Citizen has a divey pub vibe without the lingering cigarette smoke or sticky floors, making it an obvious contender for a Manchester United-loving dad’s 53rd birthday dinner. Expect sunburned tourists and hospitality industry folks snacking on bacon fat popcorn, and excellent barrel-aged cocktails like the Rose Garland with bourbon and blood orange liqueur. The menu goes hard on comfort classics including fondue-dipped pretzels, meatloaf with mashed potatoes, and a salmon salad.

Somewhere between the first bite of focaccia pizza and the last sip of Peroni, you’ll realize that Andreoli isn’t just good, it’s Devin Booker-level good. This Italian restaurant and market is a little chaotic and exactly where you want to be for casual lunches or dinners. People generally come and wait in line for the pasta specials and sandwiches, like the Cafone, stuffed with precise layers of imported parma cotto ham, provoleta cheese, and baby artichokes.

Your vegan-curious, picky eater friend texts about grabbing dinner. Take them to FnB and split some of the most creative plates in town. There’s a funky-tiled floor and stained glass, not unlike the house of every family’s favorite aunt with stellar taste in artsy coffee table books. The menu changes often, but their salads always use whatever super fresh produce they can secure, like kohlrabi, watermelon, or radishes.

Fat Ox is a chic Italian restaurant where you’ll come for the excellent Happy Hour—which has the essence of an invitation-only club—and stay well past dinner. The Negronis and Amalfi Spritzes are the kind of drinks that make you feel like you’re at an exclusive Sicilian resort à la The White Lotus. Order them with the veal meatballs and Castelvetrano olives—it’s the closest you’ll get to aperitivo in Scottsdale.

Maple & Ash feels like the dinner spot Roman Roy might pick to impress a new client—it’s unapologetically hedonistic with the perfect amount of excess. The vibe is fun and flashy with Scottsdale socialites clinking Dom Pérignon and bachelorette parties popping caviar bumps. Their food doesn’t skimp on loud luxury either, including 45-day dry-aged tomahawks, wood-fired chops served with roasted bone marrow, stacked seafood towers, and $200 chef-curated tasting options.

Chula Seafood is a fast-casual spot that’s great for when you want more surf than turf. They have a dedicated following for their reinvented tuna melt with hatch chile, oaxaca cheese, and chimichurri. If it’s a scorcher outside, order one of the poke bowls for a raw fish cool down, but if you’re after some heat, go with the spicy yellowfin tuna loaded with shishito peppers. We love to swing by the Greyhawk location for a quick meal or to score Happy Hour deals.

Come to AZ88 for the fantastic french martinis, rotating art installations, and headbob-inducing electro-house playlists. The best way to settle in is with a round of drinks and house potato chips before starting with a dessert (like the menu suggests), such as the strawberry shortcake smothered in fluffy whipped cream. If you need some real food, the burger au poivre is a great option: the beef patty is from French’s Meat Shoppe, and it all gets punched up by a smoky red onion burgundy sauce.

This Scottsdale darling has been serving excellent Mexican food since the ’40s, and now the historic building feels like a folklore fever dream. Start with the cheese crisps, a satisfying play between crunchy tortillas and melted cheese piled on top that’s made even better with fresh table salsa. The Mexican Flag Enchiladas are the entree to order—that way you don’t have to choose between their green and red sauces.

Instead of maxing out your credit card for a table at an overcrowded nightclub, lock in seats for Shinbay’s omakase room for one of their two, reservation-only seatings a night. The $285, seven courses are a parade of sea urchin, blue shrimp, ocean trout, barracuda, and other fish that you won’t usually see on other menus in town. Everything is pretty relaxed at Shinbay, so you won’t have to shout at your date or fumble for a menu in the dark.

This trendy Mediterranean restaurant strikes the perfect balance between a lively party vibe and a spot where you can actually have a conversation. Even if your Old Town bottle service days are behind you, you’ll likely appreciate the espresso martinis or the deep house playlist that might keep you bouncing in your bar seat. The whipped eggplant, dripping in olive oil, is the move and served with an oversized, puffed-up puccia bread that looks like it could float off the bar at any moment.

This restaurant could easily be mistaken for the actual Old Adobe Mission next door—you’re looking for the place without the steeple, but with the tableside guacamole. The dim dining room has bronze angel statues and gothic crosses on the walls, along with shiny chandeliers that give the place a sexy vibe. Their roasted pork shoulder tacos, smoked and braised for 12 hours and served with hand-pressed tortillas, are your bible for date night romance.

Walking into this upscale sushi spot, with locations in some of the most coveted zip codes around the country, feels like stepping into the home of someone who’s built a personality around Japandi—the only thing missing is your host handing you some slippers. While the back patio is a solid choice when Scottsdale’s weather is doing its usual perfect thing, the sushi bar is where to be. It’ll have you planning your next reservation before you finish your sake cocktail.

Ocean 44 is the final boss of dining out in Scottsdale: white tablecloths, expertly seared steaks, and bourbon that’ll make your wallet sweat. This seafood and steakhouse is where you should celebrate landing a big deal or to impress someone who knows their way around a wine list—consider it the War and Peace of fine vino. Ocean 44 doesn’t do small. The steakhouse meatballs are as big as baseballs and the crispy shrimp deviled eggs are so loaded you’ll need to attack them in two bites.

Weft & Warp is a stylish restaurant that’s like a night at the museum, with bougie guests who would unironically say they’re “patrons of the arts.” There’s a solar system of floating felt spheres, bookshelves with expensive-looking trinkets, and kitchen plates on custom ceramic dinnerware. As for their menu, the harissa lamb meatballs and Moroccan zaalouk are good openers, and you can’t go wrong with the pan-fried Lebanese chicken and Iberico pork chop mains.

That friend who always knows the trendiest spots will find any excuse to celebrate something—anything—at Cala. There’s a party brunch atmosphere with matcha sours and flaming saganaki that will torch any eyebrows that get too close. But it’s also one of the best things on the menu, so it’s worth the fire hazard. Waiters deliver sparkler-topped drinks like rush hour traffic while DJ sets thump in the background on the open-air misted patio.