Mad Chef Gastropub - Ahwatukee

[Phoenix99]

I understand this place opened March 1st. Anyone been there yet?

[firecooked]

Anybody been here recently?

[my3guys]

I live very close to this place, and have been several times. The pretzel board is very good. Otherwise, I really, really want to love this place but just don't yet. We will give it another try tho.

[Sherri]

"The pretzel board is very good."
Please elaborate, what is "pretzel board"?

[my3guys]

Sherri- it is a soft prezel with cheese sauce and either salami or summer sausage. My son ordered it so I only tried a little of it, but would prob. be great as a snack.

[Sherri]

Soft pretzel + cheese + salami = what's not to love? Thanks for the answer, this is a new one for me and may be just the nudge I need to get to The Mad Chef.

[azhotdish]

I haven't personally been, but I know two people that have - they said the tomato bisque was closer to a marinara sauce than a bisque, and the poutine didn't actually use cheese curds. They said a couple of other things, but at that point I think I'd begun shaking my head in disgust and started tuning out. They acknowledged it was within the first few days of opening...but that's not a real great start. Sorry I can't provide a first-hand take.

[Phoenix99]

Thanks. I'll check it out and see although it doesn't sound too promising.

[azfoodeater]

So I just moved down to ahwatukee and wanted to check out the local restaurants so I searched chowhound and came across this review. I read the article about the poutine and had to go check it out for myself. It's a nice warm place with a great beer selection and a small, but quality wine list, which eveyry bottle was priced at $25.00 which I thought was wierd. I had a chance to meet one of the owners so I asked him why they did that and his reply was he would rather lose a few bucks and showcase smaller, more boutique wines and have people try something new than just ordering by price. I also asked him why they did not do the traditional cheese curds on the poutine, and his reply was " We do not have anything labeled Poutine on the menu. We have steak fries with gravy and cheddar." " He further explained what they are doing cuisine wise and it made sense, they are taking traditional dishes and adding their own touch. So overall this is the best restaurant/bar in ahwatukee that I have seen so far. And yes they just opened last week and it's two young brothers who own it from what I have gathered.