Scottsdale
Night Owl Pizza & Drinks
Opened: March 2023
Middlebrow pub grub and a splashy beverage list in an underserved neighborhood is bound to get you traction with modern diners, and to that end, this rumpus-room-themed pizza bar seems destined for success in South Scottsdale. Conceived by the folks behind Ziggy’s Magic Pizza Shop in Downtown Phoenix, it comes on like an aspirational Midwestern basement, with pinball machines, midcentury lamps and rando family portraits on the walls, plus a spacious outdoor patio perfect for nighttime mingling. Also fun: a $10 lunch special that invites you to pair, say, four baked chicken wings with a generous slice of Hawaiian pizza, or a sturdy house salad with a plate of Parmesan-garlic fries, or any permutation therein, plus a drink. It’s mostly on-point – particularly the wings, each pitch-perfect little symphonies of crispness, meat and salt. Other tips: Stay away from the Pretty Fly for a White Pie ricotta pizza, which was waxy, cold and DOA, but lean into the Screech Owl Burger ($16), spicy and succulent with pepper jack and crispy jalapeños. Since this is 2023, there are also overpriced cocktails, including a too-dry Arizona Mule ($12) and the Moonage Daydream, which reads well with tequila, mezcal, grapefruit and agave nectar with a spritz of pea flower, but lacked the Bowie-esque élan the name seems to promise. No mama-papa comin’ for this $14 cocktail.
Wild Card: Get the party started with $6 “bell-ringers,” i.e. shooters.
1645 N. Hayden Rd., 480-687-1827, nightowlaz.com
