{"id":303336,"date":"2025-10-14T18:51:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/303336\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T18:51:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:51:16","slug":"popular-phoenix-barbecue-restaurant-closes-after-6-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/303336\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular Phoenix barbecue restaurant closes after 6 months"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1240\" height=\"827\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/phoenix_new_times_word_of_mouth_grilljackie_mercandetti_photo_11.webp.jpeg\" class=\"article-thumbnail-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHotlinks, ribs, tips, turkey and sides at Word of Mouth.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Jackie Mercandetti Photo<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wordofmouthgrill.com\/\">Word of Mouth Grill<\/a>, a popular Tempe barbecue joint, expanded in April, opening its second location in Ahwatukee. But now, after just over six months, the restaurant has closed.<\/p>\n<p>Word of Mouth is the brainchild of pitmaster Demetrious Makel and his wife Jacque Gomez-Makel. The business started as a roving smoker that catered for weddings, festivals and other events. In 2019, the couple opened their first brick-and-mortar location in Tempe on the southwest corner of Elliot Road and McClintock Drive. <\/p>\n<p>The bar and restaurant became renowned for its brisket and pulled pork, along with its flavors. Makel makes his own house-made dry rubs and eight different barbecue sauces ranging from creamy Alabama white to spicy habanero. The restaurant is one of our <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phoenixnewtimes.com\/food-drink\/best-bbq-in-phoenix-10815160\/\">top 10 spots for barbecue <\/a>in the Valley. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"684\" width=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/phoenix_new_times_word_of_mouth_grilljackie_mercandetti_photo_06.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40170559\"  \/>Demetrious Makel and his wife, Jacque, at Word of Mouth Grill.<\/p>\n<p>The second location opened this spring on the northeast corner of Ray Road and 48th Street. More of a fast-casual eatery, the new spot was designed for customers on the go. The menu differed slightly from the original, offering panini sandwiches in place of fried wings.  <\/p>\n<p>While no reasoning was provided, Word of Mouth\u2019s website has been updated to reflect the recent closure of its Ahwatukee location.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile that location ultimately closed its doors after six months, the family remains grateful for the experience and the support they received from both communities,\u201d the site says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hotlinks, ribs, tips, turkey and sides at Word of Mouth. Jackie Mercandetti Photo Word of Mouth Grill, a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":303337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,97044,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-303336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-openings-closings","12":"tag-phoenix","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115374029913763077","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}