The Best Restaurants and Bars in Midtown Phoenix
Where: The area between the 51, the 17, and I10, south of the Grand Canal.
When you fly in to Phoenix, the first thing you notice will probably be the alien communication towers on South Mountain. Then you’ll notice downtown Phoenix. But thennnnn, you’ll notice the weird other downtown running along Central. That’s midtown—well, that, and the neighborhoods surrounding it. And there’s a little bit for everyone—museums, fairgrounds, funky neighborhoods, high-rises, giant parks, and for our purposes, lots and lots of great places to eat and drink.
Breakfast / Coffee / Carbs
The meat of midtown is essentially a business district that’s a little light in the morning department, but the neighborhoods surrounding it are filled with amazing coffee shops and breakfast spots. Between Coronado and Melrose alone, you’re bound to find something incredibly delicious.
1. Valentine
Melrose - 4130 N 7th Ave
Valentine is arguably the best restaurant in Phoenix so it’s hard to pigeonhole it as a breakfast spot, but the truth is that if you want the ultimate Valentine experience, you should go around 10:30am on a weekend. Crystal Kass, the pastry chef, is on a James Beard Awards run that puts her in the tippy-top tier, and Donald Hawk, the head chef, is already regarded as one of the best in town. Add the Spirited Awards recognized cocktail program to the mix and you have a brunch situation that can’t be beat.
Type: Broad
Yumpoints: 17
2. Presidio Cocina Mexicana
All the food at Presidio is good, but the real crowds show up for the brunch menu. It’s small but mighty, featuring all the Mexican classics—huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, tamales, and tacos, plus some specials here and there like chocolate chip pancakes and tres leches French toast. Just be warned that the restaurant isn’t big, so if you get there in the thick it, you might be looking at a bit of a wait. You’ll survive.
Type: Mexican
Yumpoints: 3
Lunch
Given the businessesness of Midtown, it’s no surprise that lunch reigns supreme. From tacos and kabobs to sandwiches and Ethiopian, you’ll find a little of everything here..
1. Tacos Chiwas
There are a lot of good taco spots in Phoenix, but Tacos Chiwas—at least in the eyes of the food critics—has risen to the top of the heap. The thing that jumps out to me is that everything seems real. Not saying other spots aren’t authentic—but real as in, the stuff here seems like it could come out of someone’s actual kitchen. The flavors are sometimes subtle and delicate, the toppings are minimal, and the meats themselves don’t seem overly wacky. This isn’t the kind of taco shop that’ll serve you a taco that would appear on Chopped, and it’s not going to have toppings and sauces falling all over the place—you’re getting delicious, down-home tacos that won’t make you feel gross at the end. I like that.
Type: Taco Shop
Yumpoints: 9
2. Kabob Grill N' Go
Calle 16 - 3050 N 16th St
One thing Phoenix doesn’t do very well is Mediterranean lunch. No offense to anyone who likes Pita Jungle, but when I’m looking for a flavorful grilled meat with some deceptively simple rice, that’s not what I’m looking for. What I want is whatever they’re doing over at Kabob Grill N’Go. It’s magic. Magic enough for the New York Times to put this humble lunch spot on their 2022 Restaurant List, covering the 50 places in the nation they’re most excited about.
Type: Kabobs
Yumpoints: 7
Dinner
When I think of Midtown, I think of brunch, lunch, and drinks. Maybe that means I have a problem, I dunno. But when I dig into what’s actually here, I start to second-guess myself. The dinner spots here are kind of amazing, and there are way more than I thought.
1. Casa Corazon
Calle 16 - 2637 N 16th St
Every time I talk to someone about Casa Corazon, they say, “what’s that?” Then I explain that it’s down the street from the now-closed Barrio Cafe, and they all say they never went because it’d feel sacrilegious to drive out that way and not go to Barrio. But now that Barrio’s closed, they (and you!) can go, and you absolutely should, because the word on the street is that it might be as good as Barrio Cafe ever was. Especially the enchiladas with the Corazon beet sauce, which Phoenix Magazine says “does for the eponymous taproot what mole did for the cocoa bean.”
Type: Mexican
Yumpoints: 6
2. Durant’s
Central Corridor - 2611 N Central Ave
What is it that you’re looking for in a steakhouse? If your goal is to get the most ridiculously delicious cut of meat, I’d argue that you probably shouldn’t go to a steakhouse at all. Go to Vecina, Persepshen, or Bacanora. But if you’re looking for the perfect old-school steakhouse vibe, nothing beats Durant’s. It’s the kind of place you walk in through the back-door kitchen entrance, sit down and marvel at the velvet wallpaper, and order a few too many crispy martinis. The steak will be fine—don’t worry about that—but you could probably whip up something close to a steakhouse steak at home. Durant’s offers up something your house just can’t reproduce.
Type: Steakhouse
Yumpoints: 3
Drinks
The nightlife scene in Midtown is definitely the most underrated, probably because it sits right next to all the stuff happening on Roosevelt. But here, you have some of the best cocktail bars in the city, the whole LGBTQ scene around Melrose, and so much more.
1. Highball
I don’t know how to classify Highball because it intentionally doesn’t have a theme. It’s not a trashy dive bar or a sleazy martini bar, it’s not a themed bar or a cocktail fantasyland—it’s just a really nice, extremely dark bar with a nationally recognized cocktail program. It’s the kind of place James Bond would go to if he were real and in Phoenix for some reason. I take that back… he’s definitely a classy hotel bar kind of guy. Regardless, Highball is a place you should try because it’s unlike anything else in Phoenix.
Type: Cocktail Bar
Yumpoints: 8
2. Bar 1912
Melrose - 4130 N 7th Ave
Around the back corner from Valentine you’ll find a little speakeasy called Bar 1912. Inside, you’ll find perhaps the most true expression of Phoenix in town. Peak Phoenix aesthetic—slightly retro, slightly minimal bordering on possibly low budget, but there’s a chance it’s more high-end than you’d think. The music is aggressively chill, everything’s comfortable, and the cocktails are all meant to show off ingredients unique to Arizona. When you go, you have to try the Desert Martini, which Esquire says is one of the very best in America.
Type: Cocktail Bar
Yumpoints: 8
