Area Dining Suggestions

Restaurants noted with "*" are within the hotel shuttle’s range.

For complimentary shuttle service please make reservations through the hotel bell desk ext. 7050

WESTIN LA PALOMA RESORT

Azul Restaurant & Lounge

AZuL Restaurant offers an upscale, contemporary dining experience featuring Southwest infused cuisine. Breathtaking mountain views, and enticing menu options served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

CASUAL DINING – (Campbell Road) EAST END OF LA ENCANTADA MALL

*Firebird Grill – American

(520) 577-0747

Located in the upscale La Encantada Plaza, Firebird Grill offers an assortment of wood fired steaks, seafood and pastas in a mountain lodge atmosphere.

*North Italia – Northern Italian

(520) 299-1600

North offers a variety of contemporary northern Italian cuisine and an extensive wine list. Guests can enjoy panoramic Tucson city views, and a before or after dinner stroll through La Encantada, one of Tucson’s newest and upscale shopping plazas.

*Ra Sushi Bar Restaurant

(520) 615-3970

Ra Sushi has an upbeat, trendy and hip atmosphere offering sushi and tempurs located in one of Tucson’s hotest new shopping plaza’s, La Encantada.

*Blanco – Modern Mexican

(520) 232-1007

Modern Mexican menu featuring premier tequilas and a fabulous city and mountain views.  They also have really good chips and guacamole!  The indoors part of the restaurant tends to get really noisey, but the patio is pleasant, conducive to good conversation, and has a great city view.

*Frost Gelato

(520) 615-9490

2905 E Skyline (La Encandada)
Tucson, AZ 85718

Excellent gelato—AZSGC Manager's favorite!  It’s nearly health food!

NE OF CAMPBELL AND SUNRISE

*Vivace Restaurant

(520) 795-7221

6440 N Campbell Ave
Tucson, AZ 85718

One of Tucson’s finest Italian Restaurants (AZSGC Manager's favorite!)  Books-up some weeks in advance so reserve a table now!  Tell Daniel, the owner (he's a hugely talented chef and a real sweetheart), that we sent you!

E OF CAMPBELL & SUNRISE INTERSECTION ON N SIDE OF SUNRISE

*Acacia Real Food & Cocktail

(520) 232-0101

3001 E Skyline Dr
Tucson, AZ 85718

Features fresh, natural and local ingredients prepared by award winning chef in a restaurant with a comfortable setting and a great, panoramic city view.

SE CORNER OF CAMPBELL & SUNRISE

*Flemings Steak House

(520) 529-5017

6360 North Campbell Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85718

High quality steak house with a very good wine selection.  Above my paygrade!

*NOX

(520) 529-5849

6370 N Campbell
Tucson, AZ 85718

A cute little place relatively close by to La Paloma that bills itself as “taking everything and making it better”.  It is designed to be a cozy hideaway with intimate lighting, eclectic art, aged wood paneling, a cool and huge central chandelier, and a theme that is a “slight nod to Ernest Hemingway as a writer, hunter, and world traveler”.  (I like it all but the animal heads on the wall!)  It has a good and eclectic menu with a variety of starters, salads, burgers and sandwiches, main dishes and desserts.  They also feature a highly-regarded craft coctails menu and a good selection of wines, beers, and non-alcoholic drinks.

SE CORNER OF CAMPBELL & SUNRISE

*Tavelino Ristorante Italiano

(520) 531-1913

2890 E Skyline Dr
Tucson, AZ 85718

Billed as “simple, classic, Italian”.  They have really good happy hour and reverse happy hour prices, and lots of fresh, hand-made pastas!  Our NASA Steckler Italian parters enjoyed eating here when in town for a NASA program review; they ordered up an amazing spread for our program team that kept us happily occupied eating, drinking and talking for a 3+ hours meal--certainly a most wonderful night to remember!

SUNRISE & HACIENDA DEL SOL

*The Grill At Hacienda Del Sol

(520) 529-3500

5501 N Hacienda Del Sol Rd
Tucson, AZ 85718

Hacienda del Sol is a lovely old historic Tucson property with extensive cactus gardens, beautiful historic buildings and fine dining (i.e., anniversary dinners) and casual lounge/patio restaurants (the rest of the time).  Their website boasts: “Savor The Grill, our award winning dining experience and perennial winner of Wine Spectator’s awards carefully selected to please the most discriminating connoisseur. Our creative chefs bring farm to table freshness and locally sourced ingredients to innovative cuisine, which garnered a prestigious AAA Four Diamond rating. For more casual fare, indulge your tastes in the splendor of Terraza Garden Patio and Lounge, featuring modern twists on the classics.” 

Five Palms/Olivia Mediterranean Bar

(520) 615-5555

3500 E. Sunrise Drive
Tucson, AZ 85718

This is a funny place.  They have a fine dining section to this restaurant that is usually pretty empty (a friend refers to the decor as "Early European Bordello") but I heard the food was pretty good.  Most folks eat in the piano bar area, or upstairs, at the “Olivia Mediterranean Bar”, that has a big adjoining patio dining area that fills up quickly on the weekends.  There is frequently loud music playing in the (relative small) bar space, so this is not a quiet place to eat and talk over dinner, but the pan Mediterranean menus and tapas are quite good!

SUNRISE AND SWAN

*Fini’s Landing

(520) 299-1010

5689 N Swan Road
Tucson, AZ 85718

Fini's Landing is an escape to the "waterfront menus and lifestyles of the Keys and Caribbean, Mexico and California, brought back to our landlocked hometown with an authenticity and spirit of the places that inspired it". This is a casual, friendly, neighborhood restaurant and place to hang-out and socialize.  It is also a sportsbar of sorts.  Too bad most of you will miss "Tacos Tuesdays" which is a lot of fun and a great deal to boot!

*El Cisne Mexican Restaurant

(520) 638-6160

4717 E. Sunrise Dr.
Tucson, AZ 85718

According to their website, “In the cities of Mexico there is a cuisine, that is hard to find in the United States, due to its rich multi-cultural combinations of ingredients and spices. This cuisine has a history that is influenced by the Mexican Natives and immigrants from many nations especially the Spanish and French. Together, they combined dishes and flavors to create this remarkable cuisine. El Cisne skillfully and artfully shares these dishes with you!”

*Trattoria Pina Italian Restaurant

(520) 577-6992

5541 N Swan Rd
Tucson, AZ 85718

Nestled in the Catalina Foothills, Trattoria Pina Italian Restaurant bills itself as "a hidden treasure that offers superb Italian food: including veal, fresh seafood, a large variety of pastas, salads, and gourmet pizzas in a wood burning oven....Trattoria Pina Italian Restaurant was established in 1993, and provides Tucson with the ultimate dining experience!"

SUNRISE AND KOLB

El Charro Café

(520) 514-1922

6910 E. Sunrise
Tucson, Arizona 85750

El Charro Café is the oldest continuously family owned Mexican restaurant in the USA, with the original location nestled in the heart of downtown Tucson's historic El Presidio and other locations, including their restaurant at Kolb and Sunrise, much more convenient to La Paloma.  El Charro is a family favorite for Mexican food, especially well known for carne seca!   Take home a jar of their salsa for a Tucson souvenir!  Try it--you'll like it! 

SOUTH OF THE FOOTHILLS, BUT STILL RELATIVELY CLOSE BY!

Scordatos Pizzeria-St. Philip’s

520-529-4280

4280 N Campbell Ave
Tucson, AZ 85719

Artisan pizzeria with other light entrees, some really good salads, and etc.  (Another favorite go-to place!)  This restaurant is also owned by Daniel Scordatto, the owner of Vivace (see above).

Reforma Cocina y Cantana-St. Philip’s

(520) 867-4134

4310 N. Campbell Ave
Tucson, Az 85718

Mexican food from scratch (fresh masa, etc. made daily), drinks and LOTS of (i.e., 285+ different varieties—an entire library)--of tequila!  Whoa!!! My lady friends and I checked-out Reforma this past weekend to see if their claim to fame (i.e., the tequila library) was a reality: tis true, 'tis true!

Zinburger Wine & Burger Bar

(520) 298-2020

1865 E River Road # 101
Tucson, AZ 85718

Features gourmet burgers, sides, milkshakes, desserts (killer banana cream pie!), etc. Earlier this summer, their fries made the "best-in-the-nation fries" list recently published by Flipboard!  (I can personally vouch for the sweet potato fries!  Yum!)