Voce Ristorante and Lounge

Stepping through the front door of Voce(which by the way is a very impressive door) is like stepping back in time to what I've always imagined a 1930's/40's supper club to be. There's a rather impressive main dining room off to the right and a more informal lounge to the left. In the dimly lit lounge the walls are lined on either side with high back leather couches and tables for eating. At the front end of the room is a nice size stage and a small space for dancing. Facing the stage are several two top tables for guests to enjoy drinks or food while watching the performers. We had 7:45 reservations, at Voce Lounge, this past Saturday night. When we arrived both the lounge and restaurant were full. The host informed us there would be a brief wait for our table; which turned out to be about 30 minutes. Our first round of drinks were on the house for our patience. I thought that was a very nice touch. The lounge menu is not your typical bar menu. The best way to describe it is Italian tapas. Included are things like rustic thin crust pizzas, marinated filet mignon on skewers, a large ravioli stuffed with spinach and arancini (Sicilian rice balls). We decided to get a few different things and share. The margarita pizza had a nice thin crust and was topped with the perfect ratio of sauce to cheese. The polpetini were 6 mini beef, pork and veal meatballs placed on top of mashed potatoes. The whole dish was covered in tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. Normally the thought of mashed potatoes and tomato sauce wouldn't seem that appealing to me; but the combination was actually delicious. The 6 spinach dumplings were similar in size to the meatballs and were bathed in a rich butter sage sauce; equally delicious. The band started right around 9:30. Khani Cole is the featured artist on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at Voce. The music was good and it was nice to see so many people get up and dance. Sitting at Voce with the band playing and people dancing around me I got a feeling of what it must have been like so many years ago when supper clubs were popular. Call me a bit old fashion but I wish there were more places like the Voce Lounge. Voce Ristorante and Lounge 9717 N Hayden Road (SE corner Mountain View & Hayden) Scottsdale, AZ 85258 480.609.0429 Dining-Room hours: 5:30pm - 10:30pm (Mon - Sat) Lounge hours: 5:30pm - 1am (Mon-Thu) 5:30pm-2am (Fri/Sat)