Pinnacle Peak Patio owners looking to move restaurant

PHOENIX — A longtime cowboy steakhouse in North Scottsdale may be about to saddle up and mosey over to a new location.

They’ve been serving up steaks and playing country music at Pinnacle Peak Patio since 1957. The restaurant is known for its “no tie” rule and over one million customers, including some of the rich and famous, have had their ties cut off and hung from the restaurant’s ceiling.

But things are changing for the restaurant.

“One of the reasons that people have enjoyed coming to the Peak is because of its remote location,” said Pinnacle Peak Patio spokeswoman Lisa Cyr. The restaurant, which can seat up to 2,000 people, is located near Alma School and Happy Valley roads, which has seen tremendous growth in recent years. “Now we have a lot of high-end shopping and resorts and restaurants and homes surrounding us,” said Cyr.

So the owners decided to sell the place. CYR would not reveal the buyer or the purchase price, but a report by Fox 10 news earlier this year put it at around $2.4 million.

Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane said that several things spelled doom for the restaurant in its current location.

“Pinnacle Peak has struggled for a number of years now,” Lane said. “It’s (because of a) change in the roadway (Alma School road was diverted away from the restaurant), it’s a change in the center of the demographics and how that area has developed a bit. It was not something that they could seem to overcome.”

Cyr says the new owner will lease the property back to the steakhouse so that it can stay open, possibly for the entire year of 2015. Meanwhile, the restaurant’s owners are vowing to move Pinnacle Peak Patio to a new, smaller location, possibly in Old Town Scottsdale or Cave Creek.