Earnest Restaurant

I made a reservation based on good reviews here. It was a nice night so we sat outside. Our server DeAnna was great. She suggested a bottle of red wine and we agreed. That’s when things got wonky. An hour later and still no wine or olive starter. I finally went to the hostess and asked what the deal was. DeAnna was great and was as upset as we were that things weren’t going well. The wine we ordered was not available so DeAnna brought a different bottle that was excellent. We then ordered the zucchini cakes, the chili and Brussels sprouts, all of which were delicious. Not sure what is going on there but I hope they fix it.

This is a great place. My wife and my default date night restaurant. Upscale, good service with full bar and above average wine selection. We always leave happy. The short ribs are always good but so is everything else. The banana desert is by far our favorite. To find this gem in Chandler is awesome.

Wish I could post «0» stars!!!
We walked in at 6:00pm
Ordered dinner at 6:30
It’s 8:15pm and we are still waiting for our food to arrive!
The restaurant is not busy but it seems the service is extremely poor!
Our waiter disappears for 10 to 15 minutes and we can’t get a water refill.
Not sure what is going on — but we are NEVER coming back here again!!!

Well, this place is ok. Definitely not my type. First, I had limited choices on the menu. They had a lot of pork or bacon options and I don’t eat pig… So my choice was limited and I picked the Alaskan cod with mushroom and dinner other veggies… First it took quite a bit to get the food, and then when the food came the portion was literally a baby portion of food. A 10 yrs old kid eats more than that… Check the pic. Will not go waste my money at another earnest restaurant ever again.

I’ve had dessert at this place and a meal and it was delicious. The fried chicken is really good and I also enjoyed the apple cobbler à la mode with a latte martini.

My rating went down after this visit. I thought we were in time for happy hour. The waitress gave us happy hour menus. She said to take our time. Happy hour ends at 6:30 she said. I ordered wine and dessert. The table next to me had a sandwich brought out and it looked delish so I ordered one. I was drooling over how good the ham looked. A few minutes later at 6:06 the waitress comes back and says that it’s after happy hour so I can’t get that price and asked if I still wanted it. I said yes. Then she came back and said that they don’t even make them after happy hour. I was so disappointed. The guy next to me was loovviinngg his sandwich. Then moments later the woman on the other side of me then got the same damn sandwich brought out to her. COME ON!!! You just told me they stopped making them!!! I’m super disappointed in you Earnest. I just wanted some ham.

Earnest is a little drop of Sunshine in south Chandler. If Earnest isn’t the best restaurant in Chandler, I’d love to hear from you. In my opninion Earnest can compete with some of the top restaurants in any major city. I feel really lucky to have spot like this so close to home.
For picky eaters (or us vegetarians), everything is made from scratch, so if you want to make a modification, the answer is yes. Who doesn’t love hearing yes!
— The zucchini cakes and champagne hollandaise are amazing!
— The wait staff is absurdly attentive and incredible.
— The fried brussels sprouts, lets just say tremendous.
Not to mention any of the melt in your mouth delicious desserts. Seriously try them ALL.
Bottom line. Great food, amazing atmosphere, and located in south Chandler! I love Earnest.

Stopped by for a bite and drink for the start of our night out. No reservations on a busy Saturday night but they were accommodating nonetheless. Crab cake was amazing and the Cobb salad was delish! Husband ordered the pan seared chicken which I tried a few bites before he cleaned his plate. Very happy with our experience and plan to return!

This place was amazing! To begin with, our waiter (I wish I could remember his name.) was the best waiter I think I’ve ever had. He was so nice and went out of his way to make our experience great. The food was fantastic! We had the short rib, which was perfectly cooked and not at all fatty. We also had the Brussels sprouts, and they were delicious. And as for the banana cream pie, next time I will make my hubby get his own because it’s just too good to share!
Edit: After I posted this earlier today, we decided to go here for dinner tonight with family to celebrate birthdays. Tonight’s visit was more like two stars. Our server was nice, but we were there forever… They took so long to bring the food out. Our reservation was at 6:15 and we didn’t get our meals until about 7:45. I was kind of embarrassed because I had raved about how great our experience was last time.

This place was so good! Each dish brought out tickled my tastebuds
The zucchini cakes covered in crab and champagne hollandaise was awesome! I ordered the short ribs and they were super flavorful and tender! I can’t wait to go back and try more delectable dishes!
The atmosphere is comfortable very much like most wine bars but modern.
Great place for fellow foodies to go!

Love this restaurant. Burgers are amazing, friendly staff and love the location. Highly recommend. My husband and I love Earnest hours. It’s a great way to sample items off the menu at happy hour prices.

It’s New Year’s Eve. Earnest has a special (and expensive) three course dinner. Our group of 11 has reservations at 6pm. We arrive on time and are pleasantly greeted and seated. From that point on, the night was a disaster.
We waited for somebody to take our drink orders while we perused the menu. At 6:30 we sent one of our party out to search for a waiter. By 6:45 our waiter finally came to our table. We ordered wine which came just before 7pm. We’ve been at Earnest now for one hour and we have wine.
The waiter took our orders. This should have been relatively easy as the menu was a fixed three course dinner with few options. By 7:45, we have our entrées, except the start to our special meal is delayed as one of the orders delivered was the wrong entrée.
By 8:15pm we have our desserts, except one of the orders was wrong and so we waited again in order that we could all enjoy together. We ordered a few after dinner cocktails.
At 8:20 a woman (whom I suspect was the manager; she didn’t introduce herself) tells us that we must leave the table as there is another party with a reservation waiting for it. Nobody has finished their cocktails, yet we are summarily escorted outside to the cold patio where we shivver and sip. The manager had the patio heaters immediately turned on, but by the time they were producing any heat, we had finished our cocktails.
The food was very good, but they just couldn’t seem to get anything to our table in a timely manner. Because they delayed every service, we found ourselves rushed out before we even finished our meal, as if any part of this mess could be blamed on us.
When our checks arrived, those who ordered an after dinner cocktail had the drink removed from their bill, and that was a nice gesture. But half of our party did not have an after dinner drink. As a final insult, a 20% gratuity was included in the check because we were a party of eleven. In my opinion, it would have been more gracious (and honest) to charge for the cocktails and remove the gratuity.
Anyway, I’m in no hurry to return to Earnest and if anybody in our group suggests going there in the future, I will suggest that we pick another place.

Hands down the best restaurant in Chandler. Earnest can compete with some of the top restaurants in NYC. Everything is made from scratch… As Zagat would say Food 29, Service 28, Décor 27. Enjoy!!!

We left right after they poured the water. Service was flat, and non-​energetic. Saturday night before Christmas — no wonder we didn’t have a hard time getting a short notice reservation.

This place was featured as one of the top 15 places to eat in Phoenix. I was ranked as #5, I would rank it as #1. Great atmosphere and staff. Check this place out, you won’t be sorry!

I’m currently seated at my table of 6. It’s a Friday night, we had a reservation for 7:30pm, it is 9:18 as I type this, and our mains have NOT arrived.
I understand it’s Friday night, but waiting this long for entrees is unacceptable. Waitstaff is perfectly sweet, but no apology or mention of a busy kitchen has been mentioned by the staff.
I rarely visit my folks in Chandler, but we wont be back. Quality of food doesn’t matter if back of house is this slow on a prime night. We were going to go out after this dinner but that’s probably not happening at this rate.
UPDATE: the entrees were actually really good once we got them (at around 9:30). For this reason I am moving to 2 stars versus my original 1 star. Also, the front of house staff was very courteous.

I have been to The Earnest a few times since it opened. We have always been very pleased with the food quality. Menu is somewhat limited. However, it tends to change frequently, which provides variety. The restaurant’s décor is warm and modern. The only reason I do not give it five stars is due to the timeliness of the kitchen. We have been there both on the weekend and during the week and I always feel like our entrées take a very long time to come out. Otherwise the service is great.

The inside is adorable — chic but charming. Cocktails are presented on an ipad which is kinda nifty but requires you to ask the waitress for it again when ready for a second. We started with the sea salt rolls, fried brussel sprouts and mac n’ cheese.
The sea salt rolls were very tasty but it seems like something that should be free (instead of $ 3).
The brussel sprouts were OUT OF THIS WORLD. And as a side, it’s a HUGE serving so if you were so inclined (and perhaps spending the evening alone afterward), you could make it your meal.
The mac n’ cheese was very tasty although the «bacon» was more like rubbery bits of ham. They’re large enough that you can pick around them (as I did) but I vote for nixing them altogether.
The pan fried chicken with grits was delicious. Chicken was well seasoned and expertly prepared (note that it does come with a bone for the bone-​averse folks). The grits were very tasty but a bit rich for me. Husband loved them.
Even though culinary death was imminent, we went for broke and ordered the banana pie. Let me just say — I do not like pie. I like pie filling but you can have your soggy floppy crust. This is NOT «regular pie.» It has a cookie crust topped with banana pie-​ness and toasted marshmallow. I know the combination sounds iffy but it’s good. Trust me. Take a piece home if you can’t possibly stuff your facehole with it after dinner.

This is seriously my new favorite place. The food was really good and the happy hour prices were great. Overall it had a nice vibe, well decorated with fun staff. The waiter was extremely nice and very personable. We sat outside to get happy hour prices and he made sure we were nice and toasty. I ordered the Brussels and a burger along with foie gras. Super delicious. The banana cream pie– I nearly lost it. So. So. So. Good. I will definitely be back. Tons more on the menu for me to try. There is a salted caramel dessert that has my name all over it. I can’t wait to go back.
Happy hour prices were really good as well. Their hours are kind of weird, they open at five but that works for me, I felt like everything was fresh and new at 5 p.m.

1^st class service, excellent cocktails, delicious deserts.
I look forward to returning.

First trip back since this location used to be ‘cork.’ Had a great experience with an attentive wait staff and host, friendly manager to check on us a couple of times, great food, and a nice selection of wine, cocktails, and brews. We started with the chorizo and pork belly over cornbread… we could’ve licked the bowl. The entrees were equally satisfying and the portion was generous. Short ribs were excellent! My wife had the duck that was on special and it was great as well. Great desserts if you can muster up the self control to save some room.
I highly recommend earnest. It’s a great addition to the east valley and the chandler area.

Saturday night was my first experience at Earnest and will probably be my last. The restaurant had plenty of pros and cons and they are as follows:
Pros:
— The place is aesthetically pleasing; very nice boutique vibe to the restaurant.
— Friendly hostess and server (at first).
— Wonderful Restaurant Manager, Scott; he went above and beyond by around filling waters and made sure that our party was well looked after while we waited. So hats off to him!
— The Mac and Cheese (bacon and mushroom) was quite tasty.
Cons:
— The service slowed down exponentially once we ordered even though the restaurant was pretty dead while we were there. There were maybe three-​four other tables and a couple towards the end at the high top area. So for a boutique restaurant at dinner time (6:30pm-9pm) it was quite slow.
— The Mac and Cheese (bbq) was extremely bland and had to be sent back.
— When the bill came and split checks were requested by our party, our server became overwhelmed and slightly passive aggressive while asking how we wanted the checks. Not okay or professional, in my opinion.
All in all, my food was good, the restaurant was beautiful and the service (with the exception of Scott) was just okay.

Ack! Unilocal!You deleted my whole review when I logged in!
Anyway, to start this is in the boonies — Sun Lakes — but it was worth the drive.
To start — we ordered the avocado BLT deviled eggs with arugula, scallions, cherry tomato, bacon lardons. The yolks were mixed with avocados which is a nice substitute or addition to the normal mayo for deviled eggs. We also ordered the zucchini cakes with crab, pickled onion, asparagus, Champagne hollandaise. The zucchini was crispy and soft at the same time, lots of flavor and awesome with the crab and the hollandaise. Definitely worth it. 6 eggs came with the order and two large zucchini cakes — so plenty for all.
For dinner, I had the pan-​seared airline chicken breast with bacon & rosemary grits, heirloom cauliflower, rapini, mushroom brandy sauce. I really liked the flavor of the grits with the combination of the mushroom brandy sauce. Very different and savory.
My friends ordered the double-​cut, bone-​in, pork «ham» chop with apple sauce, sausage & cheddar potato «casserole». Holy cow (or pig!) This this is huge. I would definitely say that it’s good to split for 2. All of my friends loved this — as they said it was a good combination of the pork chop and «ham». But it is indeed huge.
Worth the trip out to the middle of grey-​hairville for sure. They also have a large wine selection, so would be good just to meet friends out for a wine happy hour.
I would say there was a definite gap in service as we finished the appetizers before we even ordered our main entrees and drinks were empty — but the server was friendly which kind of made up for it. Other than that, it was a good experience.

Amazing service and amazing food! The brussel sprouts are super delicious and I would eat them every day! The truffle fries are also awesome! The hamburger we had was one of the best burgers we’ve ever had. I wasn’t a big fan of the grilled cheese but there wasn’t really anything wrong with it, it just wasn’t to my taste… a little too much pork belly in my opinion (blasphemy I know!) but it looked really good, my friend ate most of his half and liked it!

We sat at the bar for happy hour. They have a really good selection and great prices, but the food is super rich. We could barely eat a third of what we ordered. I was also dismayed by the behavior of one of the bartenders. He had long curly hair, and he kept pulling it in and out of a ponytail but he never once washed his hands after touching his hair. He also kept giving free samples of gin to people at the bar. He talked very loudly about how drunk he was all the time. I kept looking around for the manager wondering why this kid didn’t get shut down.

I came here with my sister for dinner last weekend. It was my first time dining here since the renovation. This used to be my go-​to spot for a special occasion dinner back when it was Cork. I heard that they were trying to make Earnest a more casual concept but everything seemed pretty much the same to me except a few minor cosmetic changes in the décor. The prices on the menu were just as high. We spent $ 100 for the two of us including tax and tip as well as a $ 30 bottle of wine that tasted a bit off.
Anyway, it ended up being worth it because we both loved our food. We started with the fried Brussels sprouts which were amazing. We both loved them so much and I really wish the dish came with more. My sister ordered the vegetable lasagna and she raved over it even though it had ricotta cheese which she doesn’t usually like too much. I got the lamb meatballs and daily risotto. These are on the menu as a starter and a side dish, respectively, but together they made for a very delicious meal. The lamb meatballs are a must-​order, they are truly fantastic. I was impressed with the risotto as well. It was perfectly cooked, not too mushy but still wonderfully creamy and smooth.
I will definitely be returning to Earnest since the food was so good. But unfortunately I probably will still reserve it for special occasions due to the price point.