Jerome AZ Dining: Where to Eat in Arizona's Most Haunted Town

If you're planning a trip and looking into Jerome, AZ dining, you're in for a surprise.

This former copper boomtown clinging to the side of Cleopatra Hill has turned some of its most infamous old buildings, a former brothel, a mining company jail among them, into some of the best places to eat in northern Arizona.

Half the fun of Jerome, AZ dining is knowing the history of the building your food is coming out of.

Jerome earned its old nickname, the wickedest city in the West, through saloons, brothels, and boomtown chaos. Decades later, that same rough history is what gives Jerome, AZ dining its personality today, since almost every kitchen in town is doing business inside a building with a story attached.

TAKE A SELF-GUIDED TOUR OF JEROME:

Jerome's Copper & Corpses Haunted Walking Tour walks you past several of the buildings on this very list, and tells you the real stories behind them, before you ever sit down to eat.

Along the way you'll learn:

• Why the Clinkscale's building still answers to a madam named Jennie Bauters

• What the Haunted Hamburger's original owners kept losing during renovation

• How a jail ended up 225 feet from where it was built

Most walkers finish the route in thirty to sixty minutes.

Check out Jerome's Copper & Corpses Haunted Walking Tour here.

THE CLINKSCALE: DINE INSIDE A FORMER BORDELLO

Long before it served fish tacos, this Main Street building was run by Madam Jennie Bauters, once one of the wealthiest women in the Arizona Territory.

Today it's one of the most popular lunch spots in town, known for its soup and salad bar and a menu locals actually recommend, not just tourists. Staff still credit Jennie when something in the building goes mysteriously out of place.

HAUNTED HAMBURGER: BURGERS WITH A SIDE OF GHOST STORIES

No list of Jerome, AZ dining is complete without this one.

What started as a 1990s renovation project turned into Jerome's most famous haunted restaurant, after the owners' hammers kept disappearing and doors kept slamming shut on their own. The burgers alone are worth the trip up the hill, but the ghost stories are why people keep coming back.

GRAPES: ITALIAN COMFORT WITH A MOUNTAIN VIEW

Open since 1996, Grapes brings Italian-American comfort food to downtown Jerome, with a patio that looks out over the Verde Valley. It's a good pick if you want a sit-down dinner without the ghost stories on the side, though this is Jerome, so no promises.

ASYLUM RESTAURANT: DINNER AT THE MOST HAUNTED ADDRESS IN TOWN

For the boldest version of Jerome, AZ dining, book a table at the restaurant inside the Jerome Grand Hotel itself, the former United Verde Hospital where an estimated 9,000 people died. It's fine dining with a view over the whole Verde Valley, and arguably the most haunted dinner reservation in Arizona.

PLAN YOUR TRIP:

Want the full breakdown, where to eat, where to stay, and how to plan a one or two-day visit around Jerome's steep, haunted streets? Our Jerome travel guide covers all of it.

Check out our Jerome travel guide to plan your trip.