Girls trip to Scottsdale, Arizona

There is no better time than the present to write about our amazing weekend in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s pretty special to get to spend the whole weekend with my mom and 3 sisters. Usually we are surrounded by a bunch of kids (which we all love) so it was pretty unique to get such good quality time doing everything we loved at whatever pace we felt like. We spent 3 nights together eating, chatting, and enjoying the sunshine and I want to share all our favorites with you. Think of this as a quick guide if you’re looking for a great weekend with amazing food in Scottsdale.

Let’s start with accommodations. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch. I highly recommend it for an adults getaway or a family vacation. It was calm and relaxing, the grounds were beautiful and so thoughtfully designed. There was an adults only pool if you want quiet and serene, or lots (and I mean lots) of pools to spend time at with kids. They even have the coolest sand area that is a zero entry style pool right by the big waterslide!

Let’s get to food because we ate some great food! We arrived in Phoenix before lunch on Friday and drove straight to Zinburger to meet my cousin and her cute daughter for lunch. We ate at the Gilbert location which was a fun downtown with cute shops and food. This is a great spot, highly recommend. We loved everything we all got. Pictured is the West Coast Fried Chicken Sandwich and the Chinese Chicken Salad.

We shopped and walked all around our resort for the afternoon, then got all dressed up for a fancy dinner at Francine. We did a lot of research before the trip, and our go-to for food recommendations was Female Foodie. If you have never seen her content, she has food guides for all over the world, and I think they are always spot on. Francine is definitely a splurge if you are looking for that, it was a treat for us all to go somewhere with such unique and wonderful food. Our favorites for appetizers were the Whole Cauliflower and the Chopped Salad. We all LOVED our meals but we give a special shout-out to the Patagonian Sea Bass and the Sweet Potato and Ricotta Tortellini.

If we all had to pick a group favorite for the best meal of the weekend, it was pretty unanimous on OEB Breakfast Co. The restaurant itself had a really cool, eclectic vibe. Make reservations ahead if you go, but if not, it’s worth the wait. We ordered 6 meals to share between the 5 of us, and that was hard just picking 6. This was also a recommendation from Brooke at Female Foodie. We got the Holy Crab, Chilaquiles, Nutella French Toast, Avocado Hummus Toast, and Do Not Even Go There (crepes). There was nothing we did not like.

Since we didn’t eat breakfast until almost noon, we reluctantly decided to skip lunch and just make it a 2 meal day. We shopped and walked around Old Town Scottsdale first. It had a fun western vibe and we happened to land there during their Parada del Sol Festival so the streets were packed. We did manage to fit in dessert, because there’s always room for dessert right? We went to Sugar Bowl and indulged. It’s a retro style diner with lots of Sundaes, Malts, and Milkshakes. They offer food too, but they are known for their desserts. It was good, not great, but we all loved our treats.

We found our dinner spot, Il Bosco, through a blog of the Top 5 Pizza Spots in Scottsdale. It wasn’t fancy or trendy inside where we sat, although the outside was cute with its hanging lights and fire areas. But the appetizers we got and the pizzas we shared were amazing. We highly recommend this spot. We also met the owner, Jeff, and he was the nicest guy, thanked us multiple times for dining at his little pizza restaurant. When you go, get these pizzas: Biagga, Valentina, and Franca. We are already talking about how we can recreate at home the appetizers we got: Trio of Bruschetta and the Salsa di Parmigiano.

If you saw my stories, you saw that we didn’t love our breakfast place on Sunday. So I’m not going to share it, and we’ll just say “we ate breakfast on Sunday”, haha. If you are into hiking, walking, or looking at nature, check out this hike we went on. It’s called Gateway Trailhead and there were tons of loops depending on how much you want to do or how long you want to hike for. It was fun to see new landscape for us.

Did we have dessert again? Yes we did. Because when you do any form of exercise, that means you should get some dessert. We went to Sweet Republic and it was perfect. Nothing particularly special about it, but we all loved what we got, it was great ice cream. Griffy got to lick my spoon and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We spent the afternoon by the pool, then for dinner hit up another Female Foodie recommendation. We loved everything about Alma. It was modern mexican, the restaurant decor was really cool, and the food matched. We stuffed ourselves with appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Our favorites were the Shrimp Ceviche, Birria Consomme tacos, and Soft Shell Crab Tostadas. For dessert we loved the Banana Nachos, Apple Enchiladas and Cinnamon Donas.

Our last breakfast of the trip was a suggestion from a number of you all. A bunch of you said to check out Butters, so we decided to check out of our resort early so we could eat there before we headed to the airport. There was nothing extra special, but it was a good hearty breakfast stop with big portions. We kept saying it’s like the modern Denny’s, but a way better menu. The kind of place you never have to wonder if they are going to refill your coffee.

I hope you enjoy this Scottsdale area guide, please let me know if you try any of these spots. I’d love to hear what you think. Also share what you ordered of course, because that kind of feedback is what I’m here for!

We had a great girls trip, and beyond the food, I would recommend like one of you told me – “take the trip”. We never know where life is going to take us, so take the trip. Time with the ones you love the most is never a bad idea.

xo, Sarah