Eat
Valentine
Midcentury room, tight menu, cocktails that punch above the price.
Uptown Phoenix
$$Indoors
Girls' Night
Big tables, good lighting, and somewhere to go after.
September · The Turn
September is the turn — mornings and nights are workable, afternoons still aren't. Plan around 7am and 7pm.
Eat
Barrio Café
Silvana Salcido Esparza's cochinita pibil and the mural district that grew around it.
16th Street
$$Indoors
Eat
The Churchill
Shipping-container courtyard of small local kitchens and a shaded bar. Everybody finds something.
Roosevelt Row
$Indoor + out
Eat
Arizona Wilderness DTPHX
Arizona-grain beer, a patio with misters that actually work, and a kitchen that takes itself seriously.
Downtown Phoenix
$$Indoor + out
Eat
Ocotillo
The prettiest patio on Central once the evenings drop below 95.
Coronado / Midtown
$$Outdoors
Eat
The Mission
Salt-block guacamole, candlelight, and the pre-dinner bar you'll linger at.
Old Town Scottsdale
$$Indoors
Eat
Diego Pops
Brussels sprout nachos and frozen palomas. It's fine, you'll order both.
Old Town Scottsdale
$Indoor + out
Eat
Postino Arcadia
Bruschetta boards and the $25 board-and-bottle deal after 8pm. Still undefeated.
Arcadia
$Indoor + out
Do
Arizona Restaurant Week
Ten days of prix-fixe menus at rooms that don't usually do prix fixe. Book the week it opens.
ValleywideSep 18–27
$$Indoors
Date to confirm
Do
Topgolf Riverwalk
Misted bays, bad swings, good queso. Works for a birthday or a Tuesday.
Scottsdale Riverwalk
$$Indoor + out
Do
Stand Up Live
National headliners in a low-ceiling room downtown. Two-drink minimum, worth it.
Downtown Phoenix
$$Indoors
Do
The Van Buren fall season
A 1930s auto showroom turned 1,800-cap venue. Fall lineup drops all September.
Downtown PhoenixSep 1 – Dec 20
$$Indoors
Date to confirm