As the valley cools down and temperatures dwindle below the hundreds, both tourists and locals are looking to take advantage of the beautiful weather. Here are Downtown Phoenix’s top restaurants with unique outdoor seating to embrace fall in the city.
Arizona Wilderness DTPHX
201 E Roosevelt St, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Arizona Wilderness is “first and foremost a brewery,” says general manager Frank Gervasi. With mostly outdoor seating and two bars, one inside and one outside, the brewery is a popular stop for many visitors.
Visitors Joe Riley and Stacy Gordon are staying in Phoenix in the fall for the first time and chose Arizona Wilderness for its beer selection, and rather enjoy the open-air seating. “It’s nice in Arizona, so why not sit outside,” Gordon says.
The brewery features a unique selection of beer made sustainably from Sinagua Malt, a process that features low water-use barley. “With that we’ve been able to cut back millions of gallons of water,” Gervasi says.
Bliss Rebar
901 N 4th St, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Bliss Rebar, known for its weekend brunch, is a local-favorite that has been around for over 10 years. The restaurant boasts “one of the biggest outdoor patios in the downtown area,” says assistant manager Alex Campos.
Patrick Jones is a local who says he frequently returns because of their huge outdoor patio that allows dogs and the great wait staff. Jones says he “eat[s] out almost every night, and it’s not about the food, it’s more about the wait staff, the atmosphere, who you’re with, and this place always has a very nice vibe to it. They’ve got good food and I like eating outside.”
The restaurant, located in Roosevelt Row, is inspired by the rebar tree surrounded by an outdoor bar with sprawling metal branches that cover the patio and lead into the indoor area.
Chico Malo
50 W Jefferson St, Phoenix, AZ 85003
Known for “good food, great drinks and loud music,” Peter Baray, Chico Malo’s bar manager, says the restaurant is heavily inspired by authentic Mexican ingredients.
As the fall season sets into full swing, Baray says, “the patio is the number one requested place to eat right now.” He finds that when customers come in, “their first thing is ‘can we sit outside,’” and as winter approaches Baray says that the CitySkate Holiday Ice Rink will be right out front of the restaurant drawing in winter crowds.
Copper Blues- Phoenix
50 W Jefferson St, Phoenix, AZ 85003
Copper Blues, an open-window rock gastro-pub, resides just above Chico Malo and is known for its live music. “We do live music every single day of the week, seven days a week, so no matter what we’ll have these big windows open, so weather is a factor,” general manager Hunter Hardt says.
Like many other Phoenix restaurants, Copper Blues is busier in the winter. Hardt says, “we get that winter rush like everyone else does in Arizona,” due to the comparably lower seasonal temperatures. Also similar to many Phoenix restaurants, Hardt says, they “try to go for the open-air vibe” with the surrounding wall-length windows, so naturally “in the winter we blast the heat.”
First-time customers Taylor Rogers and Brad Hintz were drawn in to see a friend play in the band, and agree the restaurant has “good vibes and is pretty chill.” Hintz says, “it’s got the whole downtown city vibe, so it’s pretty cool. It’s just kind of nice to be outside.”
The Churchill
901 N 1st St, Phoenix, AZ 85004
The Churchill is a unique space with a courtyard that is home to 10 small businesses and hosts year-round events on anything from speakers to art galleries to fitness classes.
Although entirely open-air, the space shares a roof that covers the courtyard as a layer of protection on rare rainy days and plentiful sunny days.
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