Anhelo Restaurant — Restaurant in Phoenix

Updated Review 1/10/23

My son chose Anhelos again for his 25th Bday and again they did not disappoint! We were so excited to see Juan still there and that after a year he still remembered us. Congratulations on your promotion! This year we had Jessica as our server and she was excellent. Very attentive, great explanation of menu and offered great recommendations.

We ended up trying the tasting menu w/ the 2 OZ wine pairings. Hector was our Sommelier for the evening and the pairings he offered completely elevated our meal.

The tasting menu...Just WOW everything was just delectable and luxurious. It was just a lovely experience. We had the Hamachi scallop, Oyster, Cooked scallop w/ butternut squash puree, Duck, Wagyu filet, and dessert. We also had a couple cocktails. Everything was Chef's Kiss!

We also had the opportunity to meet Ryan, one of the Partners. We appreciated the opportunity to meet him and were grateful for his attention.

We also liked the changes they made to the restaurant, the ambiance reminds me of a posh NYC restaurant. It's cozy and sexy.

Again cannot speak enough to the level of service. From the synchronized plating, to the food presentation and the servers ensuring that your experience is at a high level. Words cannot explain our overall appreciation we have for this restaurant, hands down this is our favorite restaurant in Phoenix. Thank you for the special attention and making my son's 25th bday a memorable night.

1/9/22 review

I took my family to Anhelo for the first time for my son's 24th bday. We went a bit early (6pm) due to having my mom, but it was a beautiful intimate experience w/ lovely dinner music playing in the background. We loved the experience from start to finish.

Juan was our server and he was AMAZING, very kind, gave amazing recommendations from the menu, wine pairings w/ our meal and was very attentive.

Service....TOP NOTCH from food presentation and delivery. We actually needed to wait for our food to be delivered because my son left to the rest room and it was his bday dinner. Juan described each of our meals to perfection.

Quality of food...again 5 Stars!! Beautiful plating and presentation. Everything was amazing. We ordered quite a bit and everything was delicious. Our favorites: Steak Tartare, Beef Wellington, Seabream fish, all cocktails and desserts.

Price - Don't go here if you don't appreciate paying for a quality meal and experience because you won't walk away paying under $100 unless maybe by yourself. Having said that we personally were very impressed w/ the quality of food and service in relation to total cost. For us hands down best meal we've had at that price for a long time. To give you an idea if what we paid for: 1 hot appetizer, 3 entrees, 1 dessert and 10 cocktails (vodka, whiskey and wine) and our total was roughly $387. To us for good food and service is a steal.

My only complaint - they need to improve the bathroom situation...Does not match ambiance of such a beautiful dinner experience.

Perfect place for a date night or special evening out!! Our entire family HIGHLY RECOMMENDS!! We will be back for the Chef's Tasting Menu.

One other thing to note....They are in a new location. Our uber dropped us off at original location and luckily driver hadn't left yet because it would have been a 15 min. Walk. I would have died lol.

Thank you JUAN for making my baby boys 24th...

Unbelievable!!!!!!! This place is an absolute gem. I can't even begin to describe how good this place is. Chef Ivan is an absolute dream!!! All of the food is shipped in fresh so the menu is constantly changing based on what they have on hand. We started out with the short rib fries. The hand cut fries were perfectly crispy on the outside while fluffy on the inside. The short ribs were perfectly tender and the demi-glaze was amazing. I ended up with the scallops....THEY WERE THE BEST I EVER HAD!!!! I was just at Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen and these were better. They had a perfect sear on the outside and were cooked to perfection. They were served on the most delightfully surprising sweet potato puree that just dissolved in your mouth. With the addition of lardons and capers, it was the perfect mix of salty and sweet. My husband got the chicken. The skin was perfectly crispy and the inside was so tender and juicy. It had this smoky flavor like it was grilled and was served on a super savory "potato" risotto. My son got the carbonara and I have to say it was better than what I had in Italy. You can totally tell that the noodles are homemade and the sauce is perfectly seasoned without being too heavy like you often find. We finished off with the "flavors of cheesecake". OMG was it good! It was the perfect combination of flavors. This was seriously one of the best meals I've had in a long time. There is so much care put in to every ingredient. Now....not only is the food good, but the staff is amazing! Ashlee took such amazing care of us and Lily made sure that we had a great experience. I know I am writing a novel here, but this was such an amazing culinary experience. I will be sad when word gets out about the amazingness of this place and getting a table becomes impossible. Whoever chose to bring on Chef Ivan is a genius. This is a place I will be frequenting often. The neat part is that their commitment to fresh ingredients means it will be like going there the first time, every time. Seriously...you have to check this place out. You won't be...

Great dining experience, solid food executed very well but overall no showstoppers that quite justifies the price.

We had a short business trip to Phoenix and we wanted to try one of their higher rated places. We got the tasting menu and a bottle of wine instead of the pairings. I confused Roger Perrin with Famille Perrin but overall it was an enjoyable bottle. Though nothing was particularly spectacular, every dish was executed well. The starter with the steak tartare on a meaty west coast oyster was surprisingly a great combination although perhaps would have been enhanced had the oyster been chopped up a bit to mix with the tartare instead of just resting at the bottom. The mushroom risotto, pan seared scallops, and the trout were all cooked perfectly but overall forgettable- nothing spectacular about these flavours or the accompany purées stands out in my memory after the fact. The duck was more interesting in that it had a nice, sweetened crust that balanced out the saltiness and fat but was a bit under-seasoned. The real star of the entire course was the beef Wellington- a dish you don’t see very often these days- it was perfectly cooked- both the puff pastry and the tenderloin itself, and the jus had exactly the right amount of flavour and seasoning. I only wish the portion size were a bit larger for this one. The dessert was also something more memorable- a deconstructed pumpkin cheesecake resting on a powdered graham cracker crust with pumpkin seeds and drizzled with caramel- very nice presentation and very tasty.

The service was impeccable. The waitresses and sommelier were all very friendly, highly knowledgeable, and a joy to chat with. For others, I would probably recommend skipping the tasting menu and ordering some of these dishes including the Wellington and oysters a la carte so as to skip some of the more...