Nook Kitchen Arcadia — Restaurant in Phoenix

The vegan options were outstanding. They do vegan really well with their beautifully shaped handmade pastas and delicious wood fire pizza! As a vegan of 28 years, I almost never get to have handmade pasta in restaurants because it’s typically not vegan with the addition of egg, but theirs is vegan! I had the vegan Campanelle and I found the pasta and the sauce to be divine. The sauce is rich, healthy, unique and flavorful! The closest thing to a vegan Alfredo but healthier and tastier! Next time I would ask if they could do it without the large crunchy white vegetable, which I believe is either the fennel or the shallot; either way it was too much. I would prefer more pasta less veggies lol! The cheese on the vegan pizza tasted too real; I thought surely the chef made an error and put real cheese! The pizza itself and the crust was delicious. It’s the perfect woodfire pizza that is thin with a thick crust. Love it! We ended up going off the menu and ordering our own vegan pizza. I definitely would not order arugula on the pizza again, as they went overboard and put too much; a tiny sprinkle for color and health would be fine, but it looked like a raw salad on top of the pizza and we ended up discarding most of the arugula. I love the ambiance of dim lighting but I thought the restaurant was way too dark that I couldn’t see the food I was eating and had a hard time reading the menu. I loved how we said we were on a time crunch to make it on time for a concert and the waiter and chef ensured the food came out timely. In fact I was thrilled and surprised how fast the food came. Within minutes the food came hot and fresh! The owner was very pleasant and came by our table to make sure everything was great. I would love to see a plain marinara sauce added to the vegan section (perhaps a linguini with marinara? 😉 ). Tip that is not noted on the menu : the owner said “All their pastas are vegan” so you can substitute any pasta shape for the vegan entrees and you can order the marinara sauce off the menu! It’s awesome that they have complimentary valet parking, nice touch! Owner, if you are reading this, please open a location in...

Blown away, and not in a good way. We stopped in for dinner based on the reviews and were given the choice of a high top or bar. We opted for the bar since we were out on a craft cocktail night and wanted to watch the bartender in action. We both ordered the avenida siete and it was brought to us unmixed, without instruction to mix it. So the first sip was an unexpected mouthful of weird purée. We mixed the drink and it was still not palatable so since we both agreed it was undrinkable we figured it was either made incorrectly or just plain bad. I personally love mezcal and this was a sad combination. We asked the bartender to trade out the drink. We asked a few questions about other drinks on the menu to which he replied we wouldn't like them if we weren't used to craft cocktails and that he couldn't just have us trying every drink to send back to him. (Insert record scratching to a halt noise here) It was so incredibly rude that he would say that to my friend and she definitely took it to be directed at her in a condescending, possibly racial way. We were both so shocked by the statement we blindly chose a drink so we could re-evaluate what to do next in this situation we were no longer comfortable in. We asked for the manager and as soon as my friend told him she felt the comment was racially motivated, he said the bartender was not that type of person. The problem is, my friend wasn't looking for a character witness. She was explaining how it made her feel. And empathy was not provided that she had been spoken to like that. He invited us to stay and that he would take charge of serving us, but at that point the damage was already done. We obviously were not going to be paying for the first drink or the second drink that neither of us touched and the manager didn't even offer to pick up either of our appetizers. The bottom line was more important than how they treated us. It was a shame and...

“Good, not great American inspired Italian”

Reservation for 2 using Amex Resy on a Saturday night.

Arrived 5 minutes late and seated promptly inside. Restaurant was lively.

Ordered a couple of cocktails: banana smoke (tasty and strong) and gin-trification (delicious)

Appetizers were meatballs (4 meatballs served in a bowl with tomato sauce, very bland, desperately needed salt), and watermelon salad (also needed a touch of salt to counterbalance the sweetness of the watermelon, which was sweet)

Entrees: nook burger (one of the two patties was burnt, burger was a bit underwhelming honestly. Served with fries which were seasoned with salt and good); Sunday Sauce (which reads like it’s going to have a lot of meat, but in reality - 1 rib, 3 slices of sausage, 1 piece of osso bucco, and 1 meatball. Was tasty but was mostly pasta)

Dessert: Lime Tiramisu (which, as the name implies, is a cross between a key lime tart and a tiramisu. So imagine a key lime tart with custard and whipped cream on top and that’s what you get. Very tart. I personally like key lime so this was probably the best part of the meal.)

Server was “Drew” - proactive, efficient, friendly. Another highlight of the dinner.

Would we come back? Honestly - because of Amex Resy…maybe? The food was not bad, but it wasn’t great. And the prices are upper mid-range so it’s not cheap ($190...