Cafe Stella Modern Italian Cuisine & Bar

Cafe Stella is a cozy Italian spot tucked into an alley just off Aspen Avenue in downtown Flagstaff, about 80 miles south of the South Rim — a solid dinner stop if you're staging out of Flagstaff rather than Tusayan. With a 4.5 rating from 600 reviews, it's built a loyal following for fresh pasta made in-house and a warm, charming dining room.

What to order

Reviewers keep coming back for the same handful of dishes: sausage and mushroom pasta, chicken alfredo, mushroom ravioli, and a Tuscan salmon pasta that one diner said made the table go quiet for a minute. Start with the garlic bread or house salad, and save room for tiramisu if you like your dessert heavy on espresso. Portions run on the smaller side for the price, so this isn't the place to show up starving and expect to roll out.

Good to know

• Price: $$ (moderate)
• Hours: closed Mondays; otherwise dinner service most nights, with weekend brunch/lunch hours Wednesday through Sunday
• Reservations: weekends fill up — one recent reviewer got shut out on a same-day try over a long weekend

The outdoor seating sits in the alley itself, which has its own scrappy charm after dark but is worth a quick look before you commit to a table there in daylight. Inside is the better bet if ambience matters more than people-watching.