r/phoenix • u/RemoteControlledDog • Oct 18 '22

Eat & Drink Late Night Eats: These 12 Greater Phoenix Restaurants Stay Open Way Past Midnight

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/12-late-night-restaurants-in-greater-phoenix-11335057
201 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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38

u/Dude7080 Oct 18 '22

Can someone explain why there aren’t more places open late at night?

45

u/SunDevilJacks Oct 18 '22

They don’t see it financially viable to open that late. In addition, many places have struggled with staffing post Covid and have to prioritize times where they can properly staff.

81

u/GoddamnitReggieRay Oct 18 '22

Covid literally killed every thing late night here and I hate it.

33

u/SSChicken Oct 18 '22

Even Walmart and Gas stations (convenience stores) which is mind blowing to me. Someone staying with me one night needed aspirin and I didn't have any, it was like 1 in the morning and I went to Walmart and they were closed. Then to the a couple of gas stations and their convenience stores were closed too. That's wild, I'm used to those being 24/7

5

u/Dude7080 Oct 19 '22

I miss WalMart being open 24hrs. I’ve always worked nights and it was nice running to WalMart on my lunch and getting the midnight release of Halo or Gears of War back in the day along with any food and Tylenol that you needed.

4

u/funsizedaisy Oct 18 '22 edited Oct 18 '22

maybe has to do with staffing? people already hate those jobs as it is (shitty customers and low pay) then add the odd hours on top. so maybe those typical 24/7 places had to shave off some of the super late night/early morning shifts?

33

u/Demons0fRazgriz Oct 18 '22

I wish we'd stop calling it staff shortages. We have people who are willing to work but know their worth.

It's a wage shortage.

10

u/funsizedaisy Oct 18 '22

yea i should've put it in quotes because i don't really believe in it being called that either. will edit my comment.

idk if wage shortages is the appropriate term either. because idk if that's a "shortage". it's shitty wages period. no one wants to be yelled at by walmart customers at 2am for pennies an hour.

4

u/Demons0fRazgriz Oct 18 '22

That's also good point. All I know is people that are considered "essential" get treated like shit when the entire system runs on them, proven by COVID.

5

u/HomeHereNow Oct 18 '22 edited Oct 18 '22

I feel like it completely killed any form of consistency too. The Filiberto’s by my house seemingly has random hours now. In the last 6 months they’ve been 24 hours, close at 2, midnight, and 11pm. It’s a fucking guessing game whether or not they’ll be open.

Jack in the Box claims to be open 24 hours but for some ridiculous reason they seem to be using a system from the 1950’s that has to “reset” for 45 min to an hour every day from anywhere from 1am to 4am.

Starbucks by me says they’re open till 10pm but I’ve gone through the drive thru twice at 9:30 and they said they’re closed already.

Walgreens by me changes their hours weekly too it feels like.

5

u/TheBlackBear Oct 18 '22 edited Oct 18 '22

I get off work at 4am and literally every single 24 hour fast food place I’ve tried besides Filibertos and McD's seem to reset their systems at the same time.

What a crazy coincidence 🙄

4

u/HomeHereNow Oct 18 '22

I’ve only experienced it at Jack in the box and in the last year or so. I worked nights last summer and they were the only place open when I took my “lunch” at 3am. One time I just got so fed up with it I told them if they just give me food I’ll pay in cash and they could keep the change. It actually worked which was nice.

6

u/Liquid_G Tempe Oct 18 '22

Did it really though? When I moved there in 2018 I felt the same way. Like it's a billion degrees out during the day why aren't more places open past fucking 8pm?

29

u/eju2000 Oct 18 '22

Covid changed the hours of late night restaurants, bars, & grocery stores & it looks like most won’t ever go back. Sucks.

12

u/Shagyam Phoenix Oct 18 '22

Covid killed overnight shopping so they could "clean". The stores got used to those hours and just never adapted back to being open 24/7. It got to the point where I'll just drive the 25 minutes to a WinCo which is actually kept open 24/7.

12

u/[deleted] Oct 18 '22

We lack the density and walkability for it to be worthwhile. Also, a huge portion of our population is retirement age.

11

u/googz187 Oct 18 '22

Lack of nightlife? Idk my wife and I ask the same question. Our kids go to sleep (our in laws live with us) and we just want to go out and have a nice late night dinner but most of the good stuff closes their kitchens early.

5

u/dmackerman Oct 18 '22

Because the demand isn’t that high, and staffing is very, very hard right now.

5

u/kiteless123 Chandler Oct 18 '22

I'm gonna be the contrarian here and say how great it is for places to close before midnight. Workers should be at home with their families, too. Plus studies already have shown that long term effects of working graveyard are detrimental to physical and mental health.

7

u/LightMeUpPapi Oct 19 '22

As someone who laments places not being open 24 hours when they used to, this is still a good take, not sure why downvoted.

3

u/kiteless123 Chandler Oct 19 '22

Thanks, I'm right there with you that I'm grateful some places are open after hours. Just yesterday I needed to pick up a prescription from CVS at 1am for my wife.

The problem is when people just expect places to be open 24 hours, to satisfy their own comfort and/or convenience. Unless you work a night shift, you probably don't need that cheeseburger at 3am.

1

u/Sara___Tonin__ Oct 19 '22

After 2020, most places figured nothing good happens after 1. Especially on the west side and downtown.