The Roof Restaurant

Reviews 3

SE

Sean Nielsen

Spendy but worth it. At $42 a head for a buffet yeah, its expensive. But the food service areas are kept almost faultlessly clean. Drinks never ran dry, plates NEVER built up. Attentive staff though not intrusive - very professional. Comfortable and well kept up dining area with a great view. Be prepared to feel underdressed in anything just short of a shirt and tie. The pianist was great, if perhaps just the smallest bit loud where we sat 3 tables away. Restrooms are A+ clean and tidy. Reservations are practically required. They have a soft cap of 90 minutes for your stay but dont strictly enforce it if theyre not overly busy - we were there for 2-1/4 hours and asked to be sure that was ok. We went on a Thursday at 6pm (they were open 5-9) and it got pretty busy, perhaps at 80% capacity, around 7:30, but even the one time I had to wait in line to have them cut off my slab of steak, it was only for perhaps 5 minutes. No alcohol, no coffee, no tea. Soft drinks are included and they have a short specialty drink menu for extra, though nothing on it appeared low calorie. I loved the Chicken Cordon Bleu and though prime rib isnt really my thing I enjoyed a piece of that as well. The flank steak in sauce was perhaps a bit sub par. I wont bore you with the list of what I ate but almost everything was better than simply good, with most dishes brushing up against or attaining a fantastic rating. Their cold salads were more specialty than what Ive ever seen in a buffet, and their green salad and veggies were unbelievably fresh and laid out to perfection. The dessert bar is well thought out and my favorite item hands down was the chocolate ganache cake. Heck next time I may spend all my dessert calories on extra servings of that cake! Mom liked the flan and creme brulee though the shell on the latter was soft instead of crispy as one would expect - probably from sitting out as opposed to being prepared to order. I wish I hadnt bothered with the Oreo cream cake; it may have brushed up against a little less than good - acceptable perhaps. But we all have our individual tastes to consider as well I suppose. Contrary to what Ive read from a few other reviewers there is not a separate short cooked to order menu - I asked. If you have the extra funds and/or for a special night out consider choosing The Roof - Id be surprised if you were to regret it. It IS a buffet though, so dont expect something along the lines of Ruths Chris. Best buffet Ive ever come across though!

BR

Brigitte Reed

My husband and I went here for our anniversary and the view was spectacular! The pianist that they had yesterday was just wonderful. My husband and I spent most of our time in the restaurant trying to figure out what song he was playing. Some of them had been changed so much that it was hard to tell what it was. It was a very fun game to play! We would have tipped him if we had cash on us. (Sorry pianist! We loved your rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody and you completely surprised us with Star Wars! It was great! Thank you for making our evening so enjoyable!) That being said, the best part of this restaurant was definitely the view and the ambience. The food certainly wasnt worth $39.00 a person. I certainly felt like I did not eat $40 worth of food. They had some salad options, 3 different soups, a variety of cheese, various noodle, fruit, and root vegetable-based side salads, some salmon, ham, prime rib, and some other meat dishes, plus a variety of desserts. I really liked the baklava and the sweet potato cranberry toasted pecan side salad, but the salmon was very slightly overcooked. It should flake easily and melt in your mouth. The salmon last night wasnt dry, per say, but it left my mouth drier after I swallowed the food than it was when I put the salmon in my mouth to begin with. If that makes sense. I would have been willing to pay $15.00 to just sit up there and admire the view, while drinking a beverage or something. If I subtract the (IMO) reasonable price of the view from the cost that we paid, then in my estimate, we paid $25.00 per person for the food. I feel like the food offerings would be more appropriately priced at around $15/person. I guess what I am trying to say here is that for what they are offering, view, ambiance, and food combined, the whole experience, to me, felt like it should have cost between $25 & $30 per person. If you dont mind paying for a view and you are ok with food that is around the same quality as what you would find at Chuck a Rama (only with less variety) all for around $40 per person, then this is a great restaurant for you! Again, I LOVED the view and the piano music, but I would have rather had food from Brio Tuscan Grille than the food from the buffet.

OL

Olivia Fatongia

Me and my fiancé always wanted to go to this restaurant. Were both from Hawaii and we were told you werent an official couple in Utah until you go to the roof with your lover. We finally made some time, moved around our schedules, and made reservations. Just to preface our date night, my fiancé called about 2 weeks in advance and asked if we could be seated next to the window facing the temple. They said they would try their best to accommodate us. We arrived and were greeted by a man. Actually I take that back, he just asked us if we had reservations and called the Escort to take us to our table. I was unbothered by his abruptness and stayed optimistic. As we walked through the restaurant I was surprised to see how empty it was. I was excited and couldnt wait to be seated in the seat we had requested. When we passed the whole row of open seating we continued to walk Towards the back which lead to the deep corner of the open room". I was disappointed being that I saw so much open seating. I didnt want to ruin the night so I stayed positive. The escort told us there would be a waitress there to take our drink orders in a bit. That small moment turned into 20 mins. She came to take our drink orders and we got up to go to the buffet. We made our way to the buffet and Ill be honest, I was not impressed by the food. My expectations might have been too high. Went back to our table and didnt receive our drinks until we were about done eating. Shortly after, a black family was escorted to the deeper end of the corner. Again, there was a bunch of open seating. When the black family sat down they too were disappointed being they were celebrating a birthday. They looked over to our table and said "so this is where they keep the colored people, huh?" I chuckled out of awkwardness as my fiancé started a convo. The view is beautiful, the service was terrible and seemed racist. No one wanted to refill our drinks, or wanted to make conversation. We left the restaurant hungry. I looked forward to eating there for a long time, but now Ill never go back and never suggest anyone to eat there. Waste of money