The 12 biggest Phoenix restaurant openings of 2025

Dozens of restaurants open around the Valley each year, and 2025 was no different. Chains added links. Local restaurant groups debuted new concepts. And entrepreneurs launched their first eateries.

Out of the long list of newcomers, some spots opened relatively quietly. Others made a splash, with customers lining up around the block, eager to get a first look at what waited inside.

The first women’s sports bar in the entire state opened in the Melrose District, making national headlines and marking a historic moment for Arizona. A Tucson baker brought his skills and award-winning bread to Gilbert. And a very long-awaited brewery finally opened on Roosevelt Row.

Here are the 12 biggest Phoenix restaurant openings of 2025.

Title 9 Sports Grill 

4221 N. Seventh Ave.
Opened on March 15
Arizona’s first dedicated women’s sports bar opened this spring on Seventh Avenue. The Melrose District spot was previously home to Short Leash Hotdogs & Taproom, whose co-owner, Kat Moore, partnered with neighbor and Boycott bar owner Audrey Corley to bring the new concept to life. Title 9 Sports Grill celebrates all things women’s sports, with huge screens showing the games, a trophy wall displaying sporting accomplishments and a larger-than-life mural of Phoenix Mercury G.O.A.T. Diana Taurasi. The bar adds Phoenix to the small but growing list of cities with bars dedicated to women in sports. 

Filthy Animal 

740 S. Mill Ave. Suite D140, Tempe
Opened on March 17
The team behind downtown hotspots Wren & Wolf, Trophy Room and Carry On made a grand entrance into Tempe with Filthy Animal. The lavish restaurant shares some signature elements with its Pretty Decent Concepts siblings, such as taxidermy animals perched among the booths, top-tier cocktails from award-winning mixologist and beverage director Jax Donahue and dishes cooked over a live fire. When the new restaurant opened on Mill Avenue, complete with valet parking, it brought a new level of dining to its college town digs. While we found the food to be hit or miss, there’s no doubt Filthy Animal made a splash in 2025.

Don Guerra’s Barrio Bagel & Slice 

689 N. Arizona Ave., Gilbert
Opened on April 10 
Barrio Bread and its founder, Don Guerra, have long been household names in Tucson. After he won a James Beard Award for his baking in 2022, that recognition ballooned. Guerra began selling his bread in the Valley in late 2023, hosting weekly pop-ups at Hayden Flour Mills in Gilbert. But in April, he made his official metro Phoenix debut. Don Guerra’s Barrio Bagel & Slice opened in an old Sonic in Gilbert on April 10. There, the award-winning baker sells bread to go, along with bagel sandwiches and pizza slices from the counter-service and drive-thru restaurant.

Marisco Boys 

2026 N. Seventh St.
Opened on April 23
Taco Boys has grown into a local chain with taco shops slinging smoky carne asada and packed burritos around the Valley. But in April, the Taco Boys put a grown-up spin on their offerings, with the new, swanky seafood spot, Marisco Boys. Located on Seventh Street in the former home of Coco’s Bakery, the elevated restaurant offers full-service dining at tables surrounded by navy blue velvet chairs or at its glowing, internally lit bar. Beer and craft cocktails flow, while the menu offers both raw and cooked seafood. Many of the Sonoran and Sinaloan-style dishes are designed for sharing, making the new eatery the perfect spot for a family gathering or celebration. 

Minnow 

4501 N. 32nd St.
Opened on July 8
Chef and restaurateur Bernie Kantak is known for his expertise in classic American cuisine. His restaurants Citizen Public House, The Gladly and Beginner’s Luck make the case that staples such as short rib, a BLT and a seemingly simple chopped salad are anything but boring when executed with such skill. But in 2025, he shook things up a bit, diving into a new genre of cuisine with Minnow. Housed in the former home of Provision Coffee in Arcadia, the new concept is a blend of a matcha cafe and sushi shop. Order at the counter via a touch screen and either take your lunch to-go or crack open the plastic packaging at a table inside the restaurant. Menu highlights include the Drunk Fish roll filled with spicy tuna and topped with halibut, and the poki donburi bowl, a dish as gorgeous as it is delicious. 

Prince Street Pizza

680 S. Mill Ave. #102, Tempe
Opened on Aug. 28
On a stormy week in August, a viral New York City pizzeria opened its first Arizona restaurant. Prince Street Pizza now slings square slices from a tiny shop on Mill Avenue. The pizzeria got its start in 2012 and has since expanded all over the country. It’s known for its Sicilian-style square slices on thick, bready crust. The pizzeria’s goal is to put pasta toppings onto slices, resulting in creations such as the spicy vodka slice made with a prosciutto-spiked sauce. The pizzeria also sells traditional triangular slices and whole pies to go.

CP Coffee & Patisserie

821 N. Fourth St., #120
Opened on Sept. 25 
What happens when one of the Valley’s best coffee roasters teams up with an acclaimed local baker? You get an outstanding cafe and bakeshop, in this case, called CP Coffee & Patisserie. At the modern downtown Phoenix cafe, the coffee grinders are filled with freshly roasted beans from Julia Peixoto Peters’ family farm in Brazil. The pastry cases are packed with flaky treats handcrafted by Mark Chacon and his team. And the small number of seats are filled with happy customers enjoying a delicious start to their morning.

Formation Brewing 

925 N. Fifth St.
Opened on Sept. 26 
Downtown Phoenix has slowly transformed into a genuine craft beer hub, with local breweries popping up throughout the Roosevelt Row district. One very long-awaited new spot finally rolled open its glass garage doors on Sept. 26. Formation Brewing is the latest from Wilding Brands, a Colorado-based company that includes Denver Beer Co., Stem Ciders, Great Divide Brewing and more. The company brought down a head brewer from Fort Collins brewery Funkwerks to head up the brewing program. The large, ultra-modern space on Fifth Street features two floors of comfortable seating areas, plenty of screens to catch the game and bar stools for chatting with fellow beer fanatics. The craft beer lineup is paired with a food menu of burgers, bar snacks, sandwiches and pizzas. 

Society Swan

7014 E. Camelback Road, #559, Scottsdale
Opened on Oct. 15 
Prolific Arizona restaurateur Sam Fox opened his latest restaurant at Scottsdale Fashion Square this fall. Society Swan, an American brasserie that blends “East Coast poise with Parisian charm,” according to its website, opened on Oct. 15. The new restaurant serves a lunch menu of hor d’oeuvres, sushi rolls, salads, sandwiches and some of the entrees featured later in the day. Dinner dials things up with additional steaks and pastas. The drinks menu focuses on martinis and wine for sipping by the tiled bar or at a booth in the dimly lit dining room. 

Pinyon

7363 E. Scottsdale Mall, Scottsdale
Opened on Oct. 29 
The late-fall opening of Pinyon was perfectly timed. Beautiful weather welcomed customers to the restaurant’s large patio overlooking the manicured green space of Scottsdale Civic Center park. The indoor-outdoor feel also complements the new eatery’s menu, which celebrates all things Mediterranean. The new restaurant was brought to life by the team behind the ever-popular local seafood spot Buck & Rider, and seafood plays a big role at Pinyon. Start with fresh yellowtail crudo or tuna tartare before digging into a plate of linguine and clams or pan-roasted Dover sole. The restaurant also serves steaks, sandwiches and charcoal-grilled skewers. 

Cleaverman 

455 N. Third St., #1005
Opened on Nov. 21 
Hospitality company Pretty Decent Concepts completed a second massive project this year. Cleaverman, along with its hidden interior bar, Filthy, opened in downtown Phoenix on Nov. 21. The project is part of a transformation of the Arizona Center, a shopping plaza that’s undergoing a major facelift. Cleaverman, the swanky new steakhouse, opened in the former Hooters and now attracts a markedly different clientele. Cleaverman’s menu focuses on steaks and seafood, with elevated takes on classic steakhouse sides and a well-stocked raw bar. Complete with the accompanying martini bar and lounge, this new dual-concept spot offers a whole night out under one roof.

Coming soon: Durant’s

2611 N. Central Ave.
Reopening on Dec. 17
Durant’s isn’t new to the metro Phoenix dining scene. Far from it. The dimly lit Central Avenue steakhouse has been serving politicians and businesspeople since 1950. That was, until February. Its former owners, Jack and Carol McElroy, sold the restaurant and closed the doors. The new owners, brothers Mike and Jeffrey Mastro, their dad Dennis Mastro and business partner Scott Troilo, took over the restaurant with plans to make renovations to the space and modernize the menu. Now, those changes are ready to make their debut. Durant’s is scheduled to reopen on Dec. 17.