Zinn Bistro

Wow!! Last Friday we went out to eat at Zinn Bistro 2020 East and 33rd South in Salt Lake. It was awesome. The restaurant came highly recommended by my brother, Chris, the restaurant connoisseur himself. He did warn us about the customer service though. Read the following reviews here: http://utah.citysearch.com/review/35829139

Zinn Bistro is very unique in that the hours that it operates are very limited and from what my wife tells me they will only take you if you have reservations.

My wife called to make the reservations and they make you leave a message and then they will get back with you to confirm. There aren't that many tables in the restaurant which is kind of nice. It makes for a warm and cozy atmosphere. I think that they are only open for lunch on weekdays and dinner on Friday and Saturday nights from 6:00 pm to 8:30pm.

Everything at Zinn Bistro is homemade. My brother tells me that the restaurant is ran by a mother and her 2 or 3 daughters. To start off they bring you the menu and their selection of sweet breads. Their rolls are awesome. They taste almost like cream puffs without the cream. We were a little hesitant to ask for seconds on the bread/rolls because I didn't know if it was acceptable. We had been warned about the service and frankly I was a little nervous to ask for seconds.

There aren't very many items on the menu to choose from, which was refreshing! 5 to 6 appetizers and 5 to 6 entrees. For an appetizer we ordered the chips and artichoke dip. The chips that they bring to you are a soft homemade chip and the dip is amazing. To be honest I could have eaten the appetizer all night long.

My brother told me to order the meatloaf so that's what I did. I was a little bit shocked that a restaurant would serve meatloaf...because, really, who likes meatloaf? But I went with my brother's recommendation and boy was I glad that I did. Zinn knows how to cook meatloaf. What a pleasant surprise!!! The meatloaf itself was fantastic! And they put a sauce on top of it that well let's just say "addicting". My dish came with mash potatoes and green beans. It was perfect!

For dessert we shared their bread pudding. It was covered in caramel and ice cream and had the perfect texture and flavor. My wife and I found ourselves fighting over who got the last bite.

Zinn Bistro was a memorable experience! The servers there are not going to try to impress you. Why? Because they don't have to!!! The quality of the food allows them to be as cold as they want towards you because they know you'll come back just for the food. And if you don't there are others who will. Don't worry, your server will keep your water full and make sure that you get your food etc but just don't expect them to smile and be friendly, because they won't.

The food at Zinn Bistro far exceeded my expectations! The price was extremely fair and the service was, let's just say, "unique". You absolutely have to go try Zinn Bistro. Don't waste your money at another restaurant until you've tried the Zinn!

The Cheesecake Factory

Today I ate lunch at The Cheesecake Factory in Salt Lake. It opened a few weeks back and it is the big thing right now. In fact on weekend nights there's usually about a 4 hour wait to get in.

We started off with a variety of appetizers like calamari, avocado eggrolls, and chips with guacamole and salsa. I could have just ate the appetizers for lunch and I would have been just fine. Their avocado eggrolls rocked!!! Calamari was good and the chips with guac and salsa was great! Again, when you go there get the avocado eggrolls!!

I ordered a dish called "bang, bang chicken and shrimp". It's a Thai dish! It was okay, not fantastic, just okay.

Now to the Cheesecake....the whole reason you go to The Cheesecake Factory! I got the Original Cheesecake with Strawberrys on it. It was awesome!

If you've never been to The Cheesecake Factory to eat then you have to try it. The only problem that I had was trying to decide what to order because of the hundreds of items on the menu!

Carrabba's Restaurant

I just wanted to give a quick "shout out" to one of my newest favorite Italian Restaurants: Carrabba's. We went there a few weeks back and they really took care of us.

If you eat out a lot like we do then you understand that even the best restaurants can have an "off" night. Well this particular night was an off night at Carrabba's. Something about my wife's Chicken Marsala just didn't taste right so I complained. I've arrived at a point in my life where if I don't like the food at a restaurant I will definitely let them hear about it!

I have to give Carrabba's in Orem two thumbs up in the customer service arena. After complaining about the dish it didn't take long at all until the Manager was at our table addressing our concerns and making us feel like we were his number one priority that night. He had the kitchen make another dish (on the house) for my wife which was delicious and threw in a free dessert for us to take on the road. What I really appreciated about the whole experience was the attitude that the Manager had. It's nice to see that there are restaurants that understand what "great" customer service is!!