Where to Eat in Scottsdale: Six Restaurant Picks

A vegetable-led dinner at FnB and a brisket sandwich at The Thumb answer very different appetites. Choose by the dish you want and the part of Scottsdale where you will spend the day. Old Town has three of these restaurants, while the others suit plans in South Scottsdale, along Scottsdale Road or farther north. The six picks below are ordered by area, not ranked, and range from counter-service meals to dinners built around several plates.

Choose a restaurant for your meal

Restaurant	Area	Order to look for	Food per person	Closing day
FnB	Old Town	Braised leeks, when offered	$50–$80, several plates	Sun–Mon, summer schedule
The Mission Old Town	Old Town	Duck Carnitas Empanada	$45–$75, fuller dinner	None
Citizen Public House	Old Town	Original Chopped Salad	$35–$60, fuller dinner	None
Chula Seafood South Scottsdale	South Scottsdale	Sweet & Sour Poke Bowl	$20–$30, bowl meal	None
Fat Ox	Scottsdale Road	Garganelli	$55–$90, fuller dinner	None
The Thumb	North Scottsdale	Brisket sandwich	$15–$25, sandwich meal	None during summer hours

For a sit-down dinner, choose the cooking first: seasonal vegetables at FnB, modern Latin dishes at The Mission, American comfort food at Citizen Public House or fresh pasta at Fat Ox. Chula suits a seafood bowl, while The Thumb suits a casual barbecue stop.

The dinner ranges allow for more than a single starter or pasta plate. Extra courses push spending towards the upper end, and wine or cocktails can take the bill beyond it. At the counter-service places, sides and other extras turn a single-dish meal into a larger order.

Reserve sit-down dinners for busy evenings. For counter meals, walk in and order on arrival. Choose somewhere near your day’s plans.

For a setting-led dinner for two, consider romantic restaurants in Scottsdale. For dietary needs, the selection of gluten-free restaurants in Scottsdale offers preparation advice as well as places to eat.

FnB

FnB is the choice for a dinner shaped by Arizona’s seasonal vegetables. Chef Charleen Badman builds a changing menu around what local farmers have available, although the cooking is not strictly vegetarian. She won the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: Southwest award in 2019.

Look for braised leeks topped with mozzarella, mustard, breadcrumbs and a sunny-side-up egg when they are offered. The soft leeks form the centre of the dish, with cheese, crisp crumbs and the egg making it more substantial. Food & Wine named it a Top Ten Dish in 2010, but seasonal vegetable dishes should guide your order rather than an expectation that the leeks will always be available.

Build dinner around the vegetables available that evening. Several plates let you explore the seasonal cooking, while extra dishes increase the bill. The wine programme focuses notably on Arizona producers alongside other selections, making an Arizona wine a natural accompaniment if you want a drink with dinner.

Summer dinner service

Tuesday–Saturday, 5pm–10pm

The Mission Old Town

The Mission Old Town serves modern Latin cooking from chef/co-owner Matt Carter. Its Duck Carnitas Empanada, a pastry filled with duck confit, gives you a specific starting point for the meal. Tableside guacamole is another option to share before moving on to further courses.

Treat the empanada as part of dinner rather than the whole order. Add a main course if you want a fuller meal, and decide whether the shared guacamole fits your appetite. Ordering both starters and further courses moves spending towards the upper end of the dinner budget, before drinks.

Weekend brunch gives you another occasion to eat here if your Old Town plans fall earlier in the day.

Lunch and dinner, Sunday–Thursday

11am–10pm

Lunch and dinner, Friday–Saturday

11am–11pm

Weekend brunch

Saturday–Sunday, 11am–3pm

Citizen Public House

Citizen Public House makes the Original Chopped Salad a reason to choose dinner here. Chef Bernie Kantak created the dish, which combines smoked salmon and couscous with rocket, trail mix, dried super sweet corn and marinated tomatoes. Buttermilk herb dressing brings the ingredients together.

The Original Chopped Salad pairs smoked fish and grain with crunchy additions, giving you contrasting textures in one order. Buttermilk herb dressing is typically creamy and tangy, so this is a richer combination than leaves with a light vinaigrette. Choose the salad if you want fish and grain together, with vegetables as part of the meal rather than its only ingredients.

The restaurant’s modern American comfort-food cooking also includes Bernie’s Mac ‘N Cheese. Add the mac and cheese if you want a fuller comfort-food order, or build dinner around the salad and another course. Extra dishes and cocktails raise spending beyond a single-dish meal.

Dinner

Daily, 4pm–10pm

Social Hour

Daily, 4pm–6pm

Chula Seafood South Scottsdale

Chula Seafood South Scottsdale suits a casual meal centred on a seafood bowl. Look for the Sweet & Sour Poke Bowl, a Hawaiian-style fish bowl, as your main order. The original branch belongs to a family-owned fishery and restaurant business connected to its Pacific Coast fishing operation.

Order at the counter, then take a seat for staff to bring the food to your table. Indoor seating and some outdoor tables give you a choice of where to eat without turning the visit into a full table-service dinner. A bowl alone keeps the order simple, while extra food increases both the size of the meal and your spending.

For a prepared meal, arrive after the kitchen starts serving, rather than at the fish market’s earlier opening. The branch works well for lunch or an early meal when your plans already take you to South Scottsdale.

Fish market

Daily, 10am–6pm

Kitchen opens

Daily, 11am

Fat Ox

Fat Ox is a choice for a dinner built around fresh pasta made in-house. Chef/owner Matt Carter’s modern Italian cooking uses both extruded pasta and pasta made from sheets of dough. Garganelli, ridged pasta tubes, is a named dish to look for on the summer dinner menu.

Make the pasta the centre of your order if that is what draws you here. A starter or another course turns it into a fuller dinner, and wine adds separately to the food budget. You can keep the meal focused on pasta without treating a larger sequence of courses as obligatory.

Aperitivo, an early-evening drink and bite, has its own daily window in the bar and lounge. Choose the bar or lounge for aperitivo, rather than expecting that offer throughout the dining room.

Dinner, Sunday–Thursday

3:30pm–9pm

Dinner, Friday–Saturday

3:30pm–10pm

Aperitivo, bar and lounge only

Daily, 3:30pm–6:30pm

The Thumb

The Thumb gives you brisket barbecue inside a petrol-station complex. Look for a brisket sandwich as the centre of a casual meal, with sides if you want something more substantial. Brisket is a beef cut usually cooked slowly for barbecue, allowing the tougher meat to become tender.

Order at the counter, then dine in at the casual restaurant. A sandwich keeps the meal straightforward, while sides and a drink increase your total spending. The Thumb fits a day already spent in North Scottsdale, especially when you want barbecue without a longer sit-down dinner.

Summer schedule applies

1 June–2 August

Bistro barbecue, Monday–Friday

10am–6pm

Bistro, Saturday–Sunday

8am–6pm, all-day breakfast and barbecue

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: opening hours and key figures.

• FnB Restaurant — opening hours
• FnB Restaurant — key figures
• Fat Ox — opening hours
• Fat Ox Summer Menu, June 17, 2026
• Fat Ox | Discover and Reserve Your Table
• The Thumb — opening hours
• The Mission — opening hours
• The Mission Old Town — key figures
• The Mission — key figures
• Chula Seafood — opening hours
• Citizen Public House — opening hours
• Award-Winning Fare | Menus — CITIZEN PUBLIC HOUSE
• Citizen Public House — Entity Information for AI