Dine Thankful in Sedona

November 19, 2024

Join us for your most relaxing Thanksgiving yet. With Sedona’s spectacular dining scene, you can leave the cooking and hosting up to the professionals, while you enjoy crisp autumn air, hiking, hot tubbing, and more at our retreat in the Red Rocks. Start your day with our hot breakfast, hit the trails or use one of our complimentary cruiser bikes to explore art boutiques and galleries, then join family and friends at the table at these favorite Thanksgiving Day options near the Arabella. Later, cozy up in your Southwestern-appointed guest rooms in a comfy bed, with soft sheets and fluffy pillows, or stargaze with a glass of wine in hand. 

Our Favorite Sedona Spots for Thanksgiving Dining 

Whether you’re in it for the turkey and stuffing, or want to go for something different this Thanksgiving, these spots fit the bill. 

The Hudson

At Hudson, your Thanksgiving meal includes a starter, entree, and dessert – and no clean-up! A gorgeous hillside panorama awaits diners – if you can snag a spot on the patio, do it. The views have been written up locally and nationally! Enjoy the local neighborhood vibe of the restaurants as you relish the traditional, yet Southwest-infused flavors of Thanksgiving. 

Start with Chef Jeff’s famous corn chowder or a house salad. Tuck into roasted turkey, a grilled 8-ounce prime beef filet with toasted walnuts and wild mushroom sauce, grilled lamb chops with port wine mint sauce, or pan-seared salmon with cranberry herb butter. All entrees come with butter-whipped mashed potatoes, apple stuffing, sauteed green beans, and cranberry orange sauce. Finish it up with an indulgent slide of pecan or pumpkin pie with a generous dollop of whipped cream.  

Golden Goose

Family-owned and -operated Golden Goose American Grill is planning a three-course, prix-fixe meal that will have you rethinking your tradition of hosting at home. Honored with TripAdvisor’s Best of the Best awards in recent years, this is the kind of place you’ll want to return to time and time again. Dine in a charming and relaxed atmosphere, enjoying well-prepared, tasty Thanksgiving favorites and top-notch service. 

For your first course, choose grilled peach salad, kale caesar salad, a holiday salad of apples, pears and candied pecans, or butternut squash soup. Move on to the traditional turkey dinner if that’s your favorite, or choose oven-roasted prime rib, roasted lamb shank, or a seafood trio of lobster tail, shrimp, and scallops. Save room for an assorted of holiday desserts. 

Mariposa 

For an intimate angle to your Thanksgiving Day meal, reserve a table at Mariposa, considered to be one of the most romantic restaurants in the country. Headed by Chef Lisa Dahl, who is executive chef and owner of six outstanding restaurants in Northern Arizona, Mariposa feeds the soul. Latin-inspired cuisine is served in an architecturally stunning setting, perched atop a scenic bluff surrounded by red rock canyons. Huge floor-to-ceiling windows frame impressive views. Outside, water fountains and raised herb gardens make Mariposa a destination in its own right. Enter the restaurant through a 1,000-pound door handcrafted from African, South American and Utah precious minerals and stones. 

Don’t miss the handmade empanadas, yucca fries, glorious gazpacho, duroc bone-in dry-aged pork chop accompanied by Spanish butter beans, grilled skirt steak, and Mom’s favorite au gratin potatoes layered with white cheddar and tomo truffle gouda.

Creekside

Just below one of the most well-known red-rock formations in Sedona, Creekside American Bistro offers cozy comfort food perfect for autumn. Plus, it’s a unique opportunity to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner in a vortex! Sedona’s vortexes are reputed to have a unique and positive energy, and the diners at Creekside may feel an extra sense of calmness and well-being while at the table, surrounded by this positive phenomenon. 

Feel the communal, thankful energy of those at the table with you as you savor Chef Mercer’s high country cuisine. From blistered and charred shishito peppers to bruschetta, Ms. Emily’s flakey warm croissants to lambchop lollipops, the starters are enticing enough that you’ll want to order all of them. (It’s Thanksgiving, after all, so go big.) Pasta, chicken, shrimp and grits – it’s all here to satisfy the varied tastes among your group. 

Happy Thanksgiving!