Persepshen (per’ sep Shen) is a farm to table type of American Restaurant that opened in the fall of 2019. This restaurant does locally source foods as much as possible. They serve organic. They do whole animal cooking and every single thing is made in house by scratch. Persepshen may be a small sized restaurant but serves a large menu with lots of variety. They offer a changing menu that is broken down into snacks, small plates, big plates, sharing bigger plates, kids plates, dessert and just a bite desserts.

A large window views Central Avenue in the main dining room.

The main dining room is rustic and has an interesting hand made chandelier.

On my first visit to Persepshen the food and service was Forking GREAT! There were none of the normal problems that you expect from a newly opened restaurant. My first visit was certainly worth a Fork and decided to return again. We arrived and service was friendly, efficient and welcoming from the hostess/host and server. We started with the Pickles.

We received dill pickle slices, pickled carrots and pickled onions. The onions had a sort of allspice flavor to them. A nice light starter.

Next we tried the wood roasted sun chokes ($12.00)

It’s kind of like sun-choke hash dressed with a little Calabrian aioli with a couple of crisp kale chips. The sun – chokes are almost like fried potatoes but seem lighter.

The starters were both delicious and well prepared.

In time our dinners arrive and they look appealing.

I have to tell The Forking Truth so here it is…………..

Then my husband tries a shrimp and it is cold and the grits are barely warm. I know shrimp cools off fast but I didn’t believe that the grits even could be barely warm so I stuck my finger in the grits and yes..they were barely warm…….Then I try a small piece of my swordfish and it is barely warm. (I didn’t want to say anything because I know how some chefs go a-wall when food goes back)…….We mentioned this right away to the hostess who immediately notified the waiter who apologized and promptly said that they would make us new plates. We figured all would be fixed now…….A few minutes latter someone that I believe to be as the chef or owner brings out a new plate of tacos for me. He asked me what was wrong with the first plate and I told him that the food I received was served almost cold. Maybe I took this the wrong way but to both of us we thought he sounded arrogant and said, “that’s because the slaw, cream and salsa are all cold so that makes the fish cold.” Then I struck a nerve when I asked, “Well why was the shrimp and grits served cold?” The chef just shrugged his shoulder, rolled his eyes and walked away not answering. He didn’t want to tell me what happened….he just walked away………I know all kinds of things go wrong in a restaurant. I don’t know what went wrong. I couldn’t see the kitchen from my seat. I could imagine the plates just sitting. I can imagine equipment failure or human error and someone sending the food out any way. Steam tables often fail or go out in a restaurant.

Anywho-

The shrimp and grits arrive and they are hot this time.

The shrimp were blackened and ever so slightly burnt. The sausage was outstanding but there was very little of it. The bitter greens seemed like lettuce to us. The grits were cheesy but could use a little seasoning.

The plate is warm this time. The swordfish is expertly prepared cooked and is warm this time. Flavors are delicious. This is a very large plate and each taco is large. I can only eat one taco and I eat some fish out of the other tacos.

Our waiter apologized again when he brought the check.

Last time we enjoyed

Persepshen is a nice restaurant that offers a nice menu with a lot of variety that is completely house made. The food and menu concept is still exciting to us. I know that the chef is a very hard working person and might not have been as cordial as he might be under different circumstances. That doesn’t change the chef’s actions that I received. They’ve upset me so much that I doubt I’ll return. You can enjoy though……….The food is usually outstanding or very good.

www.PersepshenArizona.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.