14 best restaurants in Prescott, AZ

Prescott has many dining choices. Are you looking for a great breakfast, try Iron Springs Café and Bistro St. Michael. Want to keep it casual with pizza try Bill's Pizza and Rosa's Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant, Looking for something quick with your coffee, try Raven Café and Cuppers Coffee House. Here are the best restaraunts for whatever food you are in the mood for in Prescott.

Peacock Room

The Peacock Room at the Hassayampa Inn offers dining in an Art Deco setting. Half-moon-shaped booths swaddled in floral-print fabric line the walls. Light streams through high windows, creating a feel of timeless luxury. The restaurant opened in 1985.

The Peacock Room and adjoining Hassayampa Bar are spread across three tiers that flow down the stairway just off the lobby. If you enter the restaurant through the Gurley Street door, be sure to check out the opulent lobby with hand-stenciled wood ceiling beams, Mexican talavera-tiled fireplace and vintage 1927 elevator.

The menu is a mix of classic and updated dishes including lamb shank, savory lobster ravioli or rib eye. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Details: 928-777-9563, 122 E Gurley St., Prescott, hassayampainn.com/dining, $$

RELATED: Prescott hotels | Things to do in Prescott | Arizona travel guides

Bistro St. Michael

Bistro St. Michael, in the Hotel St. Michael on Whiskey Row, serves American and international cuisine in a bistro setting. The restaurant has plenty of brick, wood floors, a high ceiling and just enough of the old architecture to get you in the mood for antiques shopping.

Start your day with huevos rancheros or corned-beef hash. At lunch, choose from a variety of sandwiches and salads. Dinner entrees include bistro steak, mahi fish and chips and spiced duck.

The restaurant has a full bar and a good selection of wines. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Details: 100 S. Montezuma St., Prescott, 928-778-2500, stmichaelhotel.com, $-$$

El Gato Azul

This worldly little bistro may be the last kind of place you expect to find just footsteps from Whiskey Row, but that only adds to its charm. El Gato Azul perches on the bank of Granite Creek, with a patio nestled beneath the shade of cottonwood trees.

Tapas are served from 11 a.m. to close, with many different options available. Fried avocado with panko breading and red-pepper aioli is a seamless blending of flavors and textures. Cool and creamy inside, it's like eating fried ice cream.

Regular entrees include paella, carnitas and green chile mac and cheese. Lunch and dinner.

Details: 316 W. Goodwin St., Prescott, 928-445-1070, elgatoazulprescott.com, $$

Raven Café

The Raven Cafe is like Prescott's college bar. It is part coffee shop and breakfast hangout, part lunch stop and part local gathering place. The Raven displays local art on its walls and puts local musicians onstage. At the end of the day, you can settle in with a cold one because the Raven has dozens of beers on tap and hundreds by the bottle. There are also abundant wines available.

A chalkboard lists the organic ingredients being used in the kitchen that day.

A low-key spot away from Whiskey Row, this is a good place to kick back and listen to some jazz. The café also has a great patio and is a good place to get coffee the morning after a night on the town. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Details: 142 N Cortez St., Prescott, 928-717-0009, ravencafe.com, $-$$

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Cuppers Coffee House

Cuppers Coffee House serves lots of varieties of coffee and hot chocolate. The Ay Chihuahua mocha is made of espresso flavored with Mexican chocolate and red chile peppers.

Cuppers is tucked away in one of Prescott's stately Victorians. Be sure to try the famous skinny pancakes: six cakes, plumper than crepes, drenched with homemade syrup spiked with brown sugar. Breakfast and lunch.

Details: 226 S Cortez St., Prescott, 928-445-1636, cupperscoffee.com, $

Iron Springs Café

Iron Springs Café, in a building from the late 1800s, is a good casual dining option. Specialties include Cajun and Southwest dishes. You will find enchiladas and gumbo on the menu alongside fresh seafood and steaks.

The restaurant has been around since 1974. The building was once a train depot which lends a distinct ambience. There is a special "dining car" area if you are really in the railroad mood. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, Sunday brunch.

Details: 1501 Iron Springs Road, Prescott, 928-443-8848, ironspringscafe.com, $$

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is an Indian restaurant. Menu items are made to order and you can find a meal suitable to all palates — hot, mild or heat-free versions are available. All menu items are free of gluten, wheat, eggs, MSG and peanuts.

The restaurant also has a lounge where you can enjoy an Indian beer, a glass of wine or a cocktail. They have a happy hour and daily drink specials too. Outside seating, with live entertainment, is also available. You can also bring your dog to sit on the patio with you while you dine. Lunch and dinner.

Details: 928-445-5752, 124 N. Montezuma St., Prescott, tajmahalprescott.com, $$

Prescott Brewing Co.

Prescott Brewing Co. caters to families and tourists during the day, and beer lovers and local college students starting around dinnertime, especially on weekends. The walls of the bar area are adorned with coasters and trophy plaques, a nod to the flavorful, made-on-site brews.

More than an award-winning microbrewery, PBC offers an extensive menu of pub fare — burgers, pizzas, wraps, salads and sandwiches. The restaurant provides a front-row seat for the action on Courthouse Square. Breads are baked daily; soups and salad dressings are made in house.

The flagship brew is Liquid Amber Ale, a medium-bodied beer with malty characteristics and light caramel tones. Also popular is Ponderosa IPA, not overly hopped but still bringing the robust flavor and higher alcohol content characteristic of an IPA. Bring some home: Both are available in six-pack cans. Lunch and dinner.

Details: 928-771-2795, 130 W. Gurley St., Prescott, prescottbrewingcompany.com, $$

Murphy's

Murphy's restaurant, in a historic building just off Courthouse Square, combines 1890s ambience and casual elegance with tasty cuisine. The menu highlights on steaks and seafood.

At lunch, the focus is on sandwiches and salads, such as a blackened-chicken sandwich.

Prime rib is the big attraction at dinner, but meat lovers also can choose from rib eye, sirloin, filet and ribs. There are plenty of aquatic choices as well, including salmon, tilapia, shrimp and king crab. And you can't go wrong with the rotisserie chicken. Lunch, dinner, Sunday brunch.

Details: 928-445-4044, 201 N. Cortez St., Prescott, murphysprescott.com, $$$

Bill's Pizza

Don't be fooled because this downtown pizza joint bears a non-paisan name. Bill is a sauce-making, dough-kneading artist. His combo pies are gastronomical masterpieces, and you can buy them by the slice.

Owner Bill Tracy is a student of pizza, traveling to Italy as well as crossing the United States to study various approaches to the art of pie-making. That open-minded attitude shows. He serves a thin, crispy pizza with a tasty blend of sauce, cheese and fresh toppings, and he's not afraid to experiment.

Details: 928-443-0800, 107 S. Cortez St., Prescott, billspizzaprescott.com, $$

Bill's Grill

Bill's Grill may not be on Whiskey Row, but it is worth the trip. And, given the heft of the burgers, it might not be a bad idea to walk there.

The place is low on scenery, but high on ingredients. You have your choice of Angus beef or organic hormone-free beef, and it is ground daily in-house. The buns are baked in-house too, and the pretzel bun is a popular choice. There are several signature styles available, but you can make you own if you feel inventive. Bill's also has a fine selection of beers on tap.

Details: 928-237-9138, 333 S. Montezuma St., Prescott, billsgrillprescott.com, $

Rosa's Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant

A taste of Sicily and a bit of New York flavor combine in this oh-so-authentic Italian restaurant. Anchovies on the menu are a good sign. So is the Italian spoken casually among the staff.

The traditional pasta and pizza favorites are here. But adventurous eaters will find enough unique ingredients in items like the Spaghetti Puttanesca or the veal dishes. The sausage is housemade.

Details: 928-445-7400, 330 W. Gurley St., Prescott, rosaspizzeriaprescott.com, $$

Lone Spur

From the street, this downtown spot looks like an ordinary diner. But inside is a spacious spot, filled with Western kitsch. Spurs hang over some booths. There's a bearskin on a wall.

And the plates are just as packed with good eats. Portions here are comically huge. It is the kind of breakfast you may want after some pre-sunrise work rustling cattle and the like. And the number of cowboy hats in the dining room let you know some might have spent time having done just that.

Alongside the traditional eggs benedict is a Cowboy version that has the hollandaise sauce replaced with country gravy. And the French toast is dusted with corn flakes before grilling. Also open for lunch and dinner.

Details: 928-445-8202, 106 W. Gurley St., Prescott, lonespurcafe.com, $$

Bin 239

For the wine lover, here is a low-lit bistro a few blocks removed from Whiskey Row. Bin 239 has an extensive wine list and makes ample use of its wood-burning oven.

Salads, sandwiches, pastas and entrees are offered. But the stars are the pizzas.

Get wild combinations like the cheeseburger, which features ground sirloin and Velveeta cheese. Or go classic with the Napoletana, with buffalo mozzerella, tomato sauce and fresh basil.

Details: 928-445-3855, 239 N Marina St., Prescott, bin239.com, $$