Roosters — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

There's nothing like showing up to the airport and knocking down a coupla tall boys before 10am. I'm not talking about what that rat Osammy BinLaden did. Just a working guy exercising the liberties granted by airport rules and smuggling nothing onto the plane other than 32oz of ice cold Natty Ice hidden expertly in my belly.

Well one day after securing my cargo, I did a Stone Cold SA Saunter over to Roosters and put in an order for a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. I didn't expect much because Utah is a place that's so afraid of spice it puts mayonnaise in the ketchup to tone down the heat. I've been let down over and over again and prepped myself for more of the same.

Holy Mother Mary was I surprised. This is the single best Buffalo Chicken Sandwich in Salt Lake City. I defy you prove me wrong on this. I've been looking for YEARS for a halfway decent buff chicky boy and have turned my stomach sour in the process. But this is something else.

I tried to get a similar sandwich at a different Rooster's and it just isn't the same as what you can get at the airport. I can't for the life of me figure out why but suffice to say that these days I'll pick anyone up from the airport who comes walking out with a hot steaming pile of this stuff for me. And you can be SURE I'll be throwing one of these in the old gut luggage before I get on any airplane in SLC from...

Aside from being the best food and drinks at SLC Airport, our bartender at Roosters exemplified behavior I have never seen before. A woman arrived at the bar quietly and ordered a beer and food. After a few minutes, she started acting strange. She ordered another beer and the bartender apologized and shared that he didn’t feel like it was appropriate to provide her with a drink given the behavior she was showing (she was impaired with drugs/alcohol… something). She acted out, yelled, said she was relapsing, called him names, etc. In return, he offered to box up her food, assist her with an escort to ensure she got to her next stop, and even asked if he could help find her mental health support. I have never seen this before from a bar tender— maybe I haven’t seen enough instances like this, but his reaction restored my faith in humanity. The dignity and respect he showed while still servicing others, ensuring her safety, and diffusing the situation was something I can only describe as “beautiful.” Wish I would have caught his name. This is the kind of person you want managing your teams and business. Some things can’t be taught, he embodied true grace and talent in this instance of stress and chaos. After that, I saw him send home another employee who mentioned he had several days of work coming up. So cool, I hope upper...

I just had an odd experience all the way around in my visit to Roosters. I was getting a burger in a to-go order when passing through the airport on a layover. The waitress started out the interaction by ranting about low tips she was getting that night, even walking away in the middle of my order to show a co-worker someone else's tips and speaking in a relatively loud voice about the tips. Throughout my brief stay, she frequently was saying numbers - which I could recognize was the total order dollar amount and then note the dollar amount she was getting in tips. Clearly she expected a certain percentage. I was lucky enough to keep my involvement with this to a minimum. After getting the food, the burger looked decent. However, I ordered a Gorgonzola burger. You would typically expect a pretty strong flavor for a burger like this, but for only one bite could I taste any Gorgonzola - one of the last bites. Otherwise it was a decent, very plain burger. I also opted to get coleslaw as a side, instead of fries. The coleslaw given was a tiny amount, maybe 4 mouthfuls (on the generous side). Also, I don't think it was coleslaw at all, it tasted like plain, dry cabbage with no sauce. Overall, not impressed. Hopefully it was just an off day...