The Yard at Farmer Arts District

This is a great bar/​restaurant. I only came for the bar portion but an awesome play to spend a football Sunday. Plenty of tvs and a great array of games to play. They had several cornhole sets, ping pong and a shuffleboard table. Outside heaters keep you warm along with the outdoor firepits with plenty of comfy couches. Drink prices were reasonable with lots of great beers on tap!

If you like Mill but dont like the loud, kid-​filled wanna-​be-​Scottsdale bars/​clubs then look no further. This is off the main strip and is much quieter and mostly filled with mid 20 – 30’s who can actually drink and have fun with one another without looking like drunken 18 year olds. They have ping pong, sand bags, foosball, and other fun games. They also have huge «loungey» areas outside with little tables surrounded by big sectional couches. Great place for you and a group of friends to have a fun night. The only downside is the food is rather expensive.

GREAT atmosphere. Lots of room for parties. Omission GF Pale Ale is in the house. Love the idea of ordering antipasti off card. Not a fan of the marinated olives (not a good first impression if you have to spit seeds out on first date) chips & French onion dip good if you don’t mind greasy! Deviled eggs were the bomb (can I still say bomb on a public forum) I will be back

Great place for a good meal and quality time with friends :)

I haven’t been writing reviews lately, but I felt inclined the write this one.
I’ve loved The Yard since they first opened on 7^th street. Great atmosphere, great food, great drinks… good people, good service, and one of the places I always take out of town guests.
I’ve been to both locations dozens of times. I’ve never had a complaint. I would say we are more regularly there for lunch/​day drinking than at night, but I’ve definitely had dinner there as well. On Wednesday night, a group of 9 friends & I went to the Yard for a girls night. We hadn’t seen each other in awhile and we were looking forward to seeing each other and catching up. Unfortunately, within 30 minutes of arriving and being sat at our table, the live band started. Now, I understand, this is a restaurant that offers live music. You can’t go to a place knowing this and then expect them not to play. However, what is unnecessary, is for them to blast the music throughout the entire venue through the speakers. The Yard is both a restaurant and a bar. People go there for a multitude of reasons. Because of this, it’s important to recognize that on a Wednesday night at 7 pm, you have patrons in your restaurant eating a meal… they are probably going to want to be able to hear each other when they talk. We were sitting in a different room, on the complete opposite side of the restaurant. I could barely hear the person sitting next to me when they talked, and everyone was yelling to try to speak. I asked our server to turn it down. He reported that his manager did, but we still weren’t able to hear each other.
If The Yard was strictly a bar, I would understand. But it isn’t, and especially not at 7 pm on a Wednesday. One of my friends made the comment that The Yard would be a perfect place to take a date when you know you’ll have nothing to talk about… can just blame the lack of conversation on the loud music.
I still love The Yard, and I’ll still return. But I’ll probably be hesitant to suggest it for girls night out, and will probably stick to day drinking there instead of dinner.

Maybe you want a super fun and activity-​filled date night? or maybe you’ve been partying all day and need to keep moving per Newton’s first law. or maybe you just need a place where you and 6 – 10 friends can easily find a couch, hightop, table, ping pong table, etc. to kick back, catch up, or watch a game.
This is the place.
And while it has a better cornhole set up than Duce, it doesn’t have dancing or karaōke to me knowledge so it’s ⁴⁄₅. but hopefully it will someday and then the Yard will truly be «all things».

Great food, you can go healthy or gorge on fantastic pub food. The bartenders and staff were very friendly. On a Thursday night you’ll find a mix of young professionals and ASU students, great beer and competitive Ping Pong. I imagine this place is awesome on game day. I had a great experience.

I enjoy coming here. They have a wide array of food and beverages, it’s a great place to get together with friends, and there’s so much room for activities!!!
Last time we went here, we had the pork belly nachos. If there had been more pork belly pieces, I would have been happier, but they were pretty decent. I also had one of their cocktails and it was quite tasty.
On another occasion, I’ve had the pretzel rolls and provolone fondue. Best bread and cheese combination ever! Well, maybe not «ever», but completely delicious.
While enjoying food and beverages, patrons can play cornhole, ping pong, and watch numerous sporting events on their TVs.
All of this makes more an enjoyable time out :)

I never knew this place was there until a friend mentioned it to me. Cool warehouse feel — shops, restaurant, and a bar in the back. Management and staff were very helpful. I like the brown bag special for $ 2 where the beer inside is a mystery. I will definitely stop back and spend more time!

I enjoy the vibe, the games and that they seek locally sourced food (according to the waitress). Food is good. I enjoy that they offer unique blends of flavor a with both food items and drinks. The smashed Irishman drink was surprisingly tasty.

Arizona
My wife, and I were taking our only child to college. The road trip started from Los Angeles, Ca, and ended in Chicago, IL. We stopped here, and I ordered the Chicken Club sandwich. It came with shaved cuts of Tavern ham, a great piece of bacon, Havarti cheese and fresh cut fries. I was not expecting to be amazed, by the combination of this sandwich. But I was. I’m so glad we stopped here. We ate great food, and had lot’s of fun. Thanks to everyone who is posting.

Trendy, fun happening place!
Location: This is off Farmer in Tempe. Parking includes valet and self-​parking, plus street parking. I went on a Monday night; there were ample spots available.
Food: Lots of interesting choices, like pretzel bites with cheese fondue, hummus, mini cheese sandwiches, cheese plate, salads, popcorn, and more. I did not eat much at the time, but the pretzels were delicious, warm and soft. Happy hour offers cheaper prices for drinks and eats. The sangria on the happy hour menu was just $ 3.00 for a decent amount. The sangria was one of the best I’ve had!
Service: Pretty good for a busy place. The Yard in Phoenix did not have great service, but our servers were excellent and always checking in on our huge table of over 12 people.
Ambiance: Fun place with seating on long tables with hard chairs or couches in circles. There are games, like bean bags, ping pong, etc.

Food is good, same menu as other Culinary Dropouts. Service is great and location is very convenient for ASU area. Unlike the other Yard (Phoenix), this location has plenty of parking, a plus! But unlike the other Yard, this location does not have a good layout. There are large closed off Reserve areas, that may be great corporate meeting get spaces, but it creates large blocked off walls in an otherwise open «Yard». There does not appear to be any other restaurants on site or nearby. The game area, patio seating and restaurant don’t feel as unified — so the whole experience suffers. This Culinary Dropout is really just a stand alone restaurant… Which is OK if all you wanted was the dining. But really disappointing if you were expecting the same casual playful experience and dining options as Phoenix location.

Yeah I liked it. Fox concepts always have an allure, and sometimes I’ve been disappointed sometimes I’ve liked it, sort of hit and miss really.
Pros: parking wasn’t bad, trendy clean all around, the pretzels are always a good choice. My wife is being super conscious about ingredients these days and the server at culinary dropout was very helpful.
Cons: none really, long wait for a group of twelve one Saturday without a reservation. But honestly the four stars is because the joint is alright. Nothing to complain about, nothing that I’m chomping at the bit to go back for.

Maybe the coolest bar I’ve ever seen in my life. Lots of fun things to do, 2 bars (at least), a band, indoor fire pits, …
WARNING ABOUT IDs: Unfortunately I had a cousin from California with a valid vertical drivers’ license that said she was over 21 but they didn’t let her in. I don’t know if this is a problem with the bar or an Arizona law but it made an otherwise fantastic night a little sad. What is someone supposed to do in this case when they have a 100% legal and valid form of ID but cannot use it because of some strange rule? There was no way of knowing about this rule ahead of time.
I’d definitely return here again though.

I over heard a guy and a girl talking about how much they like corn hole.
I looked at them like a cow looks at an oncoming train. You could hear my eyelids blinking in confusion through the silence until another, more savvy Canadian at our table filled in the gaps for me…
«It’s that bean bag game, Dale.» Suddenly it all makes sense!
The Yard is awesome. It’s like a gentrified version of cousin Cletus’ famous family BBQ — Fried chicken, pretzels, fire pits and games galore, including (you guessed it) Corn Hole! Maybe I’m taking this a little far. The Yard is by no means redneck. It’s relaxed and quite lovely — you could hang out here after work, bring the the kids, go on a date, or yell belligerently about your college football team late at night. I have no doubt that this place must draw quite the party crowd on weekend nights, but you don’t need to be that crowd in order to have a good time here.
The food is and upscale version of American comfort classics. Even though I was pretty fooded-​out by the time I arrived, I still suckered myself into the fried chicken and I regret nothing. So dang delicious and served with a sweet sauce and a slice of corn bread.

Does it get any better?
AZ Weather, great food, wonderful servers, corn hole, ping pong :-) So happy they brought this to Tempe!
Our server was sweet, accommodating, speedy and made sure we were taken care of.
I’m in love.

For weeks, I’d been hearing from my husband about how cool «the new Yard» building was in Tempe. He went to check out the Madison Improvement Club when they first opened and then visited again to see the Yard /​Culinary Dropout. (If only I could get him to exercise at the MIC in addition to visiting… but that’s another story!)
So when Jared suggested we head over there on Saturday for lunch with the kids, I was game… literally. (They have several games for customers including a cool grass turf area with bean bags and several ping pong tables as well). My toddlers loved it!
In addition to great ambiance, I found the staff at this latest FRC concept to be super friendly and attentive, and the food was awesome too!
I ordered an egg white frittata for myself — it was huge, healthy, filling and I loved it! The kids shared an order of chicken tenders and fries and The Yard’s famous Captain Crunch coated French Toast. Jared and his dad had Fried Chicken and Biscuits… needless to say, all was filling and we left with full bellies.
Gotta love a restaurant that caters to college kids, adults, and is family-​friendly in addition. I look forward to returning for cocktails, more of the menu items, live music, and those comfy couches with fire pits during future visits. I hope to be invited to a private party in their event space as well… This is definitely a cool newcomer to Tempe, and compelling reason to go outside of my usual 2 mile radius!

My friends and I attended the grand opening last night after receiving a few VIP invites. We had a great time. The appetizers were delicious, the drinks were tasty, and the staff was friendly. There is plenty of room to sit and relax with your friends much like you would in your back yard (if your backyard had wait staff and bartenders). Also, there were many tables if you’d prefer to sit down and have a meal. There were plenty of games to play and televisions if you’re into watching a game. I would recommend The Yard to anyone looking to have a fun night out with good food and attractive people, all while avoiding having to stand for hours and being overcrowded.

I am proud to be the first reviewer of the brand spanking new Yard location in Tempe which, by the way, does not actually hard open until December 9, 2014.
Yesterday (Wednesday, December 3, 2014), one of my buddies heard that the new Tempe location of The Yard /​Culinary Dropout was open for business and asked me if I was interested in checking it out. Being a somewhat regular patron of the location in Phoenix, and a fan of the concept in general, I happily accepted the invitation. We rounded up another buddy, and the three of us headed to The Yard at about 5pm.
We arrived and entered via the (wet paint) front most entrance, walked down a long corridor, and were greeted with exactly what we expected from The Yard, a very cool open space with both an interior restaurant and covered exterior patio lounge setting with Yard games and a huge bar separating the two areas. A new addition to the concept, the massive patio space has it’s own large bar at the end of the venue that can be closed off and turned into a separate private area. There were perhaps 60 – 70 people milling about, dining or enjoying cocktails. Considering that they have a capacity of nearly 800 patrons, it did not seem busy. We sat at the bar and were greeted by a bartender — who through a roundabout conversation told us that they were not yet open for business! All of the people we saw eating, drinking and interacting were employees participating in real world training!
«But», said the bartender, «here are some menus for you to take a look at – hang out for just a moment and I’ll be right back».
Up walks Jason, the General Manager. Jason reiterates that the hard open is not until December 9^th, but that our timing was impeccable. «Gentlemen, prepare yourselves to the the first real customers of the Yard and Culinary Dropout — except with a catch… try a few of our specialty drinks, try some food, and it’s all on the house tonight».
We were then immediately greeted by our mixologist for the evening, Nick, who spent about 2 hours with us demonstrating his amazing knowledge of everything on the food and drink menu.
We enjoyed the following cocktails — On the «Two Handed Shandies» list, the Deviant Behavior. On the «Classic Dropouts» list, the Creature of Habit, Smashed Irishman and Every Which Way But Loose. On the «Light & Easy» list, the My Suffering Bastard. Each drink was perfectly balanced, and amazing. The three of us could not find a bad word to describe these drinks. Put them ALL on your «Must Try» list!
In there somewhere, we noticed what looks like a «Jameson» beer tap handle with a big red Christmas bow on it. Inquiring minds must know!!! Result: We were each treated to a rocks glass of the Culinary Dropout’s very own Christmas Jameson blend. Think Fireball… except more refined, more upscale, more sophisticated. Sexier. This will blow your taste buds away as you sip it. PUT THIS ON YOUR «MUST TRY» LIST!
Also between other beverages, we were each treated to a sampling of the ON TAP Pinot Grigio. Very cool concept, and quite a good wine with a somewhat sweet aroma and a nice balanced finish. The ladies will love this.
During all of this amazing cocktail time, Nick took the opportunity to put us together a massive Antipasti board. We received a huge portion of hot capicola and jamon iberico off the meats list. From the cheese list, the truffled crescenza, the prarie breeze cheddar along with a few accouterments. From the snacks list, the toasted ciabatta, garlic oil & balsamic. The iberico is imported from Spain and it is expensive. My girlfriend was in Madrid last month and returned with some iberico (oops — sorry US Customs!), so I knew we were getting a treat. We were not disappointed! Nick even schooled us on the very expensive precision machine used to slice the meats. All I can say is… what an experience!
To top it all off, we received a basket of the (now famous) soft pretzels & house made provalone fondue. I have to believe this will be their single most ordered item. Recreate this exact spread we received and you’ll not go away hungry!
In close — Tempe will love this place. The sister location in Phoenix is wildly popular, and I fully expect that this new location in Tempe will have the effect of bringing just the right blend of the college contingent and the 20 – 40’s crowd from Tempe. Sam Fox is a genius for picking this location.
Jason the GM had a choice when my friends and I walked in last night thinking The Yard was open for business. He could have asked us to come back once they were open and we would have understood — but instead he treated us to an extremely unique experience that we will not forget — and we hope that they will not forget us.
We will be back, probably on December 9, and we will bring friends!