Diamond Point Shadows

Tyler Perna (pictured), the owner, says the restaurant wouldn’t be what it is today without the support of its regulars, who make their way there for steak and fresh seafood, among other favorite dishes. In fact, Perna says the best part about owning the restaurant is the gathering of the locals on Friday nights for the all-you-can-eat fish fry. “It’s a staple of our restaurant,” he says. “We’ve been doing it for 60 years. It’s my grandmother’s recipe. It’s really simple, it’s really good, and I enjoy cooking that fish.”

Perna’s grandparents opened the restaurant in 1962 after moving to Arizona from Michigan — they lived in the Phoenix area briefly before heading north to Payson. Perna is the latest descendant to take the reins. It’s a role he’s been preparing for since he started working in the kitchen at age 12.

Later, Perna helped manage the restaurant with his father, Michael, who ran it for almost 30 years — 15 of those with his son’s help. Three years ago, after his father died of cancer, Perna became the sole owner.

Before Perna’s father passed, he created a list of his favorite wines and shared them with his son. From that list, “Mike’s Wine Cellar” was born. It’s Perna’s way of celebrating his father and allowing customers to pair those favorite wines with Diamond Point Shadows’ food, which includes a 12-ounce prime rib, shrimp scampi and baby back pork ribs. There’s also a daily special. Perna takes pride in sourcing fresh, simple ingredients to serve the highest-quality food to his customers.

He describes his family restaurant, which is open Wednesdays through Sundays, as “an old-school steakhouse … with good, cold beer.” And through the support of regulars and quality ingredients, the old-school steakhouse has become a place where customers feel right at home. “It’s a family place,” Perna says.