Gastronomic Salt Lake City has been covering the Utah food scene for more more than fifteen years; in that time we’ve sampled 100s of restaurants, perhaps even 1000s if we’re being honest. With all that in depth knowledge we’ve put together the following guides to dining in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas. We recommend you start with our guide to the best of the best, then dig into these details lists.
Salt Lake City by cuisine
Salt Lake City has a very eclectic dining scene, home to many nationalities of diverse dishes. Check out our complete roundup of all the international flavors you can find around the state here.
- Best Chinese restaurant Salt Lake City
- Best French food in Utah
- Best Italian restaurant Salt Lake City
- Best Indian cuisine
- Best Japanese restaurants
- Best Mexican restaurant Salt Lake City
- Best Middle Eastern food Salt Lake City
- Best Korean restaurant Salt Lake City
- Best Thai restaurant Salt Lake City
- Best Vietnamese restaurant Salt Lake City
These are of course just the main culinary traditions that are the most popular in SLC. For a complete fun run down of the diverse and broad range of restaurants in town – see our guide to the cuisines of SLC here.
Best SLC restaurants by location
We’ve also created the following guides to the cities and neighborhoods of SLC and surrounding areas:
- 9th and 9th
- Avenues
- Bountiful
- Cottonwood Heights
- Downtown Salt Lake City
- Draper
- Herriman
- Holladay
- Layton
- Logan
- Lehi
- Midvale
- Millcreek
- Murray
- North Salt Lake
- Ogden
- Orem
- Park City / Deer Valley
- Provo
- Riverton
- Sandy
- South Jordan
- South Salt Lake
- Sugar House
- Taylorsville
- West Jordan
- West Valley City
Utah is well known for its majestic mountains, and amongst them you will find not only spectacular world class views – but awesome dining too. If you’re looking for a special place to dine amidst soaring trees and nature – see our full list here.
Best by time / day
If you’re on the clock we have you covered. The follow guides all focus on specific times of day.
- Best breakfast Salt Lake City
- Best brunch in SLC
- Coffee shops listed by earliest openings
- Lunches in Salt Lake City
- Dinner destinations
- Late night restaurants in SLC
- Specials by day of the week
- Restaurants open Sunday in Salt Lake
Best of Utah, dish by dish
Or maybe you’re craving a specific dish, and nothing else will hit the spot. Here are all our guides to the best of the best when it comes to specific plates:
- Acai bowls
- Bagels
- BBQ
- Burgers
- Charcuterie
- Chicago Italian Beef sandwiches
- Chicken
- Cuban sandwiches
- Desserts
- Dumplings
- Fish and chips
- Fries
- Fried chicken
- Gyros
- Kebobs / kebab
- Lattes
- Noodles
- Pasta
- Pancakes
- Pastrami burgers
- Pho
- Philly cheesesteaks
- Pizza
- Ramen
- Rice
- Sandwiches
- Steaks
- Sushi
- Tacos
- Tater tots
- Veggie burgers
Looking for a hard to find dish, ingredient or unique preparation? We list some of the harder to find and more unique items on our A-Z foodie guide here.
Best by specific need
- Best all you can eat
- Best appetizers
- Best brew pub Salt Lake City
- Best bars in Salt Lake City
- Best of solo dining
- Best take out
- Best butchers in Utah
- Cheap eats in Salt Lake City
- Coffee shops open early
- Dog friendly patio dining in SLC
- Drive-thru restaurants of note
- Best fried food in SLC
- Fun restaurants in Utah
- Best healthy dining options
- Best hole in the walls
- Best mimosas
- Mountain dining with a view in Utah
- New restaurants in Utah
- Best patio dining in Salt Lake | heated patios
- Large group dining in Salt Lake City
- Private dining in SLC
- Romantic dining in SLC
- Salt Lake City restaurant menu hacks
- Spiciest food in town
- Unique restaurants in Salt Lake City
- Winter warming restaurants
- Best vegan spot in Salt Lake City
- Vivint Arena – where to eat and drink before and after
Other popular guides
Not strictly restaurant related, but pretty close to it! Check out our other guides and roundups that are popular with readers.
- Best hotels in Utah – if you’re reading this page there’s a good chance you’re visit Utah. We’ve stayed all over the place, let us guide you to the best hotels in the state.
- Foodie gift guide – Our general guide to great gifts for that foodie in your life. All the companies listed here will ship nationally and are amazing choices. Or if you’re looking for something local…
- Utah foodie gift guide – The same as the above, but with a Utah focus. The companies listed here are all located in Utah, and guaranteed to put a smile on your foodie friends face.
- Home chef essentials – A concise list of must haves for your home kitchen. Tools and products I personally use almost every day.
- Utah liquor law guide – Confused and thirsty. Let us guide you.
- Things to do in Salt Lake City – Looking for inspiration for a day’s fun in Salt Lake City, check out our guide to what to do in SLC organized by interest. And yes, every one of our curated days out includes appropriately themed breakfast, lunch and dinner spots.
- Utah Industry resources – For industry workers and restaurant owners this section of our site features everything from where to find the best wholesale food suppliers through to kitchen equipment maintenance, restaurant marketing and much more. If you need it for your restaurant – you will find it here.
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV. Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.
Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.
Our sponsors and this page
This page may contain information about one of our sponsors. We only work with the very best businesses in the state, and routinely turn down offers to work with businesses we don't enjoy. If we can't hand on heart recommend them - they can't be a sponsor.
At this time we have the following sponosrs: BTG, Caffe Molise, Downtown Alliance, Feldman’s Deli, Felt Bar & Eatery, Flanker Kitchen + Sporting Club, Garage On Beck, Hearth And Hill, Hill’s Kitchen, Kin Sen Asian Noodle Bar, Kyoto, Log Haven, Oasis Cafe, SLC Eatery, Squatter’s Downtown Salt Lake City, Stoneground Italian Kitchen, Urban Hill, Wasatch Brew Pub Sugar House, Whiskey Street, White Horse.
I encourage you to Google any of our sponsors and see the stellar reviews on multiple sites that they enjoy. For a list of all our current and past relationships see our partnership history page.