Top Shelf - Mexican Food & Cantina
3301 W. Greenway Road
Phoenix, Arizona 85053
(SE corner 35th Ave & Greenway)
Phoenix, Arizona 85053
(SE corner 35th Ave & Greenway)
Phone: 602-993-5463
Top Shelf in West Phoenix
Top Shelf is a local Mexican food restaurant that shares the same parking lot as another place I’ve reviewed, Amante’s. Living in Arizona really puts Mexican food into perspective. If you live on the East Coast and happen to be reading this, well…you’re going to be jealous. Unless you are Hispanic yourself, if you have never visited Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, or California – well you just don’t know what real Mexican food is.
As with many food genres, there are chain type restaurants (On The Boarder, Abuelos, Chevys, etc) and then there are the local favorites. The local favorites and valley secrets usually end up being the best of the best. Their salsa is fresher, their service is sweeter, and most of the time, their prices are even more competitive.
The Menu
Top Shelf used to have a very cool “top down” folding menu, one that you opened similarly to a birthday card turned on its side. Since our more recent visits, their menu has changed significantly and more resembles an up-to-date version of a standard menu you hope to find in a modern restaurant.
The new "updated" Top Shelf Menu
The menu features typical Mexican favorites from starters (who ever orders an appetizer at a Mexican food place? Chips and Salsa are the best in the world!), salads, dinners, specials, al a carte items, and even some “lite and healthy” choices as well.
Of the times we have visited Top Shelf, we have been fairly liberal with our requests on making our meals specialized to our own particular picky style. Each time, they have been more than happy to oblige. In fact, on one visit I requested that I get my shredded beef served on the side for my taco salad, just to see if they would do it. They did, at no extra charge.
The "updated" menu opened.
Prices on the menu range from $1.00 for some extra cheese up to $14.95 for some Fajita dinners with Shrimp. The average meal is going to cost about $12 after you add in the drink. On typical visits, my wife and I usually end up spending $23-26, based on our order.
Location
Top Shelf is located on Greenway, in between the I-17 and 35th Ave. It shares the same parking lot as the K-Mart and another place I have reviewed, Amante’s. The parking lot is very large and we usually get a spot right in the front. Even despite the weekends when the restaurant is bustling with activity, we still manage to get a close spot.
Top Shelf and the Three Lonely Parking Spots
The exterior is a typical free standing restaurant, well maintained but showing signs of aging. The roof and front door could use a face lift, but on the other hand their age actually gives the restaurant a bit of character, adding to that “authentic” Mexican Food feel.
Interior / Ambiance:
It’s funny, but I often joke with my friends that I think all Mexican food places smell the same when you first walk in. Most people think that this is because most places are all cooking the same or similar types of food, but I think it's for another reason, and it’s still fairly accurate when describing Top Shelf. I think the actual reason for this is that Top Shelf, like many restaurants in the Phoenix area, used to have a “smoking” and “non-smoking” separation, as well as allowing smoking at the bar. Once our state passed the law to make smoking indoors illegal, the restaurants did what they could to remove the smell…but after years of smoking, sometimes it just sticks. The subtle and faint smell of tobacco long gone stains the air and yet the smell of fresh salsa and baking chips helps provide a delicious aroma when walking through the doors.
The first thing you will see is an old, dried up fountain in the center of the foyer. To the right is an extra long green cushioned booth to sit at while waiting for a table. I would like to mention that I have never had to wait literally more than 2 minutes for a table at Top Shelf. Even when the place is insanely packed, the wait time is very minimal.
Near the booths is an old arcade machine, which sits a few feet from the door. The seating booth extends several feet to the edge of the bar, which pours into another separate part of the building.
Top Shelf actually has a great bar and “lounge” area -- open seating available to any who want to have a few chips, munch on a burrito, and sip a Corona while watching the football game. It’s a nice division for people who don’t particularly want to sit in the dining room, or wait for a table.
The dining room is typical; large booths and tables spread out with various historical Mexican artifacts hanging from the walls. Large paintings of pueblos and old clay huts litter the walls, and bushels and baskets of crushed red peppers accent the old brick decor. It’s nothing special – aged and out dated, sure, but at least it feels somewhat authentic.
The Service:
The service at Top Shelf is pretty standard. Nothing amazing, nothing horrible. It’s standard! The waiters and waitresses have always greeted us with a smile, often times having the chips and salsa in hand as they greet us. Let me tell you that this does wonders for the brownie points department, especially if you come to Top Shelf feeling famished.
There was one occasion where our waiter not only put up with our outrageous requests to substitute things in our meals (I wanted no meat on my salad, my wife wanted only cheese and lettuce) he also brought us two drinks without charging us. We normally figure that they do this on purpose as part of a “lunch combo” and tend to not bring it up when paying our bill, but instead we give an extraordinary tip to reflect our thanks for saving us $5 on drinks. We hope that this doesn’t get the server in trouble, but whatever happens beyond that point…we leave to them to deal with!
The Food:
Ahh the food. Top Shelf has some pretty authentic, delicious Mexican food. I have ordered a number of things there – from an al a carte burrito, to the taco salad, a chimi, the plain chicken sandich, to the mini-chimis. Everything we’ve ordered has come out to specification and has been quite delicious, but since this is a Mexican food restaurant, I think it’s best to start with the chips and salsa.
The chips and salsa at Top Shelf are pretty darn good. Not too chunky, not too runny, their corn chips are fried fresh and are usually served very hot. They also have a pretty tasty hot salsa available at no charge upon request. The best salsa I usually have consists of mixing the mild with the hot and coming up with my own concoction, but it’s all pretty good – and being free makes it that much sweeter.
Chips and Salsa: The Staple to Every Good Mexican Food Restaurant
For this visit, I had the shredded beef (machaca) burrito, al a carte. This actually sounds like a fairly lonesome order. A burrito arriving alone on a plate with only a few shreds of lettuce to keep it company…I can see how that might be misleading.
A Giant 2lb Burrito
But let’s get something straight: This is not some Taco Bell burrito. This is a real burrito. This burrito weighs a good 2lbs and is stuffed full of spicy, delicious machaca beef. It’s hot and juicy and each bite is overflowing with flavor. I usually jokingly refer to it as a “protein tube” because of all the beef in it. Top Shelf usually offers to prepare the burro in a number of ways including fundido style, with sour cream, deep fried (chimi style), but I usually just get it plain. I like it that way.
My wife ordered the “mini chimi” platter. The MC platter can be ordered with either beef or chicken, but almost everyone I know, including my wife, usually gets the “half and half” style which combines 4 chicken and 4 beef.
Eight Mini Chimis
The MCs are delicious, but pretty standard. They are deep fried, smothered with cheese, tomatoes, and green onions, and served with beans and sour cream for dipping. Each bite is piping hot and goes well with the sauces, plain, or even with the salsa. I’d like to mention that Top Shelf does not charge extra for the beans and sour cream to dip in. That’s important to note because another local Mexican food place (Manual’s) actually charged us $1.75 for a side of sour cream to dip our mini chimis in. This is usually “Ok” but we were never notified that ordering this sour cream came at nearly a $2 cost.
The Price:
My wife got a very nice picture of the menu, so if you are curious about the prices just check that out. If you don’t feel like looking in greater detail – everything on the menu ranges from about $1 dollar from a side, to up to $14.95 for fajitas. There are alcoholic beverages and things that obviously range in their own ways, but during happy hour the prices are pretty darn low.
Usually for the two of us we can get out of there for about $23 after tip for a lunch visit, and around $27 for dinner with tip. That includes the two meals with drinks. We usually have no room for desert so we have never ordered it with desert.
So just to quickly recap:
- Two people for lunch, with drinks, no desert: $19-23
- Two people for dinner, with drinks, no desert: $22-27
The Verdict:
We used to enjoy going to a local Mexican food place near where used to live (Jalapenos – which I will review someday) and when we moved we started missing it. We quickly drove around and started to survey the local restaurants and were quite happy to find another restaurant to replace our old love of Jalapenos. Luckily, we found Top Shelf.
We used to enjoy going to a local Mexican food place near where used to live (Jalapenos – which I will review someday) and when we moved we started missing it. We quickly drove around and started to survey the local restaurants and were quite happy to find another restaurant to replace our old love of Jalapenos. Luckily, we found Top Shelf.
While it is not a 5 star restaurant, it does the job. It’s close to our house, it’s not very expensive, there is never a long wait, and the food is delicious and enjoyable. Overall, it’s a darn good value when we want some good Mexican food and don’t feel like driving far or going to a chain. Usually, when listing off Mexican food places – Top Shelf is on the top of our list.
