EVO Old Town Scottsdale — Restaurant in Scottsdale

For being an out-of-towner living in NJ and having access to NYC, I never thought that a place in Scottsdale, AZ would hit it out of the park with Italian food.

So me and an old girlfriend of mine - from 25 years ago - decided we wanted Italian food. Being a bit skeptical, I decided to be adventurous and try Evo. Beforehand, we were just looking up places on Yelp and she found this spot in Old Town Scottsdale. The amount of reviews and the star rating was a no-brainer so we headed there.

As soon as we got to Evo, the lot was full and that was indicator 1 that this was going to be good. We noticed some outdoor seating and like most, if not all, other restaurants in the PHX/Scottsdale area they had misters (or whatever they're called). We get inside, and we noticed a dimly lit and intimate dining room with a nice bar on the left. A nice neon sign on the back wall that read, "Feed me pasta and tell me I'm pretty" in script was illuminated. Eventually we were greeted by what seemed to be the manager (there were a few other guests in front of us waiting to be seated). If you are planning on visiting, make a reservation - luckily for us we were able to find seats at the bar.

We were greeted by a bartender that was attentive to our needs for the evening - now that I recall, there were 2 other bartenders that also helped out and we noticed they were doing an IMMACULATE job making sure everyone at the bar was taken care of and drinks were full. My girlfriend had a question about one of the guava drinks on the menu and this 'tender clarified all her questions and was professional about it. Turns out she LOVED the drink! My glass of water was always topped off without me asking for more - talk about great service!

I ordered a couple of apps for us - the Bruschetta and Arancini. At first I thought we had to pick which kind of mozzarella combo out of 3 we wanted for the bread but it turns out it came with all 3 - talk about a great variety! It came with mozzarella and tomato, mozz and pesto, and mozz with fig jam and apples - ALL SO GOOD! The only thing that stood out was the bread - I'm used to sliced Italian but these came with what seemed to be pita bread slices. It was different but still good! The Arancini was stuffed with cheese, peas, and something else and came with marinara - this was surprisingly good too so when you come here I strongly recommend these 2 apps.

For dinner, my girlfriend ordered the Chicken Alfredo and I ordered the Filet Mignon (came in 9 ozs) medium with mashed potatoes, spinach, and baby carrots. Steak came out cooked to perfection and the sides were also good. The Chicken Alfredo was good too but we felt that the fettuccine was slightly overcooked - not a huge deal but we prefer it al dente.

We filled up on dinner and didn't have room for dessert but had we saved room, there were a few things that caught our eyes. All-in-all we would definitely come back here for a quality dinner with a great staff. I honestly have to say I was a little sketchy about Italian food outside of NJ/NY - a bit biased you could say but this restaurant knocked it out of the park! We will always remember this place and will definitely return! Thanks to the entire crew for a...

A very candid review from a reasonable foodie

I really didn't want to write this review, because the resturant business can be tough at times - but enough grace was given and I feel as though a public review at this point is more than worthy.

EVO in Old Town Scottsdale is a great resturant for food and drinks, and the staff was seemingly friendly and nice. My fiance and I sat at the bar, which was outside of our comfort zone and the bartenders were very servicable, for me, exceeding expectations. The food & beverage and atmosphere was a little more than good, but overall management experience has been abysmal at EVO.

My fiance and I flew into Scottsdale for an extended weekend vacation from Ohio, and our time was great. We went to EVO for a Saturday night dinner eating and drinking at the bar, settling on this resturant from the reviews online. I ordered the Chicken Cesar Salad and she ordered a Chicken Pasta dish. My food was great, and hers was okay until she found out there was a chicken bone inside her chicken in her pasta dish, and had to throw it up in the bathroom, after holding it down in the long bathroom line. From her perspective, it was a bit embarassing to let anyone know of the situation, even me, until after the fact we left, because who wants to cause a scene at the bar in a busy resturant.She let me know a few hours after we left the resturant. Before leaving Scottsdale, I grabbed the general managers business card before opening, to send her an email before we leave to fly back.

She sent Samantha Dickerson (GM) email's on 3/3, replied on 3/8 saying she was going to call her, and never got a response back from 4/7.

I have since sent the general inbox email 6 emails since 6/3 and have gotten no response.

Overall, I'm not very pleased with the management team at EVO as we were asking for any or some sort of compensation for the not great quality food that was served that night as a whole. The lack of communication and transparancy is terrible and I am not sure how else to get to someone at the resturant, but leaving this review as a form of customer transparancy and management review.

Frankly, we'd love to go back, but this experience have left a terrible taste in our mouths ..

** UPDATE AFTER 5 Months of back and forth emails, I was credited back for the dish that was not prepared correctly.

This whole situation was bizzare, but I’ll bump the service up...

Summary -- Food was good, Service was terrible -- worthy of a rickety soviet era restaurant in Moscow.

We went on Sunday evening for a special event - Daughter's birthday. As soon as we entered, the hostess greeted us and asked us if we wanted a booth or a table. I said either is fine, but I prefer a booth. She took us and put us in a booth -- right next to the loudest group in the entire restaurant. I am not sure if that is ok or not -- I am sure everyone will have their own opinion. I feel the hostess must be aware of the state of the restaurant and balance such considerations and if someone is really loud, put them on table elsewhere -- especially if there are other tables available. Well we could not talk to each other, but I got lots of info on Barack Obama, Philly Eagles, Las Vegas betting, Phoenix weather among a host of topics.

The waitress was a disaster. She is the perfect grumpy soviet matron IMHO. She hardly smiled, was late in giving the menu, never checked back to see if we need anything or if the food was good. When it came time for desserts, we sent we wanted the menu. She went for a long walk and after 5 minutes she came back and picked up the menu for the next table and handed it to us. Not sure what means? This seemed like an upscale restaurant and service should be of the same -- but who knows -- maybe the owners have different opinions in this matter.

The food was good. Saving grace. The Arancini was excellent and completely enjoyed it. So was the pasta dish I ordered. The pizza was excellent. -- but again the waitress did not check on us. We were sharing the appetizer and she never asked if we need side plate or do we need some additional cheese grated on the pasta or the pizza. Why bother the customer which such social graces??? The CheeseCake we ordered was fine -- not the best I have had. Would rate that a 3.5 out of 5.

Overall -- entirely forgettable restaurant. Good Food, but Terrible service (Calling the service bad would be an...