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| - Artizen is a trendy little restaurant attached to the The Camby hotel, which is located in the Camelback Esplanade plaza that's directly across the street from Biltmore Fashion Park. After studying the menu and doing some research, it sounded like it would be a good fit for our taste, so we finally decided to give them a try.
Honestly, the Esplanade plaza has always kind of weirded me out. Even on a Saturday night, it never feels crowded or lively. Most of the surrounding businesses are usually closed, while most of the parked cars that clog the garage are visiting the AMC Dine-In Theater. Be sure to use their complimentary valet service and avoid parking in the garage and paying the fees for doing so.
The décor itself is very sleek, dim, and laid back. In fact, I really like their setup. My girlfriend and I were able to be seated at a giant "mob booth" during prime dining hours on a Saturday night. No reservation necessary, as the place wasn't really that busy from what we could see.
If you study the menu, you'll quickly see that this place is all about emphasizing locally sourced ingredients that are seasonally appropriate. As another reviewer pointed out, you're probably better off looking at the menu on their website as opposed to studying Yelp pictures. Many items you see posted are no longer available, which can be a bit deceiving to some.
We started off with their white cheddar cornbread, which uses Hayden flourmills cornmeal (always a good source), honeycomb, and smoked pistachio butter. This was, by far, the best thing that we ate all night. The cheddar was not overpowering (a la Tuck Shop waffles) and the additional ingredients created a lovely combination that works incredibly well together. Furthermore, we ordered their carmelized fennel risotto, which includes basil mint ricotta and vegetables. This wasn't too bad, although my girlfriend absolutely loathed the basil mint, claiming it tasted like some kind of potent shampoo you'd buy at a health food store.
For main dishes, there really isn't much to pick from. Nothing really stood out to me, so I just ended up ordering a burger and fries, while my girlfriend chose the steak frites based on a recommendation from the server. The burger was sandwiched between a decent poppy challah bun, but didn't really jump out to me as something that I couldn't easily obtain elsewhere. The fries were just standard. My girlfriend's steak frites included some very crispy potatoes. She felt the dish was fine, but not quite worth the 29-dollar asking price.
Service was a bit shoddy. While our server was polite, he often disappeared for long periods of time and seemed too busy hobnobbing with nearby tables. We had to wait a good 30 minutes of just sitting there blankly before he eventually asked us if we wanted a dessert. Choices were limited, with nothing particularly standing out as something that was a "must-have." We reluctantly went for this item called the Lil' Drum, which is basically a drumstick with a beefed-up presentation. It's an ice cream cone that contains some kind of popcorn and caramel flavored ice cream that had more of a sorbet-like texture. I can't place my finger on it, but it just seemed like a very odd choice for a restaurant and something that would be more appropriate for an ice cream truck.
Reviewing this place is tough, because I'm all for chef-driven creations and the emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. However, I feel that Artizen is a restaurant that focuses a bit too much on presentation and trying to be unique, which inevitably results in a lot of trial and error dishes that ultimately come off as being too experimental. For the prices, we also expected much better service than we received.
Ultimately, I'd recommend giving them a try - because it's the kind of place that I think some people might really enjoy. But for a couple of diners who are constantly searching Phoenix for new favorites, I can't really say that Artizen is one of them.
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