Bartolo's Sugar House - Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

New review!

Still as fantastic as ever! I can't wait for the Farmington location to be opened so I can go more frequently!

This was another amazing meal!! Zero complaints or room for improvement from our tables point of view.

We went for dinner and again were not a bit disappointed.

We started with some Ricotta Toast and Grilled Garlic Bread. The freshness on the ricotta with the fruit was spot on! Hard to give a great review for 'garlic bread' but this was dynamite. Even down to presentation on all.

Our table had the Pistachio Pesto Mafaldine, the Chicken Parmigiana, Primavera Pappardelle and originally the Chicken Cacciatore but they were out so the chef made a special dish and it was OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS! I'd love for it to be a fixture on the menu. It was this unbelievable pasta. Which on looks I'd say was spaghetti noodles but on taste I almost wanna say it was a bucatini because it didn't feel as dense and possible hollow throughout. Either way it was unbelievable. Then there were meatballs with this unbelievable pairing of portabellas throughout the dish and meatballs and the meatballs were 'light' and melt in your mouth good! I was lucky enough to have that as my main dish and although all dishes were shared I had the fortune of being able to consume the lion's portion of this specialty dish.

The pappardelle was the highlight of that dish! The nice wide homemade noodles with that amazingly 'light' sauce was perfection throughout. The flavors and the noodle. Mmmm good.

The pesto was nutty, as expected, but again delicious with perfect pairing with the 'bulkiness' of the mafaldine that was selected.

The Chicken Parmigiana was also outstanding with that bite of that homemade red sauce.

All entrees were unbelievable!

The 2 desserts we tried were the Tiramisu Trifle and the Holiday Cheesecake and didn't let down the entire experience one bit! What a great finish! I am notoriously NOT a tiramisu fan and I'll say this one was unbelievable! Light on the coffee forward that usual smacks ya in the face with tiramisu which for me was the winning combination.

And the holiday cheesecake, I mean if you could put the holidays into flavors this is it! I'm not sure if it's the nutmeg with the cinnamon and berries that does it but some combination screams holidays!

As with their desserts 'in a jar' be sure to get your bite all the way to the bottom to the top so you enjoy the entire bite palate and don't miss out on the 'crust' of the cheesecake or tiramisu at the bottom.

For me this is NOT meant to eat from top to bottom or you'll miss the flavors and textures. Eat it but putting your spoon at the bottom and taking your scoop upward!

1 year ago+ visit:

A must stop!

The cod croquettes for appetizers was a great start! The bite of the pickled vegetables was the highlight for me on this dish. Well I should also bring up the amazingly fresh cod. The pickled vegetables (pickles, broccoli and pearl onions) was unexpected and a fantastic pairing!

We then had the rigatoni Bolognese and the mussels spaghetti.

The Bolognese was perfect! Fresh, large, al dente with a dollop of ricotta. Really lovely. My only small addition would be to include some bread because you absolutely need it for scarpetta. It's a shame to waste any and leave without a spotless dish.

The spaghetti was highlighted by the very fresh mussels. Again spot on. This dish smartly came with bread for the much deserved scarpetta.

For dessert the cheesecake in a jar was creative and well above average. The 'crust' in the middle was right on. Berries in glaze was great.

Things I also include but aren't part of my rating:

Location, cleanliness and location was fantastic. Clean, nicely appointed.

Service...

Was walking by and stepped inside to check out their menu and got to have a wonderful conversation with the owner. My foodie gf and her had a 20 min conversation about their food and so we decided that we would come eat here the next weekend.

And. damn.

Like, I was expecting it to be a good meal, the owner let us in on their process and the kind of work they go through to make their dishes, but it still surpassed my expectations. Normally I don't review each item I order, but since they made a real effort, I feel it's only fair I return the favor. We ordered a lot as it was kind of a date night and my foodie gf wanted to try a bunch o things.

Firstly, not a menu item, but the water comes in a fancy bottle which was cool and matched the restaurant's high end vibe.

We ordered the charcuterie board as an ap, and I still think about that coffee topped cheese to this day sometimes. The bread it came with also had a perfect texture.

We also grabbed the potato wedges. I got no complaints. Potato is pretty easy to get right but that bacon aioli gave it an edge over any other potato wedge I have had.

Unfortunately I do not remember what my gf ordered for herself. But I know she wouldn't stop talking about how much she liked it.

But what I do know Is I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana. and damn. that was my favorite plate of pasta I have ever eaten. I'm not a cook so I don't know how to describe what makes it an elevated dish, but basically imagine olive garden's Chicken Parm, but with better more flavorful ingredients, better control over texture, and with some actual effort when it came to presentation. I feel bad even comparing it to olive garden, as it's leagues better.

We also ordered a margherita pizza to share, as it's my favorite type of pizza and I have to find the perfect one someday by ordering it anywhere it is on the menu. This was not the perfect one unfortunately. But it may take the cake for being the best margherita in Sugarhouse. Perhaps the City.

Me and the gf intend to return. We intend to order more dishes. What's crazy is they also have another menu in the mornings for breakfast! The only downside to Bartolo's is the price. You are paying for that extra quality and attention to detail.

My wallet shivers in fear for our...

We went on a Wednesday evening, it wasn’t busy but we waited an excessive amount of time for the host/hostess to come assist us. When we got helped, it took a VERY long time for our waitress to come, and when she did, she just stared at us smiling back and forth creepily(wish i was being dramatic) and then said hi. We ordered our appetizers, and drinks. It took about 20 min to get the appetizers, but they were good. We were done, and still the waitress did not return to take our order. The manager finally showed up just to see how we liked our appetizers. We said fine but we would like to order. We did, and they forgot our brocollini by the time the food came. We never got it. My chicken parm was weird. The chicken was fine, but the noodles tasted as if they were cooked a day ago, and clumpy as can be. The sauce was strange, very watery, and tasteless then randomly just SALT, so much salt. It is unfortunate. We have been here now 6 times, each time the service gets progressively worse. The food is fine and good usually but the service just continues to go down and down in the most uncomfortable and awkward way. Even as we paid the waitress was staring at us and seeing what we were leaving as a tip. To be honest we didnt wanna leave one for her as the whole time we were there, her manager helped us more than her. She was more focused on another party just two more people larger than us. So to the manager, thanks for trying to help, sad we didnt get our broccolini and i could only eat half my plate since it was so weird tasting. Super sad they still charged us for the brocollini which we didnt get.

SIDE NOTE: this place does not handle stress well. Do not come here with a big party of people, it will cause delays across the whole dining floor. You will be made priority and make everyone...