On Tuesday, Yelp named a former P.F. Chang's on Mill Avenue the best new restaurant in America. Filthy Animal, at 740 S. Mill Ave., took the No. 1 spot on a list of 25 openings. The same stretch of downtown Tempe has more on the way. Phoenix New Times counted nine more Mill Avenue openings still ahead when it surveyed the district in August. Nearly every date attached to them has moved later since it was first announced.
The Room That Sat Dark Until Pretty Decent Concepts Took It
P.F. Chang's closed that Mill Avenue space in January 2022 after 24 years. Pretty Decent Concepts, the group founded by Teddy Myers with partners Thor Nguyen and Kaitlin Myers, reopened it in spring 2025 as a jungle-themed restaurant built around a wood fire pit. Chef Rene Vargas runs the fire. Yelp's write-up quotes Myers calling it "a primal style of cooking." A 1970s-style speakeasy called Drop Dead Gorgeous shares the building.
Yelp's ranking covers restaurants that opened between January 1, 2025 and June 11, 2026, and it is built from review volume and ratings. That makes it a measure of how many diners showed up and how they rated the meal. Forbes reported the result Tuesday, and Society Swan at Scottsdale Fashion Square came in at No. 14, so Arizona has two entries on the list.
The room itself matters here. A big shell at the south end of the Mill Avenue entertainment district, close to ASU, sat unused for three years before an operator with a clear concept took it. Filthy Animal's national ranking came from that operator's follow-through. Nobody was counting down to an opening date for it.
Every Date That Moved Went the Same Direction
Read the current Mill Avenue pipeline against the first dates announced and a pattern shows up. Nothing on this list has moved earlier.
| Restaurant | First announced target | Latest reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Carmen, 640 S. Mill Ave. | Spring, then fall 2025, then November 2025 | Late September to early October 2026 |
| Phantom Fox Beer Co. and Goat and Ram, 525 S. Mill Ave. | March or April 2026 | Oct. 8, per New Times; Downtown Tempe lists "fall 2026" |
| RePUBlic, 607 S. Mill Ave. | August 2026 | "This fall" |
| Novel Ice Cream, Harry Walker House | Spring 2026 | Mid-October or November 2026 |
| Glai Baan team's new concept, 34 E. Seventh St. | 2026 | October, name still undisclosed |
| Wood & Water, The Watermark | Fall 2026 | Late fall 2026, no groundbreaking confirmed |
| 212° Shabu Shabu, The Watermark | December 2025 | No opening report turned up |
Carmen is the longest slide. Julian Wright, who founded Pedal Haus, Idle Hands and Devil's Hideaway, first put Carmen on the calendar for 2025. New Times described the current late September to early October window as coming "after multiple delays." Wright knows the building, the former Anoche Cantina, because he ran Canteen Modern Tequila Bar in that space from 2010 to 2013. Familiarity with the building did not keep the date from moving. As of today the reporting still says "scheduled," so a sign in the window is the only confirmation worth trusting.
The Watermark, at 410 N. Scottsdale Road, shows the other end of the pattern. Kaos Hospitality, led by CEO John DeVries, opened Three Thirty Three in December 2024 and IX Sushi on March 31, 2026. Wood & Water has held a fall 2026 target in every report, most recently described as late fall. It is a 9,000-square-foot seafood restaurant with a patio over Tempe Town Lake and a 5,000-gallon shark tank. Kaos's own website still says it "will break ground." A ground-up build whose site hasn't been confirmed as started, with a fall opening promised, is the one entry on this table where the date is hardest to believe.
Where the Delays Have a Reason on Record
Where reasons are on record, they are mostly about the structures. Novel Ice Cream is going into the 1903 Harry Walker House, a National Register property that spent decades tied to House of Tricks. The house was moved in September 2025 to a city-owned lot next to City Hall so a 30-story tower called the Hub on Campus Tempe could go up on its old site. The city then restored it. Owner Shawn Allard told the Business Journal that the opening lands in mid-October or November, well after the spring date first reported. Novel serves through a walk-up window, with no indoor seating at any of its shops, and Allard's plan includes a refreshed patio around the bungalow.
Phantom Fox sits in a city-owned building too, the former Illegal Pete's space. Mayor Corey Woods recruited the Mesa brewery himself. Co-owner Trent Smith told New Times the company had no plans to expand into downtown Tempe until Woods made the pitch. A deal that began with a mayoral phone call and a city lease has more parties on the schedule than a private tenant improvement does.
The Glai Baan team's second restaurant is in the Gov. Benjamin B. Moeur House and Hatton Hall, which dates to 1892. Cat Bunnag and Dan Robinson have said only that it will differ from the Osborn Road original. Reservations at the original are already tight, and the new room will add seats. The owners haven't said what it will be called or what it will serve.
Carmen's delays have no reason on record. Roman God of Fire is the useful comparison for the rest, because it was a ground-up build that took three years from research through construction before it took its first reservations.
What Already Has a Door You Can Walk Through
Roman God of Fire, at 80 S. Rio Salado Parkway next to the Hayden Flour Mill, opened this summer. Scott Conant developed the menu with Pretty Decent Concepts around dishes from ancient Rome, including handmade pasta and a carbonara built on guanciale. It ran a limited reservation window from July 31 to August 5 before its August 7 grand opening. Mia Culpa, a cocktail lounge tucked beside it, had a Sept. 25 opening date.
Several smaller places are on a weekly-visit footing already:
- Window Coffee Bar, inside The Beam on Farmer at 433 S. Farmer Ave., has been serving since December 2025, with Chacónne Patisserie pastries and Bagelfeld's bagels. It is closed Sundays.
- Prince Street Pizza, at 680 S. Mill Ave., is the New York chain's first Arizona shop.
- Proof Bread, at 699 S. Mill Ave., moved from pop-ups to daily service in October 2025.
- Retail Therapy, at Sixth and Mill, has stocked Arizona makers' goods since January 13, 2026.
The Downtown Tempe Authority has counted seven new restaurants and retailers opening since the start of 2026, and its new businesses page carries its own warning that opening dates can move.
Signs That an Opening Is Close
The record above suggests a few checks that beat any published date:
- A reservation link. Roman God of Fire took its first reservations days before the grand opening. A restaurant that lets you book has a kitchen ready to cook.
- A named menu. The Glai Baan concept is described as an October opening with no name or menu released, which reads as a soft target.
- A groundbreaking on record. Wood & Water's site has been announced as starting soon since 2025. A shovel in the ground is the fact that a fall date depends on.
- A date from the operator, close to the day. Phantom Fox's Oct. 8 arrived from reporters in August. The brewery's own posts in the final week will settle it.
The Fixed Dates Around the Openings
While the restaurant dates settle, the season has events whose dates are published by their organizers, according to Tempe Tourism's fall guide and the Downtown Tempe events calendar:
- Oct. 2 onward: Candlelight Concerts at the Phoenix Zoo, running through March 26, 2027.
- Oct. 9: ASU Men's Hockey home opener at Mullett Arena.
- Oct. 24 to Nov. 8: Arizona Theatre Company's "Proof" at Tempe Center for the Arts.
- Día de Muertos: The free Tempe Tardeada, with music, dancing and traditional food.
- Nov. 28: Fantasy of Lights Street Parade and Tree Lighting on Mill Avenue.
- Dec. 4 to 6: Tempe Festival of the Arts, with more than 350 artist booths.
- Dec. 12: Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade at Tempe Beach Park, with a fireworks finale.
If you're curious what a wave of openings on Mill Avenue and along Tempe Town Lake means for your own block, CITIEA can walk you through it. Sell for more, faster.
