Swens — Restaurant in Alta

Swen's is a mixed bag, and kind of pricey given the overall package. The space itself is certainly impressive, with great views and a classy ambience. The service is lacking for the price-point. I dined here during the summer off-season, and couldn't say whether the winter staffing is better, but it felt like our servers were random hotel personnel who were asked to be waiters, rather than fine-dining professionals. Nothing terrible, but also not what you expect at a $100+ per person restaurant. The cuisine was mostly disappointing. Had the Caesar salad to start and that was fine. The $110 "28-day dry aged prime Kansas City strip steak," however looked and tasted exactly like a regular old USDA choice cut - definitely not aged at all, very sparse marbling and a bunch of gristle. This was tragic. It was served with a pile of undressed lettuce. Possibly worse were the french fries with truffle aioli, which were halfway cooked at best and served without the aioli (not even ketchup was provided...). Giving credit where credit is due, the elk loin was very good, and I'd recommend that. Anyway, I am hoping this experience can be chalked up to the slow off-season, but did not ultimately enjoy the $400+ experience for what was supposed to be an...

Honestly, based on the reviews, I was pleasantly surprised. The food was good (my duck had an excellent smoked flavor). Server was great and the restaurant setting was beautiful. My biggest issue with it? The COFFEE. We ordered two Americanos to go with our dessert, and it was truly horrible. I could tell by looking at it, it was the weakest brew I’ve ever seen. I know that seems like quibbling, but at $8, that was super annoying. Also, take a note from Will Guedara’s “Unreasonable Hospitality,” don’t let the coffee at dessert ruin an otherwise good experience. This is billed as a fine dining establishment, and you should care about every detail. Also… that goes for cocktails as well (you can tell they don’t care cos they were still offering summer cocktails and it was late November 😝) BUT I’ve come to expect this of Utah in...

My rating is purely on the food, the service was excellent and I would rate it 5 stars. Unfortunately my food did not match the service, I ordered the brisket after being told that it was smoked in house and that the bbq sauce was made in house as well. The brisket was very dry and had little flavor. Quite frankly I have had much better brisket for a third of the price. The fried artichoke that I ate as an appetizer was very good and I would recommend to anyone. Everyone else in my group who didn’t order the brisket enjoyed their food so maybe it was just a problem with the brisket, but again what I was served was...