The Best Restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah

Background Illustration for 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.

Red Iguana

$$ Fodor's choice

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, UT, 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

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