Salt Lake City Date Night Restaurants: A Real Night Out

If the meal itself needs to carry the night, the answer is Antica Sicilia. There’s no view, no gimmick — just a 4.9 rating from over 4,000 reviews, an absurd number for a restaurant this size. That kind of volume on a small room means the food is doing all the work, which is exactly what you want when the date is the occasion.

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Two other picks make sense when the night needs something other than a serious meal.

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When the setting is the point, not the food

The Roof is on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (15 E South Temple), with Temple Square laid out below. It isn’t a cocktail bar. It’s a dinner buffet with table service, at $46 for adults and $36 for the vegetarian option, with a business-casual dress code. It’s open for dinner only, 5 to 8 PM Monday through Thursday and 5 to 9 PM on Friday and Saturday. Book a table around sunset, when the view over the temple and the city is at its best. Plan for the building’s downtown parking rather than pulling up to a front door.

When you want Italian without treating it like an event

Salt & Olive, at 270 S 300 E downtown, is the lower-stakes version of an Italian date: moderate prices and none of the reservation pressure that comes with a small, in-demand room like Antica Sicilia. Pick this when you want the night to feel like a date without needing weeks of lead time to book it.

Booking and timing

The three are open on different days, so pick the night first:

• Antica Sicilia (2020 E 3300 S) serves dinner only, from 4:30 PM, until 9:30 PM Monday through Thursday and 10 PM on Friday and Saturday. Book through OpenTable. The dress code is casual even though the night won’t feel casual. Book ahead for a weekend.
• The Roof books through OpenTable too. A Friday or Saturday gets you the extra hour before close.
• Salt & Olive is the only one of the three open seven days a week, 11:30 AM to 10 PM (10:30 PM on Friday and Saturday). That makes it the answer for a Sunday date, or for a lunch date if evenings are hard to arrange.

The actual decision

It comes down to what the night is for: Antica Sicilia if the food has to be the reason you went out, The Roof if the view over Temple Square is the point, and Salt & Olive if you want Italian and an easy reservation more than a production.