dining out

Occasionally we try something other than the Porcupine when going out for a date night, just so not to get in a rut.  There are tons of good restaurants in greater Salt Lake City but since we live south of downtown, we'd prefer not to drive too far if we go out for dinner, particularly with the inversion that had been hanging around in the valley.  We tried the Wasatch Broiler & Grill (Midvale location) recently to mixed success.

The restaurant, located near the Century Theatres (free covered parking), is in a fairly new space, decorated in warm, earthy tones with pretty fabrics and funky light fixtures.  There is something for everyone on the menu - healthy grilled chicken and veggies, kabobs, pasta, pizzas, burgers, salads - and nothing is over $18.00, with most of the entrees in the $10-$12 range.  They've got a full bar, with quite a few beers available (in bottles only, for $5/bottle which seems pricey for a bottle of beer) and at least four house wines (both red and white) at $5/glass.  I had the house pinot grigio (good), H had Full Suspension.

The food was okay but nothing special.  I had a house salad and a burger with Swiss, mushrooms and onions (except it wasn't Swiss), which I ordered medium but was subsequently informed that they were required to cook the burgers all the way through - I thought that was odd.  H had a salad and a BBQ chicken sandwich that was tasty enough but not piping hot.  Our sandwiches came with good fries - classic, sweet potato or a combination of both - and the fry portions were HUGE; way too big really as I couldn't come close to finishing mine.  Our server was certainly friendly enough but seemed new as we had to ask a couple of times for water and silverware.  She was careful to write down our order and repeated it back to us, however, which I much prefer to getting it wrong.

We were hopeful going in to dinner that we'd found a good new place for us, a locally owned restaurant with reasonable, fresh food.  While the experience was not bad at the Wasatch Broiler & Grill, the search is still on.