Best British Pub 2024 | George & Dragon | Food & Drink | Phoenix
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Best British Pub

George & Dragon

Benjamin Leatherman

Nearly 30 years is barely a fly in the king's tea for the British Empire. But for this English pub, it's been a lifetime of fun since George & Dragon raised the Union Jack in central Phoenix and called it home in 1995. Of course, you can get a proper pint in their comfortable environs. But it's a British pub, after all, so one pint won't get you through a Premier League football match on the many TVs plastered on the walls. (Fear not, Phoenix sports fans. They also show Suns games and plenty of American football.) When you want something to soak up your favorite brew, there are many British classics to pick from, including fish and chips, bangers and mash and pasties. (Don't worry, pedestrian American bar-goers. They also serve pub burgers and chicken fingers.) When you want to stretch your legs after sitting in the oversized booths or at the high-top tables, there are pool tables on one side of the bar and a covered patio complete with misters out front. George & Dragon may be a British pub, but it's Phoenix, after all.

Best Irish Pub

Seamus McCaffrey's Irish Pub

Jacob Tyler Dunn

Seamus McCaffrey's is a downtown institution. Since 1991, the Irish pub at the heart of the city has welcomed an eclectic crowd of patrons with a casual, irreverent atmosphere. There's something upfront and nonchalant about the pub, making it easy for anyone to be themself and hang out at Seamus without any pretense. With plenty of beers on draft and no shortage of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, Seamus has a longtime reputation as an essential watering hole for downtown-based service industry workers. It's also known for its crowd-drawing St. Patrick's Day celebration, when it shuts down a portion of Monroe Street for partygoers to revel in the street. This place is the real deal, and its longevity, great vibe and central location make it Phoenix's best Irish pub.

Best Italian Restaurant

Andreoli Italian Grocer

Jackie Mercandetti Photo

Giovanni Scorzo doesn't have time for your bullshit. He hasn't for the past 35 years. The oft-cantankerous teddy bear in disguise who runs this family-style market and trattoria is obsessed with doing Italian food the right way, and if you don't like it, you're wrong, and he'll just keep on doing it the right way until you eventually figure that out. What he won't do is dumb down his food to suit Americans' misconceptions, which is precisely why Andreoli remains such a treasure. Whatever Scorzo and his family can make fresh, they make fresh, from the bread to the charcuterie to the pastries. Whatever they can't, they purchase at great expense from quality suppliers, giving them the necessary raw materials to make their minimal ingredient-focused Italian cuisine sing. The permanent slate of sandwiches and salads is a treat, but the heart of the operation is a tiny white markerboard behind the counter that lists the daily specials. Try anything. All of it is perfect. And stuff yourself with some stellar sweets and an espresso before waddling out the door.

Best French Restaurant

Sottise

Tirion Boan

Sottise effortlessly showcases French brasserie cuisine and culture from its white-washed bungalow-turned-restaurant in downtown's Roosevelt Row. Helmed by restaurateurs Esther Noh and TJ Culp, Sottise's menu vacillates between luxury and comfort. Seafood towers brimming with oysters and caviar can be ordered alongside deviled eggs and boquerones. There are French classics, including escargot and croque madame, as well as playful riffs using traditional ingredients. Take Sottise's duck dish, which is infused with nuance thanks to five-spice, Calvados-infused honey, rich hazelnuts and a fresh pop from grapes. It's a stunning dish that you'll find yourselves passing around the table to share with your dining companions. The bar shines bright at Sottise as well, with a deep list of French wines and a regularly rotating selection of whimsical craft cocktails.

Best Caribbean Restaurant

Cool Vybz Jamaican Restaurant

Caribbean restaurants are popping up everywhere right now. Some of them are quite good, but we find ourselves returning to Cool Vybz Jamaican Restaurant. While the dining room is more functional than fancy, this little joint brings the sizzle where it counts. Chef Nakia Raymond was a seasoned hand back on the island, and here he keeps the focus on developing layers upon layers of flavor in a short list of dishes that pack a wallop. Raymond's curry goat is sensational, so tender and flavorful you'll want to slurp it off the bones, and his oxtails are a thickly spiced, gelatin-loaded umami bomb. The brown stew snapper plays a little like a complex, spiced sweet and sour dish. And jerk chicken might be a predictable selection, but it's also a wise one. This is no barbecued chicken dipped in sauce. Raymond's jerk is deeply imbued with a wild mix of herbs and spices, kicked up with a significant blast of Scotch bonnet peppers, then charred and smoked until you can smell it from across the room.

Best Vietnamese Restaurant

Broken Rice

Timur Guseynov

No doubt, some will squawk at a selection that doesn't serve pho. But let this be a reminder that the cuisine of an entire nation — any nation — isn't defined by one dish. Broken Rice, until very recently known as Com Tam Thuan Kieu, has been around the block, an anchor restaurant at Mekong Plaza for 15 years. That's because it boasts a menu that's reliably delicious — an extensive list headlined by their titular dish, com tam, or broken rice. Permutations abound, though the titanic Com Tam Thuan Kieu 10 Mon is a great place to start. This sampler platter includes vittles such as imperial rolls, grilled pork sausage, shrimp paste wrapped in tofu skin and cha trung, a sort of eggy meatloaf. There's an abundance of brightly dressed salads, and those who just have to have soup would do well to give the hu tieu a spin. Clear and silky, it's loaded with your choice of meats, vegetables and noodles. But there's no pho here. And Broken Rice is no lesser for it.

Best Korean Restaurant

Ban Chan Korean Cuisine

Ban Chan is hardly new. Irene Woo's "country homestyle" Korean restaurant in Mesa has been around for a decade, and Woo has owned and operated Korean restaurants since the 1970s. But a refreshed menu emerging from the pandemic coupled with a sudden burst of influencer interest have turned 2024 into a banner year for the East Valley stalwart. Ban Chan was always good, but Woo's cozy little joint has found a deliciously comfortable groove as its grandma-style Korean fare finds a new generation of fans. Ban Chan's strengths lie in soups and stews such as kal guk su, thick flour noodles in a clam and seafood broth; or maeun galbi tang, a complex, spicy broth loaded with beef ribs. Large-format hot pots like Woo's outstanding pork belly and kimchi are great for a crowd, while the influence of her time in Hawaii is felt in dishes such as her excellent, tender meat jun. What's more, her namesake banchan is top-notch — unfussy, simple and full of flavor.

Best Thai Restaurant

Lom Wong

Allison Young

Is there any restaurant in Phoenix that has altered the public's perception of an international cuisine as suddenly and drastically as Lom Wong? Perhaps Barrio Café, when it opened diners' eyes to a world of regional Mexican cuisine. But transformative restaurants like this are rare, and they deserve to be celebrated as such. Yotaka and Alex Martin continue to refine their microregional Thai fare, taking suspicious customers accustomed to Bangkok-style food on a ride through both Chiang Rai and the Moklen villages of southern Thailand, introducing them to dishes like boo pad pong garee, stir-fried crab with slivers of sweet onion in a turmeric-rich curry; and yam hua plee, a sweet and pungent banana blossom salad dressed with freshly squeezed coconut milk and an abundance of toasted coconut. For those raised on Americanized Thai fare, a visit to Lom Wong can be like seeing the world in color for the first time — a bit shocking and unfamiliar at first but bursting with new experiences that can be absorbed only with wide-eyed wonder.

Best Korean Barbecue

Sizzle Korean BBQ

Tirion Boan

For those used to cooking their own dinner at Korean barbecue restaurants, Sizzle flips the script a bit. Here, the servers place slices of meat on the grill, flip when necessary, cut and serve, all right in the center of your table. For those a little unsure how long to sear each style of meat, the help is welcome. Pick individual cuts or one of the combos from the menu which include multiple varieties of either beef or pork plus a side of kimchi or soybean stew. All of the meals come with banchan, small plates of pickled veggies and toppings to enjoy with bites of meat. Sizzle offers an experience that is upscale yet fun, interactive yet intimate. The high-quality cuts of meat paired with noodle dishes and creative cocktails make the Old Town and Desert Ridge restaurants a standout for Korean barbecue in the Valley.

Best Japanese Restaurant

ShinBay

Jackie Mercandetti Photo

It's been less than a year since Shinji Kurita left the restaurant that still bears his name, and while Kurita's departure stings, what's remarkable is that ShinBay hasn't lost a step. We shouldn't be surprised. Restaurateur Hyunwook Lee has a nose for talent, and Kurita's replacement, veteran Chef Ken Tanaka, has the skill to carry on ShinBay's legacy while putting his personal mark on the city's most impressive omakase counter. Though the format remains the same — a lengthy multicourse tasting menu concluding with an eight- to 10-piece flight of nigiri — Tanaka's style hews more traditional than Kurita's, but only just slightly. ShinBay continues to source truly exceptional seafood, painstakingly crafted into delicate, minimal morsels that focus the senses and extract every bit of natural flavor. And while the nigiri is only half the meal, Tanaka's is exceptional — excellent shari topped with a panoply of fish prepped by the touch of a master.

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