"It's going to be a steakhouse as they've never seen. You can just have a taco and tapas if you want." That is how Chef Sheila Bryson described the new ALMA to What Now Phoenix in July, months before its scheduled November 2 opening at The Citadel.
The quote is about the menu, but it also hints at what this move does to Pinnacle Peak Road. ALMA's OpenTable listing gave Monday, November 2 as opening day at 8700 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Suite 115. It sits right beside Little Snitch, Bryson's café. That puts a steakhouse, a rooftop-style lounge, a tequila bar, a boutique, a café and a planned ice cream parlor under one restaurant group in one shopping center. Two more of her restaurants sit on Pima Road and a third farther west on Pinnacle Peak. For anyone in Estancia, the result is a dining district run by one owner, all a short drive from home.
A Room That Sat Dark for More Than a Year
ALMA moved into a space with a long history of its own. Preston's Steakhouse served steaks, seafood and a broad wine list at The Citadel for more than ten years. Phoenix New Times reported its closure in August 2025, and the owners said they were closing because of upcoming building repairs.
That left a large restaurant space on Pinnacle Peak Road empty from summer 2025 into fall 2026. In the meantime, ALMA closed its Old Town Scottsdale location in early 2026. Bryson told What Now Phoenix the move was a chance to bring ALMA closer to her other Soul Hospitality Group concepts: Soul Café, Vic & Ola's, Pescada and Little Snitch.
ALMA left a busy tourist district to join a group of restaurants that already shared an owner, a kitchen culture and, as it turns out, a gift card.
Six Concepts, One Owner
Here is how Soul Hospitality Group now lays out across this part of North Scottsdale, with status as reported in late October 2026.
| Concept | Address | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALMA | 8700 E. Pinnacle Peak Rd., Suite 115 | Southwest steakhouse with lounges, a tequila bar and a boutique | November 2 opening, per OpenTable |
| Little Snitch | 8700 E. Pinnacle Peak Rd., Suite 106 | Breakfast-and-lunch café with a bakery counter and walk-up coffee | Open since early 2024 |
| Little Scoops | The Citadel, 8700 E. Pinnacle Peak Rd. | Old-fashioned ice cream parlor | Expected around ALMA's opening, no firm date |
| Soul Café | 7615 E. Pinnacle Peak Rd. | Original Soul Hospitality concept | Open |
| Vic & Ola's | 20775 N. Pima Rd., Unit 110 | Sister restaurant | Open |
| Pescada | 20707 N. Pima Rd., Suite 140 | Sister restaurant | Open |
The addresses show the pattern. Two of the six sit in The Citadel, a third is coming there, and the other three are on the two roads that meet nearby. Little Snitch opened at The Citadel by February 2024, as Mouth by Southwest reported. That café held Bryson's spot in the center for more than two years before ALMA arrived.
One detail ties the group together in practice. ALMA's OpenTable listing says gift cards will be good at the new location and at its sister restaurants. A card bought for a birthday dinner at ALMA can just as easily pay for a morning at Little Snitch next door.
A Steakhouse Laid Out for Moving Around
ALMA's layout follows the same thinking at a smaller scale. OpenTable says the restaurant has three bars, including two lounges, plus an upstairs lounge and patio. Its open-concept floor plan is pitched for date nights, business dinners, private events and ordinary weeknights alike.
What Now Phoenix gave the rooms names and roles:
- Copper Club, a rooftop lounge with live music and cocktails. Bryson said the music was a direct response to customers who had long asked for it.
- A tequila bar with tequila and mezcal tastings, chef-created tacos and small bites.
- Barbwire Western Couture, a women's boutique that Bryson ran years ago and is bringing back inside ALMA.
- The steakhouse dining room, serving premium cuts with flavors from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Northern Mexico.
Copper Club has history at this address. Bryson described it to What Now Phoenix as an event center she "briefly opened right before COVID," before it had much chance to host anything. The upstairs room is a second try at an idea that was already planned for The Citadel.
ALMA's full menu is available in every space. Bryson told What Now Phoenix the goal was for guests to explore each area over the evening instead of staying in one place. A table in the dining room, a seat at the tequila bar and a spot upstairs near the music all order from the same kitchen. Choosing a room is about the setting, not about what you can eat.
The Late Stop Runs Through Little Snitch
At the scale of the whole center, Little Scoops is the piece that turns The Citadel into a full evening. Forking Scottsdale reported on October 1 that the old-fashioned ice cream parlor will sit next door to ALMA and connect to it through Little Snitch. It is designed to stay open later into the evening as a dessert stop for the Pinnacle Peak dining corridor.
That makes Little Snitch the hinge. It is a breakfast-and-lunch café with a bakery counter and a walk-up coffee window, and it physically links the dinner room on one side to the dessert counter on the other. Once all three are open, the stretch of The Citadel where Bryson operates covers morning coffee, lunch, happy hour, dinner, rooftop music and late ice cream, with each handoff happening within a few steps.
The farther-flung pieces fill in around it. Soul Café is on the same road at 7615 E. Pinnacle Peak, west of The Citadel. Vic & Ola's and Pescada are two doors apart by address on North Pima Road, south of the intersection. Taken together, the six concepts give one owner a hand in nearly every meal of the day within a few miles of this one intersection.
What Is Settled and What Is Still Coming
The opening is moving in stages, and some pieces are firmer than others.
- ALMA's opening date. OpenTable listed Monday, November 2 as opening day, with reservations starting at 4 p.m. Forking Scottsdale's October 22 issue reported the same date at the former Preston's address. The date had already moved once. In July, Bryson told What Now Phoenix the team was aiming for October 1 but that construction could push it into early November, which is where it is now scheduled.
- The menu. ALMA's own site posts separate dinner, bar and lounge menus and calls the dinner menu a work in progress. Expect the opening menu to change over the first weeks.
- Barbwire Western Couture. OpenTable lists the boutique inside ALMA. The boutique does not have a separately announced opening date.
- Little Scoops. Early coverage tied the parlor's opening to ALMA's, but What Now Phoenix reported that its exact date was still pending.
- Gift cards. Cards from the old ALMA carry over to the new location and are good at the sister restaurants, according to the restaurant's OpenTable notice.
The rest of The Citadel stays as it is. Whitestone, the property owner, describes the center's other tenants as a curated mix of health-and-beauty and service businesses. Errands, appointments and dinner can now share one parking lot. ALMA takes reservations at 480-284-6736 and through OpenTable.
Restaurants like these shape what a Saturday evening near Estancia looks like, and they quietly shape what people value about living nearby. If you are curious how this part of North Scottsdale is changing around your own home, The Castro Group would be glad to sit down with you, perhaps over coffee at Little Snitch, and walk through a free home valuation together.
