DON'T MISS A THING

In Salt Lake City, restaurants are famous because they deserve it. The line out the door on a Saturday is real, and the dish everyone talks about is as good as advertised. That’s why their reputation has held for decades. Other places to eat in the city are every bit as good and half as busy, but only because they opened recently, sit a block off the main drag, or simply never chased attention.

Both types of places belong in any honest review of where to eat in Salt Lake City. In this guide, we’ll explore obvious gems as well as the places locals quietly recommend. Wherever you go, there are de-lish dishes worth trying on a casual day out or for a special occasion.

The Obvious Gems

Our obvious gems are Salt Lake’s best restaurants, some recognized nationwide, and known for being some of the best food in the city.

1. Red Iguana

Red Iguana is the first name most locals give when someone asks about Mexican food in Salt Lake City, and the reputation is built on a single word. Mole (MOH-lay). The restaurant makes seven of them, each rooted in a different regional Mexican tradition, and no other kitchen in Utah runs a mole program at that scale. The recipes belong to the Cardenas family, who took over a small downtown restaurant called Casa Grande in 1965 and reinvented it as Red Iguana on North Temple in 1985.

Our favorite dish is the Mole Negro, the darkest and most complex of the seven, built on dried chiles, Mexican chocolate, and a long list of nuts and fruit, served over chicken or turkey. First-timers should order the mole sampler instead and taste the whole spectrum before committing. Cochinita Pibil, pork rubbed with achiote and slow-roasted, is the regulars’ pick when they want something other than mole.

The original at 736 W North Temple draws a weekend line. Red Iguana 2, located at 866 W South Temple, serves the same menu a few blocks away with a shorter wait. Both are open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m.

2. Pretty Bird

Pretty Bird put Nashville-style hot chicken on the Salt Lake map from a small counter on Regent Street downtown, and the crowds that followed pushed it to multiple locations across the valley. The format is simple. Chicken, a heat scale, a bun or a plate, and a line that moves fast.

The hot chicken sandwich at a medium heat is great for the first visit. The top of the scale is for people who already know what they are doing. Be sure to take in the moment you try the Pretty Bird sauce for the first time. It’s phenomenal on the perfectly crispy crinkle fries. The original Pretty Bird at 146 S Regent Street sits a half block off Main Street and works as a quick in-and-out meal before a show or a game. Or if you’re in the Sugarhouse area, stop at the Pretty Bird at 675 E 2100 South.

3. Ruth’s Diner

Ruth’s Diner has been feeding Salt Lake City since 1930, when a former cabaret singer named Ruth Evans opened Ruth’s Hamburgers downtown. When her building was slated for demolition in 1946, she bought a retired trolley car, set up her diner inside it, and by 1949 had hauled the whole thing up Emigration Canyon, where it still sits at 4160 Emigration Canyon Road. It is the second-oldest restaurant in Utah and the classic brunch drive out of the city.

The favorite dish here is the Mile High Biscuits, which arrive at the start of every meal with raspberry jam and are the reason most people make the drive. If the starter isn’t enough, dig into the biscuits and gravy for an all-American breakfast that hits like home. Breakfast runs until 4 p.m. The patio in the trees is dog-friendly, so bring your furry friends. Watch out for weekend mornings when you’ll have to wait, but you’ll probably be able to walk right in for a weekday lunch.

4. Skillets

Skillets is one of the best breakfasts you’ll ever eat. It started as a food truck in 2021, and by 2022 the breakfast burrito had already been named the best in Salt Lake City by City Cast. When Jorge and Will Garcia-Kesler opened the brick-and-mortar at 282 E 900 South in November 2024, the truck’s following filled it from the first weekend and has not let up.

The cooking carries a Venezuelan thread. Shredded beef shows up in the tater tot skillet and the burrito, and a cilantro-and-garlic green sauce comes with nearly everything.

The Tower for Two is the ultimate menu-sampling experience. Delivered on a three-tiered platter, the tower includes waffles with three “fondue” dips, breakfast meats, fresh fruit, plus sweet and savory butters and toasts for the ultimate breakfast experience. You’ll need to go a second time at least for the Skillets Poutine. Weekend hours run 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The weekend wait is the surest sign this one has left the hidden tier for good. Come prepared to wait based on the size of your party, but rest assured. The wait will be worth it.

5. Takashi

Takashi is the downtown sushi bar that defined the category in Salt Lake City. Chef-owner Takashi Gibo opened it at 18 W Market Street in 2004, and the room has been full since. The menu runs from traditional nigiri and sashimi through creative rolls and hot small plates, with a specials board that changes with what the kitchen has flown in.

A seat at the bar and a chef’s selection of nigiri is a great way to eat here and the best seat in the house to watch the cutting boards. Most seating is walk-in with only a few early reservations released online, so arrive right at opening or come after 9 p.m. to skip the wait. Takashi is closed Sundays.

6. Oquirrh

Oquirrh (pronounced “oak-er,” named for the range on the west side of the valley) is the chef-driven dinner that put Salt Lake City on the national radar. Andrew Fuller and his wife Angie opened it at 368 E 100 South in 2019 after his years in the kitchens at Copper Onion and Pago, and Fuller has since been named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef in the Mountain region three times, most recently in 2026.

The menu changes with the season, so the best dish is whatever the chef’s current take on chicken pot pie or duck happens to be. The pattern holds even as the plates rotate. Oquirrh offers familiar food, executed with a twist, and sourced from local farms. The dining room is small, so parties larger than six need to email ahead, and reservations are nearly mandatory.

7. Lone Star Taqueria

Lone Star Taqueria has held its corner of Fort Union Boulevard in Cottonwood Heights since the mid-1990s, and it looks it, in the best way. A weathered building, a cramped one-way lot, a drive-through with a speaker that has never worked well, and a dining room that has zero interest in being photographed. It is the taco stop on the way to and from Big and Little Cottonwood canyons, and it’s a great meal no matter what you get.

The fish taco, lightly battered and dressed with jalapeño mayo and cabbage, is the thing to try. The chips and salsa are the second reason people come, and the burritos are big enough that two people ordering three of them is a mistake. Several locals have made that mistake, but only once. Lone Star Taqueria is at 2265 Fort Union Boulevard, and the lot fills at noon, so go early or late.

The Hidden Gems

The hidden gems of Salt Lake may not show up on every best restaurant list, but they still serve next-level meals that SLC locals love. Not all favorite places to eat require extra fanfare, but these locally loved options are great spots to grab dinner, coffee, or even a little dessert.

1. Slackwater Pizzeria

Slackwater started in Ogden in 2011 as a 30-seat pizza shop next to a bike shop and grew into a small Utah chain, with locations in Sandy since 2019 and Salt Lake City’s Granary District since 2022, at 684 S 500 West. It stays a hidden gem because most visitors never hear the name. Locals know it for two things. A dough that is light and airy without being too thin, sweetened with honey and developed at the original Ogden location, and a specialty list that runs past twenty pies and treats the crust as a blank canvas.

Order any combination of pies to split across the table. Every pizza is sized at 11 inches to make sharing the default. The list swings from simple, a pepperoni pie finished with hot honey, to refined, a chicken tikka masala pizza built on a mild masala sauce, or a pie of red grapes, peppered bacon, rosemary, and gorgonzola. The beer list is long, and Sunday brunch is on the menu.

2. Sawadee Thai

Sawadee Thai has been cooking on the same corner at 754 E South Temple since 2006, right where the Avenues neighborhood meets downtown. The location is the reason it stays quiet. It is a few blocks too far east for the downtown lunch crowd and a few blocks too far south for Avenues residents to stumble into, which suits the regulars fine.

The chicken basil stir-fry, or any of the curries, delivers on flavor and satisfies your Thai needs. The curries come in every color and pair with jasmine rice. Pad see ew is also a safe order for a first visit. The dining room is roomy enough for a group, calm enough for two, and rarely has a line.

3. Publik Coffee

Publik Coffee Roasters at 975 S West Temple is the flagship of the local Publik operation, a roastery and cafe in a converted industrial building where the coffee is roasted on site, and the upstairs is one big workspace. It is the ultimate study-date coffee shop of Salt Lake City, with enough room that nobody hovers waiting for a table and a food menu that rotates with what the kitchen has sourced.

Publik’s rotating food menu often features toasts with avocado, honey and banana, goat cheese and jam, or whatever seasonal delight they come up with. You’ll be satisfied by your pick of whatever is on the board that day, alongside a pour-over of the current coffee flavors. Publik sits a block from Star of India and is just a short walk from the Maven District, so it works as the start of an afternoon as well as a place to spend one.

4. Normal Ice Cream

Why end the day with dinner? Normal Ice Cream is the dessert that tops off any meal on this list, and it earns the hidden tier because the storefront at 169 E 900 South is easy to walk past. Normal started as a truck and kept the truck’s habit of changing the menu constantly. The strange and wonderful soft serve flavors rotate seasonally, with past composed cone flavors of green apple and caramel, sweet corn, olive oil, Earl Grey tea, and even fan-favorite Kerrygold Butter-dipped cones. Cones are built to order with toppings and sauces that lean toward the unexpected.

Normal Ice Cream is not a place to walk in and find your usual ice cream. Give yourself over to the experience of a very Normal composed cone, whichever seasonal flavor is on the board with the house-made toppings. Take it outside and walk the block. Central 9th is a lovely little neighborhood to wander with a cone in hand.

Favorite Dishes to Try Across Both Lists

For a first-time visitor, three dishes cover the city. Mole Negro at Red Iguana, the Mile High Biscuits at Ruth’s Diner, and the fish taco at Lone Star Taqueria. Each is a Salt Lake original that does not exist in that form anywhere else.

For a second visit, widen the net. The hot chicken sandwich at Pretty Bird, a chef’s selection of nigiri at the bar at Takashi, whatever seasonal plate Oquirrh is running, the Tower for Two at Skillets, two split pies at Slackwater, chicken basil at Sawadee, the sandwich of the day at Publik, and a seasonal cone at Normal. Eleven restaurants, eleven dishes, and no two cuisines repeat.

Also Worth Knowing

A few more names round out the picture.

• Feldman’s Deli is the sandwich stop, pastrami and corned beef stacked on the East Coast model.
• Copper Onion, a downtown staple since 2010, is the kitchen where Oquirrh’s chef trained and the reliable fallback when Oquirrh is full.
• Star of India has served Northern Indian food since 1990 and now sits at 1000 S Main Street.
• Pho 777 in West Valley is the bowl serious pho eaters in the valley point to.
• Grid City Beer Works in South Salt Lake makes a mean burger and pours each beer three ways, cask, nitro, and CO2. This pub is 21 and over, of course, so bring your ID.

Gems All Over

When you’re looking for a place to eat in Salt Lake City, there are gems everywhere. The obvious gems earned their reputation over decades, and the hidden ones are earning theirs now. Wherever you go, delicious places to eat pop up. Whether you’re looking for the best Mexican food in SLC, a lively atmosphere, some delicious Italian food, or a juicy burger, Salt Lake has you covered. Get started at favorite restaurants like Red Iguana and work your way around downtown SLC. You’ll find your new go-tos in no time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most famous restaurant in Salt Lake City?

Red Iguana has been voted the best Mexican restaurant in Utah for more than 25 consecutive years, has appeared on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives twice, and its seven moles are the dishes visitors hear about before they land.

Which hidden gem restaurants are near downtown Salt Lake City?

Sawadee Thai sits on South Temple at the base of the Avenues, a ten-minute walk from Temple Square. Publik Coffee, Skillets, and Normal Ice Cream are all along 900 South, a short drive or a long walk south of the city center. Slackwater’s Salt Lake location is in the Granary District, west of downtown.

Is Red Iguana worth the wait?

Yes, with one shortcut. Red Iguana 2 on South Temple serves the identical menu a few blocks from the original and usually has a shorter line. Go there on a weekend, or arrive at the original right at opening.

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