Eating Utah

Utah Restaurant Reviews

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Pine Restaurant

4760 South 900 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84117
(801)288-2211
Service Rating: ★★★★★
Ambiance Rating: ★★★★★
Food Rating: ★★★★½
Overall Rating: ★★★★★

Reservations? Recommended on the weekend.

Overview: Pine American Restaurant has a relaxing, romantic atmosphere with fabulous service, great food, and charming ambiance.

Total price for 2 (includes appetizers, entrees, drinks and tip): $90

Service: Rating: ★★★★★

Comments: The service has been absolutely wonderful every time I’ve been to Pine. We have always been seated quickly, even without reservations and the wait staff is extremely attentive. I have a huge pet peeve with servers that neglect empty drinks - servers at Pine usually are on top of it and are consistently refilling drinks.

Ambiance: Rating: ★★★★★

Comments: Pine has a modern, contemporary, and romantic feel with intimate sitting and a central fireplace. During the warmer months, outdoor seating is available on their patio which overlooks the river.

Food: Rating: ★★★★★

Best dish: Everything was great, but their grilled salmon with herb mashed potatoes wins. The salmon is grilled to perfection and their mashed potatoes have real tomatoes in it. Sounds bizarre, but it’s absolutely divine! Their best dessert is a to-die-for passion fruit cheesecake (seasonal). Pine also offers a full bar and happy hour.

Worst dish: I haven’t been disappointed by anything yet.

Other comments: My husband and I loved Pine so much, we had our wedding luncheon there, since there is a dining area upstairs that allows for private parties and gatherings. Again, the service was great and the food was impeccable. I have heard from others that the quality of the food is inconsistent; it’s fabulous one night, and not so much the next. Personally, I have never had an issue and would highly recommend Pine to anyone looking for something new to try.

Overall Rating: ★★★★★

→ No CommentsTags: American

Village Baker

1658 West 9000 South
West Jordan, UT 84088
(801)565-0055
Service Rating: ★★★☆☆
Ambiance Rating: ★★★½☆
Food Rating: ★★★★★
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

Reservations? No

Overview: Village Baker is the quintessential American deli with unbelievably good food at an even better price.

Total price for 2: $15 tops, including drinks (and a cookie, if you’d like). Sandwiches are about $5 and for roughly $4, you can get a pizza slice, drink, and cookie.

Service: Rating: ★★★☆☆

Comments: Although the service isn’t necessarily bad, it is a bit limited since all the employees are high schoolers. As long as you don’t require them to say much more than “what can I get you” and “$10.65, please” and you spell out your name for them, you shouldn’t have any issues. The food is served relatively fast, within just a few minutes of ordering, unless ridiculously busy.

Ambiance: Rating: ★★★½☆

Comments: The restaurant is tastefully decorated and has all the charm of a local mom and pop shop. Although there is plenty of space for some tables, it’s carry out only, which can make it inconvenient to eat there if you are not in the area anyways.

Food: Rating: ★★★★★

Best dish: Everything I’ve had has been great, but my hands-down favorites are the egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches. Try them on the honey white bread, a lightly sweet and soft bread that makes their sandwiches amazing. Other favorites include the turkey on sourdough and pizza by the slice. They also offer take and bake pizzas

Worst dish: I have yet to come across one.

Other comments: Their sandwiches and portions are generously sized, giving you the best bang for your buck. On the downside, Village Baker has yet to franchise and only has the one location on 9000 south.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

→ No CommentsTags: Deli · Take Out

Taj India

4515 South 900 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84117
(801)268-2423
Restaurant Website
Service Rating: ★★★★☆
Ambiance Rating: ★★★½☆
Food Rating: ★★★★★
Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

Reservations? You probably won’t need them

Overview: Taj India is a true diamond in the rough. From the outside it looks like an old Denny’s, but inside we found by far the best Indian food I have ever had. If you really care about the decor you probably want to look elsewhere, but if you want fantastic food at a great price, Taj India is the place.

Total price for 2 (includes appetizers, entrees, drinks and tip): $50 (we splurged - this would definitely be at the high end for this restaurant)

Service: Rating: ★★★★☆

Comments: We had heard that the service here was impeccable. While there were no major hang-ups, it did seem to take a long time for our waitress to initially come and greet us. However, as the restaurant began to fill up we seemed to actually get more attention from the staff - overall we were very impressed with the service (particularly for an Indian restaurant).

Ambiance: Rating: ★★★½☆

Comments: This definitely is not a restaurant where you are going to bring an important client to show off. From the hideous carpets to uncomfortable chairs you will probably spend the first ten minutes wondering why you let yourself get talked into coming to such a run-down restaurant. In fact, if I had scored the restaurant’s ambiance before I ate it probably would have received one star - tasting the food at Taj India, however, makes all the cheesy decoration seem more authentic.

Food: Rating: ★★★★★

Best dish: Everything was great, but the mixed grill won. I ordered the Tandoori Mixed Grill (one of the more expensive menu items at $22) because I wanted to taste the lamb. I didn’t order a lamb-only dish because I find that at most places the lamb is too gamey for me. The mixed grill, however, had chunks of lamb and a lamb sausage that were both to die for. The dish also had two types of chicken (boneless and bone-in) and some grilled shrimp. Every single piece of meat was to die for. The rice and naan were the perfect complement to the meal (which also included a drink and a choice of soup or salad).

My wife ordered chicken coconut korma - if you like Thai food (particularly massaman curry), this is the dish for you. Served with strangely addictive white rice, the curry was light with a pleasant little kick to it. The naan, which is made in-house, is warm and moist.

Worst dish: Not one dish disappointed us in any way.

Other comments: For anybody looking for great Indian food in Utah, Taj India is the place. If you don’t care for uncomfortable chairs simply call your order in and take it to go.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

→ No CommentsTags: Indian