Drake's Hollywood Scottsdale: First Look Before November 6 Opening

Drake’s Hollywood opens November 6 in Old Town with red leather booths, prime steaks, a 24-layer strawberry cake, and a private members-only club hidden inside.

Scottsdale has plenty of restaurants where you can grab dinner.

Drake’s Hollywood is clearly hoping you treat this one more like a night out.

After many, many months of construction and plenty of curiosity about what was happening inside the former Buca di Beppo space at Scottsdale Road and First Street, Drake’s Hollywood will officially open its doors in Old Town Scottsdale on Friday, November 6.

And this isn't a small entrance into Arizona.

At roughly 8,000 square feet, Scottsdale will be the largest Drake’s Hollywood location in the country and the brand’s fourth outpost, joining Dallas, Houston and West Hollywood.

The idea is pretty easy to understand once you see what Drake’s is going for:

Think classic steakhouse.

Old Hollywood supper club.

Big martinis.

Deep red booths.

Dim lighting.

People actually dressing up for dinner.

And just enough mystery tucked behind the scenes to make you wonder what else is going on in the building.

That last part becomes important later.

Hollywood Comes to Old Town

Hunter Pond

Drake’s Hollywood comes from Vandelay Companies, the Dallas-based hospitality group founded and led by Hunter Pond.

Pond has described Scottsdale as a natural fit for the concept because of the city's energy, style, and growing dining scene. Vandelay is also making a much larger bet on Arizona, with two Hudson House restaurants already planned for the Valley in 2027.

But Drake’s gets here first.

Pond designed the Scottsdale restaurant with architecture firm DXU, drawing inspiration from the glamour of New York and Los Angeles in the 1930s and 1940s.

This isn't Hollywood in the movie-prop sense.

You won't walk into fake film sets or movie memorabilia covering every wall.

The approach is more polished than that.

Inside Drake’s Hollywood

The room leans heavily into the classic supper-club look.

Expect:

Plush red leather booths
Mahogany and burl woods
Polished brass details
Large chandeliers
Black-and-white photography
Hand-painted portraits
Vintage-inspired murals
A dramatic circular bar at the center of the restaurant

The Scottsdale location also has two completely private dining rooms.

It is dark.

It is dramatic.

And it's designed to make you feel like dinner should involve a martini.

Drake’s itself describes the atmosphere as Old Hollywood-inspired, but there is also a bit of old New York steakhouse running through the place.

That combination may be exactly why Scottsdale makes sense.

Old Town already knows how to do nightlife.

Drake’s is simply trying to convince you to start the night over dinner instead.

The Food

Don't let the red booths and martinis distract you from the fact that Drake’s is still very much a restaurant.

The Scottsdale menu blends classic steakhouse dishes with Italian-American comfort food, seafood, sushi, and a few over-the-top signatures.

Current opening-menu highlights include:

Raw Bar & Starters

Steak Tartare

Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice

Ahi Pressed Sushi

Lobster Escargot

Jumbo Lump Crab Cake

and the restaurant’s popular:

Cauliflower Dynamite

Then things get richer.

Pasta, Chicken and Seafood

One of Drake’s best-known dishes is:

Pasta Za Za

A spicy rigatoni that has followed the restaurant from city to city.

There is also:

Milo’s Lobster Pasta

Parmesan-Crusted Snapper

and:

Honey Truffle Chicken

which combines fried chicken with whipped potatoes, creamed spinach, honey, and truffle.

It is not subtle.

Drake’s does not seem particularly interested in subtlety.

And that is kind of the point.

🥩 Then Come the Steaks

Drake’s has put together a serious beef program for Scottsdale.

Expect:

USDA Prime cuts

Dry-aged ribeye

and:

A5 Japanese Wagyu

served with white truffle butter.

There are also cracker-thin pizzas, salads, and steakhouse-style sides including:

Lobster Mac & Cheese

White Truffle Fries

and Creamed Corn.

Basically, you don’t visit this restaurant because you're trying to behave.

🍓 Save Room for 24 Layers

Yes.

Twenty-four.

One of Drake’s signatures is its towering:

24-Layer Strawberry Cake

And if that is somehow not theatrical enough, other Drake’s locations are also known for serving a massive pink cotton-candy cloud in an oversized martini glass.

The cake, in particular, has become one of those desserts you tend to see on the table before you know who ordered it.

We suspect Scottsdale will be no different.

🍸 About That “World’s Coldest Martini”

You cannot really talk about Drake’s without talking about the martini.

The restaurant calls its signature drink:

The World’s Coldest Martini

It is made with Grey Goose vodka, vermouth, and citrus bitters, and Drake’s serves its martinis at extremely low temperatures to create that icy texture the restaurant has become known for.

Hunter Pond has previously joked that the surface gets so cold you could practically skate on it.

The Scottsdale cocktail list also includes:

French 76

Bogart’s Gimlet

and the:

Drake’s Espresso Martini

along with wines from Napa Valley, Burgundy, Champagne, and Provence.

This is one part of the restaurant we will be paying particular attention to.

Pond has said that while Drake’s locations keep the same overall DNA, the cocktail program is where individual locations can develop more of their own personality, including local ingredients and producers.

That gives Scottsdale an opportunity to make these Drake’s feel like ours instead of simply copying Dallas.

🎶 Sunday Night Gets a Soundtrack

Drake’s is also bringing live music into the dining room.

Beginning after opening, the plan is:

Every Sunday from 6-9 p.m.

That fits the supper-club concept pretty perfectly.

Dinner.

Martinis.

Live music.

Stay awhile.

🔐 And Then There Is Maître D

Here is where Drake’s gets much more interesting.

Hidden within the Scottsdale restaurant is:

Maître D

But unlike plenty of restaurants that throw around words like "secret" and "exclusive," this is an actual private social club.

Maître D has its own entrance and is designed as a more intimate gathering place for members.

The club promises:

Dedicated member experiences
Private culinary offerings
Specialty cocktails
Curated wines
Reciprocal club access
Private event opportunities
A separate late-night food program

And membership really is restricted.

Applicants need a referral from an existing member and approval from the membership committee.

And yes, there are membership dues.

Drake’s currently lists:

Standard Membership - Age 30+
$2,000 initiation
$3,000 annual dues

Junior Membership - Under 30
$1,000 initiation
$2,000 annual dues

Couples Membership
$3,000 initiation
$5,000 annual dues

And if you really do not like annual dues:

Lifetime Membership - $21,000

Drake’s says initiation fees are currently being waived for members admitted through the end of 2026. Membership terms can change, so anyone considering joining should confirm the current structure directly with the club.

That immediately makes Maître D one of the more unusual pieces of the Scottsdale opening.

Plenty of new restaurants have VIP sections.

This is something different.

👔 Yes, There Is a Dress Code

Remember when we said Drake’s wants dinner to feel like a night out?

They mean it.

The restaurant describes its dress code as refined elegance and says it does not allow athletic garments, headwear, or clothing management considers overly provocative.

Management enforces the dress code at its discretion.

Translation:

This probably isn't the place for your gym clothes and baseball cap.

And frankly?

We like that they are committing to the concept.

If you're going to build an Old Hollywood steakhouse, commit to Old Hollywood.

What Drake’s Adds to Old Town

This may be the more interesting story.

Old Town Scottsdale certainly isn't lacking restaurants.

It isn't lacking steakhouses either.

Drake’s adds another restaurant where the atmosphere itself is part of what you are paying for.

We have seen Scottsdale move more and more in that direction.

Dinner is no longer always:

Arrive.

Order.

Eat.

Leave.

Places increasingly want to give you a reason to stay in the building.

Drake’s has dinner.

A major cocktail program.

Sunday music.

Private dining.

And Maître D’ hidden inside.

It is essentially trying to own more of your evening.

🍴 FORKING SCOTTSDALE'S FIRST LOOK

We have been watching this opening for a while.

And on paper, Drake’s checks a lot of Scottsdale boxes.

Beautiful room?

Absolutely.

Steaks?

Of course.

Martinis?

Lots of them.

A little exclusivity?

Definitely.

A private club nobody can just wander into?

Now you really have Scottsdale’s attention.

But what makes us more interested is that Drake’s doesn't seem to be trying to become just another steakhouse.

The steak is almost the easy part.

The bigger question is whether Drake’s can deliver that harder-to-create feeling where people walk in for a reservation at 7 p.m. and suddenly realize it is 10:30.

That is what the design, music, cocktails, private club, and supper-club atmosphere are all working toward.

A restaurant where the night becomes the experience.

Will it work?

We’ll find out very soon.

But one thing already seems clear:

When Drake’s opens November 6, Old Town is getting another serious player in the dress-up-and-go-out category.

And with Scottsdale becoming the largest Drake’s Hollywood in the country, Vandelay clearly isn't treating Arizona as an experiment.

They came here to make an entrance.