Dining in Prescott AZ

[hyperpalate]

Hello All,

As my my beloved son will be "commencing" from a one year rehab program, we are trying to satisfy some of his many long-unfulfilled cravings....the one I hope to help with is good food! Can anyone make some recommendations for a 3 day stay in Prescott? Thanks!

[Chris Amirault]

I had a job interview at Embry Riddle in Prescott about 15 years ago, and the destination restaurant was Applebee's. I hope that you have more options now!

[pastameshugana]

Prescott is my hometown - hopefully I can help!

You've got all the chain stuff (Apple&%*W, Olive Garden, Red Robin, etc)., but a few better options.

Mexican:

There's two twin restaurants in Prescott and 'PV' (Prescott Valley) called Casa Bonita, they're good all-arounders. There's also a great little place called El Charro on Montezuma St. downtown that's a long-time favorite.

Italian:

Genoveses downtown (on Gurley) is a stand-out. Great daily specials.

Across the street from Genoveses is a fantasic Japanese place called Esoji. The chef there is very serious about his food, and it shows. Just up the street a bit (on the same side) is a sandwich shop called Shannon's Place that is quite nice. They actually specialize in cheesecakes, but have great wraps, and feature boars head meat. (Full disclosure: Murphy and Shannon are good friends.)

For breakfast - you can get a ridiculously huge one at Zeke's, but you'd be better off heading to the airport and eating at the airport cafe. Great atmosphere, friendly 'small town' service and a pretty good breakfast.

Last time I was in town, my favorite coffee shop was downtown, across the street from the parking garage (you'll have to ask, I don't know the name.) Typically 'hip' decor, but a well-pulled latte.

You can get decent 'up-scale' sandwiches at Cafe St. Michael, right across from the Courthouse.

For burgers, you need to hit Kendall's (opposite side of the courthouse from St. Michaels). It's an old 50's style place that's been there since I was a kid. Full ice-cream bar, real floats, good burgers & fries.

Edited to add: I also tried (once) the brown bag burgers near starbucks (there's only one, should be easy to find!). It was a pretty decent burger for a quickie.

Hope this helps! If I think of anything else, I'll post it - unless you've got a specific question - fire away!

Edited September 15, 2010 by pastameshugana (log)

[hyperpalate]

Wow, seems like a pretty good variety for such a small town. Thanks, especially for the Esoji tip!

I did read about two others....maybe you can give your opinion, as pizza is one of my son's favorite's (big surprise)...Bin 239 (for pizza) and The Dinner Bell for Breakfast/Lunch??

[pastameshugana]

Bin 239 must be new, as I haven't heard of it - but the Dinner Bell is a great place. Great ambiance and 'old-timey' feel. It's about a block down from Genovese's.

[hyperpalate]

Well here's the report...the good and the bad ....Prescott is charming, with a restaurant every 20 paces. We ate A LOT. The good...As reported Esoji was a real stand out, fine japanese, inventive sushi...one annoying issue...chef kept turning off the exhaust fan until each table one by one complained...we all left reeking of tempura. The Bad... Genovese ...very bad....it's hard too do old-school "I"talian (as our server pronounced it) this unsuccessfully. Everything was either stale, spoiled, over or under cooked or tasteless, except the romaine in the antipasto salad. Being with young 'uns we searched for a decent ice cream shop, sampling many fluorescent colored pistachios and peaches, but sadly found not a one real homemade shop. We may have missed it, but this could be a real opportunity for an enterprising gelato-obsessed entrepreneur. There's a little shop that specializes in cheesecake and "wraps"; the cheesecake was consistently good. We stayed in a funky, hotel on the outskirts of town which was a little reminiscent of The Shining...called Forrest Villas, funky but kinda cool. Thanks for the recommendations. I'm so glad we found Esoji.

[pastameshugana]

Hyperpalate - glad to hear about Esoji and the 'cheesecake place.' That's run by a dear friend of mine and his wife (his wife makes the cakes).

So sorry to hear that Genovese's has suffered so badly these days. It's been a few moons (years probably) since I've been.