Piper Down Pub — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

#PiperDownPub is a place I’ve visited a lot. Having lived in Ireland for a couple years I enjoy the ambience of the pub and enjoy the food and drink. Including Guinness on tap. While the food is excellent it’s still not the same as the Emerald Isle versions. So here’s a list of some of the dishes and drinks I’ve enjoyed. You can’t go wrong with any of them. #ScotchEggs Hard-boiled eggs, hand wrapped in ground sausage, breaded and deep-fried. Served with Guinness mustard. The mustard is fantastic. I really enjoy this appetizer and it’s easier to get then asking for my sister to make hers, which are my favorite. #PiperWings 10 jumbo wings tossed in buffalo, angry Korean, spicy bourbon, teriyaki, BBQ, honey sriracha, honey mustard, or cajun dry rub. Served with carrots, celery, and ranch or blue cheese. The Angry Korean sauce is great, spicy, savory, sweet, and yummy. #FriedPickles Beer-battered Mount Olive dill pickles with Guinness mustard sauce. Again the sauce is amazing. And it’s an appetizer I can’t get at home. The Beer Battered #OnionRings are great. The beer batter is the best way to enjoy onion rings. The #Pretzel is fun, hanging from a high wire sculpture, you rip off a piece and dip it in the lovely Guinness Mustard sauce. The #GalwayGrilledCheese sandwich is amazing. Corned beef, caramelized onions, cheddar & Swiss, aioli, and Guinness mustard on grilled sourdough. One of my favorite sandwiches from Piper Down. Their burgers are 1/3 pound fresh ground 100% Wagyu Beef on brioche with lettuce, tomato, onion, and aioli. Served with fries and a pickle spear. You can Substitute mixed green salad, onion rings, or sweet potato waffle fries or even Poutine, or cheese fries. I have a fondness for Poutine. I often get it when I see it, if I’m not getting Onion rings. I’ve enjoyed the #GarlicMushroomSwissBurger with Sautéed mushrooms, garlic, and Swiss cheese. Yumm. #ShepherdsPie made with Sirloin, onions, peas, and carrots simmered in a Guinness-based beef broth topped with mashed potatoes and cheddar & jack is very good. While not a true shepherds pie because it’s made with beef not lamb. Beef pie is called Cottage Pie in Ireland and UK Shepherds Pie is made with lamb, but most Americans don’t know the difference. Anyways Pipers is really good with nice crispy cheese on top. #BangersAndMash is Guinness braised sausages served on a pile of mashed potatoes, topped with brown gravy and caramelized onion. Is a great take on an English dish. I love gravy and sausage in any form. The #FishAndChips have been excellent at times. It’s a Half-pound of hand-cut wild Alaskan cod, beer-battered per order and Served with American style English chips, fresh lemon, tartar sauce, and coleslaw. While I make the best #IrishStew I’m not always wanting to be put out and make it so I will often get the #IrishStewDinner Mashed potatoes smothered in their famous Irish beef stew. Served with grilled sourdough. A very tasty version and I didn’t have to cook. Some of the tasty drinks include #AutumnMuleCocktail Absolut Pears, St. Elder, Cranberry, Ginger Beer. Love the Pear flavor, nice and sweet. #GuinnessLatteCocktail Jameson Cold Brew, Chapala Coffee Liqueur, Guinness, Half and Half. kind of a fun White Russian or Guinness shake. #RumPunch Cocktail Bacardi Superior Rum, Cruzan Mango Rum, Cranberry Juice, Lime. A Refreshing sweet drink. #DarkNStormyCocktail Fever Tree Ginger Beer w/ a Float of Kraken. #GaelicStormCocktail Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey, Ginger Beer, Bitters and Fresh Lemon served in a Collins glass. Can really taste the Whiskey version versus rum in others. #MoroccanCoffeeCocktail Kahlua, 151, Irish Cream and Coffee. Topped with St. Brendan’s Irish Cream Infused Whipped Cream. Nice and strong, Stronger than Irish coffee. A nice citrusy #TequilaSunrise Cocktail Tequila, Orange Juice and a Splash of Grenadine. And of course last but not least the #GuinessDraught (nitro) on tap. So much good food, drinks, and wonderful service at Piper Down an...

Piper Down is a place I’ve visited many times over the years and it’s the sort of establishment I WANT to give 5 stars to. It has a unique atmosphere, seems to attract fun & jolly clientele, and it has plentiful (and usually delicious) food options for both meat eaters and vegans! I have had individual evenings here that are certainly 5 star experiences.

However, the service is an often inconsistent and mixed bag that ranges anywhere from “very friendly” to “openly oppositional” both between visits and, sometimes, even within the same visit. The morning prior to posting this review for instance, when I went in for Brunch with some friends, the people who greeted us at the door and our waitress were all very professional and friendly. The bartender, on the other hand, patronized me with no shortage of hostility all because I very politely asked him if I could borrow one of the barstools and drag it 3 feet away from its original location so a member of my party could have something to sit on. For reference, neither the bar nor the establishment were completely packed full with people. The place was by no means empty, but there was plenty of room to breathe, and while there was an odd shortage of table stools (far fewer than would be proportionate to the open amount of table space), there was an ample supply of unused bar stools at the time. Having worked as a waiter, I understand and respect that tips are sacred, which is what the bartender was clearly concerned about when he barked at me to not move a stool out of his zone (or as he put it to “…not take money out of his pocket”). However, I also understand that there’s simply a way you do, and do not, speak to good faith paying customers and what this gentleman opted for was certainly in the latter category.

Being honest, this interaction indeed incited the writing of this review. However, consider it the straw that broke the camel’s back, as it is not the only time a Piper Down bartender has been unreasonably belligerent to me or to someone in my party.

Piper Down also has some administrative/logistical shortcomings, such as repeatedly running out of crucial recipe ingredients midway through a day meaning that they can’t prepare certain dishes or drinks, not publishing pertinent information on their website and only telling you about it once you’ve already done the driving & parking to get to the front door, slightly bloated prices, food quality control issues, and as aforementioned not managing their seating space too well. All that, among other things.

At its best Piper Down is one of the best bars in SLC with plenty that makes it stand out for the better. At its worst, I’d rather go to a dozen other places or...

Updated to 5 stars until I try the place. Owner had a very kind response. Not wanting to negatively impact the business due to a disgruntled employee!

I want to emphasize that I have not actually gone into the establishment. We had full intention to, but now we are unsure if it's a good idea...I'm sure it's amazing in there for so many people, but down below is what happened to make us nervous:

I don't want to leave a negative review but as someone who is visiting SLC and was really excited to come check this place out due to the huge vegan menu, I am extremely disappointed in the phone service I was given today. I called because I have issues with gluten and I saw that there was a mention of a gluten free bun for the burgers, but nothing else mentioned about gluten free options. I believe someone MAYBE named Dan answered (I honestly don't remember the name for sure). I just asked if he had a moment to answer a question about the vegan menu (because I wasn't sure how busy it was there during 4th of July and knew everyone might be busy), and he sighed and asked what I wanted, so I just asked if there were certain items on it that were gluten free, and he just said "all of them" and I was like "...what?" and then he was like "all of them are gluten free" and then I got flustered and thrown off since I know that isn't true (and because I have pretty bad social anxiety, esp bc I come from a place where being vegan/not being able to have gluten is heavily shamed)...and then I just said "oh..." and then he said "okay, bye" and hung up on me.

I'm not gullible enough to fall for that...but to claim things that are not gluten free are gluten free is a great way to land people in the hospital. :( We really wanted to come here, too. We were so excited, but now I don't feel...