your favorite restaurants in tucson?
 

My parents will be spending the month of February in Tucson. They enjoy good food, but tend not to spend a lot on meals out. Any suggestions I can send along to them?

What sort of food do they like?

Mosaic Cafe and El Charro (several locations, but IMO the most fun is downtown) have good Mexican food, not expensive.

I should have said that I don't think either one of them has ever eaten in a Mexican restaurant- they might be willing to try it since that is a regional specialty! They like meat and potatoes American fare, Italian, Greek...
thanks!

I have limited experience with restaurants in Tucson, but have eaten at the Red Sky Cafe on a few occasions with family and have enjoyed it each time. Their website is http://www.redskycafeandcatering.com/

We enjoy Thai food at Bangkok Cafe on Speedway and Tucson Ave. very near to U of A. If your parents are renting for the month, there maybe neighborhood restaurants that are good and inexpensive. The hotel restaurants are quite pricey. Perhaps the landlord can make local suggestions for their area. Tucson is spread out into many areas and now with Highway 10 construction, getting from north to south or vise versa can be a challenge. Mexican is probably the most available, but most all type of foods can be found. The beef of the southwest is excellent! The weather will be wonderful!

We liked:
Fronimo's Greek Cafe
3242 E Speedway Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85716

(520) 327-8321

and:

Brooklyn Pizza Co
534 N 4th Ave
Tucson, AZ 85705

(520) 622-6868

Both had reasonable prices and good food.

Deb

for a great bakery/sandwich place, you can't beat beyond bread, ANYWHERE!
several locations
Sunrise cafe at kolb and sunrise for middle eastern fare (not meat and potatoes....but)

I just thought of another one. We liked the Good Egg for breakfast. They have these huge, crepe-like pancakes that are excellent.

The restaurant at the Desert museum is fantastic. If they visit, tell them to make sure they eat lunch there.

This is a place that many locals go to. It serves very good food through lunch, I believe about 2:30PM. It is called Roberts.
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Ch...tent?oid=57804
This part of Tucson weekly ("Chow") offers many suggestions.
We also go to one other that serves breakfast through dinner and is open until about 9 or 9:30PM. Sorry. can't remember the name but they have about 3 locations and one is on Grant near Wilmot. I think a pink or light green looking place. Again many locals. If I get the name I will send another message

There was a modest-sized taqueria that served pico de gallo fruit cups. Fruit with salted chile and lime. Incredible. Tell them to ask around, maybe someone will point them in the right direction. Also, a small local mexican fast food chain with really good ceviche. At the same place a wonderful beer with tomato juice and chile spice called michelada. Sorry I don't know the restaurant names but it's been a few years since I was there. I'd go back just for the mexican food.

The Fox group just opened Zinburger on River Road; they grind their own steak twice daily...superb! I second the Red Sky reco as well.

We liked J Bar a lot - refined cuisine but still affordable. It is the casual section of Janos (probably Tucson's best restaurant).
http://www.janos.com/

We had also dinner a the Wildflower which was good, but J Bar was better. The Gold Room was also good.

Another vote for Beyond Bread - absolutely wonderful bread & sandwiches.

For Italian, try Gavi's - there's several locations. The food is wonderful (try the rosa sauce) but it's gotten expensive.

Rocco's (2707 E Broadway) has wonderful pizza - I haven't tried anything else there.

The Bellisimo restaurant at the Casino del Sol is good. As often the case with Casino restaurants, Bellisimo is very reasonably priced.