EVO

We went back to EVO for our 10^th anniversary dinner. Review from earlier in the week below. So glad we returned. Beef bruschetta was savory. The meatball appetizer was incredibly delicious. For dessert we had the Brown Butter Babycake and it was phenomenal. Also tried the Flouless Chocolate Torte. It was dense & rich. Many thanks to Nick, the owner, and Shelby, the manager, who both checked on us often. The service from Tony & CJ was impeccable.
I will be back in town next month and plan to return.
From our first visit with Arizona Food Tours: Exceptionally delicious. The EVO salad was incredible with crispy brussels sprouts, kale, pinenuts, and goat cheese. The risotto ball with marinara was probably the best marinara sauce we have ever had.

a local friend’s neighborhood restaurant is one of the best I’ve ever experienced. Service, food and atmosphere are 5 star! Old Town rocks!

Went with a group and had great food and great service! Very accommodating and the we all thought the food was delicious. They have great happy hour prices and wine on tap! Yummy!

Really loved the atmosphere here but I’m sad to say the food just wasn’t that great. It wasn’t bad, but not as good as we hoped it would be either.

Best described as modern Italian. I have never seen bone marrow on a «real» Italian menu, so there is no other title available. My experience was brief and was spent only during happy Hour. The bar was crowded on a weekday night, but that is likely because only a certain amount of people want to spend $ 30 for an entrée at dinner. The HH beers are 3 bucks each and they have some food specials. We got a pizza, but it was hardly edible as all I tasted was alot of salt. It looked like maybe some other choices might be good, but HH ended and we had to leave. Not budget friendly unless your at happy hour which again is why it was packed between 4 and 7pm and empty at 7:01pm.

Had high hopes for this place and left disappointed. The best thing all night was the evo salad and the focaccia bread app. If we probably ate just apps we would have been much happier. To start, they have a nice drink menu but most of the table ordered a specialty drink with basil. Waiter comes back and says they are out of basil can we get you something else. How does an Italian Resturant run out of basil??? After waiting what seemed like an hour the apps finally came out and were awesome as stated above. About another hour went by and finally dinner came out and here came the let down. Some plates were hot, some were cold, some food was hot, and some was not (nice rhyme I know…). The bolognese was cold and tasted like tomato paste and basically no meat. The rest of the food was bland and not exciting: gnocchi, squid ink pasta, and fennel sausage. Again just ok. We then got the free desert which took about 30 minutes to bring and was ok.
All in all, just an ok place and there are much better modern Italian places here in Phoenix/​Scottsdale, especially for what you are paying. Not sure how a dinner for a Resturant like this should take almost 3 hours but it did. Also, while the server was nice and friendly check up on your table once in awhile.

If u dont have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Oops, i said too much
–elite UnilocalerZzz

In a nutshell: New-​age «inspired» Italian… that’s short on wow (e.g. bland). Good, casual service. The Unilocal coupon is a shot of fireball? Just doesn’t seem to fit the vibe.
Had dinner for two on a Thursday night around 6:30. Evo was easy to find, had plentiful free parking and is in a nice space. Well decorated. Really cute, very pleasant hostess opened the door to greet us with a smile. Good start. Seated at a nice table for two. Evo wasn’t crowded so we had plenty of space. Had the tables on either side been occupied, it would have been cozy.
We chose Evo over an older school place thinking the food might be great based on other Unilocaler reviews who seem to focus more on lousy service in their complaints.
To our surprise, the service was fine. Attentive but casual. Above average beer and wine selection.
The menu appears great, though the starters are a not even a bit on the light side. We ordered the crispy risotto,. Good, not great and something of a holdover from the 90s I think. Whatever, it was fine.
Then the entrees: The Sablefish was ordered ($ 27) and the Broccoli Gnocchi ($ 14). I tried the Sablefish first. Let me tell you my shock. This dish was so bad. Just outright bad. It was edible only in the sense that it wasn’t off putting. However, it lacked any discernible flavor whatsoever. It wasn’t send it back bad but it was certainly I’ll never go back bad. The Gnocchi was better only in that it had an overpowering garlic flavor so it tasted like something. However, it was textually terrible (no little lines like you get on hand-​rolled gnocchi). Again, not good.
Dessert was an affogato and the Italian donuts. I don’t know if they were good or bad because I was so amazed at how bad the entrees were.
In fairness, I should give them another chance because maybe the chef called in sick. Regardless, I was so disappointed in the food I just can’t fathom trying Evo again.
I’m not trying to be cruel, I’m trying to be honest. The truth is that this was among the worst meals I’ve ever had in a restaurant.
I would encourage you to take my review with a grain of salt because others seem to think Evo has some decent food. To me, it was outright terrible. Maybe It’s me?
One final note: I just can’t conceive of a restaurant that takes itself seriously when it comes to food (of any kind, much less Italian) yet offers a special on shots of fireball. Really? Seems kind of cheesy and immature to me. Why not offer an appetizer at half-​off or something?

I came here around 8:45 on a Saturday night with some girl friends and I liked it!
I, unfortunately, have stomach problems and whereas most people would say I’m «picky», I really just have restrictions. I didn’t realize until I got there that Evo was an Italian restaurant and that most of the menu wouldn’t work for me. However, once I made this known, our server was more than helpful in dissecting a few dishes that could work for me. I appreciated that rather than getting the sighs and eye-​rolls I’m now accustom to.
I chose to go with a side of risotto and a side of fries. They were large portions so it was quite enough to fill me up. Both tasted great, a ‘tad’ too garlic-​y, but at that point, who’s complainin?!
We also checked in on our Unilocal apps while we were there and got penny fireball shots! Perfect since we were going out after, haha.
I liked the ambiance of the place and the décor. I would definitely dine there again or stop by for a pre turn-​up drink ;)

Had a good experience, waiter was on point. He was also very charming. Loved the atmosphere, def will recommend to a friend.

I never give a 1 star review but tonight EVO forced me to.
They have only 4 main dishes, which is already not that much, they ran out of three of them, so I ordered a pasta and the poor guy comes out of the kitchen after 20 m telling me there was no pasta, so I order meatballs and they ran out of it, of course.
My friend gets her pasta first and at the end her salad.
We ordered some bread with pesto and when we realized it wasn’t pesto we asked the guy what happened and he said that they ran out of pesto and so the tried to make a similar sauce ?!
At the end we tried our best to get out of the restaurant to go have an actual dinner somewhere else.
The only thing that made this a 1 star and not a 0 star review was the super kind waiter named Tony who tried with unremitting hope to save the night paying for our dessert! It was appreciated by still left the restaurant with the stomach empty.
They need some organization in the kitchen and with food delivery

The best hang out and great selection of wonderful meals! You won’t be disappointed! Also great friendly staff! Also try this amazing Arancini !! Go for it! WhAt? It’s the best ever and greatest hang out and even nick’s off duty staff is still working !!

Food: 5 stars
Service: 3 stars
Averages to 4 stars
I love, love, love the food here, and I REALLY want to give this more stars, but the service just leaves something to be desired.
We came in on a Saturday night during happy hour (which the server/​bartender said was their strength) and sat at a high top near the bar. We had two different servers/​bartenders taking our order and several different food runners bringing our food. The servers were helpful and had great recommendations for drinks and food. But then forgot to put in part of our order. We received all of our food but one dish and had already finished eating when we asked about the missing dish. He ended up not charging us for it and brought it out late, but I always get a little bit (justifiably?) upset when a server takes my order without writing anything down and then makes an error or doesn’t place my order.
If I give it another try and find service to be improved, I’ll be sure to update my review.

After attending a Unilocal brunch event at EVO last month, I wanted to come back and try dinner here. We decided to host my husbands boss and his wife here and that also would give us the chance to come back. We decided to arrive early and try the happy hour before the boss arrived. I love the setting and décor of EVO, which is dimly lit, lots of candles, music just the right volume and not blasting your eardrums off, and the exposed wood and brick mixed with red textiles give it a chic, classy feel. The bathrooms are clean; a lot can be said about the cleanliness of a restaurant depending on the cleanliness of the restroom.
EVO’s bar has a great happy hour menu. Happy Hour runs from 4−7pm. I like to take notice of happy hours that are worthy! I will have to put this on my Unilocal happy hour list! Wait for that! The EVO Happy Hour has really mouthwatering starters that are by NO means small in portion, at least for what we ordered. We started with the Bruschetta of the Day, which is a daily chef inspired bruschetta, (thats fun!) made of ricotta, a little honey, and apricot, topped upon perfectly toasted housemade bread. The boss arrived and he and his wife ordered the Arancini, which was three large balls made of risotto with red sauce over them. Seriously, you could make this a side with a pasta for a meal! There was also an Italian Sweet Corn that was ordered. When it arrived there were four small ears of corn with the perfect spices and oil drizzled over the warm ears. I can not eat corn but it smelled heavenly! On the Happy Hour menu, $ 3 drafts and bottled beers; $ 4 well drinks; $ 5 tap wine, (which I have always turned my nose to, but since my husband ordered a Pinot off the tap, I tried it and stopped my snootiness there!) and $ 7 specialty cocktails. That is ANY specialty cocktail off the menu. The other thing that not all places do during happy hour is allow you to order off the happy hour menu at the table, but when we moved with the boss and his wife to our reserved table from the bar, the waiter greeted us and told us that the happy hour was still going and we could have that at the table. Nice!
Dinner time! I had a glass of cava to start and to finish our appetizers off with. I like the wine menu being so expansive and with at least a few bubbly’s that you can order by the glass, since I am selfishly, a bubbly girl but can not do a whole bottle by myself. (Okay. I can. But I should not).The waiter was on point and made suggestions to us based on our tastes and his own personal favorites and the ‘why’ he liked them, as well. It was hard to decide. I would not say that this menu, being Italian, is what I would call, ‘Old School Italian’, such as lasagna or alfredo sauced fettuccines, which are not on this menu, but I liked it! The menu does not overwhelm you with choices. There is a fish of the day and a beef. Both sound amazing! Maybe next time! I came for pasta! I had the Squid Ink Chittara. The squid ink may throw some off but let me say this, its mainly for aesthetic purpose. In other words, you do not taste squid. This dish was something so different for me but considering myself a ‘foodie’, I had to try it! Long, thin dark purple squid ink noodles are tossed with a uni butter and chile for a little spicy kick, then topped with lumps of white crab, a little scallion and a little breadcrumb and a few sautéed cherry plum tomatoes. It was a perfect portion for me. My one small complaint, I would have liked to have seen more lump crab. It was a small, small portion and I would be willing to pay more to see even ¼ cup of it. I know its a rough season for crab in California, so maybe that is it. No matter. I loved this dish! Its different and today i wanted more, but I had no leftovers! My husbands dish was the Pappardelle
that had a red ragu sauce with lots of beef, veal and pork, just like a good ragu sauce should have. I loved his too! One nice touch would be for the waiter to bring fresh parmesan and have large spoons served with the bowls of pasta for twisting the pasta. You can get bread to go with all this pasta too, on the menu as Noble Bread Service. NOT that we needed any more yummy-​ness!
Dessert! My husband can not seem to try a new restaurant with out sharing a dessert. EVO has an amazing ‘hard to choose just one’, dessert menu! He ordered the Warm Butter Cake. I am not sure if that is the correct name, but the long and short of it is that it is a ample serving of a warm, dense butter cake served atop a crème anglaise and topped with whipped cream. It’s warm, rich, sinful and heavenly all at once. Today we are officially juicing after this amazing meal at EVO.
I am glad we had a reason to come back for dinner. I love the area of town that EVO is in, as it is a good starting point for a weekend night in Old Town and even a good ending point with its great bar and drinks. I am officially a fan!

Recently had the chance to grab brunch at EVO with my wife. Well — when we had brunch she was my fiancé, now she’s my wife. EVO was THAT GREAT! OK, well, even if it wasn’t EVO that did the trick, it was none the less awesome food.
I had the Pork Belly Quiche, and it was delicious. Even with pork belly, I feel like it was a relatively healthy dish. If you like quiche and you like bacon, you absolutely cannot go wrong with this. My wife had the Mascarpone Waffles and they, too, were delectable. She reported that they were so good they didn’t need syrup. When’s the last time you had a waffle that good? It was quite difficult to actually make decisions on the brunch menu — everything sounded appealing. It would have been great to have tried it all, but we’ll just have more to be excited about when we return for future brunches. Presentation was nice on all counts as well — great food with a great look!
Do you like mimosas with your brunch? They do a great job of that. I happen to have a Bloody Mary obsession, however, so was very happy to find that EVO has a little bloody mary bar set up. They’ll bring you a generous pour of your choice of vodkas then you saunter over and load up on all the goodies you want including their house made bloody mix (yum!) various spices, sauces and garnishes, including the beloved bacon garnish. Just as nice for those who like a good bloody mary but aren’t interested in the whole DIY thing — the server will make your drink for you if you like. Just say so. Of course they do have a full bar so your options aren’t just limited to mimosas and bloodies.
Finally, loved the décor. Warm, inviting, upscale, yet laid back spot in a great location. Walking distance to a lot of other retail and entertainment. Talked with one of the gracious owners while there as well and learned that as of the time of our meal, this was a brand new brunch menu. Cheers to keeping it fresh!
Very much looking forward to doing brunch at EVO again and I have a feeling it will be like a gateway drug, with dinner being the eventual next step. If the dinner menu is as creative and tasty as the brunch menu, EVO is an all around winner!

My husband Matt B. and I took a weekend trip to Phoenix, and decided we wanted some nice Italian food for our Saturday dinner. We found Evo on Unilocal and managed a same-​day 7:00 reservation. We were a little worried because there was a check-​in special for a $ 0.01 fireball shot, but this proved to be at least somewhat incongruous with the restaurant.
The place was pretty classy, with nice décor, date-​night lighting, and a decent crowd. We were seated near a bachelorette party, but it seemed like their first stop of the night. Our waiter was very friendly and earnest. He had the menu down pat and when I asked for recommendations, he gave detailed answers. I didn’t need him to explain what squid ink pasta was, but I found his enthusiasm charming. Also, half an hour into our meal, I heard the man at the table next to us ask what kale was, and our waiter was ready.
We passed on the fireball shots (we’d actually had fireballs at a different kind of bar a few weeks earlier, and things ended poorly) and opted for a bottle of Nero d’Avola, which was good and decently priced. It went well with our meal.
We started with the charred octopus and the charcuterie board, and both were pretty great. The octopus was tender with a savory char, and it came with romesco and crispy pimento potatoes, which were lovely. The charcuterie board was definitely the centerpiece of our meal, a walloping board loaded with meat, cheese, bread, pickles, and other accompaniments. There was blackberry terrine, spicy salami, and mortadella; drunken goat cheese, Celtic cheddar, triple-​crème brie, and manchego; golden raisin, fig jam, pickled okra; and on top of it all, a big split bone brimming with marrow. It was a bountiful feast, and everything on the platter was solidly tasty.
Pasta was almost overkill (in fact, our server warned us we might be getting too much food), but we went for it – we came to Evo craving pasta in the first place. Unfortunately, this course was a step down from the appetizers. I got the squid ink chittara, which sounded right up my alley – thin-​cut pasta with lump crab, scallion, uni butter, Calabrian chile, and toasted breadcrumbs. None of these ingredients really stood out to me. The flavors were muted, and worse, the pasta clumped, making for gluey morsels. Matt’s pappardelle was better, if not memorable, a basic plate of thick pasta with grana padano, tomato, basil, herbs, and a veal, pork, and beef ragu.
We passed on dessert and left quite full, more or less satisfied despite mediocre pastas. We enjoyed our dinner at Evo. The service and atmosphere were pleasant, and I’d recommend the place for a hearty meal centered around charcuterie and wine.

Finally had dinner here! I would have loved to give this place a 5 star review, but the evening we arrived the restaurants kitchen was not performing at it’s standards and we waited longer than normal for the last ordered dining dishes to arrive. Hope they fixed that.
The food: I have nothing but great things to say about the food though. Wow everything we ordered was delicious! I’m not kidding, everything!
Started with the Crispy Pork Belly. The chef here prides his pork and it showed with this dish. Then cam the Foccacia Deruvo. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. If you’re lucky enough to try it because they do have limited availability of this dish. Made with mascarpone, creneza, sea salt & local honey. Yom yom yom yom. Finished it up with a prosciutto pizza! Dine here and experience the food.

Recommended: went to Evo for the Unilocal Elite event. I was impressed with the décor and the staff. We grabbed an open table adjacent to the open kitchen and were welcomed by a couple of friendly people. Next, our server stopped by to take our drink orders and to get us situated. Some of the guests around us were complaining about anything and everything. The Bloody Mary bar was a little sparse with its offerings so we went to the bartender to doctor up our drinks. Jake the bartender has a crazy cool mustache and some of the brightest inked tats you’ve ever seen. He’s a fun guy with a ton of personality. Our waiter was awesome too! All in all we had a good time and the food/​drinks were spot on!
Some of the others at this Unilocal Elite event were being super critical about everything. Turns out they were understaffed, however, we never felt it…
We ended up both ordering the pork belly quiche and it was really tasty. The portion was a little on the small side but each bite was better than the previous. I could have polished off the entire quiche, truth be told.
We later found out that the entire brunch menu was brand new and we were the first patrons to taste the new offerings. I think that was totally ballsy and I’ve got mad respect for the chef! I cannot wait to go back!
The bottomless mimosas were a hit and luckily we took Über both ways to and fro! We could not find the end of the mimosas no matter how hard we tried.
The location is solid and it’s nicely tucked away from all the old town craziness but still right in the heart of the mix.
We will return! That’s a great sign!

Yum on the food. Kind of weird on the service.
My husband and I are like old people. Actually, in Unilocal circles, we probably ARE old people. We usually eat dinner out pretty early (to avoid crowds), and this was no exception. We came in around 4 to an empty restaurant. There was an open booth in the bar we wanted, but the hostess did not want to relinquish due to a 5:30 reservation? We were out before it was ever occupied. So we agreed to a table in the restaurant, but she had to check, double-​check, and triple-​check the reservations? Maybe 2 parties came in before we left. I didn’t get it, but anyway…
We ordered spiced olives at only $ 3 on happy hour menu. I didn’t detect any spice, but holy moly, it was like they dumped an entire jar in that bowl! Spice or no spice, I love olives! We ordered the cheese board from the happy hour menu as well. Not overly inspiring, but hey, it’s cheese and bread. Can’t go wrong there. Oddly, when our server presented it, he didn’t know whether the jam was tomato or bacon? Shouldn’t he know? It was bacon!
We also split the daily pizza which was a variety of cheeses and delicious, and a pasta dish (the name escapes me), but it was basically hand made pasta in a butter sauce. So much sauce that I longed for more pasta or bread to soak it up. Cheese, pasta, and butter. The three staples in my diet… which explains a lot. Easy 4 stars!

We went to EVO after reading all of the great reviews for fresh pasta. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it past appetizers. We went during prime time on a Saturday night and the restaurant was empty. This spooked us a bit, but we decided to give it a go.
We sat down and ordered some wine and the meat & cheese board to start with. The red wine came to the table very cold, which is gross for red wine. We looked past that and waited for our board. However, when it arrived we didn’t like any of the meats in it. They ranged from salty to irony tasting. The cheeses were a little better, but nothing compared to many other nearby places. It was extremely disappointing.
Ultimately, we ended up leaving to go elsewhere for our main course and won’t be going back.