Angie's opened its newest restaurant at the southeast corner of Glendale and 19th avenues on Tuesday, the first domino in a nine-location Arizona expansion for the fast-growing chain built on the promise of steak, lobster and pizza at fast-food prices. The new spot offers drive-thru service, dine-in seating and online ordering, and it's open from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, with breakfast service planned for later on.
The Phoenix opening is the first of what Mouth by Southwest describes as nine new valley-area locations, and the company has confirmed the broader rollout to other outlets as well. According to Axios, Angie's plans to add nine locations across Arizona, with seven new restaurants coming to Goodyear, Mesa, Phoenix and Queen Creek, while Casa Grande and Maricopa are set to get their very first Angie's. The first three new restaurants, including the Glendale Avenue store, were expected to open within six weeks of that August announcement, landing at 19th and Glendale, at 19th Avenue and Baseline Road in Phoenix, and at Alma School and Guadalupe roads in Mesa.
No Firm Timeline For the Remaining Six Stores
There's no set schedule yet for the other six locations, and Axios reports some of those openings could stretch into 2027. The same report's reporting is echoed by whatnow.com, which says the company hopes to open the first three restaurants within six weeks and get the rest open by the end of the year — though that target isn't guaranteed. Either way, the Valley is about to have a lot more access to a menu that reaches well beyond typical drive-thru fare.
New to the Glendale Avenue menu are Grande Tacos, a $3.99 item built on an 8-inch, locally made flour tortilla stuffed with three ounces of USDA prime seasoned beef — a blend of top sirloin, ribeye and chuck — along with pepper jack cheese, romaine and red onion. Diners can upgrade to a supreme version with cilantro-lime sauce and guacamole for $1.39 extra. The store also debuted 12-inch pizzas made with San Marzano tomato sauce and in-house grated whole-milk mozzarella, per Fabulous Arizona. A cheese pizza runs $6.99, pepperoni is $7.99, and a spicy honey pepperoni version tops out at $8.99.
A Menu Built Around Prime Ingredients at Fast-Food Prices
The rest of the menu leans into the same formula: the signature salad starts at $4.99 and can be topped with grilled-to-order antibiotic-free chicken or a house-made falafel patty, and customers can choose from nine salad styles including Caesar, Cobb, Greek, Asian, harvest, Mexican, spicy honey ranch, BBQ ranch or build-your-own. Protein bowls start at $7.39 for double chicken with three sides, with options that also include steak, surf and turf, wild-caught shrimp, salmon or falafel. Whatnow.com notes the broader lineup spans salads, warm bowls, burritos, burgers, fried chicken, seafood, breakfast items and drinks, and fountain drinks, iced tea, lemonade and cold brew all run 99 cents. After 4 p.m., two dinner-for-two deals bundle entrées or a pizza with sides and drinks for $9.99 each.
Azcentral.com frames Angie's as the most obvious affordable, healthy fast-food alternative to emerge after Salad and Go's stores closed, pointing to the chain's use of USDA prime steak, Maine lobster, Mexican colossal shrimp, antibiotic-free chicken and organic produce at prices well below typical fast food. The company says that formula is possible because of vertical integration: Angie's owns a Phoenix distribution center that handles beverage and sauce processing, an antibiotic-free chicken processing facility in Chandler, and its own trucking fleet. Founder Tony Christofellis has said, “We built the business from the ground up to be able to” keep those prices down.
From Salad and Go to a Broader, Steak-and-Seafood Concept
Tony and Roushan Christofellis, the husband-and-wife team behind Angie's, launched Salad and Go in 2013 before selling it in 2021, and went on to debut Angie's in 2022 with a menu that has since grown far beyond its early lobster-forward offerings. In comments to Nation's Restaurant News, Christofellis didn't mince words about the comparison between his two ventures: “Angie's is the future,” he said. “Salad and Go is like the Blackberry of the past.” The outlet reports Angie's is growing with that broader menu even as Christofellis has moved fully away from the salad chain he co-founded.
Salad and Go's path since the sale has been rockier. The chain, which Christofellis sold to private equity firm Volt Investment Holdings in 2021, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after cyclospora fears compounded its challenges, according to a CNBC report, which noted the chain had aimed to compete with Sweetgreen and expanded rapidly under Volt's ownership. Separately, the Phoenix Business Journal has reported that Christofellis was eyeing real estate the salad chain was vacating in Texas as part of Angie's own expansion strategy.
Angie's now has 27 locations across Arizona, Texas and Las Vegas, with the Glendale Avenue restaurant marking the start of its latest push into the Valley. The chain describes itself as “the new fast food,” built on premium ingredients sold at prices below typical fast-food fare — a pitch that's about to get a test run in Mesa, Queen Creek, Maricopa, Casa Grande, Goodyear and elsewhere around metro Phoenix in the months ahead.
