Around Chase Field

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend.

The quick read

Chase Field opens onto a downtown, not a parking lot, and the whole evening works on foot. Dinner is at CityScape, a dining-and-retail block a few minutes’ walk from the park. The local pour is at Huss Brewing’s downtown taproom, and for the drop-in bar right at the gates, Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers inside the park is the closer bet, since Game Seven Grill across the street now runs as a private event space rather than a walk-up spot. Families get a hands-on science museum a short walk away.

One seasonal adjustment: Phoenix summer highs routinely top 100 degrees, so in midsummer keep the outdoor legs of the plan short and spend the wait indoors. In April or September, the pre-game walk is part of the fun.

Verify before you go: bars and restaurants open, close, and change hours. Confirm anything specific below is still operating before you build a night around it.

The lay of the land

Chase Field is at 401 East Jefferson Street in downtown Phoenix. The stops worth your time sit within a few blocks of the gates, and the Valley Metro light rail has a stop at 3rd Street and Jefferson, right at the park, so a no-car night is realistic. The transit guide covers the trains and the garages.

The geography in one pass: Game Seven Grill, now a private event space rather than a walk-up bar, sits directly across from the gates. CityScape, the dining block, is a few minutes’ walk. Tom’s Watch Bar is steps from the park, with The Desmond and the Huss Brewing taproom a short walk beyond. Roosevelt Row, the arts district, is the far end of the range, a longer walk or a quick rideshare. The Footprint Center, where the NBA’s Suns play, is next door, so the area has actual game-day life.

Right at the gates

If you want the shortest possible walk to your seat, two spots cover it.

• Game Seven Grill sits directly across from the gates, but it isn’t a walk-up bar anymore. The original restaurant closed in 2021, and the team now runs the space as a private event rental (the official Diamondbacks page lists it as a bookable venue, capacity 200-550, not a drop-in spot). Don’t build a pre-game or post-game plan around walking in; if you want that geography, Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers inside the gates is the closer bet.
• Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers has a location inside Chase Field, if you would rather clear the gates first and eat in the building. The food guide covers the concourse in detail.

CityScape and the downtown core

CityScape is the dinner answer: a downtown dining-and-retail center a few minutes’ walk from the park, with enough range in one spot that a group stops arguing. The Arrogant Butcher and Chico Malo are the two to start with, and both sit in the same complex, so a group that cannot agree can split up and still walk to the gates together.

The easy night assembles itself: dinner at CityScape, the few minutes’ walk to the gates, and a stop at Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers or Tom’s Watch Bar afterward while the garages empty out.

Beer and a bigger night

If the night is built around beer rather than dinner, three options sit within an easy walk:

• Tom’s Watch Bar is a big sports bar steps from the ballpark, the easy call if a sports bar is what you want before first pitch.
• The Desmond is a pizzeria-meets-pub, the casual call for a slice and a beer without a full sit-down dinner.
• Huss Brewing’s downtown taproom pours Arizona craft, the stop if your pre-game beer should be a local one instead of another stadium domestic.

All three are short walks, so pick by the kind of night you want, not the distance.

Roosevelt Row

Roosevelt Row, downtown’s arts district, has a denser and more independent bar-and-restaurant scene than the blocks around the park. It costs you a longer walk or a quick rideshare, so treat it as a destination you plan, not a detour on the way to first pitch. It fits best in front of a night game, when you have an afternoon to spend.

Family-friendly pre-game

Two kinds of family stops here: museums off-site before the game, and the park’s own ticketed extras.

The non-alcohol stop: the Arizona Science Center at Heritage and Science Park is a hands-on science museum a short walk from the ballpark, an easy stop with kids before an evening game, and it doubles as the escape-the-heat option on a hot afternoon. The Children’s Museum of Phoenix is the other option, a short drive rather than a walk. Both are daytime, pre-game stops, not post-game ones.

The ballpark options: the swimming pool behind the right-center-field wall has no equivalent anywhere else in baseball. Groups book it in advance, up to about 35 people at a time, so a regular ticket does not get you to it, and what it costs moves with the season. The seats guide has the details. A Chase Field tour runs on its own schedule, separate from game tickets, and is the kid-friendly way to see the building itself.

More to do in Phoenix

A Diamondbacks game covers one evening. If you are in town longer, Viator lists the tours and activities running while you are there. Book before you travel.

One worth a look is a downtown Phoenix food tour, in the same part of town as the ballpark. The alcohol package is included, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours out.

Know Chase Field better than we do? Tell us what we got wrong, or where we should be sending people instead.