Salt Lake City Restaurants

The 2002 Winter Olympics cast Salt Lake City in a new, contemporary, more diverse light. Visitors discovered a panoply of cultural influences, brewpubs, ethnic flavors, and progressive chefs. Salt Lake City may not have the depth of restaurants seen in other big cities, but there are a couple of outstanding choices for nearly every budget and cuisine. Restaurants like Lamb’s Grill Café, Hire’s Big H, and Ruth’s Diner trace their roots back five-plus decades, and their colorful proprietors are more than willing to share the history they’ve witnessed from their kitchens. Returning LDS missionaries have brought back their favorite flavors from Asia, Europe, and Latin America, with impressive results. Seafood, Japanese, Tibetan, Indian, Spanish, and Italian are all suitably showcased in Salt Lake eateries, and when all else fails, there are great burgers and Rocky Mountain cuisine, a fusion inspired by frontier big game, seafood fresh from the great Pacific ports, and organic produce grown in Utah’s fertile valleys. You'll also find creative wine lists and knowledgeable service. Bakers and pastry chefs defy the 4,400-foot altitude with rustic sourdoughs and luscious berry-filled treats. Multiple weekly summer farmers' markets are thriving, and chefs are building more and more of a food community.

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  • 1. Avenues Proper

    $$$

    One of two inviting restaurants run by the city's excellent Proper Brewing Company, this contemporary neighborhood bistro on a quiet street in the Avenues is a terrific option for a meal on the terrace on a sunny day or in the postindustrial dining room. Sample the flavorful house-brewed ales paired with eclectic comfort fare like steak frites, Korean pork belly bibimbap, and shrimp and grits. There's a taproom downtown and an additional restaurant in Sugar House.  

    376 8th Ave., Utah, 84103, USA
    385-227–8628

    Known For

    • Lovely sidewalk terrace
    • Superb house-brewed beers
    • Popular weekend brunches
  • 2. Blacksmith Ice Cream

    $

    It's worth the 15-minute drive north of downtown Salt Lake to sample what may very well be the finest small-batch ice cream in the Rockies, or at least Utah. Innovative flavors at this bustling shop in cheerful downtown Bountiful include lavender studded with chunks of honeycomb and mango sticky rice. Offerings change according to which ingredients are available in season.

    180 S. Main St., Utah, 84010, USA
    801-683–8951

    Known For

    • Charming sidewalk seating in downtown Bountiful
    • Unusual ice-cream flavors
    • House-baked waffle cones

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
  • 3. Cucina

    $$$

    Foodies flock to this neighborhood café and food market for creative salads and colorful entrées like ahi tuna poke with guajillo chilies and mango, or lobster gnocchi in a saffron beurre blanc with dandelion pesto and candied oranges. Also on the menu are house-made soups and generous deli sandwiches. Big windows and warm mustard and terra-cotta tones lend the setting some Tuscan-style flair, with seating indoors and out.

    1026 2nd Ave., Utah, 84103, USA
    801-322–3055

    Known For

    • Outstanding list of wines by the glass and bottle
    • Hefty deli sandwiches to go
    • Panna cotta with creative rotating preparations
  • 4. Current Fish & Oyster

    $$

    Being in a city with a major international hub airport has its advantages, including access to daily shipments of incredibly fresh fish, which are the stars on the menu of this postindustrial former warehouse space with a soaring arched ceiling and exposed rafters and air ducts. Expect seafood sourced from East and West—consider Japanese Kumamoto oysters on the half shell, Gulf shrimp and grits, and Prince Edward Island mussels with house-smoked pork belly. Next door, Under Current bar stays open later.

    279 E. 300 S, Utah, 84111, USA
    801-326--3474

    Known For

    • Ceviche and other raw bar specialties
    • Affogato for dessert
    • Stellar international wine list

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No lunch weekends
  • 5. Feldman's Deli

    $

    A bustling space with high ceilings, brick walls, and live music some evenings, this contemporary take on a traditional Jewish deli is in a cheerful neighborhood on the south edge of Sugar House. It's a must for classic dishes—in enormous portions—of Reuben sandwiches, blintzes with fruit compote, matzo ball soup, and everything bagels with smoked sockeye salmon and a schmear.

    2005 E. 2700 S, Utah, 84109, USA
    801-906–0369

    Known For

    • Good local beers
    • Authentic boiled bagels baked fresh daily
    • Rugelach pastries

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon.
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  • 6. Fillings & Emulsions

    $

    Employing a team of world-class pastry chefs, including acclaimed owner and Food Network competitor Adalberto Diaz, this sumptuous little cake shop produces artful and delicious sweet treats. Stop by and treat yourself to a guava tart or a slice of raspberry chocolate cheesecake. There's an additional location in Salt Lake City International Airport.

    1475 S. Main St., Utah, 84115, USA
    385-229–4228

    Known For

    • Colorful French macarons
    • Savory baked Cuban sandwich meat pies
    • One-day classes on myriad topics

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. No dinner
  • 7. Franck's

    $$$$

    Celebrated for its art-filled dining room and lushly tree-shaded terrace, this romantic spot occupies a converted house in a historic neighborhood near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The kitchen specializes in modern French and American fare, such as preserved-heirloom-tomato pie with cilantro aioli and toasted-Parmesan sabayon, and Franck's signature meat loaf with whipped potatoes and a champagne-lavender sauce. There's a superb wine list, too.

    6263 S. Holladay Blvd., Utah, 84121, USA
    801-274–6264

    Known For

    • Family-style platters that serve two to six people
    • Well-chosen Old-World wine list
    • Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and a marbled chocolate shell

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Mon. No lunch
  • 8. HallPass

    $

    Set in downtown's Gateway Center shopping village and offering several distinct dining stations and seating at gorgeous carved-wood tables, the city's first food hall opened in 2020 and has quickly become a trendy spot to eat and people-watch. The options are varied and consistently good and include Nashville hot chicken, Belgian-style waffles and crepes, slow-cooked ramen, prodigious lobster rolls, and Japanese-Mexican-fusion izakaya fare. There's also a large outdoor dining area with gardens and flowers, and a multiplex movie theater next door.

    153 S. Rio Grande St., Utah, 84101, USA
    801-415–9886

    Known For

    • Large outdoor dining area
    • Great mix of healthy and decadent international options
    • Terrific craft beer bar
  • 9. HSL

    $$$$

    Within a short, pretty stroll of the Avenues and Capitol Hill, this outpost of the original, nationally acclaimed Handle restaurant in Park City turns heads with its stunningly plated, locavore-driven cuisine and a fetching interior with marble-top tables, a wood-beam ceiling, and a gleaming, tiled open kitchen. What's served on any given night varies according to what's in season, but you might encounter truffled agnolotti pasta filled with Swiss chard, corn, and goat's whey cream or slow-cooked pork shank with carrot-frisée salad, whipped ranch dressing, and apple butter.

    418 E. 200 S, Utah, 84111, USA
    801-539--9999

    Known For

    • Artful, Instagram-worthy food
    • Exquisitely curated spirits, wine, and beer list
    • Unusual, daily-changing dessert selection

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon. No lunch
  • 10. Laziz Kitchen

    $$

    Run by a friendly husband-and-husband team who began with a hummus stand at the farmers' market, Laziz has grown into an outstanding full-service Lebanese restaurant in the burgeoning Granary District, with a cheerfully hip plant-filled dining room and street-side terrace. The most delicious strategy here is to make a feast of a selection of small plates: spiced labneh, eggplant baba ghanoush, grilled Halloumi cheese, kibbeh, fried cauliflower with garlic-cilantro pesto, red-wine-braised lamb shank, and maybe a kafta burger or two. The short but excellent wine list features several Lebanese bottles. There's a second location in Midvale.

    912 Jefferson St. W, Utah, 84101, USA
    801-441–1228

    Known For

    • Shared dips and mezze appetizer platters
    • Blueberry, lavender, and other kefir sodas
    • Interesting list of Lebanese wines
  • 11. Log Haven

    $$$$

    This elegant 1920s canyon retreat brings inventive takes on American wild game–focused cuisine by incorporating Asian ingredients with a Rocky Mountain style—consider grilled bison steak with charred Brussel sprouts and truffle aioli or roasted hen of the woods mushrooms with Calabrian chile–ricotta dumplings. With its romantic setting in a beautifully renovated log home amid the pine trees, waterfalls, and wildflowers of Millcreek Canyon, this is definitely a restaurant to remember. The restaurant is 4 miles up the canyon, across from a waterfall.

    6451 E. Mill Creek Canyon Rd., Utah, 84109, USA
    801-272–8255

    Known For

    • Breathtaking views of the lush canyon
    • Inventive cuisine
    • Elaborate desserts

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No lunch
  • 12. normal ice cream

    $

    Begun by a pastry chef from acclaimed HSL restaurant, this off-beat artisan icecream shop turns out exceptional all-natural soft-serve ice cream in a riot of interesting flavors (brown butter, spruce tip with salted caramel, apple cider sorbet, olive oil), along with "composed" cones with interesting toppings mixed in—like house-made cake bits, gingersnap cookies, and honeycomb. If you're looking for sweet picnic treats, pick up a pint or a slice of ice-cream cake. 

    169 E. 900 S, Utah, 84111, USA
    385-299–5418

    Known For

    • Vegan sorbets in cool flavors (pomegranate, blood orange, etc.)
    • Choco tacos with horchata ice cream
    • Creative ice-cream sandwiches
  • 13. Pago

    $$$

    More than living up to its promise of farm-to-table freshness, this welcoming, microscopic, chef-driven neighborhood bistro capitalizes on local artisan farmers, with big and small plates anchored around simple ingredients like radishes, beets, or mountain stream trout. There's plenty to satisfy big appetites, too, such as bavette steak with duck fat potatoes, and fettuccine with braised hen, sofrito, pistachio, chile, and lemon. You can also dine at a second downtown location at 341 S. Main Street, which serves lunch on weekdays.

    878 S. 900 E, Utah, 84102, USA
    801-532–0777

    Known For

    • Cute, art-filled dining in 9th and 9th neighborhood
    • Excellent service
    • Scene-y weekend brunches

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No lunch weekdays
  • 14. Provisions

    $$

    Renowned for its delicious weekend brunches and a bright and colorful dining room with a lively open kitchen, this modern American bistro with a focus on organic ingredients also turns out flavorful dinner fare. Brunch favorites include slow-roasted pork shoulder with poached eggs and wood-roasted blueberry pancakes, while homemade pappardelle with braised rabbit and smoked bacon stars among the dinner options.

    3364 S. 2300 E, Utah, 84109, USA
    801-410–4046

    Known For

    • Shareable, creative small plates
    • Extensive list of artisan spirits
    • Yuzu-mint coconut brûlée

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No lunch weekdays
  • 15. Publik Coffee Roasters

    $

    This ubercool artisan-coffee purveyor has several locations around town, with this simple, streamlined shop in a converted service station in the Avenues arguably the most inviting, in part because of its handsome wooden tables and for its location along a block of lovely historic homes. Publik sources its fair-trade beans from high-quality farms throughout Latin America and Africa, and always offers an interesting array of seasonal espresso drinks, like the wintertime favorite Sweet Melissa, a honey syrup–infused latte with lemon balm, sage, and sweet mint.

    502 3rd Ave., Utah, 84103, USA
    385-229–4836

    Known For

    • Completely solar-powered
    • Inviting, historic building
    • Exceptional coffee and espresso drinks
  • 16. Red Iguana

    $$

    Visitors are sometimes taken aback to find stunningly authentic, richly flavorful house-made moles, chile verde, carnitas, and other self-described "killer Mexican" dishes in Salt Lake City, and especially in a rambling old yellow-brick building on the other side of I–15 from Downtown. But the lines out the door attest to the longstanding adoration of the Red Iguana, which in addition to doling out great food also serves first-rate premium margaritas, good Mexican beers, and delicious and free salsa and chips. If the crowds have you feeling blue, try the satellite outpost, Red Iguana 2, which is just two blocks away and has many more tables.

    736 W. North Temple, Utah, 84116, USA
    801-322–1489

    Known For

    • Chilaquiles with a fried egg and pork chorizo
    • Richly complex turkey and mole dishes
    • Fried ice cream with shredded coconut and cinnamon-sugar
  • 17. Ruth's Diner

    $

    Families love the gussied-up old railcar that serves as Ruth's dining room and the best creek-side patio in the city—you just have to navigate your way up gorgeous Emigration Canyon to find it. Breakfast (served until 4 pm) has been the diner's trademark since 1930, and it starts with 3-inch-high biscuits followed by massive omelets like the King of Hearts (artichokes, garlic, mushrooms, and two cheeses). In summer the barbecue fires up every Thursday night for ribs, fish, chicken, or whatever the chef concocts, with live music on the patio. Watch the road for deer, moose, and some of the top cyclists in America, who train here much of the year.

    4160 Emigration Canyon Rd., Utah, 84108, USA
    801-582–5807

    Known For

    • Scenic canyon setting
    • Live music on the patio in summer
    • Long wait times on weekend mornings
  • 18. Sweet Lake Biscuits & Limeade

    $

    This supercasual café with a smattering of sidewalk tables serves up heavenly biscuits in an assortment of ways, from blueberry-biscuit pudding French toast to fried chicken biscuit sandwiches with spicy pickles and mustard. Head to the refreshment stand at one end of the dining room to order a refreshing raspberry, habanero, or mint limeade. There are additional locations in Draper and American Fork.

    54 W. 1700 S, Utah, 84115, USA
    801-953–1978

    Known For

    • Limeades with rotating seasonal flavors
    • Biscuit eggs Benedict
    • Strawberry "tall cake" with fresh cream

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No dinner
  • 19. Table X

    $$$$

    Serving artfully crafted modern American fare in a sceney cathedral-ceiling restaurant with tall black leather booths, a pair of esteemed chefs have created one of the most alluring dining destinations in the city. The five- and seven-course tasting menus change frequently and are based on what's in season, but recent offerings have included locally raised lamb shank accompanied by smoked and pickled alliums and saffron lamb jus and a vegetable "steak" topped with plum-zucchini caponata, leeks, and nasturtiums. Wine and nonalcoholic pairings are available.  The on-site bakery dispenses fine coffee, breads, and pastries Wednesday through Saturday.

    1457 E. 3350 S, Utah, 84106, USA
    385-528–3712

    Known For

    • Fresh produce grown in the on-site garden
    • There's always a vegetarian menu option
    • Daily-changing selection of house-made ice creams and sorbets

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun.–Tues. No lunch
  • 20. Takashi

    $$$

    You'll often see chef-owner Takashi Gibo behind the sushi bar at this hip and lively Japanese restaurant across from the Gallivan Center. Takashi is known for sublime, melt-in-your mouth sushi as well as a slew of izakaya-style treats, like miso-grilled eggplant, baked marinated sablefish, and shiitake lamb shank in Japanese yellow curry. The list of specialty sushi rolls is long and never lacks for inspiration—try the one topped with escolar, sliced strawberry, spicy sauce, and fresh chilies, with toasted almonds and eel sauce on the outside. The full-service bar serves crisp sake and fine martinis.

    18 W. Market St., Utah, 84101, USA
    801-519–9595

    Known For

    • Barbecue pork ribs
    • Riceless sushi rolls wrapped in cucumber
    • Superb wine and sake selection

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. No lunch Sat.

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