Throughout 2025 and the first half of 2026, downtown Tempe saw announcements for new Mill Avenue restaurants, along with groundbreaking photos, chef quotes, and renderings. In the final five weeks of summer, two prominent projects opened their doors while several others remained planned. Here’s a look at what’s open and what still has an estimated or unannounced opening date.
Two New Openings This Summer
The corner of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway had been promised an Italian restaurant from Pretty Decent Concepts since at least the spring of 2025, when it was still circulating under the working name "The Roman" with a target of late 2025 or early 2026. What finally opened at that corner at the end of July 2026 goes by a different name, Roman God of Fire, and carries the same builder and the same theme: celebrity chef Scott Conant's name attached to a menu built around handmade pasta, wood-fired Roman-style pizza, and steaks finished with fennel and Aleppo pepper, served under marble-topped tables and towering custom statuary meant to put you inside a Roman soldier's version of a night out. The corner didn't change. The name did, and so did the timeline, by the better part of a year.
A few weeks later, on the other end of the street, Culinary Gangster opened beneath Varsity Tavern at Mill and Fifth on August 31. This is the third Arizona location for the Chicago-born burger concept, run by the father-son team of Ricky and Rocco Raschillo, joining their existing spots in Scottsdale and downtown Phoenix. Back in December, owner Ricky Raschillo told Phoenix New Times he hoped to open by March, and that if renovations ran long, he'd wait out the summer and open in August instead. He opened on the last day of August.
On Mill Avenue this year, the corner is the promise. The name on the door and the month on the calendar are the variables.
Projects Still Awaiting Their Openings
Some projects have revised their opening estimates. Phantom Fox Beer Co., the craft brewery relocating from downtown Mesa into the old Illegal Pete's space on Mill just south of Fifth Street, was announced in December 2025 with a target of March or April 2026 for itself and its in-house pizzeria, Goat and Ram. According to the Downtown Tempe Authority's own tracker of active projects, that date has already moved once. Phantom Fox is now listed as "Estimated Fall 2026." A spring target became a fall target, and the brewery has not opened yet.
Wild Barbecue is also still awaiting an opening. Engineer-turned-pitmaster Mo Abu Ghazal announced plans in November 2025 to move his Texas-style brisket and beef ribs out of a food truck and into a permanent space on University Drive, in the building that used to hold Arizona Distilling Co. His original target was that same month, November 2025. Ten months later, Wild Barbecue is still listed among downtown Tempe's upcoming openings, with no new date attached to it.
Those revised or unannounced timelines leave both projects short of a confirmed opening. Roman God of Fire and Culinary Gangster also opened after their initial projected windows. Opening dates can change, so check for updates before making plans.
Other Projects With Opening Plans
Beyond Phantom Fox and Wild Barbecue, a handful of other names are attached to Mill Avenue addresses without a door you can actually walk through yet.
- Carmen, restaurateur Julian Wright's coastal-inspired Mexican concept, is moving into 640 S. Mill Avenue, the space he ran for three years as Canteen Modern Tequila Bar. Wright already operates Pedal Haus Brewery and the connected Devil's Hideaway and Idle Hands a few doors down, so the address is familiar even though the concept isn't. No firm month has been attached yet.
- RePUBlic Tempe, a sports bar, cue club, and live music venue from longtime bar owner Scott Price, is under construction in the combined footprint of the former Mill Cue Club and Zuma Grill on Mill south of Sixth Street, targeting a fall 2026 opening.
- Wood & Water, a 9,000-square-foot seafood restaurant planned for The Watermark with a lakefront patio and a 5,000-gallon shark tank as its centerpiece, is projected for late fall 2026.
- 212° Shabu Shabu, also headed to The Watermark, is currently slated for a December opening.
- The team behind Glai Baan, the acclaimed Thai restaurant on Osborn Road in Phoenix where getting a table already takes planning ahead, is building a second dining room inside the historic 1892 Gov. Benjamin B. Moeur House on Seventh Street. No opening month has been announced.
The projects above range from fall targets to openings with no announced month.
What's Already Working, Quietly
Not everything on this stretch needed a groundbreaking ceremony to become part of the routine. Window Coffee Bar has been open since December 2025 inside The Beam on Farmer Avenue, pouring coffee alongside pastries from Chacónne Patisserie and bagels from Bagelfeld's. It opened on schedule, and it's already the kind of place regulars build a Tuesday morning around. It offers a look at an established business alongside the projects still planned.
If You Live Here
If you're deciding where to actually go this week, here's what's real right now. Roman God of Fire, at the Mill and Rio Salado corner, is serving a full dinner and cocktail menu. Culinary Gangster, under Varsity Tavern at Mill and Fifth, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. with burgers, bowls, and an all-day breakfast menu. Window Coffee Bar on Farmer Avenue covers the coffee and pastry routine most days but Sundays. That's three different corners of downtown, all open today and a short walk or bike ride apart, along a stretch with more openings planned.
Everything else on this list has an estimated opening date or no firm month announced, so check for updates before making plans. For now, enjoy what's open and follow the remaining projects as their schedules develop.
Keeping track of local openings and their timelines is part of how Ceejay Cesiel and the rest of the team stay useful to East Valley clients long before anyone's ready to buy or sell. If you're weighing a move to downtown Tempe, or you already live here and want a second opinion on what these changes actually mean for your neighborhood, schedule a free consultation and let's talk about what's next.
