Best Restaurants in Scottsdale, AZ: 15 Picks by Area, Ranked for 2026

The best restaurant in Scottsdale is Cafe Monarch — a family-run, candlelit prix fixe in Old Town that TripAdvisor has ranked among the top fine-dining rooms in the country. For a steak, it’s Dominick’s in North Scottsdale.

Fifteen restaurants are ranked below and grouped by where they actually are: Old Town, the Waterfront and Fashion Square, and North Scottsdale. Each entry has the address, what to order, and the one reason it made the list.

The 2026 wrinkle: Michelin is rating Arizona for the first time this year — the new MICHELIN Guide Southwest debuts in 2026 with inspectors already eating anonymously in Scottsdale. Several rooms on this list are the local money’s picks to be recognized.

⚡ THE HARDEST TABLE IN TOWN RIGHT NOW

Din Tai Fung Scottsdale opened at Scottsdale Fashion Square in April 2026 and is Arizona’s first. Reservations run through Yelp and walk-in waits can stretch past two hours, so we wrote a full guide to getting in, what to order and where to park.

Cafe Monarch — 6939 E 1st Ave

A family-owned, candlelit prix fixe hidden behind a garden wall a block off the Old Town strip, and the restaurant TripAdvisor has ranked among the top five fine-dining rooms in the United States. The seasonal four-course menu changes constantly, each course is presented and explained tableside, valet is complimentary, and the espresso martini has a reputation of its own. It is the one restaurant in Scottsdale that people who have eaten everywhere still put first, and the one nearly every Michelin prediction piece in the Valley named this year.

Order: the chef’s seasonal tasting menu; weekend brunch is the affordable way in. Hours: Mon–Thu 5–10:30pm, Fri–Sat 5pm–midnight, weekend brunch 10am–1:30pm. Book 7–14 days out.

#3 FnB — 7125 E 5th Ave #31

Chef Charleen Badman won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest here, and FnB is the reason national food writers started paying attention to Scottsdale. The menu changes weekly around Arizona produce, the vegetable dishes outshine the meat, and the wine list is built around Arizona wineries — the best introduction to the state’s wine you’ll get in a restaurant. Tuesday–Saturday 5–10pm, closed Sunday and Monday, reservations take a deposit.

#4 Virtù Honest Craft — 3701 N Marshall Way

Chef Gio Osso’s James Beard-recognized room inside the Bespoke Inn has been one of the most revered tables in Arizona since 2013. Fifty-eight seats, a weekly-changing Mediterranean menu — handmade pasta, grilled octopus — and a courtyard that is the best patio in Old Town from October to April. Books out weeks ahead and completely during the WM Phoenix Open and Spring Training. If you can only get one hard reservation, this is the one worth the effort.

#5 Sel — 7044 E Main St

Chef Branden Levine’s tasting-menu room on Main Street, an intimate, gallery-like space that Valley critics keep naming as the Scottsdale restaurant most likely to surprise the Michelin inspectors. Contemporary American with an artistic hand on the plate and a menu that evolves constantly. The pick for someone who has already done Monarch and wants the next thing.

#6 Ocean 44 — 4748 N Goldwater Blvd

The Waterfront’s big-night seafood-and-steak room, with a hot seafood tower that reviewers order as a shared starter and talk about for a week. Prime steaks, branzino, Oysters Rockefeller, complimentary valet and warm rosemary towels between courses. Daily 4–10pm, Fri–Sat until 11. The place to book for an anniversary when Monarch is full.

#8 Maple & Ash — 7135 E Camelback Rd #130

The loudest, best-dressed steakhouse in Scottsdale — high ceilings, wood-fired everything, a bone marrow ritual done tableside, and a “Lady in Black” cocktail with its own following. Come for the room as much as the steak. Sunday brunch (10:30am–2pm) is the sleeper way to see it without the Saturday crush.

#9 Citizen Public House — 7111 E 5th Ave

Fifteen-plus years on 5th Avenue and still the room locals send out-of-towners to when they want upscale without ceremony. The tableside chopped salad is a rite; the short ribs, pork belly pastrami and scallops are the reasons people come back. Open every day 4–10pm, and the staff has a documented habit of going out of their way on birthdays.

#10 The Mission — 3815 N Brown Ave

Nearly 3,500 Google reviews and the most consistently recommended restaurant in Old Town. Modern Latin — steak tacos, tableside guacamole, a rotating duck special — in a lively room that handles a table of eight as easily as a date. Open for lunch from 11am daily, which almost nothing at this level in Old Town is.

#14 Toca Madera — 4736 N Goldwater Blvd

Where dinner becomes the night out: immersive lighting, a DJ, and a modern Mexican menu that is better than it needs to be given the room. Guacamole, calamari, salmon, serious margaritas. The most group-friendly restaurant on the list for bachelorettes and birthdays, open until 1am Friday and Saturday. Our Toca Madera deep dive covers the menu and how to get a weekend table.

#15 Diego Pops — 4338 N Scottsdale Rd

The best cheap meal in Scottsdale and the most fun one. A six-sauce basket lands on every table (fight over the roasted garlic beet crema), the Brussels sprout nachos and cod tacos are the orders, and there’s a dedicated gluten-free fryer. Open 11am most days, 10am weekends, until midnight Friday and Saturday. This is where you eat before the $$$$ places on this list and after.

#11 Francine — Scottsdale Waterfront

Chef Laurent Halasz came up in Michelin-starred kitchens in France and built the best daytime restaurant in Scottsdale on the canal: bright, Mediterranean, French Riviera on the plate, and the room you take someone to lunch when the rest of Old Town is still asleep. Dinner is excellent too, but the patio at 1pm in February is the reason it’s on the list.

#12 Nobu Scottsdale — 7014 E Camelback Rd #1170

The full global Nobu experience at Fashion Square. Black cod miso, spicy tuna on crispy rice, hamachi with jalapeño, rock shrimp tempura — the greatest hits are the right order, and family-style works for four or more. Dinner only, from 5 or 5:30pm. It ranks below the independents because it’s a chain doing a chain’s job very well; it’s on the list because no one else in Scottsdale does Japanese at this level.

Dominick’s Steakhouse — 15169 N Scottsdale Rd

An open-air dining room built around a lit pool, the night sky for a ceiling, and a 45-day dry-aged ribeye that shows up in more “best steak of my life” reviews than any cut in Arizona. Truffle baked potato and corn brûlée on the side, a staff that is unpretentious for the price, and one of the most expensive bills you will happily pay. Daily from 4pm. If the occasion is a steak, this beats every room in Old Town.

#7 Belmont Kitchen & Cocktails — Pinnacle Peak & Pima

The only restaurant in the Valley where a two-time Michelin-starred chef is actually in the kitchen every night: Alex Stratta, James Beard winner, formerly of the Wynn in Las Vegas and Prado at the Montelucia. PHOENIX magazine named it a 2025 Best New Restaurant. Casual-elegant Modern American — no dress code — with seasonal tasting menus and a real cocktail program, in a part of North Scottsdale that had nothing like it. If Michelin recognizes one North Scottsdale room this year, the money is here. (480) 999-5599.

#13 SumoMaya — 6560 N Scottsdale Rd

Asian-Mexican fusion that genuinely works — kimchi fried rice next to mole chicken, dan dan noodles next to calamari with chimichurri — under an enormous indoor tree at Scottsdale and Lincoln. The Saturday bottomless brunch ($45 for unlimited share plates plus an entrée, $35 more for bottomless drinks) is one of the best-value meals in the city and has a cult. Reserve for weekends.

Valley critics’ consensus picks for Scottsdale recognition: Cafe Monarch, Sel, FnB, Virtù and Belmont Kitchen, with Christopher’s at the Wrigley Mansion and Kai at the Wild Horse Pass (Chandler) as the Phoenix-area locks. The practical advice: eat at the shortlist now. The week a star lands, a 58-seat room like Virtù goes from “book two weeks out” to “book two months out.”

What are the top 10 restaurants in Scottsdale?

Cafe Monarch, Dominick’s Steakhouse, FnB, Virtù Honest Craft, Sel, Ocean 44, Belmont Kitchen & Cocktails, Maple & Ash, Citizen Public House and The Mission — the top ten of the fifteen above, spanning Old Town, the Waterfront and North Scottsdale.

Does Scottsdale have any Michelin-star restaurants?

No — Arizona has never been covered by Michelin. That changes in 2026 with the new MICHELIN Guide Southwest, announced in December 2025, with inspectors already visiting Scottsdale. Cafe Monarch, Sel, FnB, Virtù and Belmont Kitchen are the local picks to be recognized.

Where do celebrities eat in Scottsdale?

Maple & Ash, Toca Madera, Nobu and Dominick’s are the rooms with the most sightings — see our dedicated guide to where famous people go in Scottsdale for the full list, including the resorts and clubs.

What is the best new restaurant in Scottsdale?

Belmont Kitchen & Cocktails in North Scottsdale — PHOENIX magazine’s 2025 Best New Restaurant, with Michelin-starred chef Alex Stratta cooking nightly. For nightlife, Problem Lounge’s three-floor rooftop in Old Town is the newest opening worth a visit.

What are the best hidden-gem restaurants in Scottsdale?

Sel on Main Street and FnB on 5th Avenue — both small, chef-run, and easy to walk past. Virtù inside the Bespoke Inn is the third, though “hidden” is generous for a room that books out weeks ahead.

What are the best restaurants in Scottsdale with a view?

Dominick’s for the open-air pool room under the night sky, Francine for the Waterfront canal at lunch, and Virtù’s courtyard in season. For a skyline, Christopher’s at the Wrigley Mansion is a ten-minute drive into Phoenix.

What are the best casual restaurants in Scottsdale?

Diego Pops for tacos, The Mission for a Latin lunch, Citizen Public House for the upscale-casual middle, and SumoMaya’s Saturday bottomless brunch for the best-value big meal in the city.

Own a restaurant in Scottsdale?

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