How might one describe the sentiment of this review?
Long day of work in San Francisco, racing to catch a plane (that's naturally delayed) and getting into Scottsdale after 9pm -- what do we possibly do for dinner? When we spotted Second Story, the choice seemed fairly obvious and we were rewarded for it. It's ostensibly a liquor bar/cocktail bar as evidenced by the name, but don't be fooled -- they make really good food here as well. To get in, talk to the host outside to the left of the pizzeria and they'll get you set up and then head up the stairs. Once you get there, you'll see tons of dark woods and lush, deep browns highlighting what is a great upscale addition to the scene. You wouldn't think this was out of place in LA or New York. Drinks as you might imagine are delicious and the food is really good. Highly recommend the Diablo Del Sol, which our waitress listed as her favorite and, as for food, you can't go wrong with 'Don Just Wants Some F*cking Bolognese'* which is only on the happy hour menu. And the happy hour menu is where it's at. Sure, you could get there early and do the typical happy hour but what you really want is to get there after 9 and do the happy hour menu then. You don't need a full meal here -- the HH portions are fairly meaty. And combined with a few cocktails**, you can get out for a fairly decent price. The two of us, with drinks, were under $100 for dinner tip and tax included. The only thing I didn't really love about it, and hence the four stars, was the theme -- having them 'take us on a journey' or explaining 'the story of the menu' that we would 'be experiencing' were a bit much on the pretension side. But the food greatly outweighs anything else you could dock them for. And considering they've only been open a month, they'll probably smooth that out down the road. Try to sit outside. It's really nice! * - the story we heard: the owners' father, named Don, owns the pizzeria downstairs and whenever they would take him out to dinner, he always ordered pasta and bolognese. So what you'll get here is delicious, homemade pasta and some seriously large meatballs. You can't go wrong. ** - designate a DD, kids.
positive