Adams Table — Restaurant in Phoenix

Interesting, cozy yet spacious and wide open, modern yet moderately unique and unobtrusive. Recently, on a date night before attending a theatre show, my wife and I reserved to visit Adams Table for an early pre-show dinner near the Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix just a six-minute walk away. It was our first visit, and it was a perfect, comfortable early evening as dusk was beginning to quietly envelope the city on a beautifully balmy afternoon. We were lucky to get outdoor seating, having arrived just before the crowds and as passersby on their way to their fun and frolic evening. This neighborhood resto-bar presents contemporary style cocktails and some very decent wine offerings. I had their Passiontini which was very, very good. My wife enjoyed a fine Ferrari Pinot Grigio. And for an appetizer we decided on the Crispy Calamari, thickly cut like thick French fries – juicy and tender, with a mild enjoyable flaky coating yet on the seasoning was somewhat on the bland side. My wife’s main was an incredibly designed presentation of a flatbread pizza called the Cup and Char Pepperoni with basil, enhanced by red sauce, Mozzarella and just the right amount of honey, was a pretty good dish. I went for the Steak Frites – of which the good sized 10oz steak was a perfectly marinated and excellently prepared medium rare, which was accompanied with their Jade Pesto (which was unsavory and considerably oily) placed upon really well prepared and tasty French Fries. My only problem here was too, too much salt sprinkled over the fries. Also, as we enjoyed dinner there was a constant annoyance of cars driving in an out the hotel’s valet slots situated directly in front of the outdoor seating – with both yelling, loud talking and constant honking made the otherwise serene and cozy dinner not so much. We completed our meal with a tasty and well put together rendition of a Brownie Sundae – very, very good. At the end of dinner and dessert, being in the mood for a cappuccino, or latte, or coffee – I was directed to the Starbucks in the Hotel lobby area. Now that’s a no-no! Their advertising of “desert chic food, inspired by a desert past experience was unfortunately a bit underwhelming and flat. Especially when you consider it is per se a hotel restaurant. Although it was a somewhat interesting and okay dinner evening (the company your with makes it so), but not memorable, nor one I may want to repeat anytime...

Good choice if you are attending a show at the Orpheum, but don’t expect to be wowed or impressed.

The atmosphere is pretty much what you would expect from a mid-level hotel restaurant. Actually more like a small bar and grill. Pretty casual, nothing special or interesting. They do take reservations and do have outdoor street-side seating.

The food was…OK. It was a small menu but almost everything on it sounded good. My guest had the shrimp dish and said it was great. I had salmon with cauliflower which was pretty greasy. The peanut butter pie was good and a large shareable portion but seemed kind of frozen; it would have been great at room temp. The banana “mousse” was more like pudding and was a smaller portion.

The service was…OK. They were somewhat inattentive. I had to flag them down a couple of times. They were cordial but not really fully engaged. Just kind of going through the motions. As others mentioned, it took a long time to get food, but I suspect that this was more of a kitchen issue and not a server issue.

I STRONGLY recommend that if you are going to a show, you allow yourself plenty of time and tell the server up front what your timeline is. Any restaurant located by a theater venue should be asking patrons up front when they order if they have a showtime if it’s a show night. We sat down 90 min before the show and barely made it on time.

There was parking in the garage directly across the street that was super convenient for the restaurant and show but it was $15. Later I noticed there were other options in the area for $10.

I went with 4 stars instead of 3 because it was so convenient for the show and there were a couple of high points with the food. But if this was located in a suburban strip mall, I don’t think it would last very long. Not bad, but not really...

My boyfriend and I were going on a ghost investigation inside the Orpheum Theatre the other night and wanted to stop somewhere real quick to get something to eat. It was dead in the Adams Table so we went in to get seated. We were seated and then stared at for 15 minutes with no service. Let me preface this by saying, we were not in the fanciest clothes, we were not expecting a "silent dress code" to be treated like a worthy customer here. But we soon realized that was the case when "richer" people were sat after us, and helped before us. There were numerous clear and obvious attempts to get a waiter to help us, but they silently refused us service until we had enough and decided to leave. On the way out, the host at the front slid a lil "Have a great night guys" with a smile, knowing damn well why we were leaving and that their attempts at getting "poor" people out of their restaurant worked. It was very disrespectful and enraging knowing that we waited patiently, longer than we should have, to get service. And then to get that comment and smile on the way out solidified my beliefs that something else was going on. Tip for anyone who decides to come here, dress nice and look rich, even if you aren't, they'll refuse you service whether they admit it or not. This nasty ass "elite club" discrimination culture happening everywhere right now is sad and is highlighting the businesses that frankly do not deserve your support unless you have money to...