Phoenix Travel Forum

I'll be driving from the Grand Canyon to Sky Harbor Airport to board a 10:30pm domestic flight on Delta.

My wife and I would like to find out where will be a convenient place for dinner (it will be great if the place has food variety and not out of the way to the airport).

We intend to set off at 3:00PM from Grand Canyon South Rim, arriving in Phoenix 7:00PM, leaving us with enough time for dinner before heading to the Sky Harbor Airport. I understand we need to be at the airport by 8:30PM.

Is the set-off comfortable?
Where would be a good place for dinner with food variety?
What about at the airport? Are there restaurants that serve decently priced food?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

> Is the set-off comfortable?
Sorry, I don't know what that means. You mean take-off? If so, it really depends on weather conditions that day. It rarely rains here, but it's often windy. They have extremely restrictive height codes in an extensive area surrounding the airport though, so there are no hard pull-ups.

> What about at the airport?
Don't eat at Sky Harbor if you have the chance. The food is awful and it's very, very overpriced.

> Where would be a good place for dinner with food variety?
It really depends on what sort of food you're looking for. There's not much on the way to the airport from the Grand Canyon and definitely nothing right around the airport (it's in a bad area of town). You can head a little east to Downtown Tempe, although you'll have parking issues on Friday or Saturday night, or if there's an ASU football game (during the fall and early winter) or basketball game (during the winter and early spring) that night. Otherwise, there are tons of restaurants along Mill Avenue from 5th Street to University. It's about 15 minutes back to the airport, although the rental car center is further since it's on the west side.
There's also Old Town/Downtown Scottsdale, which is northeast of the airport along Scottsdale Road from about McDowell for about a mile north. Lots of restaurants around there as well. The area around Scottsdale Fashion Square (Camelback at Scottsdale Road) is much more upscale, while the southern quarter, known as Old Town, is more tourist-oriented and has an Old West theme.
That's for non-chain places that are interesting. It's hard to get away from chain restaurants in the Phoenix area, and that's what's just off the freeway. If you don't mind chains though, there are several restaurants in the Deer Valley area, which is at I-17 and the 101 (you exit at Yorkshire/Union Hills and loop back around to 27th Ave, where there's a large shopping center). There are also quite a few restaurants by the MetroCenter, which is on Peoria Avenue just west (right when coming southbound) of I-17.
Also, although not overly active, there are a few restaurants in Phoenix's Downtown, but you'll have more problems contending with weekend and, especially, sporting event parking (three of Phoenix's four pro teams play Downtown).
I won't make any specific recommendations on places because it depends on what sort of food you like and whether or not you're set against chains.
Another option here is to eat in Black Canyon City, which is about an hour north of Phoenix. There's a small, interesting cafe (Rock Springs Cafe) right by the interstate and there shouldn't be too much of a crowd. They're famous for their pie, but I'm not sure about the food for dinner.

Thanks so much for your food reply....I really appreciate the guide around.

As for the "set-off", I meant set-off time (3:00PM), leaving Grand Canyon Village.