Pa'la — Restaurant in Phoenix

Excellent food! Typically, I'm a very picky eater, even as I'm going through this 'foody' stage of mine. I'm usually never a fan of sausage, anything pickled, lots of cheese, or even strange vegetables. Pa'la, however, has me questioning my own palette. I started out with the roasted polenta tapa. It comes with spicy sausage, mozzarella, and tomatoes. Now, I'm still pretty uninformed when it comes to food, and I had no idea what polenta was, but whatever it is, it's amazing here. And the sausage was everything I've ever wanted a sausage to be. Flavorful, but not at all overpowering. The tomatoes we're juicy and sweet, and the mozzarella was juuuust right. I paired it all with a local Garage-East rosé from their wine selection. Took a little while to arrive, but the cooks were very courteous and respectful and it made up for it entirely. Next up was the blue fish Navarro bowl. This is where I was seriously frightened. The menu calls it a salad bowl with 5 whole grains, some roasted vegetables, and various other things that didn't really concern me. What did was the vegetables. I imagined greens, which I typically can tolerate, but when the bowl arrived, I saw no greens. I saw a lot of dark ingredients, and also some very bright purple chunks of something that I was sure was pickled. There was also I nice slab of blue fish on top, which was really all I was looking forward to. After my first bite, I noticed the salad part of it all was cold. That surprised me because I read "roasted vegetables" and imagined a warm dish, but it wasn't bad at all. After speaking with the cook for a minute, he explained that the bright purple chunks were actually sweet potatoes, and that all the pickle I was tasting was just the vinegar they add to the dish (duh!). The blue fish was warm, and the crust was soooo good. The toasted seeds complimented the salad perfectly. Everything was amazing here. Will recommend to everyone! Thanks to the owner and cooks for such a great, local...

I was at the craft brewery nearby and wanted some food I could take back to the brewery so I tried this as recommended by the brewery staff. This is a very different sort of venue, easy to miss on the outskirts of downtown Phoenix (nearly next door to Wren Brewing). There’s a casual sort of Tahitian feel, kind of plain indoor and outdoor seating and the process is a fast food sort of ordering area right in front of where they cook and prepare the food and you pick from a somewhat limited menu posted on the wall that obviously changes regularly. But when you see the food description there is little fast food about it. Exotic fish and meat dishes, not a one appearing to be ordinary faire. I just wanted a take out for the brewery so I went for the steak sandwich which incorporated bitesize pieces of tender juicy steak mixed with fresh grilled vegetables. It melted in my mouth and was truly one of the best steak based experiences I’ve had in recent years. I didn’t eat on premise so I can’t give a fair full assessment but based on my quick view I can highly recommend this place. They carried a nice variety of wines and bottled/canned...

This review doesn't represent the food of "The Table" 8-course dining experience. The food itself is VERY good. However, this review reflects the overall experience and the performance of the staff running the establishment.

We recently encountered some frustrating issues during our dining experience. Despite our request to change tables for better conversation, we were abruptly denied, leaving our party of four cramped onto one side, which made conversation difficult.

Additionally, our party of four received the same amount of wine and food portions as a party of two, which was disappointing. When we requested additional food, we faced resistance from the waiter/manager, who argued about the quantity provided.

Furthermore, there was a lack of transparency regarding the dishes served. In an eight-course dining experience, it's reasonable to expect detailed explanations of each course, whether written or verbal. Unfortunately, the waiter/manager failed to provide this essential information.

Overall, our experience fell short of expectations, and we hope for better communication and service...