More restaurants should do unto others what Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe does to Phoenix diners. Since 1964, Elizabeth White’s down-home cooking has been drawing the downtown lunch crowd, Valley tourists and visiting celebrities in droves, all craving old-fashioned comfort food just like their mamas used to make. Founded upon its namesake principle, the restaurant expects diners to be honest when they tell the cashier what they ordered, since no tickets of any kind follow their meals. The classic Southern menu is written in thick, black marker on the restaurant’s walls alongside signatures and messages from Mrs. White’s adoring patrons. Typically, the menu includes a hit list of soul food classics: fried catfish, fried chicken, meat loaf and smothered pork chops. Heaping helpings of accompanying side items prove the usual Southern suspects, as well: mashed potatoes, candied yams, collard greens and a moistly delicious slice of house-made cornbread. All food is cooked to order, so don’t be surprised if it takes its own sweet time arriving. (That’s the Southern way!)
No alcohol available. Serving lunch and early dinner (until 7 pm) Sun–Thu, lunch and dinner until late-night Fri–Sat.
"Just like visiting a small soul food eatery in the Deep South, with excellent catfish, smothered chicken, oxtails, greens, cornbread, and peach cobbler. Only problem with eating here is that afterward you may want a nap to recover."
— Phoenix New Times
More restaurants should do unto others what Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe does to Phoenix diners. Since 1964, Elizabeth White’s down-home cooking has been drawing the downtown lunch crowd, Valley tourists and visiting celebrities in droves, all craving old-fashioned comfort food just like their mamas used to make. Founded upon its namesake principle, the restaurant expects diners to be honest when they tell the cashier what they ordered, since no tickets of any kind follow their meals. The classic Southern menu is written in thick, black marker on the restaurant’s walls alongside signatures and messages from Mrs. White’s adoring patrons. Typically, the menu includes a hit list of soul food classics: fried catfish, fried chicken, meat loaf and smothered pork chops. Heaping helpings of accompanying side items prove the usual Southern suspects, as well: mashed potatoes, candied yams, collard greens and a moistly delicious slice of house-made cornbread. All food is cooked to order, so don’t be surprised if it takes its own sweet time arriving. (That’s the Southern way!)
No alcohol available. Serving lunch and early dinner (until 7 pm) Sun–Thu, lunch and dinner until late-night Fri–Sat.
"Just like visiting a small soul food eatery in the Deep South, with excellent catfish, smothered chicken, oxtails, greens, cornbread, and peach cobbler. Only problem with eating here is that afterward you may want a nap to recover."
— Phoenix New Times