Sedona dining has come a long way since the 1990s. Today there are 80+ restaurants within a 15-minute drive of Uptown, from $200 tasting menus on red rock bluffs to family diners that still serve a $9 omelet plate. Here are the places we send first-time visitors to, organized by what you’re hungry for.
ItalianMexican & LatinAmerican & WesternFrench Fine DiningBrewpubsAsianJust Outside SedonaDining Tips
Editors’ Top Picks
Three Restaurants You Can’t Leave Sedona Without
Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill
Chef Lisa Dahl’s most ambitious restaurant and arguably the finest red rock view from any dining room in Sedona. The 23-foot floor-to-ceiling windows look out over Capitol Butte and the Mogollon Rim. Argentine, Chilean, and Uruguayan-inspired plates, a serious wine list, and the best sunset reservation in town. Dress code applies.
Dahl & Di Luca Ristorante Italiano
Chef Lisa Dahl’s flagship Italian restaurant and one of Arizona’s most consistently romantic dining rooms since 1995. Tuscan-villa interior with silk drapes and crystal chandeliers, a Wine Spectator Award-winning list, and soft jazz piano two nights a week. The kind of place locals book for anniversaries.
The Hudson
Chef-driven American comfort food in the Hillside Shopping Plaza with the best red rock views in the complex. Replaced the long-running Shugrue’s Hillside and elevated the menu without losing the easygoing feel. Reservations are limited, and tables turn over with a 2-hour limit during peak season.
Italian Restaurants in Sedona
Sedona’s Italian scene is dominated by Chef Lisa Dahl, who’s been quietly building a culinary empire since 1995. Three of her concepts (Cucina Rustica, the flagship Dahl & Di Luca above, and Pisa Lisa) anchor this category. Bella Vita rounds it out with a different feel and live music on weekends.
Cucina Rustica
Chef Lisa Dahl’s Tuscan-Mediterranean restaurant with four dining rooms, four fireplaces, and a starlit terrace. Live acoustic guitar most evenings. Dress code applies. The vibe is romantic Old World, slower than the West Sedona flagship.
Bella Vita Ristorante
Italian fine dining at Sedona Pines Resort with an indoor fireplace, large outdoor patio, and live music Friday and Saturday evenings. Two miles past the last stop signal heading toward Cottonwood, so it draws fewer tourists and more regulars.
Pisa Lisa
Chef Lisa Dahl’s wood-fired pizza concept. The original West Sedona location (2013) has a cozy bohemian feel with a full bar; the larger Village location adds antipasti and tapas plates the original doesn’t offer. Try the artisan gelato either way.
Mexican & Latin Restaurants in Sedona
The Mexican and Latin category spans casual to acclaimed. El Rincon and Javelina Cantina are the locals’ workhorses, both reliable for margaritas and chips. Elote Cafe is a different category entirely, often called the best restaurant in Sedona and notoriously hard to book.
Javelina Cantina
Sonoran-style Mexican in the Hillside Shopping Plaza with red rock views from the patio. Voted Sedona’s best margaritas and tacos in 2025. Dog-friendly side patio. Get the sizzling fajitas and a Cadillac margarita and you can’t go wrong.
El Rincon Restaurante
Family-owned since 1976 and credited as the originator of “Arizona-style” Mexican cuisine, a blend of traditional Mexican with Navajo influences. Famous for the Navajo Pizza, the hand-rolled chimichangas, and margaritas that have built a fan base over five decades. Creekside entrance through Tlaquepaque.
Elote Cafe
Chef Jeff Smedstad’s modern Mexican is the most acclaimed restaurant in Sedona and has been for a decade. The menu changes but the signature elote (fire-roasted corn with chili and lime) is always there. Reservations open weeks ahead and disappear in hours.
American & Western Restaurants in Sedona
This is the broadest category and probably where you’ll eat most often. Butterfly Burger and The Hudson (featured above) cover the upscale end. Judi’s and Nick’s are dependable locals’ spots. Cowboy Club is the Western institution, and Coffee Pot is the breakfast icon every Sedona visitor eventually ends up at.
Butterfly Burger
Chef Lisa Dahl’s elevated burger lounge with Scottsdale Burger Battle award-winning patties, boozy milkshakes, and 40+ bourbons accessed via a rolling library ladder. Sleek lounge atmosphere with seating for 82, but no reservations, so come early or expect a wait.
Judi’s Restaurant
Hometown American supper-club favorite for nearly four decades. Fresh scratch kitchen with handmade bread, dressings, and homemade desserts. Angus steaks, prime rib, New Zealand lamb, baby back ribs. Closed Wednesdays. The kind of place where servers remember your name on visit two.
Nick’s West Side
Casual breakfast and lunch with house-made chorizo and oversized omelets. Hometown diner under newer ownership that brought in some Southern hospitality without messing with what worked. Kid-friendly. Far less of a wait than Coffee Pot if the line down the street is brutal.
Cowboy Club & Silver Saddle Room
Sedona’s Western dining institution and home of the Cowboy Artists of America. Two dining spaces under one roof: the casual Cowboy Club with the second-largest set of Longhorns in the country mounted on the wall, and the more refined Silver Saddle Room. Game meats, mesquite steaks, and prickly pear margaritas.
Coffee Pot Restaurant
The Sedona breakfast institution since 1955, famous for its menu of 101 omelets. Casual, affordable, family-friendly. The wait on weekend mornings can stretch to an hour but the line moves and the omelet is exactly what you want it to be. Cash works, cards work.
French Fine Dining in Sedona
Sedona has exactly one French restaurant, and it’s been here for forty years. Rene’s at Tlaquepaque is the answer when you want the most formal meal in town.
Rene’s Restaurant
A Sedona landmark for 40 years inside Tlaquepaque’s stone-walled courtyards. The pace is slow, the rack of lamb is signature, and the service is the kind that comes from career staff. Dover sole, antelope, venison, and an extensive French-leaning wine program.
Brewpubs & Casual Dining
Oak Creek Brewery has been making beer in Sedona since 1995 and runs two distinct spots. The Tlaquepaque grill is the polished version with food and patio dining; the West Sedona location on Yavapai Drive is the original production brewery with a beer garden and fire pit.
Oak Creek Brewery & Grill (Tlaquepaque)
Award-winning craft brews paired with wood-fired pizza and gourmet burgers in the polished Tlaquepaque setting. The grill side of Sedona’s oldest brewery. Order the 7 Dwarves flight to sample all seven core beers and decide which growler to bring home.
Oak Creek Brewery (West Sedona)
Sedona’s oldest microbrewery, founded 1995. This is the original production brewery and tap room with a beer garden, fire pit, and live music Friday through Sunday. Happy hour 4 to 7 PM daily. Less polished than the Tlaquepaque location, more authentic to the brewery culture.
Asian Restaurants in Sedona
Sedona’s Asian scene is tighter than its Mexican or Italian, but Szechuan Restaurant covers the category well with both Chinese and sushi under one roof.
Szechuan Restaurant & Sushi
Family-owned Szechuan-style Chinese and Japanese sushi in the heart of West Sedona on 89A. Open Sunday through Thursday 11 AM to 9 PM, Friday and Saturday until 9:30 PM. Carry-out and catering. Delivery 5 to 9 PM. The default answer when Sedona’s Italian and Mexican scene isn’t what you want tonight.
Just Outside Sedona: Verde Valley Dining
If you’re staying in Sedona for more than a few days, take the 20-minute drive to Cottonwood or Camp Verde for a different feel. The Verde Valley has its own dining identity, a little more rural, a little less polished, and often half the price of equivalent Sedona experiences. These four are worth the trip.
BV’s Italian Kitchen
Tuscan-inspired Italian inside the Lux Verde Hotel, the sister property to Sedona’s Bella Vita. Handmade pastas, signature seafood, house-baked focaccia. Italian breakfast available. Kids eat free. Lower price point than the Sedona Italian rooms with the same quality kitchen lineage.
BV’s Tavern
Casual tavern adjacent to BV’s Italian Kitchen, same building and parking. The more relaxed concept of the two, with bar food, drinks, and a faster pace. Drop in for a beer and bar burger when you don’t want a sit-down Italian dinner.
The Bullpen Grill
Country-style bar and gastropub in historic Wingfield Plaza, downtown Camp Verde. Steaks, burgers, family-friendly. Live music Friday and Saturday, karaoke Thursdays. The kind of place where the regulars are at the bar and the food is honest.
The White Horse Wood-Fired Grill
Family-owned wood-fired steakhouse honoring the legacy of the original White Horse Inn. Mesquite-grilled ribeyes, wagyu burgers, Arizona-grown produce. Two dining rooms with private event capacity for groups up to 30. Worth the 25-minute drive from Sedona for the steak alone.
Sedona Dining Tips
A few things to know before you book or walk in. Sedona’s fine dining rooms (Mariposa, Cucina Rustica, Cress on Oak Creek, Rene’s) take reservations 3 to 4 weeks ahead and the best tables go to early bookers. Most other restaurants take same-week reservations or walk-ins. Resy and OpenTable cover most of the higher-end rooms; the older establishments still take phone reservations only.
If you want a view, the best dining-room red rock panoramas are at Mariposa, The Hudson, Mesa Grill (at the Sedona Airport), and Javelina Cantina. For patio views, Cucina Rustica’s starlit terrace and Bella Vita’s outdoor seating both deliver. Most other Sedona restaurants are in shopping plazas or strip-mall settings where the view comes through the parking lot.
Dress codes apply at the fine dining rooms. Mariposa, Cucina Rustica, and Dahl & Di Luca all enforce “resort casual” at minimum, which means no shorts, no flip-flops, and collared shirts for men. Rene’s is the most formal room in Sedona; treat it like a special occasion.
Most Sedona restaurants stop seating between 9 and 10 PM. If you want late-night food, Butterfly Burger, Pisa Lisa, and Oak Creek Brewery’s locations all stay open later than the average. Parking is generally easy outside of peak season; Tlaquepaque and Hillside both have free lots that fill up on weekend evenings around 6 PM.