For one of my meals while visiting downtown Phoenix, I went to Wren & Wolf for dinner with a couple friends. We picked this restaurant because it was one of the few high-end restaurants that had short-notice reservation slots available, and because the reviews were good for both the quality of the food and for the dining experience.
As our appetizer, we ordered a Renaissance Tower from the raw bar. This came with six oysters on the half shell with cocktail sauce, pomegranate mignonette, horseradish, and hot sauce; four tomatillo and Calabrian chili shrimp; a half lobster with crab stuffing; and a quarter pound of king crab.
This was amazingly high-quality seafood. Everything had a very strong, intense, pure, and clean flavor. I think the oysters could’ve had a little bit more salt to extract and enhance more of the oyster flavor, but in general, this is probably some of the best seafood I’ve ever had (and I eat a lot of seafood).
One of my dinner companions doesn’t like seafood, so to accompany the Renaissance Tower, we also ordered German potato dumplings with gouda, manchego, and brown butter sage sauce. I tried one and this was a bit too cheesy for my preference, but I still thought it was good, and my friends seemed to enjoy these a lot.
For my beverage, I ordered a non-alcoholic version of a drink called “I Love You, But I Love Me More” made with black currant and berries, blood orange, and lime topped with a skewer of raspberries. This had a nice, deep fruity flavor without being tangy or sour. The fresh raspberries were also nice, as they served as a palate cleanser in between our different main entrées.
After wrapping up our appetizers, we got our first entrée, Japanese A5 wagyu cooked tableside over binchō-tan charcoal. My friends told me that they’ve never had Japanese A5 wagyu before, so I figured this would be a good opportunity for them to try it for the first time, especially with the added experience of tableside preparation.
As expected, this was incredibly flavorful, especially after covering it with a generous amount of the provided flaky salt.
After splitting four ounces of Japanese A5 wagyu amongst ourselves, we ordered some more steak, but this time a cut that was more reasonable to have in a larger portion—a 10-ounce filet of beef tenderloin cooked medium rare with a side of whipped Parmesan potatoes and roasted baby carrots.
This was very tender and flavorful, and by adding a bit more of the flaky salt we had left over from the wagyu, I was able to enjoy even more of the rich beefy flavor.
Our next entrée was duck breast á l’orange served with harissa atop a bed of forbidden rice.
As far as I can remember, this is the best duck I’ve ever had. It was thick and meaty with a smooth and clean duck flavor. The duck skin was cooked perfectly and added a pleasant textural contrast to the breast meat. The forbidden rice was also incredible—it tasted like gourmet rice infused with a well-proportioned blend of vegetables.
Our final dish of the meal was pistachio-crusted pork tomahawk schnitzel, topped with apple and fennel, served with herb crème fraîche and a side of demi-glace.
I didn’t have too much of this because I was busy working on the duck and forbidden rice, but I did have a small slice of this, and I liked it. There was a perfect ratio of crust to meat, and the pork was unexpectedly very juicy. I was the one who ended up cleaning the final bits of meat straight off the bone, and the pork was tender enough that it was very easy to nibble everything off.
Here are some photos I took from around the restaurant:
| Renaissance Tower I | $ 120.00 |
| 4 oz. Japanese A5 wagyu steak | $ 125.00 |
| 10 oz. beef tenderloin filet | $ 68.00 |
| Duck breast à l’orange | $ 34.00 |
| Pork tomahawk schnitzel | $ 57.00 |
| German potato dumplings | $ 14.00 |
| “I Love You, But I Love Me More” ×3 | $ 30.00 |
| Sales tax | $ 38.53 |
| Gratuity | $ 80.00 |
| Total | $ 566.53 |
The table on the right shows how much we paid for our meal.
I went into this dinner without really knowing what to expect apart from Wren & Wolf having a good reputation for fine dining. I ended up being very pleased throughout my entire dining experience.
The service was excellent. Our waitress was very attentive to our needs, and when my friends told her that they were unfamiliar with some of the dishes and beverages on the menu, she took extra time and care explaining everything thoroughly.
One subtle thing that contributes to the indication of the level of fine dining of a restaurant is the way in which they serve kitchenware. We ate our food “family style” and split all our dishes, and as our entrées were coming out, we were also always served a fresh set of plates and utensils. That is an indication that the restaurant wants to make sure you are getting the full experience of each dish as the chef intended, without flavor profiles from different dishes inadvertently mixing and affecting each other.
The food was amazing. I’m not really the biggest fan of cheese, but even the cheesy dishes were delicious. It was blatantly obvious that the ingredient quality across the board was very high. The dishes weren’t oversalted or overseasoned, which allowed the ingredients to speak for themselves.
We all left the restaurant very full and very satisfied. The food definitely was expensive, but was still a very competitive and reasonable price considering the large portion sizes, high quality of the dishes, unique ambiance, and nice dining experience. In terms of value for money, I think not too many other places can offer substantially more than what we got at Wren & Wolf.
The menu changes routinely/seasonally and has a wide selection of offerings, so if this is within your budget for a nice meal, I think this would be a great spot to check out in downtown Phoenix.