Repeal — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

First the positive: the ambience was beautiful. It’s in a basement and has an upscale, art deco, speakeasy feel. There was a live jazz musician who was fun to hear. He kept the volume appropriate for restaurant conversation, which I appreciated.

The service was… Not sure how to explain it. It was very attentive. Overly attentive. Annoyingly attentive. I know it’s worse to have nobody check on you or bring your food, but it’s almost as bad having two people ask you how everything is 10 to 15 times during your meal. No exaggeration. It really got old. Good table service should involve the server being available without verbally checking in repeatedly.

Now the not so good: the food and drinks were disappointing. Both of us thought our drinks were terrible! I got the Minnie the moocher, I think was the name? It tasted like a very strong apple pie. Much too overwhelming to have with a meal. My friend got the special cocktail which was supposed to be a spicy bourbon drink, and tasted like an espresso martini. Again, strange and not at all good. Our second round we went with standard cocktails and they were better. Our appetizer, the lions mane fritters, were good. But both of our entrées were bland and flavorless. The chicken desperately needed salt, the bed of greens and mushrooms tasted blah, and the polenta cake was actually like eating wet cement. Utterly flavorous and more grey than blue. My friend’s Osso Buco was also quite bland, which is hard to do for a slow braised meat! I don’t understand if the chef has wildly different taste than both of us, or if there’s a real lack of salt in the kitchen. But everything was generally bland and plain. Disappointing for the price.

The final word on Repeal: it has a lot of potential. I wanted to love it. But until the menu/chef gets a major revision, we...

One of the more refined experiences in Utah dining. Slightly off the beaten path with a more slow private feel. Convenient safe parking structure attached to the building (about $9). Elevator straight to the entrance of the restaurant.

Down one flight of stairs of course to give it the underground vibe, where you are welcomed by the hostess.

Angelo our Italian server (with accent to match), was a delight.

The small plates to main dishes were appropriately sized to not overwhelm but keeping your full tummy happy. The drinks were full of robust flavors, not overly sweetened, allowing you to keep sipping on the nectar of the gods all evening.

As far as the ambience: the lighting, the volume of others, the live music (more on music below), absolutely meticulous attention to detail, were 10/10. I found myself pointing things out the whole evening to my party. I will be returning another evening just to sit at the bar (which I normally hate the bar).

Music: we had a live Spanish guitar player with some jazzy sound mixed in. Amazing.

The restroom: clean, co-op, paper hand towels, soup, mirror, and great decor. However, not very private.

My complaints: Decor in the building reception. Too cold and commercial, better quality signage leading you to the suite.

Biggest complaint: I loved the booth decor, from the tile to the materials on the seat. However, the booth was rather uncomfortable after only a few minutes of...

Where to start. We were super excited to try Repeal, especially for our love of Jazz. However it was so loud we could barely hear our conversation, let alone what our server was trying to tell us.

All the cocktails we ordered were good, and I did splurge on the Iron Works. Was is good yes, was it worth $27, no. Think of it as an expensive whiskey sour.

We wanted to try a little bit of everything. The hummus with ant caviar as suggested was, interesting. Flavor was great, the crunchy ants were less than desirable.

The Porcini Arancini was probably the best dish of the night. Interesting but good.

The Garlic Shrimp was good. They did good not overcooking it, but overall I found it bland and needing something more. I just didn't care for it.

My friend got the chicken leg, she said it was tender and she picked around at everything but said she wouldn't necessarily order it again. The Blue Polenta in the dish was more brown and reminder us of the color of meat. I was hesitant to taste it myself from the puck shape and color. But that's just me.

The Goat Cheese Boudini was okay. Different. But we didn't finish eating it.

We originally planned on coming again with our spouses, but after the price of the dishes and drinks, and not necessarily being our favorite food for the price, we won't. Maybe one day we'll come for just the drinks and try other small plates, but not...