roses. In early 2026 the owner aired family drama and multiple lawsuits in a series of Instagram stories, and the restaurant closed in March 2026. Our verdict: a sincere, well-made novelty that delivered exactly what its crowd wanted, until the business behind it came apart.
What the menu and the house were
Order to share. New Times’ critic started at happy hour with the apple chutney burrata, honey and honeycomb over burrata with toasted bread, sweet and savory and billed as hot honey though it read mild, and the strawberry chicken chopped salad with warm grilled chicken, goat cheese, strawberries, almonds, lettuce and mint. Both were sized for two or three people, and the critic called the prices fair for the ingredients. Two signature charcuterie boards, one Mediterranean and one Italian, anchored the menu, alongside the Old Town Board of local ingredients the owners had promised before opening.
Then something pink. Entrees included a Pink Alfredo pasta, and the bar bites ran to Wagyu sliders with Gruyère and panko-crusted chicken strips with fries. The French name was more mood than menu: New Times called the food European-adjacent and mostly American.
Drink the color. The cocktails were designed to be photographed: the Mochatini, Mon Cheri’s espresso martini; the Pink Drink, built on dragon fruit; and the Honey Hot Margarita with habanero honey and a strawberry-cinnamon reduction. Mocktails were taken seriously. The Wonder Lust, with alcohol-free rum, drank like a frozen mojito, and the Pink Swan was deep purple, minty and floral, and the critic could barely tell they were alcohol-free. Before opening, the owners also promised a champagne cart by the front patio and a bubble bar.
Brunch was the main event. The weekend menu added an Italian Brunch of burrata, eggs and cured meats with a pastry sampler, a bagels and lox tower and chicken and waffles. Groups live-streamed it and lined up at the photo booth, which made this the busiest and loudest time to go. For the full genre, see our bachelorette weekend guide.
Getting there. The house had covered front and east patios and a back courtyard. New Times warned that the Google listing did not match the address and sent drivers to a rocky lot about a quarter mile away; the rose awning, visible from down the street, was the landmark to aim for.
Pink paint, a viral break-in and a public unraveling
Mon Cheri fits a particular moment in Old Town’s 2020s dining scene, when the city’s long role as a bachelorette destination met Instagram and produced restaurants designed as backdrops. New Times tied its arrival to the popularity of the “Barbie” movie and the Barbie-Mattel amusement park then under construction. What set Mon Cheri apart was the building: not a new box on the Waterfront but a 1953 house on First Avenue, steps from the galleries, with the patios and courtyard that old Old Town houses have and new construction lacks.
The record on its business is thinner than the record on its decor. Caliskan was a first-time restaurateur who partnered with Uno Más Hospitality Group, a newly founded team of hospitality professionals, according to the opening announcement. The press we found did not report revenue, staffing or how long the Uno Más partnership lasted.
Then came the headlines. On October 25, 2025, two people broke in, took cash, liquor and the host phone, and were filmed in what police later called “alleged amorous activities.” The restaurant posted the footage with the line “Help.. they violated our roses,” and Scottsdale police arrested two suspects on November 3 and 4, booking them on burglary charges. New Times counted it among the sauciest food stories of the year. A few months later the owner posted what New Times called a dramatic tell-all series of Instagram stories describing family drama and multiple lawsuits. KTAR reported that in a video she cited a divorce and custody fight and her bank calling in the restaurant’s mortgage. Phoenix Magazine listed Mon Cheri among its March 2026 closings, citing the owner’s legal and financial issues. The press we found does not report what will become of the house.
Honest assessment: Mon Cheri was better than its premise. The food was fair, the mocktails were genuinely good, and the room was the most committed piece of themed design in Old Town. The record ties its closing to the owner’s legal and financial troubles rather than to an empty dining room, and the rose awning on First Avenue deserved a steadier business behind it.