House of Tricks

I love their PB&J (pistachio butter, balsamic, and strawberry). Parking can be a little rough.

Great place! A lot of outdoor seating.

I came here with a friend for lunch. Let me tell you the hardest thing about this place is finding a parking spot. Granted I had not been to the downtown Area for quite awhile. so I was a little unaware of the parking situation.
But, now I know so I say go early so you can find a good spot. You have to pay for parking but, even then it is packed. Not just for the restaurant. But, for all the other things going on there, such as the University.
The Restaurant its self is lovely. An old house that is very charming. I have been here before so I want to say it is about 23 or 24 years at this location.
The menu was magnificent. Lots to choose from.
I got the steak salad and my friend and I shared a wonderful chocolate cake with ice cream dessert.
We sat outside and it was a beautiful day. I was glad we got there some what early because, we got a very nice table. It filled up very quickly after 12 noon.
rest room is clean, and it is so much like being in someones home!

I love this place for an intimate meal with someone special. The ambiance is intoxicating. The service leaves little to be desired. The food exceeds expectations. If you are out to splurge on an exquisite dining experience in a unique setting House of Tricks should be your go to.

Lovely outdoor seating complete with heaters. Romantic and relaxed. The lamb is amazing.

Here I go writing ANOTHER five star review.
What can I say, other than I try to spend as much of my time as I can hanging out at great places.
So, now on to House of Tricks…
I was originally turned on to House of Tricks by my father years ago, who is a true gourmand. He is always excited to show me a restaurant with an inventive menu which successfully combines foods that aren’t traditionally known to go together, especially one full of fresh, delicate sauces. Over the years, House of Tricks has become one of our regular hangouts, and I always have had perfect dining experiences.
A brief history…
Robin and Robert Trick met when they worked together at a Phoenix restaurant, called The Bandersnatch, where she was the manager and he was the chef. They decided to go out on their own and bought an old run down 1920’s cottage that was a blue-​print shop on 7^th Street, just a couple blocks East of Mill Avenue. They opened House of Tricks in 1987. In 1994, they added and remodeled the historic adobe structure next door, more than doubling their space.
House of Tricks is now an oasis in the middle of Tempe, with a wooden deck, outdoor bar and patio, with loads of potted plants and flowers, mainly cared for each morning by Robert’s mom, Mary Trick.
The menu…
The contemporary American menu is created by the staff and chefs, Scott Umscheid and Andrea Bales. The menus are seasonally inspired and changed regularly. Lunch, happy hour and dinner are served Monday through Saturday from 11am — 10am, and they are closed on Sunday.
Examples of the menu include these current appetizers:
~Artisan Cheese Plate with Seasonal Fruit (see pic)
~House Smoked Salmon with Lemon Crema, Red Onion, Avocado and Capers
~Green Chili Chorizo Oysters with Sweet Corn Buerre Blanc and Tart Honey Glaze
~Seared Diver Scallops with Cauliflower Purée, Sautéed Baby Carrots, and Root Beer Gastrique
~House Made Squid Ink Pasta with Whole Tiger Shrimp, Calamari, Grilled Mexican Sweet Corn and Jalapeño Tomato Fish Fumet
~Smoked Texas Wild Boar with Lime Whole Grain Mustard Barbecue Sauce, Bourbon Glazed Sweet Potatoes, Flour Tortillas and Anaheim Chili Slaw
~Seared Free Range Pork Belly Confit with Black Bean Chilequile, Roasted Jalapeño Emulsion, and Corn Honey
~Harissa Spiced Mussels with Charred Tomato, Chorizo, and Creamy Sweet Cilantro Vinagrette
~Seared Jalapeño Goat Cheese Grits with Mixed Mushroom Confit, Fresh Seasonal Vegetables and Watercress Pistou
~Foie Gras and Anise Cinnamon Sopapilla with Vanilla Mango Broth, Pomegranate and Lime Crema
~Smoked Korean Style Baby Back Ribs with Spicy Red Chili Paste and Barley Pickled Cucumber Salad
~Ahi Tuna Tartare with Balsamic Glazed Asian Pears, Toasted Almonds, Horse Radish and Grilled Baguette
The entrees are equally spectacular, most with amazing sauces and all equally creative and delicious.
There are also soups, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. Needless to say, they are all equally impressive. Please check their website:
to see the full menu.
Drinks include a bar and extensive wine list.
House of Tricks has been named «One of the Top 5 Wine Bars in the Valley» and Wine Spectator «Award of Excellence» for the past 2 years, so you can be confident you will be pleased with any selection.
House of Tricks has won Trip Advisor’s Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame, is Arizona Republic food critic Howard Seftel’s Top 5 Restaurants in East Valley, have won countless other awards and are featured in numerous publications.
Of Note…
Over the years, the Tricks have acquired an impressive art collection that is displayed for guests to view throughout the compound.
Parking is metered out front or in the nearby underground parking.
For more information:
I ⁵⁄₅ highly recommended House of Tricks!

I stopped here for lunch. I had the cheese board which was huge and very good, the south west clam chowder which was loaded with clams and amazing all around, and for my main entrée I had the frittata of the day which was the best I have ever had. Service was pretty good, but defiantly worth a stop!

HOT hosts out Christmas party every year. Usually for 25 – 35 people. They just nail it every year. The food is fantastic and the service is great. They are willing to do whatever it takes to make our experience a great one.
You will not be disappointed!

Mussels with chorizo. Sauce is amazing. Bread is amazing (ask for extra). Just do it!

The best thing about this place is the atmosphere. What a wonderful dining experience especially for a special occasion. I was sending a friend off so it was a perfect place for a goodbye. The service was excellent.

Love the setting for House of Tricks, and I like the food too! I’ve only been at lunch time and service has been quick and effective. The menu has a nice variety of vegetarian options, and their daily specials sometimes include something vegetarian too. The only dish I’ve had that was on the disappointing side was the black bean burger, which was just too dry.

Food: 3+. My wife had the fish entrée special. Ono. I didn’t try it, but she wasn’t a fan of the Ono. We had the scallops… which were good (not great)…at least for scallops in Arizona. I had the rack of lamb, and it was good. Portion sizes aren’t huge. Oh we also had a flourless chocolate brownie sundae. It was dry, and they forgot to bring the ice cream which is a key ingredient to most sundaes (until we inquired).
Service 2. Aweful. The only positive thing I have to say is the server was polite and knows the menu/​food. The execution was shameful. My wife and I ordered drinks, one app. and two entrees. The entrees were served promptly. Great… right? Not when the cocktail and appetizer haven’t even been served yet. The server offered to keep them in the back until we had our appetizer that they forgot to serve. Uh… no thanks. Our appetizer shows up 2 min after our entrees are served and my drink follows. The server barely apologized.
We ate the food, and then waited about 20 min for the server to come back to offer dessert. She finally came back, and we ordered this flourless sundae thing. It came without the ice cream.
After that whole blunder, she offered to take the crappy $ 7 dessert off of the bill. Um… what about the $ 15 appetizer or even the cocktail that came after the entrees?
Atmosphere: Nice… minus the cat that was walking around the restaurant.

It has been some time since my last visit to HoT. I recall it being very good and I had even recommended it to others. Not so much anymore.
The food quality was very average. I had the foie gras starter. This was so disappointing — it was not a nice piece of fg, it was drowning in an odd sauce and the bread was hard and just not good.
For main course I tried the osso buco, while not bad it was definitely nothing to write home about.
The worst part for me was the service. The server was unfriendly, cort and seemed to want to rush us away. At one point I snapped at him because I had enough.
I don’t think I’ll ever return now. Kinda sad it was so bad.

Going for restaurant week and we sat on the patio. The service was excellent!
Highlights for me:
Duck Panzanella, tasty modern tacquitos, super crispy with cauliflowers, crème brûlée was fantastic with thinly sliced peaches as well. Ordered a bottle of red to share with the 4 of us and the server had a cool little fact about the Sean Minor wine.
Friends enjoyed the short rib app, the pork dumpling. For dessert we had amaretto as well.
The only lowlight was the chocolate cake. My guy took a few bites and gave up. The server was very kind as to offer him the crème brûlée which was so much better. It was a lovely evening and everyone enjoyed themselves. We love House of Tricks.

A lovely oasis for lunch. Enjoyed sitting under the shade trees watching a hummingbird sip from the little fountain while we savored our creamy pasta & pork pastrami sandwich. The pasta was great with spinach & blistered tomatoes in a creamy pepper (chipotle??) sauce. Nicely spiced creamy sauce with tasty pieces of roasted tomatoes and spinach. Really delicious and satisfying. The pork pastrami sandwich was pretty to look at & delicious too. Our reservations about ordering pork pastrami were unfounded– sandwich was delicious– moist & stacked high with thinly sliced pork that held all the pastrami punch! The creamy white sauce drizzled over meat was incredible. Service was efficient & elegant without being stuffy.

Came here for restaurant week last Friday. I love the atmosphere and the area the restaurant is in. We had a reservation and were seated promptly. The service was so-​so. It took awhile to get in a drink order or for a glass of water or even a refill on the water. When I feel pressure to have to put in another drink order when I finally get my first drink order because I don’t know when she’ll come back, kind of suggests to me that the service has room to improve.
The food has a great presentation. It started with this duck appetizer which I loved. The main course, however, was salty to me. I ordered the shrimp. I asked the people in my party how their food was, and they all said theirs was very salty as well, even the vegetarian entrée.
So I feel this place had some hits and misses. I would recommend ordering from the regular menu and not so much from the restaurant week menu.

Server was attentive but not overbearing.
The soup was outstanding while the Short Rib was a little too fatty for my tastes in places and the beans were simply decent. I don’t want to sound like I’m nitpicking though — the food on the whole was quite good.
The brownie desert was a rich melt in your mouth masterpiece although I did go home and eat some leftover pizza after because I was still hungry.
On the whole I had a perfectly fine dinner I just left feeling very blasé about the whole experience. There was no «wow» factor and with those prices I can’t justify more than a slightly above average 3.5 star review.

After having walked by House of Tricks many times & seeing how busy it was, I was excited to take up the opportunity to go for lunch here with some friends. We had gone on a Saturday afternoon which wasn’t too busy and they had conveniently seat us under two large umbrellas. They have a lovely patio area & with the perfect weather, we all really enjoyed the ambiance.
There were a variety of dishes ordered at our table. The salmon with lettuce, the smoked pulled chicken sandwich, the frittata of the day, & the vegetarian sandwich. Everyone really enjoyed their food — the portions were big & the everyone agreed everything was really tasty. I was one who ordered the smoked pulled chicken sandwich. It was much different than any other BBQ chicken sandwich I’ve had — it tasted good with the slaw, and the fried pickles added a unique flavor and crunch. I thought the highlight of the dish was the potato salad, however. The bacon added a special something but wasn’t overpowering. I’d definitely recommend trying it out!
I will say that House of Tricks is a bit expensive for lunch time but it’s a nice treat. I’ve heard great things about their dinner so I’m planning on returning for a date night!

Legit — mostly due to the atmosphere and excellent food. I’ve been meaning to check this place out for quite a while — just needed a good excuse to celebrate. The only time I cannot fathom loving this place is when it’s too warm to enjoy the patio. There’s even a mascot! We were visited by the official cat of the House Of Tricks and even though I’m not a big cat guy, this one was really sweet.
The cocktails were delicious and everything we ordered was really tasty. The service was superiors and I only hesitate to give five stars due to price — this was not a cheap meal. I think between the four of us it came to about $ 350. Granted, we didn’t hold back, and we were celebrating, but that’s still rather steep.
It’s tough to say whether or not I’ll be back, but I won’t say no if the group decides to do so.

Fine dining, neighborhood feel, and tree canopied outdoor seating. This is a special place, but don’t wait for a special occasion.
Just steps from ASU we had lunch outside on the garden patio. Evan and the service team was great and the food was surprisingly affordable. We didn’t take advantage of the full bar or the huge wine list, but I have been here before and the outdoor bar is worth experiencing on a cool evening.
The food:
This is not your typical artichoke dip. It has a great blend of spinach and green chili that make the smooth cheesy artichoke dip amazing with the fresh toasted baguette. Best dip I can think of!
Garlicky smoked salmon Caesar salad: (Say that three times fast). I like punchy Caesar dressing and this was no disappointment. Between the capers and the garlic this salad is not for the faint of heart. I was surprised when I bit into the cold smoked salmon. The serving was so large I was expecting it to be a piece of grilled salmon. This salad as big and delicious.
Pulled chicken sandwich: My son said it compared favorably to any pulled pork sandwich he had ever eaten, and I have dragged him to tons of BBQ spots. There was a big portion of smoked BBQ chicken on top of fried pickles. The buttermilk bun was obviously fresh. I am going to try it the next time I come.
I am giving the potato salad its own line even though it was a side for the pulled chicken sandwich. The potato salad has a noticeable vinegar taste that balances the starch of the potato and the bacon crumbles put it over the top.
Tempura shrimp and vegetables: Eight beautifully fried shrimp, pickled shitake mushrooms on a spring greens salad. I had to pass on the shellfish, but my wife enjoyed it and everyone agreed their meals were top notch.
One small disappointment was the lemonade, this place is too nice to serve soda machine lemonade. Oh well when life serves you generic lemonade drink margaritas!
Midrange fine dining and a unique downtown experience: Five stars!