Fate
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Dinner, Late Night
- Alcohol: Full Bar
60 Reviews for Fate
The food is always excellent and the atmosphere and waitstaff are wonderful as well. I love having a drink at the outdoor bar next door while I wait for my table at Fate. The food is always really fresh and unlike anywhere in Phoenix! They always take reservations and I love how they serve food late--one of only a few places in the area!
This is one of those reviews where I don't have too much to say.
I ordered the House Dynamite with shrimp and it was good. Not out-of-this-world good, but I'd-order-it-again good. My fellow yelper dining companions liked their dishes too for the most part. If I lived in that area I might go there more, but it's not a place I will go out of my way to go to.
The outside seating and bar area look cool (we sat inside right by the kitchen) and would be really nice for drinks at night. The two downers were the amount of flies and the fact that I was running a few minutes behind and the chick wouldn't sit my friends before I got there. Really? And the place was empty too, so it's not like they were holding anyone up.
A solid 3 stars from me.
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I really enjoy the atmosphere however the food is worse than a microwave dinner. I think the buy bing bags of stirfry from costco!!
We got there and they didnt seat us for 30mins. When there were tables. Then we got seated and didnt get the food for 1 and a half hours.
We kept trying to grab the witress but she would avoid us. Then we would ask othe waitresses and they said the would check.
People were coming and going that got there after us!!!
Finally I got aggressive with our waitress and we saw her walk to the chef and put in our order!!!
She forgot to put in our order!!!
Since she wanted to pretend like it was just taking a long time she fucked the whole order up because she was going off memory and couldnt ask us because then we would know.
The food came finally and it was all crap we didnt even order!!!
We told her to forget the whole thing we are leaving and not paying.
She grabbed her manager who told us.
"she is on thin ice with the owner who is right there. I can take it off the bill but there is a good chance we will get her fired. Or the waitress will pay for half out of her pocket"
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course I told her the whole meal needs to be free and it was extremely unprofessional that she would blame a waitress getting fired because we waited a total of 2 hrs for the wrong meals we didnt eat!!
It would have been rated a zero star but I gave it 2 because now they are a bar too and that portion is pretty cool.
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Fate was okay. Nothing to write home about. The food was flavor-less. We had their
- steamed spinach buns: pretty good really. dipping sauce was a little weak - too much salt.
- fried tofu wedges: okay. could have been seasoned better before fried. garnish was weak.
- house dynamite: had this with chicken. the chicken was pre-cooked and tasted old. the sweet and sour sauce was okay - not distinct. I think the dish could have been better with more ginger or something.
- hong-kong flat noodles: sauce was weak. could have had more garlic.
overall, the bar area is kinda cool next door to fate. but, the restaurant needs some work. starting with the hostess. the hostess stand is buried in the back of the place and she acts like you should know who she is. She was rude. Didn't greet us - It's was more like:
-"What?"
- "Um, Hi, can we put our name down?" (this is a restaurant, right?)
- "Oh, yeah, if you want. It's going to be like an hour."
- "Okay, great. We'll go next door."
-
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I've had better food but this is a good place to chill at... not to mention they have GOOD Mojito's!!
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I love Fate! LOVE it. I love Fate so much, sometimes I want to take it behind the school and get it pregnant!
Their green tea milk is AMAZING. I go cuckoo for it. For reals! Their little mushrooms are so good too. Oh my god, they are like little mini mushrooms. If keebler elf's, harvested mushrooms, these would be it! So good! If it's your first time, trust me: get the crab puffs, grab yourself a cool refreshing hulk-alishist Green Tea Milk, and go for the Hong Kong flat noodles. So good!
And what about those little wafer cookies they give you at the end? They are like air! But better! (...they have calories...maybe they are not like air...but in a perfect world? Like Air!)
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Fate has great food, but lacks on every other level. I live three blocks away so its upsetting to see a place with so much potential fail.
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I was actually pretty shocked to see any negative reviews for Fate on here. The whole bun scenario listed a few reviews down sounds like a fiasco, but thankfully i've never had a negative experience there, and i've been there god only knows how many times.
Fate is my favorite restaurant. i discovered it late one night (well, early morning, actually) after helping a friend shoot a burlesque show downtown. I was amazed that they were open that late (I think it was one...maybe two A.M.?). He insisted that I'd be amazed, and I was.
I have had to wait a few times to get in, but usually that was because it was First Friday. It's understandable, because it's a small place (like most of the places downtown), and it's pretty popular. Besides, you can always call ahead and make a reservation if you don't want to wait. It's not a big deal.
The service the first time and each subsequent visit was excellent, and the food was brought out ridiculously fast. The crab puffs are to die for, and I honestly have trouble narrowing down which martini is the best. The pad thai martini is just amazingly weird enough to be good, but the spicy cucumber is out of this world. I've tried a number of dishes, but I always come back to the spicy Saigon with shrimp. I'm glad I don't live nearby, or I'd go there all the time. This way it's always a treat when I go.
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The bartender remembered my name. HA! Fate is rad... dining experience not so much. Actually Ive never eaten here. We either decided not to go through it or someone ate my dinner because they had too many cocktails. When you go, park on the street, stay for the cocktails - for they are large and in charge, leave for the food and don't climb the wall.
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I hate Fate!
My fate at Fate has always been to have a mediocre meal that takes too long. Don't even bother with a group as it only makes the servers even more surly than normal and the food even slower to arrive.
The last time I was there, I was with a group (bad idea, per my comment above). Several folks asked that their food be prepared mild. When the food came, every dish on the table was nuclear hot. I can handle hot food, but this was on par with Los Dos Molinos. When we mentioned this to our server, she told us that it all has to do with the peppers they have on hand at any given time. She patiently explained that the heat levels of the peppers vary (Duh!), but the chef always uses the same amount of pepper and never tastes the food. Therefore, the heat level varies wildly and there is no consistency. Frankly, any chef who doesn't taste their food needs to get out of the kitchen and into another line of work.
The concept of the menu with the various preparations and the choice of proteins is great. Sadly, Fate falls apart in its execution.
It's a lot less flashy, but you get a consistent meal at China Chili where they also know how to regulate the heat in their food. Apparently their chefs actually taste their dishes.
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I want to like Fate but I just don't. They cater to my vegan cravings so how bad can it be? But I just get a really shitty vibe when I walk in... Like it's sooo annoying that I want to eat there. This could all be in my head. I think everyone should try it for themselves.
That said, what's not in my head is the pricing structure of their drinks next door. Holy mother of chicken, Christmas and rice. Those are some pricey fuckin' drinks. The ambiance is cool but it doesn't justify it. Not to this wretched skank's soul.
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I love Fate, and have been there dozens of times. I agree with a lot of reviewers about the attitudes from the girls who work there. They act as though you are a bother. I can't understand why someone would work a job they hate. The food though, is incredibly tasty, and has plenty of options for vegitarians and carnivores. I like the hipster atmosphere and the food a ton. The drinks are weak, and overpriced, but the food reasonable. This translates over to next door where they charge 9 bucks for a well drink. They also treat you like scum. I'm only giving this restaurant a 4 because I pay a lot more attention to food quality and taste than I do service. I also love the fact they are open late. I work til 10pm most nights so its good to have an option that isn't fast food.
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I've stuck by Fate since its humble beginnings years ago and it remains one of my main must-stops in Phoenix. The owner/chef has supported local dance music and DJs since the days of the Lucky Dragon in Tempe and will always have my respect. Fate has also been a key part of that amazing area's revitalization, so I totally give love where love is due.
Johnny Chu's pad thai, while tremendously untraditional, is one of my favorite dishes and a routine craving. It's unique and has Chu's own twist to it -- a true original. Prices are reasonable, portions are great and the sauces (regardless of the dish) are savory and make me homesick for mama's cooking.
Any establishment with extended night-owl hours gets the big up, too.
Service can be spotty and yeah, the place blows up on First Fridays, so I tend to get takeout and avoid the high-volume nights.
Wow, i can't believe how many reviews this place already has. From the outside the place didn't look like it was open. then upon entering you feel like you have just found a diamond in the rough. I felt Leanardo Dicaprio in the beach making new discoveries on his travels. anyhow, we had the thai spring rolls and saigon egg rolls for starters. I really enjoyed the egg rolls. spring rolls were good as well but there was just 2. For the main courses we had Xa HO Fun with beef and chicken. dont get the beef just chicken as the meat is mediocre. The waitress mentioned this to me but I have ADD and did't listen! We also had the house dynamite and this was very good. the cookies that come with the bill were GREAT! Cool atmosphere and really enjoyed Simon lutrin's artwork which can be seen at simonlutrin.com. check it out you will be glad you did!
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I'm not sure why I'm bothering to review Fate myself, since dozens of other people have already done so. I guess it's because I've become a little disillusioned with the place.
My husband and his friends have come here all the time for years. Often, they bring me, and I love the food. The tofu is always perfectly crispy, the dishes (especially the chow fun) are excellent and the drink menu is fun and creative.
So why 3 stars?
Simply, this place has developed a really bad attitude. Fate is like that friend in middle school who suddenly decided she was "too cool" for you, and started moving away from you at the lunch table and then sabotaging your cheer leading routines.
Last time we came here, the bar next door to it had just opened -- so we made some allowances for slowness -- but STILL. We made reservations and still had to wait an hour. That's ridiculous. Then we had just purchased expensive drinks and were not allowed to bring them to the restaurant. No apologies, nothing.
That particular night, after an hour, we were still table-less and about to leave, as we had seen plenty of couples who were apparently *friends* with the waitstaff (and who had come much later than we had) get seated, while we waited... and waited.. .and waited... Finally, the owner of the restaurant saw us complaining, recognized my husband's friend, and found us seating.
Now, a few days ago, we called to make reservations and dared to ask if they had something earlier than 9:30. What did we get? A snappy, smart ass response.
No thanks, Fate. There are plenty of other places opening up downtown and we'll start to take our business there. I love what you're doing to downtown Phoenix, but that slowly swelling head on your shoulders isn't attractive.
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I absolutely loved fate, the food the atmosphere and even the wait staff! It was a fantastic downtown experience and can see why everyone loves the place. The urban jungle atmosphere and zen like indie art on the walls truly completed the asthetics and made for a beautiful back drop. Both dishes we orderd were delcious. I love the way they prepared the tofu. Superb! Nest door is a lounge i believe with a DJ spinning some chill grooves. It was a great date joint. So I highly recommend it! 4 and a 1/2 stars.....
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How I came upon Fate one fateful night is quite random. I was at Hidden House Cocktail Lounge for a few drinks and looking for a good place to eat (it was late, after 1am I am sure). A waitress recommended this new place (Fate) she heard of that had just recently opened so I decided to give it a try. This was in early 2004 when Fate was still BYOB. I remember that night vividly, the place wasn't at all busy and I am pretty sure it was a weekend (hard to believe!). Not knowing it was BYOB I had dinner dry but it was amazing. I decided on the House Dynamite with Chicken and a pot of Jasmine Tea. The food was excellent and the tea was so good I had the waiter put the remainder in a soup cup to go. I left the joint feeling like I discovered something new. This is how I like to remember Fate.
Unfortunately the reality is that each time I have gone since then the magic has waned a little. Changes were made, portions got smaller, interior modifications, even little things like the switch from nice square Asian inspired plates to hokey oversized round bowl type plates, four of which barely fit on the tiny tables at Fate. My most recent visit was late February and while I will still continue to patronize Fate I have no hopes of ever re-living that first night.
There are however, some praises I must make. Fate is one of the few places I have found that serves Xingu Brazilian Black Beer. Fantastic stuff. They also stock some very nice hard to find wines, de Lozar Tinto Fino/Tempranillo being my favorite. The House Dynamite is still tasty, though smaller, and the large patio (and soon to be house next-door) has definitely reduced wait times in Fate's post-hidden-gem era. Still worth a visit by all means but don't expect any magic.
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I think Fate is delicious and great! I love the remodeled house the restaurant is in....super cute! Fate's crab puffs are simply amazing,filled with cream cheese and crab goodness! The hong kong flat rice noodles are scrumptious! The sauce on the flat rice noodles is SO flavorful, I could eat them all day! I don't get all of the bad reviews on Fate. I think those people are simply crazy!
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I had to sleep on this one a few nights.
I take a negative review status seriously, and to me a "2" is pretty bad.
The facilities are awesome. Outdoor bar rocks. But right away it seemed too loud, which remined me that I may be too old.
30m wait ended up being over 1 hour (Not managing expectations).
Spinach Buns were a solid "4" Yum.. Must have.
Vegge Spring rolls (not fried) were horrible - "1". It was like eating a shredded Daikon Radish. There was NOTHING else in them! Why?
Ordered a chicken thing that was marginal.
And a Beef (leather) thing with noodles.
They served a small cup of rice that I thought was amazing. The steamed rice was a "5" for me.
The beef was remarkably like seasoned leather. As an amateur chef I sincerely cannot decide what techniques I would employ to make it so tough and flavorless. It would be hard to reproduce.
Time to get back to basics. This was no "Flo's" or "Changs".
The service didn't suck, but close.
Hoping it was just an off night, but .?
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People seem to love or hate this place... "fate hate"?
Anyway, I lean towards the love, it is a charming converted home right in downtown. The chef is a genius, the food was unique and memorable. Get reservations or cross your fingers!
My only complaint is that the place gets a little stuffy in the summer.
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Super yummy. I've only been here once, it seems all the other times I tried to go, they were closed... bummer.
I had Pad Thai and crab puffs... both amazing. Keep wanting to go back... hopefully I get the chance soon. Gary and I need to compare their crab puffs with our other favorite crab puffs so we can pick a personal favorite crab puff in Phoenix.
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First of all, Johnny Chu should be ashamed to call himself a chef. He is barely a line cook. As stated in previous reviews, he doesn't even taste his own food (which accounts for the wide margin of variety a single dish may have on two different visits).
So, I made reservations, thinking I may be able to sit at the bar because I arrived 10 minutes early. Wrong. I was ordered to wait outside. Nearly 45 minutes later, and a drink at the bar next door, I inquired about my table. The girl didn't even look up at me to acknowledge I had said anything. After a minute or so of staring at her while she continued to ignore me, she finally said my table was ready. Hmm.
The food is horrible. I fear those of you who enjoy it, rather enjoy the "atmosphere" and come here to be seen. The food is either completely bland (e.g., my curry, which tasted of water with a slight hint of something I couldn't even recognize) or so hot as to mask any possible flavor. By calling themselves "authentic Asian" cuisine is just silly. There are so many hole-in-the-wall Asian restaurants that could cook Chu under the table blindfolded.
So, the rude, nonexistent service, the insanely overpriced food, and to be seen is what you're paying for. If you enjoy being treated like shit and fed food that I wouldn't feed in a troth for pigs--you may enjoy this place and good for you!
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For downtown phx, this place was once pretty cool. But the 'bigger' it got, the portions got smaller, the food got worse and the service got snottier and it's pretty much a skip now.
I do love a few of the menu items. But I think its mostly due to the large amount of MSG used in the them and the excellent tofu preparation. The sauces are one step from the grocery store otherwise, and hugely overpriced for what they are.
The concept of making people wait even when the restaurant is empty is ridiculous. It doesn't make you look cool, Fate, it makes you look like you don't give a shit about your customers. Also, the hiring practice there seems to be 'no serving experience, vapid, hipster, 'hot' girl?' PERFECT! and thus, the service often blows. (save for a few servers that have been there forever, and are awesome)
I used to love this place when the food was better and it was less pretentious years ago. Now its just overrated and overhyped. A true sign of how a lack of competition allows even the worst to survive.
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I heard about this guy Sarah K. went out with on 12/12. They didn't quite click, but he sounded up my alley. We totally hit it off and had all kinds of romantic dinners and wild nights. Then we got married and made tons of babies and they all grew up to become supreme court justices. This is how I feel about Fate.
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Ever since I moved to the area I've been wanting to try this place. Since we are now in walking distance, I wanted to make sure that I tried this place ASAP!
So last night, me and my man-friend decided to run out for a quick dinner and decided that Fate was at the top of our list!
We showed up and was a bit confused by the bar outside...but after we sat down, our waiter explained that the bar next door (which plays GREAT dance music) is associated to Fate...but a different "entity". One more comment about the bar...there is a big patio that is going to be awesome for the quickly approaching summer!
So back to Fate...we tried the Pot Stickers which were really good and some cocktails. Man-friend tried the Cucumber Kamikaze, which was AWESOME! For dinner we had the Pad Thai w/Chicken and Szechwan Beef. Both were good and extra spicy! The spice here is not for the faint of hearts...it's the real deal. Bring some tissues to wipe your brow and your nose! ;)
One final great touch with Fate was the little miniature cookies that they give you with your bill. These airy little cookies taste like vanilla wafers...and I can't wait to go back for more!
The service was good and we had a great time! I If you are in the neighborhood, you've gotta stop by. They have a cool outside bar as well.
One final note...our waiter shared with us that Fate is open until 2:30am with full menu service on the weekends...so if you are Downtown after a night of drinking...swing by here and grab a midnight snack.
4/2008 ~Update~
After eating at Wild Thaiger...which isn't too far away, this place definitely seems lacking. Less flavorful and not as authentic. If I ever had a choice between the two, I would pick Wild Thaiger in a heartbeat!
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I haven't yelped in about 2 months, and I was waiting for a place to either wow me or disgust me. Well, this place was that bad.
First impressions were all right -- the outside bar was neat w/ good views of downtown, and the fire pits were nice. No beers on tap though; and seriously, what's with the hip-hop club DJ at 7:00 pm? Come on guys, way too early for that.
It wasn't too long before three of us were seated; and after about 10 minutes, our waitress came up and asked us whether we were ready to ... oh wait, that's right, no menus yet, good job. O.k., so I ordered the Thai Spring rolls, which had a filling of lettuce, a single strip of carrot, and noodles. Seriously?! Main course, I ordered the curry, which turned out to be the worst curry in the world -- I don't even know if it was curry; it was more like a bowl of thick, yellow soup, with a few pieces of chicken and a couple of vegetables tossed in. Yuck. And then they only gave me a tiny bowl of rice. I'm sorry, isn't it supposed to be the other way around? My friends completely agreed with how bad the place was (I think they had some sort of stir fry, which they said was bland and pointless).
So yeah, I don't recommend this place. Instead, head a block over to The Roosevelt for some good beer on tap and some pretty good food.
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NEVER AGAIN will I return to Fate, and I forewarn all of you, our Fate could be yours.
Once upon a time I was a Fate loyalist.
That was before my last encounter, First Friday in February 2008.
I used to frequent Fate on a weekly or biweekly basis, going back as far as the Lucky Dragon days in Tempe.
What happened that Friday night I will never forget, they called the cops on me. Yes, the Phoenix Police Department.
Let me explain:
We had a medium sized table, there were 8 of us.
For appetizers, we ordered 3 sets of spinach buns.
When the spinach buns were served, we tore into them like usual, and got mouths full of paper.
They all came out with paper packaging on the bottom.
It was fairly obvious what happened; one of the cooks forgot to remove the paper before they steamed the buns. Unfortunately, it wasn't just on the bottom, but cooked into the bottom of the buns.
It was impossible to remove the paper without removing half of the buns. We gave it a go, and it tore the filling out and the remainder of the bun tasted like nasty paper.We must have ordered these buns over 100 times, and this had never happened to us before.
At first we didn't think it was that big of a deal, we asked our server to replace the buns and he apologized, took the remaining 6 full and 3 half eaten buns and said he would get the new orders out quickly, sans paper packaging.
After about 5 minutes, the manager came over and very rudely explained that they were NOT going to make our buns over and that she would offer us a 15% discount for the problem.
We all laughed thinking she was joking, but she was serious.
We again explained our situation to her, and asked if they couldn't re-make the buns then they should be taken off our check.
She refused to do that and said that we would have to pay for them but with a 15% discount. That's and ONE and a FIVE, not a FIVE and a ZERO.
I explained to her that we weren't going to pay for the buns if they didn't remake them, and that what was served to us was inedible because the packaging was cooked into the food.
She again asserted her position and then walked away.
Not more than 5 minutes later the police showed up.
They said she had called 911 stating we were refusing to pay our bill.
We explained the situation to the police and they were upset they were even called out since we weren't refusing to pay our entire bill, just the portion which was served inedible.
It was a civil matter, not a criminal one.
They tried to mediate the situation but the manager would not budge.
She called Jonny, the owner (and her husband) and explained the situation to him, and he backed her up, even praising her for calling the police on us.
My party and I were completely dumbfounded.
This local restaurant we had been frequenting for almost 10 years could care less about us.
At this point we were all tired, it was almost 3 am and we wanted to go home.
I only had my debit card and they kept bringing the bill out with the spinach buns on it.
I repeatedly said I wanted them removed and that I would not pay for them since they were inedible, and they refused to take it off the check.
I instructed the server in front of the police to only charge my card for the food I ate, and not the spinach buns.
I could not have been more clear about it, stating about 5 times that he only charge $27 to the card.
He rang it up for the full amount, almost $40.
It was here where Fate broke the law.
Unauthorized, they rang my debit card and then it became a police matter.
They took all of our IDs, and the IDs of the Fate staffers and wrote up a report. We sat there in the cold morning air, waiting for the cops to finish their paperwork, wondering what had happened to this once friendly and inviting restaurant.
NEVER AGAIN will I return to Fate, and I forewarn all of you, our Fate could be yours.
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Fate is defintly on heavy rotation for me. I really like how It is low-key. The food is really good and the staff is nice. I would defintly recommend calling ahead, the restaurant is a converted post war home (probably 950 sq. feet), so you could be waiitng for awhile. They don't really have a seating area to wait-that would be their only down fall. Try the tofu with your dish, it is so good.
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I've been here for lunch once. When I went the weather was beautiful and sitting outside near the garage, was outstanding. The atmosphere is nice and down to earth, with a dash of trendy. The food was slightly above average.
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Picture a first date. You meet this guy. Good-looking, seems nice (maybe a little "too cool for school"), but you are intrigued. You start chatting and collectively decide to grab a cup of coffee. And after an enjoyable interlude, you get up, give a small wave, saying, " I gotta run, I'll call you, this was fun" knowing very well you will never see or speak to this person ever again. And you just can't explain why. This is how I feel about Fate.
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Imagine this: over the course of 3 hours, you've imbibed about 6 Hobgoblins at The Lost Leaf. Your comrad - playing it safe, since driving - watched you down this UK tasty treat, while enjoying her own. Then you both decide to wander the block. That's when you make a stop at Fate. It being around midnight, the interior is decorated with only a few patrons, mostly at the bar. You two snatch a table inside, near the door, and begin to partake of the tempting apps - egg rolls, dumplings. One has another beer - part of the "sober up" process, he assures you. The Sober One munches contently, admiring the art on the walls, the low lighting, the discovery of a place for "after the bar," when she gets the munchies and the night is winding down, near ready for her lovely face to meet her pillow.
So, next time you're in the area, make sure to go to Fate. They offer a good array of menu items, which makes this place a great spot to go before the bar(s), or after.
They could invest in a better beer selection, but since they offered Kronenberg 1664, who am I to complain? (The Drunk One didn't.) Besides, I s'pose if you're looking for selection, you'll make the one-block trek to The Lost Leaf.
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Fate offers a pan-Asian menu with Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese influences. The restaurant has become a popular part of the Downtown scene due to its flavorful food, contemporary decor, and late hours (serving until 3 AM Friday and Saturday). Fate occupies a restored house on Fourth Street and is generally considered part of the Roosevelt Row cluster of independent businesses at the north end of Downtown.
For several years, the restaurant lacked a prominent sign and was hard to find, but in October 2007, the restaurant added a giant Buddha face, a sign at the corner of Garfield and Fourth Streets, and an outdoor bar with a mushroom-shaped canopy. All of these additions make the restaurant easier to locate and create an attractive outdoor waiting area for those arriving on busy nights without reservations.
Favorite appetizers include steamed spinach buns and Thai spring rolls. There are also several salads and soups with appropriate East Asian touches. The entrees, which number approximatey a dozen, all begin with a sauce and vegetable assortment with the choice of beef, chicken, shrimp, and tofu as protein sources. Sauces for most dishes tend to be intensely flavored, although not overpoweringly spicy. A variety of bottled beers and wines are available, along with teas, fruit juices, and sodas.
In contrast to the family-sized sharing portions at most neighborhood Chinese restaurants, the portions at Fate are generally rather small. Customers eating at Fate with full appetites should order both an appetizer and an entree per person. Because of the small portions, the value at Fate may not be as good as at other restaurants such as China Chili, but most of Fate's loyal customers seem to think that the artsy atmosphere and the high-quality food provide a suitable return on investment. Unlike many popular downtown establishments, Fate accepts reservations, although the staff usually require all members of a party to arrive before seating. Fate serves lunch Monday through Friday, and dinner Monday through Saturday. On both Friday and Saturday nights, Fate stays open late until 3 AM the next morning.
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I don't know what else I can say that hasn't already been said about Fate, but here goes.
The food at Fate is like a warm spicy Asian orgasm on a plate. The martinis send me to another level of heaven. Johnny Chu is a genius and I will cry if he ever leaves Phoenix.
I think that about covers it.
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Wow. I've been reading the other reviews and I'm honestly shocked. I've been coming here since it first opened and no one knew anything about it. I liked it better when it was small and unknown, but that's because I could enjoy it at my leisure. The owner would often come out and chat up the customers and the business in a house was a fairly new phenomenon.
The food has been consistently tasty and fairly priced. The only thing to change over the years is the architecture and decor. I've taken all sorts of people here to eat and no one has ever disagreed that it was the best Chinese food.
I have always had at least adequate service on First Fridays. The rest of the time, the service is as wonderful as the food.
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Stay away. Far away.
I had been hearing about Fate for a while. I had high expectations, since I had been to Lucky Dragon in the past (the owners prev joint) which was OK.
It was the worst Chinese/Asian I've had in AZ, the service was terrible, the chairs uncomfortable, and to top it off my fiancee got food poisoning.... and has been sick for the last 2 days from it. I took her to the ER this morning at 4:30 AM and decided to finally start posting on Yelp since I've been a lurker for a while.
Aesthetics:
Initially looks like a typical hipster restaurant like you might find in another city. Nice patio, cool inside. However... The seating at a bus stop is more comfy. There is no chair back - just this high bar thing that digs into your back.
I'm going to file this under aesthetics - we ordered the Hot and Sour soup (more on that later) and the waitress suggested it was large enough to share. However, they apparently don't have any kind of serving utensil, so we had to use our little soup spoons to serve ourself soup into another bowl out of this wide shallow terrine. WTF?
Service:
I don't know a nicer way to say it, our waitress was a dopey bimbo. It took 20 minutes for her to take our order. She went missing for long periods of time when I had an empty water glass, and then for a while longer after I tracked her down and asked for some. Not good.
Food:
I ran into a friend there, and he commented at how he loved the food and was surprised we didn't like it. To be blunt, it was utter crap.
The hot and sour soup was thin and spicy. That's it. It tasted like chiles and a splash of rice wine vinegar- no other flavors present. It's not like any hot and sour soup I ever had.... in a bad way. There are these weird chewy dumplings like things in it that would be better served at protecting the floor from your chair leg.
I ordered some Saigon basil something or other dish with beef, she ordered the Lemon Grass whatever with tofu.
My dish was bad. The beef was sliced thin but tough and chewy, and totally lacked flavor. As for basil, there were 2 small basil leaves in the dish, and that's it. The sauce was thin and one dimensional.
Her lemon grass dish was also bad. The sauce tasted like Tom Yum paste from the chinese grocery store mixed with some water. I felt bad for the poor abused tofu.
I'm not a big fan of chain restaurants.... but Pei Wei and Pickup Sticks are about 10x better in terms of food quality and taste. Screw that, even the chinese place in the mall food court is better. I am not exaggerating. It was a very disappointing meal.
Now for the nasty part.
I drank water - Fiancee unit drank th 'Green Tea.' It was like no other green tea I ever had seen. It was leprechaun green, with some kind of milk like substance in it.I thought it looked kinda funky, but she drank it.
It was the only difference between our meals. I tried hers, she tried mine, etc. I didn't drink the science experiment tea.
Well... Several hours later she started having stabbing stomach pains. She spent the whole night up vomiting and with diarrhea. 2 days later the vomiting has subsided but she's missed 2 days of school and is still pooping up a storm. I took her to the ER at 4:30 AM this morning and they confirmed the symptoms were consistent with food poisoning. Admittedly she had just gotten back a 45 days ago from a trip to a 3rd world country where she got (and recovered from) a tropical disease so her immune system is not at it's strongest right now, but come on. This shouldn't be the end result. Plus this IS downtown Phoenix so there are plenty of people around with compromised immune systems, if you know what I mean, due to lifestyle choices.
There is some great Asian food in Central Phoenix.
Maxim and Da Vang are great Vietnamese places on 19th ave.
The Cultural Center has a few great places, esp Golden Buddha.
Thai Lahna has been consistently good for years.
Like I said I don't eat a lot of chain food - but even the Pei Wei at 7th ave and McDowell is way better in terms of food quality.
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The place is pretty good. The staff is friendly.....the atmosphere is great......the decor is funky & cool.
But, the food was tasty but the rice was dry, cold & hard. I would say the food is average.
That said, I would say the place is fun. I wouldn't drive all the way downtown for it...but if I was in the area, it's a good place to stop.
If the city of Phoenix were to ever put out a book "Downtown for Dummies", Fate would land the cover spread. It is like the Mary Jane of downtown establishments, a gateway drug into our city's inner core.
Leery suburbanites -- and oh are they visible -- lurk into the restored bungalow and mingle with the Scenies. After eating here, they are convinced that they want to come downtown more and urban-out. For this, I am very appreciative of Fate. We need more people downtown after-hours (5PM ... booo!) and Fate is their subpoena.
And this is just what their gentle palates need -- swankish pan-asian pabulum that outshines P.F., but in reality would all make us feel and look a little silly if we boasted it as our premiere Asian restaurant to a New Yorker, Seattlite, or San Franciscan. Fate is a sleek little spot that feels cooler than it is and keeps you coming back based on the atmosphere and above average food.
I have absolutely no problem eating here -- its good for groups now because their outside patio is huge -- but I'm not going here to be wowed by the food. I have my two dishes that I don't vary from now and I suspect that once you become a regular you will have those dishes that you will rely on when the time comes for you to throw your divorce party with all of your other psycho suburbanite girlfriends before hitting up Postino.
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