22 Best Restaurants in Salt Lake City, Utah

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.  

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.

Celebrated chef-owner Ryan Lowder brings joy with the basics—artful salads, house-made pastas, and charcuterie—and then dazzles with mouthwatering locally sourced dishes, from Cast Iron Mary's Chicken to rainbow trout with charred lemon and Greek yogurt. Stop in at this chic modern downtown bistro before or after a film, gallery tour, or live theater on Salt Lake's Broadway. The youthful Lowder studied with some of the nation's most famous chefs before bringing his own brand of sophisticated American cuisine to his hometown.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In a city known for healthy living and spiritualism, this Sugar House purveyor of exceptional loose-leaf teas, fine wines (by the bottle or in single-serving cans), and light but tasty snacks has a devoted following. Pick your tea from the lengthy menu—the blueberry matcha is a standout—and enjoy it hot, as a latte, or iced.

One of the most memorable and dramatic restaurant experiences in the state, dining in this secluded yurt begins with a guided ¼-mile snowshoe trek beneath a canopy of nighttime stars, and the dinner price—$175 per person—includes rentals, guides, corkage fee, and a grand four-course meal. The seasonally driven menu changes regularly, and The Yurt's chef describes the meal as he prepares it before your eyes in the cozy exhibition kitchen. With seating for just 26, dinners here book up early—reserve well ahead.