Phoenix-Area Ghost Kitchens: A Running List

During and before COVID, restaurants were switching to new strategies to take advantage of shifting tastes in the market — specifically, for customers who don't need much more than delivery or takeout. Sometimes called "ghost kitchens," sometimes called "virtual restaurants," these operations keep popping up in the Phoenix area. Here's a running list of where to find them.

Kitchen United MIX

7127 East Shea Boulevard, Scottsdale

Kitchen United MIX is a food court-style ghost kitchen near Shea Boulevard and Scottsdale Road with 20 vendors from which to order. Options include burgers from The Counter, pizza from Grimaldi’s, and dessert from Piescream.

Tempe Food Court

1900 East Fifth Street, Tempe

Tempe Food Court has more than 50 vendors to choose from near Tempe Marketplace. The massive kitchen offers sandwiches and fries from the popular Uptown restaurant St. Francis (which expanded to add this Tempe kitchen) and signature rolls from Fuku Sushi. There are also gyros, Hawaiian fare, wings, and dishes from Betty's Breakfast House and Quesadillas de la Reyna.

Central Kitchen

3077 West Frye Road, Chandler

Central Kitchen offers four ghost kitchen restaurants in one location. That means you can order from Soy Joy, Southern Jewel, Killer Wings, and Pizza & Spice, as well as the Thirsty Lion Gastropub. Unlike spots consisting entirely of virtual restaurants, this one is attached to Thirsty Lion’s Chandler location. Beer and wine are also available to-go as part of the Thirsty Lion menu.

NOBANA

15640 North Hayden Road, Scottsdale

NOBANA specializes in Asian-inspired fare, meaning Thai, Korean, and Vietnamese dishes. On top of rice bowls, wraps, and salads, the kitchen offers some more complicated orders like curry and pho. Run out of the kitchen at local breakfast-and-lunch chain Wildflower’s Scottsdale location, NOBANA gives Chef Chris Mayo (owner of Wildflower) the opportunity to get creative.

Carnitas Way

1976 West Southern Avenue, Mesa
2534 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale

Carnitas Way specializes in California-style burritos with all-natural, hormone-free carnitas. Carnitas Way serves food from kitchens out of Los Sombreros Mexican Restaurant in south Scottsdale and the now-closed La Casa de Juana in Mesa. One nice touch: Burritos are named after famous beach locales like Newport, Baja, Kapalua, and Laguna. There are also burrito bowls and salads.

Ghost Street Asian Taqueria

9397 East Shea Boulevard, #125, Scottsdale

With a fitting name for a ghost kitchen, Ghost Street Asian Taqueria serves Asian-infused tacos that include ingredients like tempura chicken or soy-braised duck with hoisin sauce. Slinging food from the same location as Ling & Louie’s Asian Bar and Grill in central Scottsdale, Ghost Street also offers items like carne asada sushi rolls and taquito dumplings.

Bonus: Phoenix Ghost Kitchen

21442 North Central Avenue

This one is more for restaurants themselves. Phoenix Ghost Kitchen is a "new cloud kitchen concept," which means it offers space for eateries looking to rent an industrial kitchen to create dishes for delivery only. Translation: Restaurants can cook out of turn-key kitchen space and send food via UberEats, Postmates, GrubHub, etc. In addition to the stovetops, Phoenix Ghost Kitchen can also arrange food trucks (with maintenance) for rent.