Dining Guide: Best Restaurants in Phoenix's Seventh Street Dining Corridor

Welcome to Dining Guides, an intermittent series on the many dining hubs around the greater Phoenix area and what they have to offer. Breakfast to drinks, quick coffee to sit-down dining, we break down some of our favorite places in each neighborhood. Today, we want to zero in on some of the best restaurants along the Seventh Street Dining Corridor.

Call it a restaurant row, a dining corridor, or, as we're dubbing it, the Seventh Street Dining Corridor. Whatever it is, this strip has plenty of places for food and drink. Below, a guide to all of 'em.

COFFEE

Coffee Zona

5202 North Seventh Street, #130

The locally owned and operated Coffee Zona is the ideal neighborhood coffee shop. There’s limited seating, cute decor, good music, and a chalkboard menu of coffee and tea options. Grab a pastry, a latte, and a bag of local beans, and be merrily on your way.

BREAKFAST

Wildflower

5813 North Seventh Street

Head into Wildflower at the Crown for a Taylor Ham & Swiss egg sandwich on a grilled ciabatta roll, a protein bowl, or a spicy chorizo frittata. There are the banana walnut pancakes for a heavy breakfast or a fruit salad for a quick bite. And you can just about pair anything with the Wildflower Cappuccino.

BRUNCH

Otro Café

6035 North Seventh Street

See why we consider Otro Café to have one of the best brunch menus in town. While we’d visit this Doug Robson restaurant any time for those pork belly tacos, Otro Café’s brunch offers chilaquiles, morning hash, Oaxacan tamale, and the barbacoa and eggs plate. There are also famous flapjacks if one were so inclined. And to drink, we recommend that Presta Iced Toddy if you’ve got things to do today, or maybe the Bloody Mary or mimosa if you don’t. Otro opens every day at 8 a.m.

Bevvy Uptown

5600 North Seventh Street, #100

Bevvy Uptown at The Colony is a neighborhood pub with a pretty good brunch menu. Listed dishes include the lemon ricotta hotcake, the sweet potato protein pancake, and the brunch burger. And if you enjoy a morning drink, try the Wake Uptown with cold brew and caramel liqueur, or a bloody mary, mimosa, or Michelada. And don't forget about drag brunch.

Verdura

5555 North Seventh Street, #108

Along with its open kitchen, plants, lava lamps, and framed photos of Prince, Bowie, Bruce, and Joan Jett, Verdura offers a killer brunch. The counter-service, plant-based eatery has the breakfast burrito, tofu scramble, CBGB salad, and morning cocktails. But the Goth Waffles will have you opting out of the to-go box. It’s a warm, black-in-color bubble waffle, made with activated charcoal and topped with tart, raspberry sorbet. Brunch is 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.

LUNCH

Crown on 7th

5813 North Seventh Street

Let’s highlight all the lunch options at the former Crown Imports building, Crown on 7th — which can also swing easily to dinner. There’s the third location of the Garfield District’s beloved Rito’s Mexican Food and Pubblico Italian Eatery with its lunch specials.

Chen & Wok

6505 North Seventh Street, #108

A hole-in-the-wall Chinese-American eatery if ever there was one, Chen & Wok is a counter-service lunch and dinner spot serving up your classic kung pao chicken, chop suey, and egg foo young dishes. The service is quick but always friendly; dishes are always overflowing with meat, rice, and noodles; and the team is always willing to work with substitutions. Eat-in and catch the soaps with fellow lunchers or take your piping hot shrimp with lobster sauce to go.

Jordan’s Mexican Food

6247 North Seventh Street

Jordan's Mexican Food is a classic Mexican restaurant, and it won’t surprise anyone that it’s been around since the 1950s. Dining in is like going back in time, but you already suspected that. Jordan’s has by no means the best Mexican food in town, but you can expect warm chips and salsa, cheese crisps, enchilada and chimichanga platters, and just about any other Mexican staple you can imagine. Pay at the register, and step back into present day.

Salad and Go

719 East Bethany Home Road

Considering all the new Salad and Go spots opening and coming, this one feels like one of the OG locations.  Patrons can purchase a large drink and a salad for less than $8 and, of course, there's a drive-thru.

Someburros

5115 North Seventh Street

This was the first Someburros, the family-owned, fast-casual Mexican eatery with those killer burros, to open in central Phoenix. Some features here include a drive-thru, a patio section (with those picturesque bistro lights, of course), draft beers, and frozen margaritas.

Pizza

Multiple Locations

Seventh Street deserves its own pizza section. There are many, some established and some new to the block, but certainly all deserve mention. LaBella Pizzeria and Restaurant offers kosher vegetarian pizza options, while Spinato’s Pizzeria has a location at Missouri Avenue. And for a quick slice during lunch, try Manhattan Pizza & Subs or Pizza Heaven Bistro. And there is also the glazed chicken lavash pizza at Pita Jungle – Uptown.

HAPPY HOUR

Cold Beer and Cheeseburgers

5625 North Seventh Street

Let’s focus on the first promise of this rowdy local restaurant chain’s moniker. Happy hour at the Seventh Street location of Cold Beer and Cheeseburgers definitely has cold beer, and in the form of $3 domestic pints, $4 domestic bottles, and $4 Four Peak Pints. Pair your Hop Knot with happy hour eats like the fried pickles, hummus and pita, and the popular-for-a-reason Hell Fire Chips. Happy hour is 3 to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Hula’s Modern Tiki

5114 North Seventh Street

Sometimes a tiki drink is all you need in this heat, and that’s where Hula’s can help. Tiki Time Happy Hour is 3:30 to 6 p.m. and offers Hula’s signature tropical cocktails for $6 a pop. That includes the Hula’s Mai Tai, Dr. Funk, Pink Bikini Martini, and more. And except for ahi items, all appetizers are $6 during happy hour, too.

The Yard / Culinary Dropout

5640 North Seventh Street

Sam Fox’s Seventh Street location of the warehouse-style eatery kind of kicked things off for this restaurant row years ago, and things don’t seem to be slowing down. The large Culinary Dropout has indoor and outdoor seating, and yes, the Yard area with Ping-Pong, cornhole, and more. Happy hour is 3 to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and offers everything from $4 well cocktails and draught pints to pork belly nachos and those famous pretzel balls. And if it's too late to make dinner at home, take away a pizza or chicken fingers from Fly Bye.

DINNER

Mora Italian

5651 North Seventh Street

TV chef Scott Conant’s progressive Italian restaurant, Mora Italian, checks all the boxes for pasta, seasonal vegetables, and inventive dessert. Pastas are crafted with an extruder, and include the lobster gnudi, rigatoni verde, and the signature pasta al pomodoro. But you may be eyeing the Meyer lemon dusted lamb loin or seared diver scallops. For dessert? Do not ask for the check without adding the budino.

Christo's Ristorante

6327 North Seventh Street

Another old-school Phoenix restaurant, Christo's Ristorante offers some above-average Italian cuisine in its corner of the strip mall. You can't go wrong with starters like the fried calamari or the mussels as starters as you anticipate your entrées. Mains include the eggplant parmigiana, tortellini alfredo, and the chicken Bolognese, as well as salads, seafood, and veal.

Revolu Modern Taqueria and Bar

5538 North Seventh Street, #100

One of the newer tenants at The Colony in Uptown is Revolu Modern Taqueria and Bar. The Mexican food restaurant and cocktail lounge offers street corn nachos, lobster street tacos, and blackened shrimp bowls, as well as the slightly spicy Jalapeno Rita. In addition to the sleek, modern dining room, there is a soft-lit patio along Seventh Street.

DESSERT

AZ Pops

5050 North Seventh Street

Though found at several Valley farmers' markets, Seventh Street is lucky enough to have AZ Pops' physical location. AZ Pops makes all its products with natural ingredients and no preservatives, so whether you go for Vietnamese coffee or goat milk balsamic fig, you know the flavor is the real deal. Oh, you want to hear more fun flavors? There’s also pineapple kaffir lime leaf, chocolate rosemary, tiramisu, candied ginger apple cream, and so many more.

DRINKS

Pomeroy’s

5551 North Seventh Street

Built in 1982 by still-the-owner Mike Nelson along with his sister Sally, Pomeroy’s has always been Pomeroy’s since it opened in 1983. “If you grew up here, this is the place,” the bartender says. The wood paneling makes you feel like you’re inside a dark woodshed, and you’re fine with it. Mingle with a mix of regulars to new people in the rapidly renovating uptown neighborhood, and order something from their full menu. Find four pool tables, darts, an Indiana Jones pinball machine, foosball, arcade games, shuffleboard, and plenty of seating.

The Womack

5749 North Seventh Street

A tribute to the historic Phoenix lounge Chez Nous from the 1960s, The Womack is your classic cocktail bar and intimate music venue. There are plush booths, a long bar, and low, mirrored ceiling, and the sounds of funk, soul, and R&B. Grab a small appetizer like the Womack Board or warm Brie, followed by a classic cocktail like an old fashioned, sloe gin fizz, or Harvey Wallbanger.

Cock N' Tails

6101 North Seventh Street

Located in uptown Phoenix in a spot formerly occupied by the Hatter and Hare and Joe’s Midnight Run, Cock N’ Tails is a rock 'n’ roll-themed eatery with drinks with names like Jesse's Girl and Axl Rose Water. Draft beer, wine, and snacks like Bad-to-the-Bone Marrow are also on deck.

LATE NIGHT

Rolberto’s Taco Shop

5032 North Seventh Street

From the outside, Rolberto’s looks like your average 24-hour Mexican food joint, and in many ways it is, but there’s something about this 24-hour Mexican food joint. It has some of the best fast-service rolled tacos in town, and incredible tortas, burritos, and an out-of-this-world cup of horchata. It’s lunch, it’s drunk food, and it’s always open.

Editor's note: This story was originally published on August 9, 2019. It was updated on March 3, 2021.