Retro Scottsdale bar brings pinball and pizza to Tempe

With its trademark New York-style pies, craveable smash burgers and skateboard-meets-pinball flair, Night Owl Pizza & Drinks is landing in a new part of the Valley. 

The pizza and beer hotspot’s second location will open its doors in Tempe on Wednesday, less than two miles from Arizona State University.

The first location opened in Scottsdale on Hayden and McDowell roads in 2023 and fans of the original Night Owl can expect to find the same amenities that they’ve come to love.

The menu will boast next-level comfort food, beers on tap and cocktails. A room of pinball machines and throwback games begs patrons to kick back for a little friendly competition. Lit-up pinball fields serve as bartops, a wall of pinball machine backboxes highlights the bar and well-loved skateboard decks are composed to create vibrant works of art throughout. 

It’s the latest restaurant concept to move into the iconic neighborhood space on South Mill Avenue and Alameda Drive. The 1977 building was most recently home to The Golden Pineapple, and before that, housed Tempe staple Riazzi’s Italian Garden for decades. 

The space appealed to Genuine Concepts co-founder and Night Owl partner Tucker Woodbury, who has an affinity for history and classic architecture. His goal was to honor and preserve its historical elements while breathing new life into a vintage space. 

“We never get nervous about repurposing a building that has a soul,” Woodbury says. “It’s got an ‘if these walls could talk’ thing.” 

There are a few features that are unique to Tempe. A larger wine selection offers 14 by-the-glass options and the cocktail list includes adult slushy concoctions. Look for rotating pasta specials, too. A non-functioning jukebox hides a station where DJ’s will set up and spin tunes. 

Above the main dining room, a miniature train circulates on an elevated track, pulling boxcars painted by graffiti artists, with one paying tribute to the artist who went viral for his signature work in Tempe as “Penis Man.” 

The 5,500-square-foot space accommodates 208 diners inside and 75 on the dog-friendly patio, which flaunts umbrellas, flat-screen TVs, a fireplace and a welcoming ficus tree. 

Night Owl will open daily at 11 a.m., and close at midnight or 1 a.m. Count on being able to grab a slice ‘til close.

The concept is a collaboration from the teams behind The Little Woody and Stardust Pinbar. Along with Woodbury, Chuckie Duff and Ariel Bracamonte are partners in the project. They are known for a bevy of nightlife hubs, including Cobra Arcade Bar. Operating partner Logan Purser handles Night Owl’s day-to-day operations. 

Purser and Woodbury collaborated on details that pay homage to the history of the building and the establishments that previously called it home.

The pasta specials honor Riazzi’s Italian Garden, which moved into that building in 1989. It closed in 2017, after operating for a total of 72 years in the Valley.

The Golden Pineapple, a cocktail at Night Owl that tops the painkiller recipe of rum, coconut, orange and pineapple with fernet, is a tribute to The Golden Pineapple Craft Lounge. The popular watering hole for Tempe residents and the ASU crowd operated in the building for three years before closing in 2023. 

When Purser was looking at old photos of Riazzi’s, he spotted brass rails along the seating in the dining room. He knew they needed to make a comeback.

“I just thought they were so cool, so I ordered them,” Purser says. 

In those photos, he also noticed a tufted circular booth and table that was in the center of the restaurant. Purser replicated that scene in a nook off the main dining room.

The table is made with reclaimed wood from Golden Pineapple’s bartop, as is the wood at the hostess stand. 

The decor spans skateboards, tchotchkes and the largest collection of inanimate owls you’ll ever see. The pieces are a mix of inventory from Woodbury’s garage, his personal storage and his other restaurants. Purser, Cowtown Skateboards and Sidewalk Surfer helped procure the “experienced” skateboards, as Woodbury prefers to call them. 

“There’s only so many 1975 to 1985 skateboards I can have,” says Woodbury, whose personal vintage bubble hockey table hangs upside-down in the game room. 

Gregory “Ziggy” Ziegler, who was responsible for the pies that made NYPD Pizza famous, is also the creator of Night Owl’s beloved pizzas, which are a key part of the restaurant’s identity. 

“What we want is for you to feel like you’re coming into a home, a safe place,” Ziegler says. “And the food has a lot to do with that… but so does the culture.”

Woodbury aims to recreate the vibe he established in Scottsdale. He talks about similarities between the locations. They are close to, but not in, the party districts of Old Town Scottsdale and Mill Avenue, and surrounded by residents who embrace being able to walk or bike to their favorite eating and drinking hubs.

“If you build it, they will come, and they did… This (Tempe location) really reminds me of that neighborhood,” Woodbury says.

And he has high hopes his newest Night Owl will experience the same reception. 

“It’s going to be your place, the ‘Cheers’ kind of thing,” Woodbury says. “We’re excited to be your neighborhood go-to, and that’s what people want.”

Night Owl Pizza & Drinks

2700 S. Mill Ave., Tempe