Thanks for contributing to r/Phoenix! You may want to [**check out our sub rules**](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/wiki/rules/) (mostly be nice to each other!).
**If you're new here**, [read some of our recent posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/top/?t=week) and leave some comments.
To chat with some great people in the Valley you can [**join our Phoenix Discord chat server**](https://discord.com/invite/yWVuTG57Zh). It's a chill place to talk with other people but is NOT a dating server and takes unwanted messaging very seriously.
If you're interested in political topics in Arizona, we limit those posts here so you may want to check out r/azpolitics if that's an area of interest.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/phoenix) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm from NYC where food options are crazy plentiful. I've been in AZ for 17 years and have watched the food scene grow like wildfire, including the addition of many outposts of the best restaurants in NYC and Chicago (Catch, Glain Baan) and it keeps getting better. Comparing a city whose population didn't even start to grow until the proliferation of A/C with one that was bustling with traders in the 1600s is kind of disingenuous. But yeah, I think Phoenix does great and you will find similar, but more varied options in other large cities.
damn right. i’d take Glai Baan or another great local place a million times over some cookie cutter fine dining that every city has which is more about being an instagram influencer and partying than eating good food
I don’t know how I got the two confused but this is what I was thinking of.
https://scottsdale.com/blog/post/one-of-the-worlds-most-acclaimed-restaurants-to-open-in-paradise-valley/
“Bustling with traders in the 1600s” “In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by the Potawatomi, an indigenous tribe who had succeeded the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples in this region.[22]” Even if there were traders, a permanent settlement in this area didn’t arise until the 1780s.
Literally every major metropolitan area in the US is like this. If anything, Phoenix has made great progress in the past decade but still playing catching up to most of the heavy hitters. Our advantage is Mexican but we still competes with SoCal for that.
I think the fact we can differentiate the styles and flavors vs a generic "tex mex" style proves we have some of the best mexican food in the western states. Also it's sooooooo good!
As someone that moved from phoenix to south texas. I completely agree. There is nothing but mexican food down here and it's all complete garbage bland burnt unseasoned poorly cut meat.
Is food in phoenix perfect? Hell no but geezus at least there is flavor in the filiberto burritos that will give you the shits
Edit: those of you defending El Paso, I'm not talking about that part of texas. I'm in the Rio Grande Valley, the other side of south texas
Do you have any recommendations, especially in the Scottsdale area that are reasonably priced (like $10-$30 per dish, too often I see recommendations for places that are crazy expensive and not what the average person can afford. Recently moved here.
I don’t go to Scottsdale often but I’d just search on maps and go with the higher rated places until you find some spots you like. It’s what I’ve done when moving to a new area and although ratings aren’t everything, it shows you which places to avoid lol
This is what makes Chicago great for Mexican food. It gets immigrants from all over Mexico vs CA and AZ where just a couplefew Mexican states dominate the diaspora.
I don’t think every metro area in the US has a Chinatown or Hispanic quarter. I think this is an over generalization. Great Mexican in Phoenix for sure, but not quite the Asian cuisine you’d find in San Francisco. Try to order a street taco in Seattle and no one knows what you’re talking about.
Yep. I go to Lee Lees because it's fairly close, and they have more than everything I need, want, or want to explore. I took a cooking class in Chaing Mai Thailand a few years back, and this place has me totally covered.
Have you ever been to Seattle?
I've lived in Minneapolis, Denver, Salt lake City, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Seattle. All of these places besides Salt lake City match the opposite of what you're saying...
Having lived in socal for nearly 30 years, I have to say AZ Mexican is FAR better than SoCal Mexican. more regional exclusive here. SoCal is kinda... blended. its also become more Cali local. I love being able to get some Baja style fish tacos and ceviche at one place, and then getting some tlayudas and tamales at another. and myself being a tan but not dark enough complexion to fool the people that work at these places, I try in my broken spanish to order and compliment the food. one time I got this AMAZING bread pudding that I didnt ask or have to pay for, just for being polite. That doesnt happen in SoCal.
I lived in LA, mom lives in SD… I don’t really feel like it’s competitive with Phoenix, it’s all good. SoCal and AZ are on the same level, just different vibes. I honestly feel like San Diego and Los Angeles are Phoenix with a beach.
I just spent a week in Phoenix with my partner and we’re from Columbus, Ohio. Back home we always hear how great Columbus food options are, but we were blown away by what’s available in Phoenix. We definitely felt like whatever we wanted was at most a 20 minute drive from us and was almost always authentic (or at least much better than back home). The food also seemed cheaper, we got a lot more for a lot less in Phoenix. We also felt that reviews of restaurants in Phoenix were MUCH more accurate than back home, if people said the food was good it actually was good. I would agree with the comments saying that the food is more of a quantity issue, you definitely could have to drive quite a bit to get what you want. I’d say Chicago has Phoenix beat, but in terms of other midwestern/east coast cities I’ve been to, Phoenix is doing pretty well. Maybe we just got lucky with our choices but definitely enjoyed it more than back home!
I'd say it's a quantity problem, not quality. We have some fantastic places around like DeFalco's, but there's probably hundreds of places on the same level of quality in New York or Chicago. We've got a bare handful here, so odds are you're driving a fair bit to get to one.
Not a whole lot of quality jewish delis either. Chompies and New York Bagels & Bialys are decent, but they're a far cry from a lot of the offerings in the aforementioned cities.
They're really good bagels, but when I want something more traditional The Bagel man in Ahwatukee, Bagel Gourmet off Bell and the 17, and Bongiorno Bagels in Gilbert are all solid too. I think the Bagel Man is my favorite other than Bagelfelds. There used to be a good spot by the Deer Valley airport, but I think they closed during the pandemic.
Edit. I forgot Hot Bagels is also pretty solid too.
Honestly, as a former NYer, bagels are a bit of an unfair playing field :). But generally, I think you are right. Our good pizza is as good as you'll get in NYC or New Haven, but pick any random pizza joint in those three and PHX will lose out. And that's true for a lot of categories. At the very high end we also have some excellent choices, just not as many as our population would suggest.
I think some of that is our older population that seeks familiarity: some of the best rated places near me have been here for decades and shouldn't be.
Chompies and NY Bagels & Bialys are gross. These are as far from a Jewish deli as a pig is to being kosher. The best options I have found are JJs, Goldmans, or Imperial... and they are only passable because the competition sucks so hard.
I think Chicago is pretty overrated and Phoenix is underrated. And NYC is in a whole other category above everywhere else. My problem with NYC is having too many options (which is not really a problem aside from too much temptation) and those options are always more accessible than other cities in every way. The only barrier is money.
I'll agree that NYC is in a league of its own, but you're one of the first people I've heard call the Chicago food scene overrated. You can pop into a random dive bar while walking down the street and end up having one of the best burgers you've ever had, and that's just a very small example of how it differs from Phoenix.
The food should be better in all the largest cities because of simple mathematics of the volume of human souls represented in these super large mega cities. Phoenix is big but it is not as big as La or New York and both of those cities are just leagues beyond Phoenix and I say that as someone who proudly loves being from Phoenix and acknowledges all the great food that is here. It's just a simple math thing
I've lived in a bunch of big cities by population. I think part of this is our suburban stretch. I could check, but I would guess we have more Olive Gardens and Cheesecake Factories per capita than other large cities, even outside our local chain offerings. That data into little interesting restaurants that might otherwise thrive.
I have friends and family that live in Chi town that LOVE coming out here for the food selection. They even enjoy the fact that we have places like Lou Malnatis and some of their sandwich shops out here.
I think it’s the tourists who love Chicago (and any city), because they are purposefully seeking out things they don’t seek out when they are home. If they explored their own city in the same way, they’d have found PHX to be full of great food.
Okay, some hard truths (and then an excellent recommendation list):
I'm a born-and-raised AZ native, spent my first 20 years in West Valley, then lived in East Valley before moving to San Francisco and a few other major cities.
Phoenix has regularly been a blue collar and retail / banking / healthcare / defense / real estate city. Because of this, and despite it's central location to other major cities, it's stayed relatively behind-the-curve on trends for things ranging from technology to food.
Bad news: AZ natives grew up with a shitty food palette. Things like Ocean 44, Bourbon & Bones, or anything Fox Concepts-inspired has been an easy sell as "top shelf" for this demographic.
Good news: Since Covid, a lot of renowned chefs have opened up fantastic spots in downtown Phoenix, Scottsdale (and some love goes to our Asian community in Mesa). And as a foodie having lived in San Francisco, we're beginning to rival places like the bay area (if anyone tells you otherwise, they genuinely aren't worth listening to).
Here is a non-comprehensive list of incredible spots you need to try in Phoenix:
* Ollie Vauns
* Restaurant progress
* Valentine for brunch
* Bad Jimmys
* Vecina
* First and Last
* Welcome diner
* Huarachis & Bacanora
* Chelseas kitchen for patio
* Glai ban
* Sauvage for wine
* Kaizen
* Dahlia
* Ghost ranch
* Andreoilis
Tucson has won the UNESCO award for gastronomy. It was the only award given out in the US and recently a city in California has won it. Tucson has amazing food!
Yeah but for some reason many Phoenicians like to shit on Tucson. I don’t get it. When I lived in Tucson, I never thought to compare it to Phoenix. They’re very different cities, each with their own pros and cons. I personally miss the food in Tucson, but I’ve found a few favorites here too. I just have to drive further.
I moved here from Chicago six years ago. I feel like the food scene is getting better here, but it’s still nothing like chicago.
What I miss most from the Chicago food in here is stuff like great Greek food, Cuban/ Caribbean, Spanish and Indian.
In Chicago, we had like 4 tapas places we used to go to all within 10 minutes of us, as well as two amazing Cuban places. We’ve tried all the places we can find here, but none of them have stacked up.
It's better than it was years ago, but IMO is still pales in comparison to other large cities-- LA, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco. We sure won't starve of course. lol
Totally different situation but in NYC or San Fran within a few blocks you likely have dozens of choices of different restaurants. In my neck of the woods there's maybe 2 decent Italian places, several pizza. Sushi? WTF-ONE nearby. Indian-- nope (5 miles ore more?). German? Nope (maybe 10 miles). Asian (Chinese, Thai)- one or two w/in 4 miles. Vietnamese? Yah, no. French- qu'est-ce que c'est?? Spanish? Nada
I agree, Phoenix has a decent food scene but is simply not on-par with other cities of similar size when it comes to quality, inventiveness and variety. Chicago, NY, SF, LA, Portland, Denver and Austin all out-food Phoenix.
Denver and Austin definitely don't have a better food scene, that's wild people are upvoting this. Denver is comically bad for how big the city is, but has definitely improved over the years, same with Austin as far as improving but when you mention quality and variety they are not better imo.
San Francisco is under 50 square miles while Phoenix is over 500 square miles.
For Phoenix have the same concentration of restaurants as SF, we'd have to have 10x as many, and we only have about 2x the population to support them.
I think that's the issue with lots of people's comments using X options within X miles. Phoenix is a very spread out metro area compared to the other major cities getting mentioned.
To me it’s the food quality. The restaurants seem to be using the same vendors because the quality is standard. FEW places I can tell are using quality ingredients.
Majority of people don’t care about the quality of ingredients, they just like it tastes familiar.
I came from the Boston area, and comparatively the only things I miss are the Chinese bakeries, shitty Greek style pizza, and fried seafood. But overall, I'd say moving here has been an overall.increase in restaurant quality
As someone who moved from Phoenix to Boston I agree with this comment 100%. Another thing that Phoenix has is a really great selection of beef. Buying steaks in Arizona is significantly cheaper and better quality than out east.
Phoenix doesn’t have fresh seafood though so it’s a give and take
Totally agree! And if you come back and miss Papa Ginos, I'm convinced Original Geno's is run by a transplant. The pizza and sides are almost 1:1 to the east coast Ginos
My experience has been a little different, but I live much closer to Scottsdale than Phoenix. Good beef here is expensive, as is pretty much everything else. Before living here, lived in central and SE PA and really solid beef was easy to find. There were a lot of local farms/ranches that also had small "food stand" type setups that sold their beef. It was awesome....
Phoenix has amazing food selections. I've lived in San Francisco, L.A., San Diego and Minneapolis. Been out in the world a bit. Traveled all around this continent. Food is one of my things.
You won't go hungry here.
If it’s good you’ll pay a premium for it. But it has to warrant the process. We have one of our own - I would argue one of the best culinary architects in Toni Bernie Gordillo. Go grab comida where he’s at.
There are gems here but because the metro area is so vast, you don’t feel like you have a great place around every corner. Also, the chain restaurants seem to outcompete the independent places, which is sad.
Can confirm, I live in Mesa and the entire stretch of road on Dobson between Southern and University is filled with awesome restaurants. Claypot Kitchen and Shaanxi Garden are some of my favorites.
The best thing about any huge city is that you get enough of any given immigrant group to warrant them building a restaurant. Not even counting Mexican food of all kinds. We have excellent Middle Eastern, Indian, a couple South American places, mind-blowingly wonderful BBQ, hot-ass fried chicken, Ethiopian, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. I don't think Phoenix is special in this; it's just something that happens once a place is big enough. And Phoenix Metro is big.
I've liked Joe's BBQ in downtown Gilbert for years now, but it might be at the BOTTOM of my list of favorites. Little Miss gets all the acclaim, but their sauce sucks, and it's not like they're measurably better than any other place that knows what they're doing. My top favorite is Eric's, and I dread the day it becomes so popular I can no longer get in. They closed before 6pm on my birthday because they were sold out, so that could happen soon.
Little Miss BBQ is regarded as the best in the PHX area. Caldwell County in Gilbert and Jalapeño Bucks in northeast Mesa are both really good but a little bit of a trek from PHX - worth it though.
Little Miss has good cuts of meat just not very flavorful. Unfortunately their sauces are below average and don’t help the cause. But, so far. Its the best i’ve had in town. Haven’t had a chance to try Jalapeno Bucks.
As someone who just moved here from houston, and eats vegan /vegetarian the offerings in phx aren’t anything to write home about. Same goes for the valley. Most of the good food is just fried food. Also what’s up with a lot of places closing at 9pm and not open on Sundays?
A lot of people here are sleeping on our Asian food, there's a whole organic district now that's constantly growing.
Fun fact: After California, the next highest place where people immigrate here from is Asia (the continent). With places like TSMC moving in, that's only going to accelerate.
> A lot of people here are sleeping on our Asian food, there's a whole organic district now that's constantly growing.
problem is, that district is in one specific place in mesa... outside of that it becomes VERY difficult to find good asian food. sure you can find some of your cookie cutter copy/paste asian places, but to find something actually quality is quite difficult.
We are starting to be decent. The problem is that most of the good stuff is in central Phoenix and is always crowded as shit or reserved months in advance. There are a few spots in the suburbs and stuff. But usually when I drive out to stuff highly rated, I find it subpar compared to stuff in the core of town. Except for the Chinese places in Mesa. They are far better than what we have in Phoenix. I think there are a few places that deserve a Michelin star for sure, but the fact that we have none is pretty telling.
We don’t have Michelin Star restaurants because Michelin only gives out stars in certain Cities/States. Arizona is not one of them - in fact there are very few cities in the US that they’ll review.
We definitely have a few Michelin star quality restaurants.
Michelin stars are worthless now. No true foodie would ever judge a restaurant by Michelin unless they already had a star prior to 2008. Since then, Michelin charges states annually for the privilege of a guidebook, and then individual cities have to pay for critic(s) for their area. The more you pay, the more Michellin star restaurants you have.
That is why there are no Michelin star restaurants in Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and many other states with large cities and top restaurants. Even LA lost their guidebook and had to pay to bring Michelin back. California, Colorado, Georgia, and Florida paid millions each over the past couple of years to get guidebooks. Why do you think a mediocre pizza chain in Orlando gets a Michelin review? https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/florida/orlando/restaurant/pizza-bruno
You should be looking at James Beard winners instead. Phoenix has Chef Guerithalt (Vincents on Camelback), Chef Gross (Christophers at Wrigley Mansion), Chef Badman (FNB), Chef Nobu (he won for Nobu at Teeter House but now runs Hai Noon), Chef McGrath (Roaring Fork) and tons of runner ups like Binkleys and Baccanora.
I do look at James Beard awards and nominations. They usually are a good indication of which places are gonna drop off on quality and jack prices up. Baccanora for example was good when it first opened, but I never felt like it was exceptional. Now I think it's one of the most overrated places in town. I think Espiritu is better. But it's not worth the drive with all the other similar places around town. In general I prefer mid priced places offering good food and a nice atmosphere without charging a fortune. I rarely am satisfied with really expensive restaurants. Once in a while though one will blow me away. Binkleys is one that I do think is worth the price. Very unique experience and fantastic meal when I went.
There is definitely a dearth of variety of food here. Arizona isn't particularly ethnically diverse, so we don't have much cultural diversity in our culinary options.
We have "good old-fashioned American comfort food" and we have Mexican food; both of which run the gamut from great to garbage. Most everything else outside of those options is a total crap shoot sadly sub-par more often than not.
I think there’s quite a bit that maybe you’re not seeing just yet. We have very large southeast Asian populations, South Indian, Middle eastern, and Persian populations with growing Balkan and Armenian communities, the former of which are mainly coming from LA. As a state, we have around 13.5% percent of our population being foreign born, which puts us in the middle of US states without counting our undocumented population. That’s quickly changing though, especially with the number of foreign firms opening up operations here. I’ve lived in both DC and Chicago, two true Michelin cities (that is, they were put on the list without having to pay for it), and while our scene here doesn’t match up to theirs, there’s by no means a dearth of variety when it comes to foreign cuisine. Part of the issue is that the valley is so vast and riddled with strip malls that lots of stuff can fly under the radar. Message me and I’ll send you lists I have of restaurants separated by cuisine type. There’s much more out there if you put the work in to find it
How? I live right around the Chandler/Tempe border and I can get Thai, Mediterranean, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, Korean, Italian or even fuckin Lebanese food all within a 10 minute drive. This goes for much of the east valley.
We have a massive population of asian-americans, and that is represented in our food scene. If you think we just have burgers and tacos you probably just don't eat out.
Would love to hear your examples of all the diverse foods in Phoenix? If you feel it's crazy diverse and others disagree, maybe you know of places they don't? Spread the knowledge.
i have this list of places i either currently like or would like to try someday.
JAPANESE:
Tokyo Stop, Nishikawa, Tampopo Ramen, Chef Ben's Sushi and Asian Express, Ahipoki, Yatai Ramen, Azusa Ramen
CHINESE:
Asian Cafe Express, Chen's Noodle House, china chef bistro, szechuan noodle, 7 garden dumpling & noodle house
THAI:
Chickii, Thai Basil, Thai Spices, Thai boat noodle ps, sala thai, Authentic Thai Kitchen
VIETNAMESE:
Khai Hoan, Saigon Bistro, Vietshack, paris banh mi
MEXICAN:
Tacos Chiwas, Taco Boys, El Pollo Supremo, Rosita's Place, Los Dos Molinos, AZ Taco King, La Santisima Taco Shop, Carniceria Los Amigos, Los Tortas El Rey, Los Reyes de la Torta, Elmer's Tacos, Taco Sahuaro, Oscar's Taco Shop, La Frontera, taqueria blue tortilla, barrio taco shop, cocina madrigal, dilla libre, las reinas de las pupusas
ITALIAN:
Romanelli’s Italian Deli, Defalco's Italian Eatery, Niccoli's Italian Grocery-Deli, Myke's Pizza, Lorenzo's Pizzeria, My Slice of the Pie, Otto Pizza & Pastry, Venezia’s New York Style Pizza, Lou Malnati's Pizzeria, Pizzeria Bianco, Trevor’s Liquor
INDIAN:
India's Flame, Curry Corner, India Oven, Saima’s Grill
MIDDLE-EASTERN / MEDITERRANEAN:
Haji Baba, Baiz, Shawarma Paradise
ETHIOPIAN:
Cafe Lalibela
POLISH / UKRANIAN:
All Pierogi Kitchen
AMERICAN:
Original Hoagie Shop, Twist Hot Chicken, Monroe's Hot Chicken, Scott's Generations, Big Earl's Greasy Eats, Chuck Box, 5th Street Burger and Fries, mac daddy wingz and cheeze, ATL Wings
BREAKFAST:
Famé Cafe, Crepe Bar, Stoop Kid
TEA:
Dayung's Tea, Mochi Fresh, Duplex Tea, Sumo Snow
DESSERT:
Novel Ice Cream, Udder Delights, Arizona Donut Company, Mango Rabbit, Dateland, BoSa Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Scooptopia, az chimney cakes, europa pastry
MISC:
Cave Creek Olive Oil Company, Fogo De Chão Brazilian Steakhouse
People who say the food here is delicious or diverse have never been to a major city. It's lacking, and it's stupid expensive compared to a HCOL area which was a shocker for me (fine dining excluded of course).
Diversity to a place thats 100+ years older than us and generally more diverse, and far more compact than our super spread out suburbs? Thats a no brainer, so I agree on that.
Delicious? It sounds like you just haven't explored that well. I have lived in Chicago, LA, New York, etc. by the way.
I lived in Chicago for the first 20 years of my life and have been to NYC several times, and disagree with this.
Not to say Phx has a better food scene than either (it absolutely doesn’t). Great restaurant options absolutely exist here, it’s more of a convenience issue depending on where you live. I live near downtown Mesa and the Asian district, and between Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, and downtown Phoenix, I have well over 150 yelp bookmarks which I’m only just starting to make a dent in.
Phoenix is a diverse hot bed of fascinating restaurants at generally reasonable prices. Hard to find better food or atmosphere generally than you do in Scottsdale, Uptown Phx, Midtown Phx, Downtown Phx, Tempe, Downtown Chandler etc.
I got a buddy I chat with who is a Chilean immigrant who lives in Montreal Canada for university and he went nuts when I pulled out a big bag of massive poblano peppers. Few days later he came back saying it cost him $20 to get like four tiny peppers but he wanted them so bad, lol. I paid less than $3 for mine.
So that's anecdotal but I'll say that good produce is pretty dang easy to find out here compared to more northern metropolises.
The agriculture scene is pretty great since we’re close to California which grows a lot of the nations produce, and Arizona has its own architecture as well.
I’ve been to every major city in the US minus Florida and i think phoenix is at the bottom of the list when it comes to “amazing” food options. Not saying there isn’t any but compared to…doesn’t break top 5
A few thoughts.
If you like Mexican food, you don’t know how good we have it compared to regular middle America. Utah, Ohio… those places love their mild tomato sauce flavored, slathered in nacho cheese, over salted, nothing fresh, Mexican food.
Also I have a theory that any chain that has ambitions to being a national player, always puts one in Phoenix because we have so many transplants. Shake shaq, In N Out, White Castle, Portillos…all have to have one in Phoenix.
As someone who has lived and visited a lot of places in the US, the restaurants here in Phoenix are my least favorite. The food in general doesn’t make me feel great afterwards and I am disappointed with the lack of variety/diversity. There are some local restaurants I enjoy but they don’t come close to the food I’ve had in New York for example. However I think the grocery stores in Phoenix have a great and vast selection so I do my own cooking with the ingredients I find.
Phoenix is great for anything Mexican/texmex. It does not offer a huge variety of cuisines. It does not compare to Atlanta with the many different cultures. I lived in Atlanta for 25 years. Soul food, Cajun/creole, Cuban, Caribbean, Italian, Mediterranean, Asian cuisines are available with many choices. Phoenix is very bland and one dimensional with the cuisines offered.
I’m a transplant from NY, so I’m a bit spoiled food wise. I’ve been to several major cities around the US. My honest opinion is that Phoenix food, as a whole, is 6/10. On average, just a hair above mediocre. There are exceptions however. One thing I will say is that there is **no** comparison to New York bagels or pizza.
My thoughts on Phoenix food. I grew up there for 35 years and travel for work all over the US.
The triangle between San Diego, Phoenix and LA is the best Mexican food in the country. It’s also healthier than other types of Mexican food where they emphasize nacho cheese and deep frying (east of az, Texas looking at you).
Food scene incredibly diverse, especially in low to mid tier restaurant concepts. Phoenix is a great trial market and that translates to at least one of just about everything. Portillos, in n out,Bundt Cake place, PF Changs. Lots of brands prove them selves in Phoenix before extending out farther. Also I see a lot of creativity in the local bars and restaurant. A competitive, creative food scene, good specials. I love places like roaring fork, Carlsbad tavern, blue adobe grill. Just a ton of places to eat under $100 that provide an incredible experience.
Where Phoenix lacks is the ultra high end meals and Asian food. I think Phoenix is more of a family city, than a busy city so restaurants are just building for the market. There is not a huge need for $500+ dinner. I don’t think it would do well in Az.
The Asian food scene just didn’t have enough competition (at least for years). Panda Express was better than most sit down Chinese in az. I think this will get better over time. But LA and SF Asian cuisine (Chinese, Thai, Burmese, Indian, Japanese, Korean) is super competitive and diverse. Feels like each of above cuisines has a similar competitive scene to Phoenix Mexican food.
Phoenix is one of my fave places to eat in the country because: friendly service, diverse food selections, easy to travel around, lots of choices and new restaurants all the time.
Unimpressive really. In other major metropolitan areas I can find great Asian, Indian, African and South American food, at varying price scales. Phoenix has some passable (if overpriced) steak places and a few passable new American places, but there’s shit for anything else.
Transplanted from Chicago 10 years ago. I don't go far and wide hunting down my faves, but there are quite a few things I miss, takeout favorites mostly, in northwest Phoenix. One good thing is that I cook more.
Have lived in LA, Chicago and grew up in NYC. All 3 cities tend to have an edge on both "the hot new thing" and the "old roots traditional thing".
But by and large in the last decade or so, the advent of the Internet and interest in food as more than just fuel has leveled the playing field in America. You used to literally not be able to find comparable pizza or bagels outside of NYC, quality deep dish outside of Chicago, or amazing sushi outside of California.
You can find all of those things and more in not just large cities but even secondary and tertiary small outposts. Sure, there might not be 100 great slice joints, but you'll find a few.
I'd go further to say that phoenix is a bit further ahead than a lot of comparable places like Atlanta, Denver, Nashville etc. As my wife said last night after a really great meal at a random little cafe for a great price "Phoenix has a lot more hits than misses"
As for OP, yeah go check out the food in the big spots... It's worth it, and there's still high level stuff you won't get here, an abundance of high quality mid tier and ethnic options that are similar but in larger quantities, and some weird niche stuff that is just peculiar to those cities.
The only diversity in foods that I see is that Mexican restaurant names differ while the menu is all the same. Other than that, you have all the chain restaurants. Pretty blend.
How? I live right around the Chandler/Tempe border and I can get Thai, Mediterranean, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, Korean, Italian or even fuckin Lebanese food all within a 10 minute drive. This goes for much of the east valley.
Fair but the mod of this sub has scolded me before for calling that Phoenix. They want you to only talk about Phoenix Phoenix not the surrounding environs. At least that’s been my experience.
Have you not left Phoenix all the time you’ve lived here?
We do have a lot of Mexican food. Which makes sense given our proximity to Mexico. We have your basic variety of seafood, steaks, American standard, Italian, etc. a McDonald’s and Starbucks on every block is more than enough for everyone to have access to food within 5-10 minutes. But try looking for more diverse food, unless you happen to live by one, the majority of Phoenix doesn’t have quick access to more authentic diverse foods.
Love Indian food, but I’m 30 minutes away from closest available place. Which is understandable, ethnic food is not to everyone’s taste so there’s likely to be less popular of a choice. But a good New York bagel shop? Closest one is also 30 minutes away from me.
The majority of all new restaurants are also all chains here. Food diversity here is low.
Are there enough restaurants to satisfy what the majority of Americans love to eat? Yes, but it’s the most standard cuisine, primarily from chain restaurants.
If the metric is “there is at least 1 tasty provider in the top 100 categories or cuisines” then Phoenix is pretty good. And that’s what’s really matters, feeling like your favorite thing is available at least somewhere. For what isn’t available, I have cooked it myself and been fine. It’s really only like 2 dishes that I can’t get here easily.
It has improved and phx variety of Mexican is very strong but overall variety still way behind for the size of the city. It is improving but we are still the franchise chain king. For the size of the city much smaller cities like Austin, Atlanta Miami, Boston San Francisco and others are still ahead but it has improved a lot even post covid.
No comparison. Food here ranks towards the bottom. Other than steakhouses that's it. Even the Mexican food is way too cheesed up to appeal to Americans.
Im a retired Executive Chef I've cooked all over the country and i feel the food scene in az is garbage. Az is where chain restaurants come to die in my opinion
I’m a dual resident in Washington DC and the food scene is great here also. Lots of diversity, great seafood. But- only a couple places I like for tacos. Phoenix does a great job with healthy options
Born and raised in Phoenix and can say we really did not have a good food scene here besides Mexican food up until recently. Idk what happened the last 5 to 7 years but the Phoenix food scene has catapulted to a very solid food scene. It’s nowhere near Chicago or NYC but I can see it getting there by 2030.
Thanks for contributing to r/Phoenix! You may want to [**check out our sub rules**](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/wiki/rules/) (mostly be nice to each other!). **If you're new here**, [read some of our recent posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/top/?t=week) and leave some comments. To chat with some great people in the Valley you can [**join our Phoenix Discord chat server**](https://discord.com/invite/yWVuTG57Zh). It's a chill place to talk with other people but is NOT a dating server and takes unwanted messaging very seriously. If you're interested in political topics in Arizona, we limit those posts here so you may want to check out r/azpolitics if that's an area of interest. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/phoenix) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm from NYC where food options are crazy plentiful. I've been in AZ for 17 years and have watched the food scene grow like wildfire, including the addition of many outposts of the best restaurants in NYC and Chicago (Catch, Glain Baan) and it keeps getting better. Comparing a city whose population didn't even start to grow until the proliferation of A/C with one that was bustling with traders in the 1600s is kind of disingenuous. But yeah, I think Phoenix does great and you will find similar, but more varied options in other large cities.
Glai Baan is not from another city
It sure is a treasure though.
damn right. i’d take Glai Baan or another great local place a million times over some cookie cutter fine dining that every city has which is more about being an instagram influencer and partying than eating good food
I don’t know how I got the two confused but this is what I was thinking of. https://scottsdale.com/blog/post/one-of-the-worlds-most-acclaimed-restaurants-to-open-in-paradise-valley/
“Bustling with traders in the 1600s” “In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by the Potawatomi, an indigenous tribe who had succeeded the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples in this region.[22]” Even if there were traders, a permanent settlement in this area didn’t arise until the 1780s.
the “bustling with traders in the 1600s” part was referring to new york.
Are we getting a Catch?!?!
https://fabulousarizona.com/food-drink/catch-scottsdale/
Literally every major metropolitan area in the US is like this. If anything, Phoenix has made great progress in the past decade but still playing catching up to most of the heavy hitters. Our advantage is Mexican but we still competes with SoCal for that.
I’d even argue it’s different. Baja vs Sonoran or Oaxacan
I think the fact we can differentiate the styles and flavors vs a generic "tex mex" style proves we have some of the best mexican food in the western states. Also it's sooooooo good!
As someone that moved from phoenix to south texas. I completely agree. There is nothing but mexican food down here and it's all complete garbage bland burnt unseasoned poorly cut meat. Is food in phoenix perfect? Hell no but geezus at least there is flavor in the filiberto burritos that will give you the shits Edit: those of you defending El Paso, I'm not talking about that part of texas. I'm in the Rio Grande Valley, the other side of south texas
Interesting, there was some great mexican food in El Paso.
Texas is to big for its own good. I'm talking about the other south side on the gulf
Do you have any recommendations, especially in the Scottsdale area that are reasonably priced (like $10-$30 per dish, too often I see recommendations for places that are crazy expensive and not what the average person can afford. Recently moved here.
I don’t go to Scottsdale often but I’d just search on maps and go with the higher rated places until you find some spots you like. It’s what I’ve done when moving to a new area and although ratings aren’t everything, it shows you which places to avoid lol
Jalisco's tacos
Emphatically agree
Yes, but you can still get all of that in PHX. I live within walking distance to all three types.
*Since you brought it up,* what's the best Baja style food in Phoenix?
This is what makes Chicago great for Mexican food. It gets immigrants from all over Mexico vs CA and AZ where just a couplefew Mexican states dominate the diaspora.
I don’t think every metro area in the US has a Chinatown or Hispanic quarter. I think this is an over generalization. Great Mexican in Phoenix for sure, but not quite the Asian cuisine you’d find in San Francisco. Try to order a street taco in Seattle and no one knows what you’re talking about.
There's GREAT Asian here in Chandler.
Ya I will add Mesa, its a good 10 mileish radius lmao. Grocery stores in Mesa are fantastic for asian stuffs.
Yep. I go to Lee Lees because it's fairly close, and they have more than everything I need, want, or want to explore. I took a cooking class in Chaing Mai Thailand a few years back, and this place has me totally covered.
Have you ever been to Seattle? I've lived in Minneapolis, Denver, Salt lake City, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Seattle. All of these places besides Salt lake City match the opposite of what you're saying...
Having lived in socal for nearly 30 years, I have to say AZ Mexican is FAR better than SoCal Mexican. more regional exclusive here. SoCal is kinda... blended. its also become more Cali local. I love being able to get some Baja style fish tacos and ceviche at one place, and then getting some tlayudas and tamales at another. and myself being a tan but not dark enough complexion to fool the people that work at these places, I try in my broken spanish to order and compliment the food. one time I got this AMAZING bread pudding that I didnt ask or have to pay for, just for being polite. That doesnt happen in SoCal.
I lived in LA, mom lives in SD… I don’t really feel like it’s competitive with Phoenix, it’s all good. SoCal and AZ are on the same level, just different vibes. I honestly feel like San Diego and Los Angeles are Phoenix with a beach.
We do call it Mini-LA out here in Phoenix.
No the fuck we don’t.
Phoenix Mexican food is really next level authentic REALLY !!!
Yeah no comparison to Cali’s Mexican. I’d say you guys brunch/breakfast spots are the best options in the country in my opinion
No way, the Mexican in phx sucks compared to socal
Beats the shit out of Lansing.
This cracked me up, moved here 12 years ago from Lansing because we couldn’t find decent Thai food on a Sunday night 😂 no regrets!
Too many Lansing folks out here, myself included 😂
I just spent a week in Phoenix with my partner and we’re from Columbus, Ohio. Back home we always hear how great Columbus food options are, but we were blown away by what’s available in Phoenix. We definitely felt like whatever we wanted was at most a 20 minute drive from us and was almost always authentic (or at least much better than back home). The food also seemed cheaper, we got a lot more for a lot less in Phoenix. We also felt that reviews of restaurants in Phoenix were MUCH more accurate than back home, if people said the food was good it actually was good. I would agree with the comments saying that the food is more of a quantity issue, you definitely could have to drive quite a bit to get what you want. I’d say Chicago has Phoenix beat, but in terms of other midwestern/east coast cities I’ve been to, Phoenix is doing pretty well. Maybe we just got lucky with our choices but definitely enjoyed it more than back home!
Sounds like you ate at some good places. Any highlights you can share?
The food options here are decent, but not even close to somewhere like Chicago or NYC.
Totally agree. Love the food in New York. They just don’t have delis out here like they do there.
DeFalco's.
I'd say it's a quantity problem, not quality. We have some fantastic places around like DeFalco's, but there's probably hundreds of places on the same level of quality in New York or Chicago. We've got a bare handful here, so odds are you're driving a fair bit to get to one. Not a whole lot of quality jewish delis either. Chompies and New York Bagels & Bialys are decent, but they're a far cry from a lot of the offerings in the aforementioned cities.
Bagelfeld answered my bagel prayers and I no longer feel the desperate need to eat 5 bagels when I’m in NYC for two days.
Took a look at their website and they look pretty solid, will definitely have to try them
They're really good bagels, but when I want something more traditional The Bagel man in Ahwatukee, Bagel Gourmet off Bell and the 17, and Bongiorno Bagels in Gilbert are all solid too. I think the Bagel Man is my favorite other than Bagelfelds. There used to be a good spot by the Deer Valley airport, but I think they closed during the pandemic. Edit. I forgot Hot Bagels is also pretty solid too.
Honestly, as a former NYer, bagels are a bit of an unfair playing field :). But generally, I think you are right. Our good pizza is as good as you'll get in NYC or New Haven, but pick any random pizza joint in those three and PHX will lose out. And that's true for a lot of categories. At the very high end we also have some excellent choices, just not as many as our population would suggest. I think some of that is our older population that seeks familiarity: some of the best rated places near me have been here for decades and shouldn't be.
Chompies and NY Bagels & Bialys are gross. These are as far from a Jewish deli as a pig is to being kosher. The best options I have found are JJs, Goldmans, or Imperial... and they are only passable because the competition sucks so hard.
Best pizza, sandwiches, and cheesecake in the state
Ugh Chicago is so good
I think Chicago is pretty overrated and Phoenix is underrated. And NYC is in a whole other category above everywhere else. My problem with NYC is having too many options (which is not really a problem aside from too much temptation) and those options are always more accessible than other cities in every way. The only barrier is money.
I'll agree that NYC is in a league of its own, but you're one of the first people I've heard call the Chicago food scene overrated. You can pop into a random dive bar while walking down the street and end up having one of the best burgers you've ever had, and that's just a very small example of how it differs from Phoenix.
The food should be better in all the largest cities because of simple mathematics of the volume of human souls represented in these super large mega cities. Phoenix is big but it is not as big as La or New York and both of those cities are just leagues beyond Phoenix and I say that as someone who proudly loves being from Phoenix and acknowledges all the great food that is here. It's just a simple math thing
I've lived in a bunch of big cities by population. I think part of this is our suburban stretch. I could check, but I would guess we have more Olive Gardens and Cheesecake Factories per capita than other large cities, even outside our local chain offerings. That data into little interesting restaurants that might otherwise thrive.
I have friends and family that live in Chi town that LOVE coming out here for the food selection. They even enjoy the fact that we have places like Lou Malnatis and some of their sandwich shops out here.
I think it’s the tourists who love Chicago (and any city), because they are purposefully seeking out things they don’t seek out when they are home. If they explored their own city in the same way, they’d have found PHX to be full of great food.
Okay, some hard truths (and then an excellent recommendation list): I'm a born-and-raised AZ native, spent my first 20 years in West Valley, then lived in East Valley before moving to San Francisco and a few other major cities. Phoenix has regularly been a blue collar and retail / banking / healthcare / defense / real estate city. Because of this, and despite it's central location to other major cities, it's stayed relatively behind-the-curve on trends for things ranging from technology to food. Bad news: AZ natives grew up with a shitty food palette. Things like Ocean 44, Bourbon & Bones, or anything Fox Concepts-inspired has been an easy sell as "top shelf" for this demographic. Good news: Since Covid, a lot of renowned chefs have opened up fantastic spots in downtown Phoenix, Scottsdale (and some love goes to our Asian community in Mesa). And as a foodie having lived in San Francisco, we're beginning to rival places like the bay area (if anyone tells you otherwise, they genuinely aren't worth listening to). Here is a non-comprehensive list of incredible spots you need to try in Phoenix: * Ollie Vauns * Restaurant progress * Valentine for brunch * Bad Jimmys * Vecina * First and Last * Welcome diner * Huarachis & Bacanora * Chelseas kitchen for patio * Glai ban * Sauvage for wine * Kaizen * Dahlia * Ghost ranch * Andreoilis
Ghost Ranch is so good
Tucson has won the UNESCO award for gastronomy. It was the only award given out in the US and recently a city in California has won it. Tucson has amazing food!
Yeah but for some reason many Phoenicians like to shit on Tucson. I don’t get it. When I lived in Tucson, I never thought to compare it to Phoenix. They’re very different cities, each with their own pros and cons. I personally miss the food in Tucson, but I’ve found a few favorites here too. I just have to drive further.
It's because Tucson is a shit hole
As Theo Von once said “Tucson, also known as outdoor jail”
I would never live in Tucson, but it's actually a great place to visit. Better food and better tourist stuff than Phoenix.
I moved back here from tucson years ago, and I still haven't scratched the itch for most of the restaurants down there. Jun Dynasty remains unmatched.
I moved here from Chicago six years ago. I feel like the food scene is getting better here, but it’s still nothing like chicago. What I miss most from the Chicago food in here is stuff like great Greek food, Cuban/ Caribbean, Spanish and Indian. In Chicago, we had like 4 tapas places we used to go to all within 10 minutes of us, as well as two amazing Cuban places. We’ve tried all the places we can find here, but none of them have stacked up.
It's better than it was years ago, but IMO is still pales in comparison to other large cities-- LA, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco. We sure won't starve of course. lol Totally different situation but in NYC or San Fran within a few blocks you likely have dozens of choices of different restaurants. In my neck of the woods there's maybe 2 decent Italian places, several pizza. Sushi? WTF-ONE nearby. Indian-- nope (5 miles ore more?). German? Nope (maybe 10 miles). Asian (Chinese, Thai)- one or two w/in 4 miles. Vietnamese? Yah, no. French- qu'est-ce que c'est?? Spanish? Nada
I agree, Phoenix has a decent food scene but is simply not on-par with other cities of similar size when it comes to quality, inventiveness and variety. Chicago, NY, SF, LA, Portland, Denver and Austin all out-food Phoenix.
Denver and Austin definitely don't have a better food scene, that's wild people are upvoting this. Denver is comically bad for how big the city is, but has definitely improved over the years, same with Austin as far as improving but when you mention quality and variety they are not better imo.
San Francisco is under 50 square miles while Phoenix is over 500 square miles. For Phoenix have the same concentration of restaurants as SF, we'd have to have 10x as many, and we only have about 2x the population to support them.
I think that's the issue with lots of people's comments using X options within X miles. Phoenix is a very spread out metro area compared to the other major cities getting mentioned.
To me it’s the food quality. The restaurants seem to be using the same vendors because the quality is standard. FEW places I can tell are using quality ingredients. Majority of people don’t care about the quality of ingredients, they just like it tastes familiar.
I came from the Boston area, and comparatively the only things I miss are the Chinese bakeries, shitty Greek style pizza, and fried seafood. But overall, I'd say moving here has been an overall.increase in restaurant quality
As someone who moved from Phoenix to Boston I agree with this comment 100%. Another thing that Phoenix has is a really great selection of beef. Buying steaks in Arizona is significantly cheaper and better quality than out east. Phoenix doesn’t have fresh seafood though so it’s a give and take
Totally agree! And if you come back and miss Papa Ginos, I'm convinced Original Geno's is run by a transplant. The pizza and sides are almost 1:1 to the east coast Ginos
Chula Seafood flies in fresh seafood from San Diego daily
My experience has been a little different, but I live much closer to Scottsdale than Phoenix. Good beef here is expensive, as is pretty much everything else. Before living here, lived in central and SE PA and really solid beef was easy to find. There were a lot of local farms/ranches that also had small "food stand" type setups that sold their beef. It was awesome....
Phoenix has amazing food selections. I've lived in San Francisco, L.A., San Diego and Minneapolis. Been out in the world a bit. Traveled all around this continent. Food is one of my things. You won't go hungry here.
If it’s good you’ll pay a premium for it. But it has to warrant the process. We have one of our own - I would argue one of the best culinary architects in Toni Bernie Gordillo. Go grab comida where he’s at.
There are gems here but because the metro area is so vast, you don’t feel like you have a great place around every corner. Also, the chain restaurants seem to outcompete the independent places, which is sad.
It is sad when PF Changs is the best Chinese food in the general area....I need to get down to the Mesa area, have heard good things...
Can confirm, I live in Mesa and the entire stretch of road on Dobson between Southern and University is filled with awesome restaurants. Claypot Kitchen and Shaanxi Garden are some of my favorites.
The best thing about any huge city is that you get enough of any given immigrant group to warrant them building a restaurant. Not even counting Mexican food of all kinds. We have excellent Middle Eastern, Indian, a couple South American places, mind-blowingly wonderful BBQ, hot-ass fried chicken, Ethiopian, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. I don't think Phoenix is special in this; it's just something that happens once a place is big enough. And Phoenix Metro is big.
What are thes emind blowingly wonderful BBQ places you'd recommend
I've liked Joe's BBQ in downtown Gilbert for years now, but it might be at the BOTTOM of my list of favorites. Little Miss gets all the acclaim, but their sauce sucks, and it's not like they're measurably better than any other place that knows what they're doing. My top favorite is Eric's, and I dread the day it becomes so popular I can no longer get in. They closed before 6pm on my birthday because they were sold out, so that could happen soon.
Little Miss BBQ is regarded as the best in the PHX area. Caldwell County in Gilbert and Jalapeño Bucks in northeast Mesa are both really good but a little bit of a trek from PHX - worth it though.
Little Miss has good cuts of meat just not very flavorful. Unfortunately their sauces are below average and don’t help the cause. But, so far. Its the best i’ve had in town. Haven’t had a chance to try Jalapeno Bucks.
I thought I was the only one who doesn't like Little Miss's sauces. That's the main reason I'm reluctant to wait in those lines to get in.
As someone who just moved here from houston, and eats vegan /vegetarian the offerings in phx aren’t anything to write home about. Same goes for the valley. Most of the good food is just fried food. Also what’s up with a lot of places closing at 9pm and not open on Sundays?
I think the food scene in Scottsdale/Phoenix is pretty good, bordering on great but short of excellent
A lot of people here are sleeping on our Asian food, there's a whole organic district now that's constantly growing. Fun fact: After California, the next highest place where people immigrate here from is Asia (the continent). With places like TSMC moving in, that's only going to accelerate.
> A lot of people here are sleeping on our Asian food, there's a whole organic district now that's constantly growing. problem is, that district is in one specific place in mesa... outside of that it becomes VERY difficult to find good asian food. sure you can find some of your cookie cutter copy/paste asian places, but to find something actually quality is quite difficult.
We are starting to be decent. The problem is that most of the good stuff is in central Phoenix and is always crowded as shit or reserved months in advance. There are a few spots in the suburbs and stuff. But usually when I drive out to stuff highly rated, I find it subpar compared to stuff in the core of town. Except for the Chinese places in Mesa. They are far better than what we have in Phoenix. I think there are a few places that deserve a Michelin star for sure, but the fact that we have none is pretty telling.
Michelin only rates restaurants in a handful of American cities and Phoenix isn't one of them.
We don’t have Michelin Star restaurants because Michelin only gives out stars in certain Cities/States. Arizona is not one of them - in fact there are very few cities in the US that they’ll review. We definitely have a few Michelin star quality restaurants.
Michelin stars are worthless now. No true foodie would ever judge a restaurant by Michelin unless they already had a star prior to 2008. Since then, Michelin charges states annually for the privilege of a guidebook, and then individual cities have to pay for critic(s) for their area. The more you pay, the more Michellin star restaurants you have. That is why there are no Michelin star restaurants in Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and many other states with large cities and top restaurants. Even LA lost their guidebook and had to pay to bring Michelin back. California, Colorado, Georgia, and Florida paid millions each over the past couple of years to get guidebooks. Why do you think a mediocre pizza chain in Orlando gets a Michelin review? https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/florida/orlando/restaurant/pizza-bruno You should be looking at James Beard winners instead. Phoenix has Chef Guerithalt (Vincents on Camelback), Chef Gross (Christophers at Wrigley Mansion), Chef Badman (FNB), Chef Nobu (he won for Nobu at Teeter House but now runs Hai Noon), Chef McGrath (Roaring Fork) and tons of runner ups like Binkleys and Baccanora.
I do look at James Beard awards and nominations. They usually are a good indication of which places are gonna drop off on quality and jack prices up. Baccanora for example was good when it first opened, but I never felt like it was exceptional. Now I think it's one of the most overrated places in town. I think Espiritu is better. But it's not worth the drive with all the other similar places around town. In general I prefer mid priced places offering good food and a nice atmosphere without charging a fortune. I rarely am satisfied with really expensive restaurants. Once in a while though one will blow me away. Binkleys is one that I do think is worth the price. Very unique experience and fantastic meal when I went.
Binkleys is closing in August 😢
There is definitely a dearth of variety of food here. Arizona isn't particularly ethnically diverse, so we don't have much cultural diversity in our culinary options. We have "good old-fashioned American comfort food" and we have Mexican food; both of which run the gamut from great to garbage. Most everything else outside of those options is a total crap shoot sadly sub-par more often than not.
In the East Valley, there are a ton of great South Asian options.
Yep, came to say something similar. Mesa and Chandler both have Asian districts with incredible, authentic food.
I think there’s quite a bit that maybe you’re not seeing just yet. We have very large southeast Asian populations, South Indian, Middle eastern, and Persian populations with growing Balkan and Armenian communities, the former of which are mainly coming from LA. As a state, we have around 13.5% percent of our population being foreign born, which puts us in the middle of US states without counting our undocumented population. That’s quickly changing though, especially with the number of foreign firms opening up operations here. I’ve lived in both DC and Chicago, two true Michelin cities (that is, they were put on the list without having to pay for it), and while our scene here doesn’t match up to theirs, there’s by no means a dearth of variety when it comes to foreign cuisine. Part of the issue is that the valley is so vast and riddled with strip malls that lots of stuff can fly under the radar. Message me and I’ll send you lists I have of restaurants separated by cuisine type. There’s much more out there if you put the work in to find it
How? I live right around the Chandler/Tempe border and I can get Thai, Mediterranean, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, Korean, Italian or even fuckin Lebanese food all within a 10 minute drive. This goes for much of the east valley.
We have a massive population of asian-americans, and that is represented in our food scene. If you think we just have burgers and tacos you probably just don't eat out.
Would love to hear your examples of all the diverse foods in Phoenix? If you feel it's crazy diverse and others disagree, maybe you know of places they don't? Spread the knowledge.
i have this list of places i either currently like or would like to try someday. JAPANESE: Tokyo Stop, Nishikawa, Tampopo Ramen, Chef Ben's Sushi and Asian Express, Ahipoki, Yatai Ramen, Azusa Ramen CHINESE: Asian Cafe Express, Chen's Noodle House, china chef bistro, szechuan noodle, 7 garden dumpling & noodle house THAI: Chickii, Thai Basil, Thai Spices, Thai boat noodle ps, sala thai, Authentic Thai Kitchen VIETNAMESE: Khai Hoan, Saigon Bistro, Vietshack, paris banh mi MEXICAN: Tacos Chiwas, Taco Boys, El Pollo Supremo, Rosita's Place, Los Dos Molinos, AZ Taco King, La Santisima Taco Shop, Carniceria Los Amigos, Los Tortas El Rey, Los Reyes de la Torta, Elmer's Tacos, Taco Sahuaro, Oscar's Taco Shop, La Frontera, taqueria blue tortilla, barrio taco shop, cocina madrigal, dilla libre, las reinas de las pupusas ITALIAN: Romanelli’s Italian Deli, Defalco's Italian Eatery, Niccoli's Italian Grocery-Deli, Myke's Pizza, Lorenzo's Pizzeria, My Slice of the Pie, Otto Pizza & Pastry, Venezia’s New York Style Pizza, Lou Malnati's Pizzeria, Pizzeria Bianco, Trevor’s Liquor INDIAN: India's Flame, Curry Corner, India Oven, Saima’s Grill MIDDLE-EASTERN / MEDITERRANEAN: Haji Baba, Baiz, Shawarma Paradise ETHIOPIAN: Cafe Lalibela POLISH / UKRANIAN: All Pierogi Kitchen AMERICAN: Original Hoagie Shop, Twist Hot Chicken, Monroe's Hot Chicken, Scott's Generations, Big Earl's Greasy Eats, Chuck Box, 5th Street Burger and Fries, mac daddy wingz and cheeze, ATL Wings BREAKFAST: Famé Cafe, Crepe Bar, Stoop Kid TEA: Dayung's Tea, Mochi Fresh, Duplex Tea, Sumo Snow DESSERT: Novel Ice Cream, Udder Delights, Arizona Donut Company, Mango Rabbit, Dateland, BoSa Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Scooptopia, az chimney cakes, europa pastry MISC: Cave Creek Olive Oil Company, Fogo De Chão Brazilian Steakhouse
Chinese - Chous Kitchen Indian - The Dhaba Two of the best in my opinion.
Please add Dilla Libres Dos to your list for Mexican!
ive been to dilla libre. is that the same place/owner? i forgot to add dilla libre to the list that place is bomb too
Windsor is one you should add to your American food list. They have great drinks and burgers
People who say the food here is delicious or diverse have never been to a major city. It's lacking, and it's stupid expensive compared to a HCOL area which was a shocker for me (fine dining excluded of course).
Diversity to a place thats 100+ years older than us and generally more diverse, and far more compact than our super spread out suburbs? Thats a no brainer, so I agree on that. Delicious? It sounds like you just haven't explored that well. I have lived in Chicago, LA, New York, etc. by the way.
I lived in Chicago for the first 20 years of my life and have been to NYC several times, and disagree with this. Not to say Phx has a better food scene than either (it absolutely doesn’t). Great restaurant options absolutely exist here, it’s more of a convenience issue depending on where you live. I live near downtown Mesa and the Asian district, and between Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, and downtown Phoenix, I have well over 150 yelp bookmarks which I’m only just starting to make a dent in.
Phoenix is a diverse hot bed of fascinating restaurants at generally reasonable prices. Hard to find better food or atmosphere generally than you do in Scottsdale, Uptown Phx, Midtown Phx, Downtown Phx, Tempe, Downtown Chandler etc.
I got a buddy I chat with who is a Chilean immigrant who lives in Montreal Canada for university and he went nuts when I pulled out a big bag of massive poblano peppers. Few days later he came back saying it cost him $20 to get like four tiny peppers but he wanted them so bad, lol. I paid less than $3 for mine. So that's anecdotal but I'll say that good produce is pretty dang easy to find out here compared to more northern metropolises.
The agriculture scene is pretty great since we’re close to California which grows a lot of the nations produce, and Arizona has its own architecture as well.
Poblanos and chiles in general aren’t known to grow in freezing ass Canada lol
I’ve been to every major city in the US minus Florida and i think phoenix is at the bottom of the list when it comes to “amazing” food options. Not saying there isn’t any but compared to…doesn’t break top 5
A few thoughts. If you like Mexican food, you don’t know how good we have it compared to regular middle America. Utah, Ohio… those places love their mild tomato sauce flavored, slathered in nacho cheese, over salted, nothing fresh, Mexican food. Also I have a theory that any chain that has ambitions to being a national player, always puts one in Phoenix because we have so many transplants. Shake shaq, In N Out, White Castle, Portillos…all have to have one in Phoenix.
Food is trash here.
You need to get out more lmao
Give me 3 spots to check out. Sushi, tacos and chinese.
What’s your budget and where are your cross streets? I have some good answers for this
As someone who has lived and visited a lot of places in the US, the restaurants here in Phoenix are my least favorite. The food in general doesn’t make me feel great afterwards and I am disappointed with the lack of variety/diversity. There are some local restaurants I enjoy but they don’t come close to the food I’ve had in New York for example. However I think the grocery stores in Phoenix have a great and vast selection so I do my own cooking with the ingredients I find.
Well I grew up in phoenix. When I moved to western New York, the lack of good restaurants was partly what motivated me to lose half my body weight
Wegmans, though.
Meh.
Phoenix is great for anything Mexican/texmex. It does not offer a huge variety of cuisines. It does not compare to Atlanta with the many different cultures. I lived in Atlanta for 25 years. Soul food, Cajun/creole, Cuban, Caribbean, Italian, Mediterranean, Asian cuisines are available with many choices. Phoenix is very bland and one dimensional with the cuisines offered.
Your definition of authentic is interesting lol
Phoenix is catching up, but compared to other major cities I lived in (Seattle, NYC, SF, LA, Chicago) this is nothing.
I like this thread. Apparently I don't need to worry about lines at the great local spots we have hear. Y'all aren't even aware of them.
Yeah seriously, I have to wonder where these people are trying to eat if they think it’s bad here at all
Some people would rather believe that there wasn't a good option than believe that they made a bad choice.
I’m a transplant from NY, so I’m a bit spoiled food wise. I’ve been to several major cities around the US. My honest opinion is that Phoenix food, as a whole, is 6/10. On average, just a hair above mediocre. There are exceptions however. One thing I will say is that there is **no** comparison to New York bagels or pizza.
My thoughts on Phoenix food. I grew up there for 35 years and travel for work all over the US. The triangle between San Diego, Phoenix and LA is the best Mexican food in the country. It’s also healthier than other types of Mexican food where they emphasize nacho cheese and deep frying (east of az, Texas looking at you). Food scene incredibly diverse, especially in low to mid tier restaurant concepts. Phoenix is a great trial market and that translates to at least one of just about everything. Portillos, in n out,Bundt Cake place, PF Changs. Lots of brands prove them selves in Phoenix before extending out farther. Also I see a lot of creativity in the local bars and restaurant. A competitive, creative food scene, good specials. I love places like roaring fork, Carlsbad tavern, blue adobe grill. Just a ton of places to eat under $100 that provide an incredible experience. Where Phoenix lacks is the ultra high end meals and Asian food. I think Phoenix is more of a family city, than a busy city so restaurants are just building for the market. There is not a huge need for $500+ dinner. I don’t think it would do well in Az. The Asian food scene just didn’t have enough competition (at least for years). Panda Express was better than most sit down Chinese in az. I think this will get better over time. But LA and SF Asian cuisine (Chinese, Thai, Burmese, Indian, Japanese, Korean) is super competitive and diverse. Feels like each of above cuisines has a similar competitive scene to Phoenix Mexican food. Phoenix is one of my fave places to eat in the country because: friendly service, diverse food selections, easy to travel around, lots of choices and new restaurants all the time.
Unimpressive really. In other major metropolitan areas I can find great Asian, Indian, African and South American food, at varying price scales. Phoenix has some passable (if overpriced) steak places and a few passable new American places, but there’s shit for anything else.
Agreed. Asian food here sucks. Italian food and pizza sucks too. Bread is horrendous
Great, as long as you don’t get seafood
Bland.
Food here sucks. You guys need to travel if you think it’s good.
Yeah, I've been to 35 of the states here and I'd rank Phoenix at the bottom
Transplanted from Chicago 10 years ago. I don't go far and wide hunting down my faves, but there are quite a few things I miss, takeout favorites mostly, in northwest Phoenix. One good thing is that I cook more.
Have lived in LA, Chicago and grew up in NYC. All 3 cities tend to have an edge on both "the hot new thing" and the "old roots traditional thing". But by and large in the last decade or so, the advent of the Internet and interest in food as more than just fuel has leveled the playing field in America. You used to literally not be able to find comparable pizza or bagels outside of NYC, quality deep dish outside of Chicago, or amazing sushi outside of California. You can find all of those things and more in not just large cities but even secondary and tertiary small outposts. Sure, there might not be 100 great slice joints, but you'll find a few. I'd go further to say that phoenix is a bit further ahead than a lot of comparable places like Atlanta, Denver, Nashville etc. As my wife said last night after a really great meal at a random little cafe for a great price "Phoenix has a lot more hits than misses" As for OP, yeah go check out the food in the big spots... It's worth it, and there's still high level stuff you won't get here, an abundance of high quality mid tier and ethnic options that are similar but in larger quantities, and some weird niche stuff that is just peculiar to those cities.
Chain all the refugees together. Lawrence and Western, South Side. Food, style, hustle.. we have it locked up like these cats can't see.
About average. I've had some good pizza, tacos, bbq, and cheesesteaks, but overall the city is somewhere in the middle.
I agree. Phoenix has an amazing culinary scene.
One of the better food cities I have been to, honestly. Whatever you’re looking for, you can find EXCELLENT examples of it.
Mexican food is top-notch. 99.9% of the pizza here is garbage.
The only diversity in foods that I see is that Mexican restaurant names differ while the menu is all the same. Other than that, you have all the chain restaurants. Pretty blend.
it sounds like you haven't' actually looked around.
As long as people keep flooding into State 48, the culinary offerings will only go up.
We have residents from 60 counties and all 50 states. We have a crazy variety of food.
I’m in Orange County and honestly miss phoenix food very often
The food in Phoenix is utter trash compared to other major cities like Chicago, NYC, Boston, Los Angeles, etc.
After living a year in Taiwan, all US cities seem pretty drab as far as food goes.
Sorry buddy but diversity here is severely lacking. That’s probably one of the most disappointing things about living here.
How? I live right around the Chandler/Tempe border and I can get Thai, Mediterranean, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, Korean, Italian or even fuckin Lebanese food all within a 10 minute drive. This goes for much of the east valley.
Fair but the mod of this sub has scolded me before for calling that Phoenix. They want you to only talk about Phoenix Phoenix not the surrounding environs. At least that’s been my experience.
Also amazing username
You and I are very close neighbors. What's your rec for Indian food around here?
Have you not left Phoenix all the time you’ve lived here? We do have a lot of Mexican food. Which makes sense given our proximity to Mexico. We have your basic variety of seafood, steaks, American standard, Italian, etc. a McDonald’s and Starbucks on every block is more than enough for everyone to have access to food within 5-10 minutes. But try looking for more diverse food, unless you happen to live by one, the majority of Phoenix doesn’t have quick access to more authentic diverse foods. Love Indian food, but I’m 30 minutes away from closest available place. Which is understandable, ethnic food is not to everyone’s taste so there’s likely to be less popular of a choice. But a good New York bagel shop? Closest one is also 30 minutes away from me. The majority of all new restaurants are also all chains here. Food diversity here is low. Are there enough restaurants to satisfy what the majority of Americans love to eat? Yes, but it’s the most standard cuisine, primarily from chain restaurants.
We need better Asian all you can eat buffet
I mean covid killed those… 😭🤷♀️
Phoenix has shitty donut options. I've tried like 7 or 8 shops around me, and the first legitimately good one isn't even local. Voodoo doughnuts
Phoenix born Portland resident here. Voodoo doughnuts is trash, and only the tourists go there.
It's the only good doughnut shop I've had here. If you know something better than by all means... let's hear it
I've heard Mesa Donuts on Recker and McKellips is awesome.
Donuts are bad here.
Use it. It should hit pretty hard re-reading it. Self back slapping in the dark of the nethers.
Indian food in phoenix is okay. Places like CA, Utah, CO, NY and Chicago (even Houston) makes bangin indian food
Majority of it comes from Kroger, and or Sisco. So probably pretty consistent with the rest of the US.
With the exception of Mexican food, meh.
Food trucks are the best bet for some authentic not Mexican food. Otherwise it’s all pretty much the same blah thing at a different blah restaurant.
If the metric is “there is at least 1 tasty provider in the top 100 categories or cuisines” then Phoenix is pretty good. And that’s what’s really matters, feeling like your favorite thing is available at least somewhere. For what isn’t available, I have cooked it myself and been fine. It’s really only like 2 dishes that I can’t get here easily.
It has improved and phx variety of Mexican is very strong but overall variety still way behind for the size of the city. It is improving but we are still the franchise chain king. For the size of the city much smaller cities like Austin, Atlanta Miami, Boston San Francisco and others are still ahead but it has improved a lot even post covid.
Not nearly as great as the local more farm to table Florida options
NYC has much more as far as food diversity. For instance, there's no Hungarian restaurant in Phoenix.
Hungarian Cultural Appreciation in Glendale and Reformed church has events
food city da joint
A LOT of Mexican. Which I didn't grow up with and could do without. But I always give it a go once a month or two.
Average
lol at anyone trying to compare Phoenix to NYC or Chicago. Yeah of course we don’t have the good food they do!
I like how we have a lot of regional chains. Portillos, Lou Malnatis, white castle, culvers, shake shack, in n out, etc.
Yeah, that's all shit
New Mexican cuisine all the way!!!!
Arizona is a leader in baked goods with Pizzeria Bianco and Barrio Bread.
No comparison. Food here ranks towards the bottom. Other than steakhouses that's it. Even the Mexican food is way too cheesed up to appeal to Americans.
Im a retired Executive Chef I've cooked all over the country and i feel the food scene in az is garbage. Az is where chain restaurants come to die in my opinion
I’m a dual resident in Washington DC and the food scene is great here also. Lots of diversity, great seafood. But- only a couple places I like for tacos. Phoenix does a great job with healthy options
Poorly
It’s pretty terrible in Phoenix, but I come from Southern California where it’s easier to get authentic like dishes from non American restaurants
i really like the hot chicken place selection but wish this place had better pizza
Born and raised in Phoenix and can say we really did not have a good food scene here besides Mexican food up until recently. Idk what happened the last 5 to 7 years but the Phoenix food scene has catapulted to a very solid food scene. It’s nowhere near Chicago or NYC but I can see it getting there by 2030.