•Arizona Native, 30+ Years in AZ
•ASU Graduate
•Business Owner Since 2006
Last updated: August 31, 2026 — hours, menu prices and contact details verified against the venue’s own site and its live reservation listing on this date.
What is Problem Lounge in Scottsdale?
Problem Restaurant & Lounge is a three-floor dining and nightlife venue at 7341 E 6th Ave in Old Town Scottsdale, opened in July 2026 by NFL All-Pro wide receiver Deebo Samuel and executive chef Cleashaun “Chef Cleaz” Hill. The first floor is a fine-dining room built around an Italian steakhouse menu with Creole and Cajun influences. The second floor is a hookah lounge with a hidden speakeasy. The third floor is an open-air rooftop bar.
Entrées run roughly $32 to $110, the dress code is business casual, parking is valet, and reservations are taken online. It occupies the building that was Barney’s Boathouse in the Scottsdale Arts District.
Old Town gets a new “concept” roughly every other month, and most of them are a bar with a fresh coat of paint. Problem is a different animal. It’s three genuinely separate rooms stacked on top of each other, it has a real chef running a real kitchen, and it has an NFL All-Pro’s name attached to it — which means the crowd on a Saturday is not the crowd you get at the place next door.
Here’s everything verified as of the last update to this page: the address, the hours (including a discrepancy worth knowing about before you drive over), the actual menu with actual prices, the dress code, and an honest read on whether it’s worth your night out.
Where Problem Lounge is and how to reach it
Problem sits on East 6th Avenue between Scottsdale Road and Goldwater Boulevard, in the Scottsdale Arts District portion of Old Town. If you know Old Town, it’s a short walk from the Scottsdale Civic Center and Museum of the West, and roughly five minutes on foot from the Fashion Square end of Scottsdale Road.
Google Maps, Yelp, MapQuest and the reservation listing all put Problem at 7341 E 6th Ave. The venue’s own website footer lists 7345 E 6th Ave. Both point to the same corner of 6th Avenue, so navigation apps will get you there either way — but if you’re texting the address to friends, send 7341, because that’s the one every mapping service resolves correctly.
Problem Lounge hours — and the conflict you should plan around
Hours are the single most-searched thing about this place, and they are also the thing most likely to send you over on a night the doors aren’t open. As of this update there are two published schedules that don’t agree with each other.
| Source | Dinner service | Lounge & rooftop |
|---|---|---|
| Problem’s own website | Daily from 5:00 PM | “Late” — no close time given |
| Reservation listing | Thu–Sun, 4:00–11:00 PM | Thu–Sun, 4:00 PM–4:00 AM |
| Happy hour | Mon–Fri, 3:00–5:00 PM | — |
The website advertises daily dinner service; the live booking system only offers Thursday through Sunday. On a new restaurant, the booking system is almost always the accurate one, because it reflects what the kitchen is actually staffed for that week. Treat Thursday–Sunday as the reliable window and call 480-478-8939 before making the drive on any other night. Happy hour timing in particular should be confirmed by phone — it’s advertised Monday through Friday, on days the dining room may not be serving.
The Sunday brunch and day party has also been running as a recurring event rather than a permanent menu item, so check the venue’s Instagram for the current week before planning around it.
The three floors, explained
This is the part most listings get wrong by treating Problem as one venue. It’s three, and they want different things from you — different reservation, different price point, different hour of the night.
First floor — the dining room
A proper fine-dining room, not a bar that serves food. The menu reads Italian steakhouse with Creole and Cajun running underneath it: fire-grilled prime beef, premium seafood, and Louisiana touches like crawfish alfredo and Creole mashed potatoes. There’s a caviar program. Seating includes counter seats and window couch seating, and the noise level is moderate enough to hold a conversation across a table — a genuinely rare thing in Old Town.
Second floor — hookah lounge and the speakeasy
Upstairs shifts into nightlife: cocktails, curated music, premium hookah, bottle service and booth sections. Tucked inside the second floor is a hidden speakeasy — a smaller, more private room that the venue markets as a separate experience, and one of the few actual speakeasy setups in Old Town rather than a themed cocktail list. Contact form on their site has a dedicated “Speakeasy” inquiry option, which tells you it’s bookable rather than walk-in.
Third floor — the rooftop
Open-air terrace with fire features, an outdoor bar, hookah and skyline views. In Phoenix terms, this is a September-through-May room. Nobody is enjoying an open-air rooftop in Old Town in mid-July at 108° — and more than one reviewer has said outright they’re waiting for cooler weather to use it properly. If the rooftop is the reason you’re going, go between October and April.
Problem Lounge menu and prices
Below is the dinner menu as published on the venue’s live reservation listing, last updated by the restaurant on July 30, 2026. Menus at a two-month-old restaurant move, so treat these as the current baseline rather than a permanent price list.
| Course | Dish | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Caviar | Osetra Noir — warm blini, crème fraîche | $115 |
| Caviar | Dutch Platinum — warm blini, crème fraîche | $165 |
| Starter | Deviled Eggs — deep-fried Cajun style, caviar | $16 |
| Starter | Wings — firecracker, jerk or honey lemon | $18 |
| Starter | Salmon Tartare — avocado, quail egg | $24 |
| Salad | Wedge / Classic Caesar | $17 / $18 |
| Pasta | Crawfish Alfredo Fettuccine — Louisiana crawfish | $32 |
| Pasta | Crab & Shrimp Rigatoni — jumbo lump crab, gulf shrimp | $34 |
| Poultry | Airline Chicken — mole butter | $34 |
| Prime beef | Prime Flat Iron — red wine demi-glace | $46 |
| Seafood | Lobster Tail — browned clarified butter | $48 |
| Prime beef | Rack of Lamb — 4 pieces, cauliflower purée | $58 |
| Seafood | Whole Fried Red Snapper / Jerk Barramundi | $68 |
| Prime beef | Wagyu Ribeye — 14 oz, Arizona-grown Bonafide Wagyu | $72 |
| Prime beef | Dry-Aged Bone-In New York — 45-day, Australian Wagyu | $110 |
| Sides | Creole mac & cheese, Creole mashed potatoes, crab fried rice, brussels sprouts | $14–$18 |
| Dessert | Peach or apple cobbler / caramel cheesecake | $14 / $16 |
The 14 oz ribeye is Arizona-grown Bonafide Wagyu — sourced in-state, not flown in from Japan or Texas. For a celebrity-backed restaurant that could have coasted on an imported-beef story, putting Arizona cattle on the most-ordered steak on the menu is a real choice. If you order one thing off the prime beef section, that’s the one with a local argument behind it.
Separate lounge, drink and hookah menus exist for the second and third floors and are published on the venue’s website. Expect the lounge and rooftop to run on bottle service and shareable plates rather than the full dining-room card.
Who’s behind it: Deebo Samuel and Chef Cleaz
Deebo Samuel — legal first name Tyshun — is a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, first-team All-Pro in 2021, and the only wide receiver in NFL history with 20+ receiving and 20+ rushing touchdowns. He spent 2025 with the Washington Commanders and returned to San Francisco on a one-year deal in July 2026, the same month Problem opened. He’s said publicly that he spends significant time in Scottsdale and picked Old Town for the mix of people it draws.
The kitchen belongs to Chef Cleashaun “Cleaz” Hill, who was Samuel’s private chef when he entered the NFL. That relationship is why the menu reads the way it does — Creole and Cajun technique layered onto a steakhouse format, rather than a consultant-designed menu bolted onto a celebrity’s name. Guests report running into Hill on the stairs between floors, which is a decent signal that he’s actually in the building.
What early guests are actually saying
Problem carries a 4.6-star average across 30 Google reviews and 4.4 across 11 verified diner reviews on its booking platform. That’s a small sample on a venue this new, so here’s the honest split rather than a star count.
- Service — named staff come up repeatedly and by name across independent reviews, which is unusual and generally a real signal
- Ambience — the darker, adult room tone and the lighting, rated highest of the four scored categories
- Creole mac & cheese and the cocktail program
- Door and valet experience, and easy parking for Old Town
- Kitchen inconsistency — the same dishes praised by some diners (wings, mac & cheese, crab fried rice) are the exact dishes criticised by others
- Menu breadth — more than one diner called the selection limited for the price point
- Concept clarity — a few guests found the flow between the three floors confusing on a first visit
Read that as a normal opening-months profile: strong hospitality and room, a kitchen still finding its consistency. If you’re going in the next few months, order the dishes with the most consensus behind them and set expectations accordingly.
How to plan your visit
- Book ahead. Reservations are online through the venue’s website or its listing, and the dining room has been booking dozens of covers a day since opening. Walk-ins to the lounge and rooftop are more realistic than walk-ins to the dining room on a weekend.
- Dress business casual. Neat and put-together clears the door. Nobody needs a jacket, but Old Town athleisure is the wrong read for the first floor.
- Go Thursday or Sunday if you want the room. Friday and Saturday after 10 PM the second floor turns into a nightlife venue, which is great if that’s what you came for and not great if you booked a birthday dinner.
- Save the rooftop for shoulder season. October through April is when an open-air third floor in the Valley is actually pleasant.
Where Problem fits in the Old Town lineup
Old Town’s upscale dining and nightlife blocks are dense, and Problem lands in a specific gap: it’s one of very few venues that will actually carry you from a $70 steak to a rooftop hookah without leaving the building. If you’re building a night around it, these are the natural pairings from our own Arizona coverage:
- Comparing dining rooms first — our roundup of the best restaurants in Old Town Scottsdale covers the immediate competition within walking distance
- Casting a wider net across the city — the 2026 Scottsdale restaurant guide and our list of the best restaurants in Scottsdale
- Starting earlier and cheaper — see the best happy hour in Scottsdale before your reservation
- For the same upscale-with-a-scene energy, Toca Madera is Problem’s closest stylistic neighbor in the city
- Celebrity-spotting is a genuine Old Town pastime — we track where famous people go in Scottsdale
- Filling the rest of the weekend: things to do in Scottsdale and PopStroke Scottsdale for the daytime half
Problem Lounge FAQ
Who owns Problem Lounge in Scottsdale?
Problem Restaurant & Lounge is co-owned by San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel and executive chef Cleashaun “Chef Cleaz” Hill, who was Samuel’s private chef early in his NFL career.
What is the dress code at Problem Lounge?
Business casual. Polished and neat rather than formal — most guests dress up a notch for anniversaries and celebrations, and cocktail attire was requested for opening-night events.
Do you need a reservation at Problem Lounge?
For the first-floor dining room on a weekend, yes — book online through the venue’s site. The second-floor lounge and rooftop are more walk-in friendly, though booths and bottle service sections should be arranged in advance.
How expensive is Problem Lounge?
It’s a $50-and-over restaurant. Pasta and chicken entrées start around $32–$34, steaks run $46–$110, sides are $14–$18, and the caviar program tops out at $165. A two-person dinner with a starter, two entrées, a side and drinks lands comfortably north of $150.
Does Problem Lounge have a rooftop?
Yes — the third floor is a fully open-air rooftop bar with fire features, an outdoor bar, hookah and city views. It’s most comfortable from roughly October through April, given Valley summer temperatures.
Is there a speakeasy at Problem?
Yes. A hidden speakeasy is built into the second-floor lounge as a separate, more private room. The venue’s contact form lists it as its own inquiry category, so plan to ask about it rather than expecting to stumble in.
When did Problem Lounge open?
Problem ran soft-opening service earlier in July 2026 and held its public grand-opening weekend in late July 2026, in the former Barney’s Boathouse building on East 6th Avenue.
Is Problem Lounge good for a date night or a birthday?
Both, with a timing caveat. The dining room’s moderate noise level and window seating suit a date; multiple guests have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries there. Book earlier in the evening — the second floor shifts to full nightlife energy late on Friday and Saturday.
Is there parking at Problem Lounge?
Valet is the listed parking option. Guests have described parking as easy by Old Town standards, which is not a low bar to clear on a Saturday night on 6th Avenue.
Does Problem Lounge accommodate dietary restrictions?
Gluten-free and vegan options are listed, and the menu carries a cauliflower steak and several vegetable-forward sides. The room is non-smoking, with hookah confined to the upper floors. The venue is wheelchair accessible and has a private room available for events.
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