Owner: Funding dries up after threats from HOA.
Reporting from Craig Outhier & Matthew Johnson | Photography by Gregory Rothstein
Golden Oak BBQ + Bar has permanently closed its Downtown Phoenix restaurant amid a months-long fight with its neighbor over the smoke produced from making barbecue, according to owner Dave Valencia.
“We’ve been at odds with the HOA regarding our smoker since the day we opened,” Valencia said in a text message conversation with PHOENIX. “We were working on a solution but apparently not fast enough.”
Valencia says the HOA and some residents of the Artisan Lofts on Central apartment complex ramped up threats to close the restaurant that it scared away investors and Golden Oak lost its funding that would’ve kept it operating through next fall.
“Pretty much sucks because we were really starting to get some traction on our offerings,” Valencia says. “The smoke is our advertisement. Who wants to go to a barbecue place that doesn’t smell like smoke?”
Our phone calls to Artisan Lofts on Central for comment were not immediately answered.
PHOENIX food writers recently visited Golden Oak for coverage in our March-April issue. Editor Craig Outhier lauded the brisket and managing editor Leah LeMoine singled out the restaurant’s corn elder dessert as a “quirky charmer.” A planned review, however, will now not be published due to the abrupt closure.
Other accolades include a 2025 Best New Restaurant award from AZCentral.com and a nod from Phoenix New Times as one of its Most Anticipated Restaurants of 2025.
For now, Valencia says there are no plans to relocate Golden Oak BBQ, which opened last October. He recently shuttered Oro Brewing Company after nine years in Downtown Mesa.
