Fuego Bistro

Unilocal has yet to failed me. Went on a trip to Phoenix and had to hit up as many food joints mentioned on trip advisor. Rated as number three and close to our hotel this was our first stop. And boy did every restaurant afterwards have tough competition.
Not only was their food amazing their outdoor seating has heating lamps. Allowing you to enjoy the great outdoors Arizona has to offer. Being from Chicago we only get three solid months to enjoy outdoor seating. Needless to say I try and pick outdoor seating options as much as possible when I travel.
My food was Delicious and fresh! Which is winning overall for me. The only complaint I had was service. Our waiter was a tad bit rude and rarely came to our table. But it didn’t matter because there was busboy that was very accommodating.
So if you’re in the area defiantly make your way here! Now enough with words.

Found a new spot in Phoenix and loved it. Won Best Hidden Restaurant and I can see why. Great ambience, great food, great service, great music. What more do you need? Check ‘em out!

Great happy hour for both food and wine! There is live music nightly and both inside and patio have a nice atmosphere. Excited to come back for dinner soon!

Another incredible fisrt time dinning experience, thanks to Groupon. The restaurant itself is set back away from the street away from the noise. We were warmly greeted by the bartender as we walked inside, of this quaint little hidden romantic spot. Service was top notch, especially our waiter Jesus Ruiz!

I ordered empanadas and veggie tostadas… very filling and delicious. Only me and service was slow.

Had a wonderful birthday celebration at Fuego Bistro. Service was wonderful and the food was magnificent. Had the Chili relleno and was the best I ever had. There were 15 of us and all the food on the happy hour menu was perfect. The margaritas, sangria and other signature drinks were very good

Love love love this place. Spacious and attractive. Lovely patio with portable heaters. The social menu us the best. I recommend the Chile rellenos. I also had a salad with everything but the kitchen sink. Social hour also means that the drinks are on hella special.
Gracious staff. Speedy.
Sometimes they have entertainment. They offer many social media discounts. Check it out.

Made my second visit to Fuego last night. Went with very high expectations after the great evening we had last time. The food is still amazing. Had the house special pasta dish the cornbread appetizer which is a meal unto itself and the New York strip which was the evening special. All of the food was terrific! Really look forward to our next visit for the food and cocktails, BUT, the young lady who was our wait person was incredibly slow and in-​attentive. Something I don’t appreciate when paying for a fine meal. Here is hoping management can fix this issue. I would also suggest selecting a musician who does not have a tin ear for the entertainment. We do look forward to visiting again!

I had the Grilled Ahi. It was delicious. I will come back just so I can have that dish again. Now for the service… My waitress (she had red hair) was on the ditzy side. She did very well in the beginning, checking on us, willing to answer any questions. Once our entrees came, she was no where in sight. She would spend 10 min gossiping with other customers making her rounds. We never saw her. A few times we watched as she almost dropped dishes carrying them out to other customers, she did it twice. Although there was a tall white guy, kind of nerdy. He was the buser/​host. He was amazing! Always filled our drinks, took our empty dishes and glasses. He made up for our horrible waitress. He deserved our waitress’s tip and then some. Other than that, I have no complaints.

Restaurant Week, 2015, Fuego Bistro strenuously solicited entering patrons to participate in its 3-​course, prix fixe dinner with a glass of sangria, for $ 33.
My party all ordered the «seasonal,» blackberry sangria. It was watered-​down, containing little alcohol, a single, unripe blackberry, and no complexity of flavor.
The first course arrived, served family-​style, and consisting of two empanadas, a salad topped with fried tortilla strips, a single salmon croquette, a single Cuban slider, and two vegetarian tostadas. Before I get to quality, let’s address quantity. So the server could hear, I rhetorically asked whether a single diner would get half an empanada and a third of a Cuban. No, no, that diner would get a whole of each. But a party of 3, paying 3 times as much for occupying a single table, gets less… The empanada crust was reminiscent of pop tart crust, that is, flavorless. It was perfectly fried, but was a source of no other satisfaction. The filling was simply unadorned, seasoned, ground beef, and topped with a sweetened pico de gallo. The salad was exactly like the Southwest version at McDonald’s, only the latter’s packet of dressing is better-​tasting. The salmon croquette, with «wild» salmon, was either overcooked, causing resemblance to the farm-​raised variety, or it was, in fact, the caged variety. Overcooked salmon is like cat food. This croquette had no crust, and had yet another, cloyingly sweet, but one-​dimensional sauce on top. The Cuban slider was delicious. It had whole-​grain mustard, the pork was quite flavorful, and the bread was pleasantly unique to the classic, flat and crisp approach. The tostada had some good texture, another sweet sauce accompanied, but added nothing. The first course should have been a pile of Cuban sandwiches.
The second course arrived in a sizeable mound, on a giant platter. There were corn-​based dishes-​a-​plenty. There were corn tortillas, chile-​infused cornbread casserole, corn tortilla-​crusted tilapia, jalapeño creamed corn, penne rigate with chicken, green beans sautéed with sliced almonds, and cheddar mashed potatoes. Oh, where to begin? Described as a «Latin feast,» the pasta was Italian, tilapia is a fresh water fish from Africa, green beans cooked in the style of France or central Kansas, and mashed potatoes also from Kansas, blended with a cheese from England. What the hell were those food items doing on this platter? They were cheap ingredients. That’s the reason. They could be scooped out of the troughs in the back, precooked, then kept warm, and served overcooked and cafeteria style. The green beans had the yellow tinge, characteristic of canned green beans. It’s not that they came from a can. It’s that they were cooked to death. The pasta was sickening… so overcooked that the noodles would fall apart on the fork. There was shredded pork, touted to have been cooked for 24 hours. WHY?! It was not smoked, so there is absolutely no reason to braise pork for that long. Even if they cooked it sous vide, in an immersion circulator set at 145 degrees, it would not have taken 24 hours to cook. The cornbread casserole had wonderful flavor, but since it was cooked en-​masse, it was desert-​dry. The mashed potatoes were orange, but contained no cheddar flavor, and the chipotle chiles (smoked jalapenos, in adobo sauce) provided no heat. Last, and definitely least, the tilapia likely sat next to hundreds of its brethren, in stick form, and the breading quickly became soggy and peeled away from the meat. This all took place before it was served, so the solution was to cover up the mistake with a sauce. Without exaggerating, tilapia is the worst fish I have ever eaten. It’s a fresh water, lake fish, which is, in and of itself, unappetizing. It carries a foul flavor that Fuego Bistro was able to preserve. High-​end restaurants do not serve tilapia period. Phoenix currently stocks its canals with tilapia to curb algae growth.
For dessert, there were three dishes: an ancho chile, chocolate tort, a chocolate chip bread pudding, and chocolate, malted «crunch» ice cream. The tort was actually a brownie, so just call it a brownie. The bread pudding was so tough and so dry, it required too much saliva to reconstitute it to maybe draw out some flavor. The ice cream, by comparison, was pretty good, except they texturized it with something that was once crunchy, but quickly became water-​logged. They could have used Clark Griswold’s, «non-​nutritive cereal varnish, ‘crunch enhancer.’»
My first visit to Fuego was incredibly satisfying. We had better cared for empanadas, a lobster chile relleno, and a pork enchilada with the best mole sauce I have ever tasted. Fuego Bistro’s quality, has since, gone up in flames. Maybe we ordered the wrong things… No! Ignoring that the platters were a sampling of several menu items, it’s the restaurant’s fault if the patron has a bad meal. It was wrong to serve this swill, to charge that much for it, and straight-​faced, stand by it.

We stopped by to try this place out after seeing lots of positive reviews here and it was a great place! I wish I would have taken more pictures, but we were trying to eat and get to the event on time. They have a great outdoor seating area and the inside is much smaller. I would highly recommend coming here when the weather is cooler out. The food is pricy, but the portion is huge. So you have to factor that in. We happened to stop in during restaurant week, and we barely got through the 1^st course and we were full! Everything is good. The only thing that we were not a big fan on is the Salmon Croquette appetizer. Otherwise… Everything is very flavorful and full of spices! I am excited to come back! The Pernil Asado was my favorite!

Back a 2^nd time, no way it could be as good as the first, right? Omg was I wrong. Seafood relleno is off th charts. This IS the best restaurant anywhere in Phx metro. If you’ve not been here and you’re considering, go! Go! Go! Go! You will absolutely, 100%, guaranteeeeeeeddd, have the best food you’ve ever eaten.

Adam Simons plays guitar on Tuesday night so the ambiance is awesome. Best corn bread I’ve ever had its like a bread pudding. Stuffed Pork and Ahi Shrimp kebabs were both unique flavored. Empanadas were also a delicious appetizer. It was well worth the 30 minute drive to get here from Scottsdale.
The only regret was that we were both too full to order desert. Ps this review is stone cold sober but it looked like they had many amazing drinks if that’s your thing.

On a trip from Los Angeles and our UBER driver convinced us to give this place a try. How LUCKY were we!
The Chili Rellenos were fantastic! Side of wonderful cornbread, awesome! Appetizer was the Salmon Croquettes! Wonderful! Definitely a hidden gem and you won’t be disappointed if you give it a shot. The Mojito was the best I’ve ever had and «Not your Mothers Margarita» can’t be topped. Finest crafted cocktails I have ever had.

Love Fuego Bistro — especially their Chile Rellenos. Come at night for live music or during lunch for the best prices. Either way you’re a winner!
Helpful note: the Chile Rellenos at dinner are made with scallops, shrimp and Mahi Mahi and have a great cheese sauce. Lunch are chicken and spinach with jack cheese and a red mole sauce.
Great flavored without too much heat. Quickly becoming one of our favorite casual Phoenix restaurants.

Fuego Bistro is a five-​star experience all the way. Yes it is a touch on the pricey side but everything is excellent. The patio is gorgeous (though maybe not the best summer bet) and the inside has a great décor. All the food and drinks are fantanstic — I haven’t found an item yet that isn’t outstanding. Yeah the parking situation could be a little better but, really, I have nothing bad to say about the place. FB is an uptown gem and I’m so glad to have it in my pocket for when visitors who «know the Valley» show up and think they’re going to get the same ol’ dining experience.
Mas kudos to Fuego Bistro. You are outstanding.

In order of our evening.
1. Good thing someone else drove, I would have never found it.
2. Called ahead for a table near the band, well that didn’t matter at all, but we got lucky.
3. The waiter was sort of a doofus, stumbled thru the specials and was not very engaging.
4. The drinks, while crafted beautifully, were $$, not really worth it in my opinion.
5. The food is generous, cooked perfect, tasted good, but not worth the $$.
6. The dessert was beautiful and $$ and not worth it.
7. The LIVING SOCIAL saved me $ 20 bucks (free drink and dessert)
8. The band was awesome
9. The space was perfect for an April evening, forget about July.
10. I would go back, with a LIVING SOCIAL type deal, order and split one meal, skip the drink and the dessert. I would be in and out of there full, happy and for about $ 30 buts before tip.
I had the Strip steak, mashed taters and casserole. The flavors are great.
Wife had the pasta with chicken and sausage. (EVEN BETTER LEFT OVER)
Drink was some foofoo tasting drink, good but small
Dessert was a malted sundae, I liked the candied pecans.
Band was a duo a girl singing and a guy on keyboard. She was amazing.

Went back on a ‘Living Social’ deal with some Friends.
Drinks — Still Fantastic
Food — ALL (Variety on the ‘deal’) GREAT!!!
What a great little eclectic place…

This place is a hidden gem! It is in a building with a dance studio and art gallery. Parking lot is pretty small, so you will probably need to find street parking when it gets busy.
The restaurant itself is all outdoors. I loved the musician playing for us! He played great songs and had a great voice!
We had quite a large party, so our server suggested we start off with appetizers. The restaurant chooses 3 appetizers for our table to share for $ 7 a person. The prawns were served on a plate with different sauces, the empanadas were also very good, and the nachos were good to share.
Their drink menu is quite lengthy. I decided to try to the popular Moscow Mule. It came in the traditional copper mug and was so good. The people are me also enjoyed their beverages as well.
The entrees come with sides of your choice. I ordered the ahi entrée with a side of jalepeno cream corn and green beans. The ahi was great– thick and tender! My favorite was the jalepeno cream corn. I like spicy food, so I enjoyed the nice kick to the dish. I tried another person’s cornbread. The description is a bit misleading. The cornbread is described as a casserole, so I thought it would come out with sauce poured over the top. However, it was just a regular cornbread with some extra flavors in the bread. It was quite tasty. I also heard great things about the cheddar mashed potatoes as well.

Food and service, 4 stars.
Location and prices, 3.
First, we had a hard time finding this place, it is definitely not what we were expecting.
Once you get there it is not as bad, but it is tiny and it feels kind of crowded.
The menu is very creative, but the dinner prices are a tad to high for a small place like this in this location. You can easily go over a hundred (including tip) for a dinner for 2 (no alcohol, yes to dessert)
We had the Fuego pasta and the Angus short ribs. The short ribs with a side of jalapeño cornbread (these guys bring cornbread to a whole new level) and chipotle mashed potatoes.
I thought they were really good, I was not so crazy about the pasta but my hubby liked it.
We shared a Kahula Crème Brulee $ 9 (Big typo in the menu, I believe it was Kahlua), it was so so, I did not love it. No Kahlua on my crème brûlée next time :)
Service was great. We may be back, if we are even in that neighborhood :)