One of my favorite parts of traveling is eating, and our first stop this spring in Phoenix was Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion of Chandler, Arizona. Roy’s is a chain of 27 restaurants in the United States with one in Japan and another in Guam. It came highly recommended by my boss, and now I can highly recommend it as well.
Kristi and I had spent the day at the Maryvale Baseball Park, watching the Milwaukee Brewers defeat our Los Angeles Dodgers 7-2 in some Cactus League action. We were hot and sticky from a long day in the Arizona sun but ready for a cocktail and a great meal.
In retrospect, we could have dressed up a tad for Roy’s, located along Ray Road in Chandler, just southeast of Phoenix. However, given that it’s already reaching 85 degrees by day in March, we opted for uber-casual wear, which turned out to be just fine. Roy’s clientele was a mix of business-dress, business-casual and classy-casual, meaning a collared shirt, shorts and some sandals.
We opted for cocktails to start. Kristi had the Mango Mojito, a concoction of Bacardi Limon, mango puree, lime and mint. She deemed it “tasty.” On the other hand, I’ve been on more of an exotic cocktail kick, especially if the drink involves cucumber. So, I had the Cool Breeze cocktail, made from Prairie organic cucumber vodka, coconut water, pineapple juice, fresh lemon and Monin agave. I recall really, really liking this drink and pondering how awesome it would still taste after 3 or 4 more.
I stopped with one, however. This time.
After a pair of refreshing Maui Wowie salads (shrimp, feta, butter leaf lettuce, avocado and caper lime vinaigrette), we had our main courses. For dinner, Kristi had the 8-ounce Hand-Carved Filet Mignon with Vadouvan Roasted Carrots and Truffle Onion Misoyaki Demi Glace.
Fancy.
Meanwhile, I had the Braised Short Ribs of Beef with natural braising sauce, honey mustard, Yukon Mash and broccolini. As I recall, the short ribs were a little fatty for my taste but still very tasty, much more like pot roast than anything else. The mashed potatoes were wonderful. All in all, no serious complaints, and between the cocktails, salads and main dishes, this was one hell of a meal and a wonderful environment. I especially liked the lighting inside the restaurant, nice and dimmed.
Last but not least, we split a dessert, the pineapple upside down cake (caramelized pineapple baked with brown sugar pound cake a la mode). It was a dab dry, but that’s a minor criticism. The sweet treat was the perfect end to a wonderful first night meal in Arizona.
The vibe was chill. The service was high-class. The experience was well worth it.
(More tales from my spring trip to Phoenix coming soon!)
