The Macintosh
Rating
Family of 4
Plan on roughly $95 to $150 for four with two adult entrees, two smaller plates for kids, and non-alcoholic drinks.
Duration
1.5-2 hours
Best Ages
6-17 years
About
The Macintosh sits on Camelback Road just east of 20th Street, in the middle of the Camelback Corridor, and holds a 4. 6 rating across roughly 1,440 Google reviews. That review count matters more than it looks.
The volume restaurants along this same stretch carry four and five thousand reviews, so 1,440 tells you this is a smaller, more intimate dining room rather than a high-turnover machine. For parents, that cuts both ways: the service tends to be more attentive, and a loud kid has fewer other conversations to hide behind.
Google categorizes it as a new American restaurant, and the practical read for a family is that this is a scratch kitchen with composed plates rather than a place built around a children's menu. That makes it a genuinely good pick for kids roughly six and up, particularly the ones who are proud of ordering for themselves and trying something unfamiliar. It is a harder sell with a toddler or an infant, where a quieter room and a longer kitchen ticket time work against you.
The timing advice here is simple. Book the first dinner seating around 5 PM, or go at weekday lunch. Later in the evening the room shifts to an adult crowd and the pace slows, which is exactly the wrong combination with young children.
Reserving through the restaurant's OpenTable page is worth the two minutes, because a small dining room fills completely instead of absorbing walk-ins the way a two-hundred-seat restaurant does.
Parking is one of the real advantages of a Camelback Corridor address over a downtown one. You get commercial lot parking and a short flat walk instead of metered streets and public garages. Camelback itself is a fast six-lane road, so keep small hands held between the car and the door, and use the lot rather than parking on a residential side street.
Some honest gaps. A dedicated children's menu is not confirmed for this location, and neither is changing table availability or outdoor seating. Call (602) 368-8766 and ask about all three before you commit, especially if you have a baby in diapers.
The appetizer and small plate section is your practical workaround on the food question, since those portions usually satisfy a kid without the cost or the wait of a full entree.
Bottom line for Phoenix parents: The Macintosh is a good early-dinner or weekday-lunch restaurant for families with school-age kids and up, and a poor fit for the toddler stage. Reserve ahead, take the earliest seating, and pair it with a Phoenix Art Museum afternoon a few minutes southwest.
Age Suitability
Parent Logistics
Stroller-Friendly
Limited
Nursing / Changing
Unknown
Kid Meals
Limited
Setting
Indoor
Rainy Day
Great option!
Plan Your Visit
Best Time to Visit
Weekday lunch, or the first dinner seating around 5 PM before the room fills
Wait Times
20-40 min on weekend evenings without a reservation, usually walk-in at weekday lunch
Nearby Food
This stretch of Camelback between 20th Street and 24th Street is thick with restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery prepared-food counters, so a backup meal for a kid who rejects everything is two or three minutes away by car. The Biltmore area just east adds a larger cluster of casual and counter-service options in one place, which is the practical fallback when the adults want a real dinner and a picky eater does not cooperate.
Why Kids Love It
This is the restaurant where an older kid gets treated like a real diner instead of being handed crayons, and for a nine-year-old who is proud of trying new food, that recognition is the entire appeal. The plates come out looking composed and photographed rather than dumped in a basket, which turns dinner into something worth paying attention to. It also runs quieter than the big Camelback volume restaurants, so a kid who hates noisy rooms can actually hear the table.
Pro Tips from Parents
- Reserve through the OpenTable listing rather than walking in. With only about 1,440 reviews this is a smaller room than its Camelback neighbors, and a small room fills completely rather than absorbing walk-ins.
- Take the first dinner seating, around 5 PM, or go at weekday lunch. Later seatings turn the room over to an adult crowd and the pace slows down, which is hard on younger kids.
- Call (602) 368 to 8766 ahead to confirm high chairs, children's menu options, and whether outdoor seating is available. None of that is documented for this location.
- Order the kids' food and the adult appetizers at the same time so something reaches the table within ten minutes. Entrees at a scratch kitchen take longer than kids expect.
- Pair it with an afternoon at the Phoenix Art Museum or Steele Indian School Park, both a short drive southwest, and make this the sit-down meal that ends the outing.
What to Bring
- A reservation confirmation, since this is a small room where walk-ins are the riskiest approach
- A compact umbrella stroller if you need one at all, because the dining room is intimate rather than open
- Your own changing pad and supplies, since changing table availability is not confirmed
- A quiet activity for the gap between ordering and the entrees arriving, which runs longer than at a chain
- A light layer for winter evenings, when Phoenix cools off quickly after sunset even in the Camelback Corridor
Cost Info
Estimated Cost (Family of 4)
Plan on roughly $95 to $150 for four with two adult entrees, two smaller plates for kids, and non-alcoholic drinks.
Lot parking does not add to the total.
This is an estimate only.
Check the current menu on the restaurant's OpenTable listing for exact prices.
Tips to Save
- Book lunch instead of dinner, since the same kitchen generally prices midday plates below the evening menu.
- Order appetizers and sides for the kids rather than full entrees, which works well at a modern American restaurant where the small plates are substantial.
- Have the children share one entree, because portions at this kind of restaurant are usually large enough to split.
- Skip the cocktail program entirely, which is where a family check at a Camelback Corridor restaurant climbs fastest.
