Lon’s at Hermosa Inn, 5532 N. Palo Christi Road, in Paradise Valley. (Submitted Photo)
As summer approaches, OpenTable, a provider of online restaurant reservations and part of Booking Holdings, Inc. unveiled Wednesday, June 20 the 100 Best Al Fresco Restaurants in America for 2018 and several Arizona restaurants made the cut.
El Chorro, 5550 E. Lincoln Drive, and Lon’s at The Hermosa, 5532 N. Palo Christi Road, both made the list from Paradise Valley. In Scottsdale, Cafe Monarch, 6934 E. First Ave., and Olive and Ivy Restaurant and Marketplace, 7135 E. Camelback Road, also are on the list.
Gertrude’s in Phoenix, Mariposa in Sedona, Tonto Bar and Grill in Cave Creek and Wildflower in Tucson rounded out the list from Arizona.
The complete list features winning restaurants in 22 states. California comes out on top this year with 30 winning restaurants, followed by Florida with 26, and Hawaii with 10, according to a press release.
Other notable states for outdoor dining include Arizona with eight winning restaurants and Maryland, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina each with three. Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. are also among the winners.
While most of this year’s honorees serve American fare, other cuisines proved popular for outdoor dining, particularly seafood, French and Italian, a release states.
“From picturesque restaurants with shaded terraces to vibrant rooftops and sidewalk cafés, this year’s list showcases the spots that take the al fresco experience to the next level,” Caroline Potter, OpenTable’s chief dining officer, said in a prepared statement.
“These restaurants offer friendly service and the ideal ambiance for diners looking to enjoy the warm weather and soak up the best sights of summer.”
The 100 Best al Fresco Restaurants in America list is generated solely from more than 12 million verified OpenTable diner reviews for more than 27,000 restaurants in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. collected between May 1, 2017 and April 30, 2018.
All restaurants with a minimum “overall” score and number of qualifying reviews were included for consideration. Qualifying restaurants were then scored and sorted according to the percentage of reviews for which “outdoor dining” was selected as a special feature.