Sapa — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

It genuinely blows my mind this place is rated as highly as it is. As someone who appreciates a nice restaurant dining experience, this place is far from it. I ate there last night with a party of 8. Is it large? Yes. Should a restaurant of their size and reputation be able to handle it? Also yes. In short, they could not. First, we were sat at a patchwork table right next to the door, where they allow people waiting for tables to congregate and hold the door open. It was freezing, and I am not one to complain about the cold. Second, hot entrees from the kitchen were the first food item to arrive. These were followed by the one hot app we ordered, and then all of the various sushi bar dishes spread apart between 5 and 20 minutes. I have worked in restaurants and the fact that the kitchens could not communicate with each other, let alone cook the ticket in order (apps first, then entrees) was frankly appalling. It's not hard. Next comes the food, I am currently sitting on the toilet with my 3rd bout of diarrhea of the day. The sushi was extremely bland, the fish had relatively little flavor, and shortcuts were taken at every turn. Almost every roll is filled with crab salad or spicy tuna. This is grocery store type of sushi, with fancy garnishes on top. All Sapa cares about is aesthetics. The only reason they get 2 stars instead of 1 is the miso soup and fried jalapeño things were rather tasty. Overall, this is truly one of the worst restaurants in Salt Lake city. You couldn't drag me back kicking...

Terrific dinner experience at Sapa! Our party of nine were graciously handled with just a 20 minute wait on a Friday night. The place was packed so the host’s skills at getting us seats was much appreciated.

Water glasses were already filled when we got to our table. Nice touch. Menus are a QR code scan away. The menu is huge but not in a certain inexplicably popular purveyor of cheesecake and microwaved entrees kind of way. Our server was delightful allowing us plenty of time to find what suited our wide array of palettes, including three children and one decidedly anti-sushi adult.

Starters included edamame, spicy edamame, pork dumplings (a big hit!), and the filet mignon bites. My daughter, in an act of blasphemy, ordered that medium well, but it was still a treat. The chef managed to keep the filet tender enough to save it from medium well Hell.

The children and the lone anti-sushi adult slammed down their drunken noodles and garlic noodles. Note on the garlic noodles - the garlic level is turned up to 11 and will allow you to repel vampires for months.

Sushi-wise, we got the Tataki, Vegas, Shrimp Crunchy and a couple of others whose names escape me. The flavors though do not. Each one packed taste in every bite. It doesn’t punch you in the face though, subtle is the key as shrimp or ahi and avocado mix with rice and wasabi. It also screams fresh. There’s no overly fishy smell here, which declares the fish is fresh and real. No crab is spelled with a “k” here.

Looking forward to...

Came here today before they opened and waited outside because the doors were still locked. To be specific on the situation for matters of clarity, a party of 5-6 Latino women (I believe) walked over to the line which was already formed, they tried to open the doors which were still locked. They proceeded to stand there and wait, the lady in the front of the line who had been waiting told them there was a line and pointed back to where everyone else was waiting, they made some excuse and proceeded to stand close by the front of the line. When the doors opened the lady who was first in line walked in, then that group proceeded to wriggle their way in. When we finally got through the doors, we asked the party why they cut in front of everyone, in which the host who was taller, (pixie cut) replied for them that they had a reservation, with attitude that appeared we were in the wrong to speak the truth? as though a reservation meant that it was leverage to surpass common sense.. to my knowledge a reservation means a reserved table, not the reserved right to cut in front of everyone who was waiting? If you have a reservation, you can still wait to arrive to your “reserved table”. To think if we didn’t speak up, it makes me wonder what other kind of unfair conduct and carelessness the host seemed to have. The lack of discernment from the host is so disappointing. For a busy restaurant you would think they would have better...