Sol Agave SLC — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Well well, this place i gotta say is a mix of emotions, a couple of things to discuss

Came in today and writing this right after our dinner.

Atmosphere is very nice, upscale and clean

Service as mentioned by others in the reviews are true, some staff are busier than others and im sure a management direction is needed to make sure everyone focuses on their job and isn't all over the place doing multiple things and leaving the customers for last, looks like its short staffed here, but who knows.... I have worked in a busier restaurant before so i may know.

We have señor michel who seems to be the manager of this place, or yet he represented, explaining that if you start eating your food, BEWARE as if you didnt like it your basically screwed as they declined to replace or take off the unliked dish from the bill, so this is a one and done deal with whatever you order, first time ever to experience this, not even the cheapest restaurant would have this policy, but what can you do? Fight the manager?... wife literally ate from 2 enchiladas she ate half because the sauce is so sweet and overwhelming , so dont get the mar y tierra dish, server was nice yet her suggestion did fail... Ours heard our issue but delayed the request of replacing or finding a solution for your unliked dish, got nervous once i asked the dish to be replaced, to clarify i was not aggressive or mad, i just asked what could be done with this dish, we were not looking for free food in any way but they made us feel that way. Prices are a bit too much for the fancy basic non impressive Mexican dishes, and theyre very particular on the order of things, like subbing for other ingredients.

The solution to the above issue according to michel is to charge you full price for your unliked dish and discount half from the replacement you may like, what choice are you left with? Pay and leave mad because that will be you, so hopefully they change this (honestly) dumb policy.

Chips and salsa at the beginning are ok, salsa is better than most other places but not impressive, but beans came straight from a can for an apparent high scale mexican restaurant.

On a positive note carnitas were delicious, all the stuff they add on it is just for looks, the replacement dish we ordered so my wife could eat something was fajitas, theyre good, so get that instead if you wouldnt want to be disappointed, Margaritas are good as well but did take long to come to the table.

Soo in summary service is * and managers or store policy is obnoxious, food is good for the most part but avoid the initial beans at first, coming from a real mexican who knows their food.

So come try it, but again, if you don't like it then too bad, pay half for your next dish and come with time as a glass of water will take them literally 5-10 min to come to your table, any complaints...

I've heard a lot of great things about Sol Agave, so I was greatly looking forward to trying it out on a work lunch the other day! I am a big fan of Mexican food, and also absolutely love trying out new places and this place does a great job of appearing to marry a traditional menu with a fine dining experience. When you walk into the restaurant, you will immediately take note of how stunning it is! With the combination of modern furniture and earthy wicker lamps and wood accents, it honestly feels like you are walking into a five-star restaurant you would dine in on an all-inclusive resort on vacation. They really spent time here to create such a beautiful and inviting atmosphere.

My confusion begins beyond the initial appeal of the restaurant’s aesthetics. The menu alone made me chuckle; you are presented with a gorgeous menu book, but upon opening it, it gives off the feel of your run-of-the-mill chain restaurant (I understand this is a chain restaurant, but you know what kind I mean). The menu does offer a large variety of items, which is great and almost surprising since I almost thought it would be a more limited menu given the feeling of the restaurant upon arriving.

Like many a Mexican restaurant, you are presented with Chips and some form of dip(s) to enjoy while you make your decision on your meal. I can confidently say, this was the highlight of my meal. The salsa had a great heat level and the bean dip was exceptional (the bean dip was topped with a queso fresco that added a nice touch). As it is so easy to do, I overate on the chips and dips before my meal even arrived. Being that I was on a work lunch, I didn’t get to enjoy a cocktail, but opted for one of the Agua Frescas that I believe was named San Clemente. It was quite sweet and syrup heavy, but the saving grace here was that the syrup tasted like it potentially was made-in house and not just a pre-made sugar bomb of a syrup.

For my main entrée, I ordered the Enchiladas de Camaron as I am a huge fan of choosing any dish that has Shrimp as the protein. To my disappointment, the shrimp was not in great condition as it had an overly fishy flavor as if it was spoiled, or it wasn’t properly cleaned/deveined. The enchilada sauce was also fairly thin and watery. I did ask the waitress for a spicier sauce to see if this improved the flavor and she brought back a delicious habanero sauce! Unfortunately, it did not do much to cover up the unsettling flavor happening here. Additionally, the dish came with a side of rice that was quite flavorless; and visually, it looked about as bland as it tasted.

This restaurant has so much going for it and the culinary experience that most people seem to have appears to be wonderful! I wish to have a similar experience if I choose to...

We heard nothing but amazing things about this spot so we checked it out for one of our friend's birthdays. This might be one of the most underwhelming experiences I've ever had at a restaurant, to be honest.

While the ambiance is cool, the issues began with taking 30 minutes to receive our drinks. (Granted it was packed and a Friday night, but I haven't seen those wait times feel extreme nonetheless.) Our server was very sweet, but seemed extremely new and timid to be there. It was really hard to hear her over the bustling restaurant. She didn't check up on us while our table was eating. We had a party of 8 and she would stand on one end of the table to take our orders. There wasn't any friendly convo, but again, I think that mostly had to do with her being new and shy! All the refills we received were from other servers/bussers. (We got refills on chips and tortillas, I did think that was a nice touch)

Now for the food, they serve chips, salsa, and bean dip as a free appetizer. The bean dip and salsa was soooo good! Based on that, I really thought we were in for a great meal. My boyfriend is celiac and typically Mexican cuisine provides a lot of options, but there were only a small amount of dishes listed GF. (For some reason fajitas are not GF here which feels bizarre) I ordered steak fajitas and they were not good. The steak was not seasoned and very dry, the veggies were wet, there wasn''t a lot of flavor. Honestly one of the worst fajitas I have ever had. They were served on a little platform that reminded me of a raised dog bowl. Cool in theory, but really just took up a lot of space and made it hard to dress my tortillas and eat. My boyfriend got the Tacos de Hongo and also experienced wildly unseasoned steak and veggies. We did both order the corn tortillas and those were good and fresh.

Our food was served by a bunch of other people, which is totally fine they were all friendly, however they came up to the table and would shout the name of the dish. I think at the price point you're paying here, seat numbers should probably be on the kitchen tickets so folks know where the food is going.

We had told our server it was our friend's birthday at the top of the meal. When our table was ordering dessert, she tried to order faln and our server said no and told the bday girl they had something else for her. Again, just felt a little weird.

Anyway, I find myself with more negative things to say than I do positive. I am not one to leave negative reviews, but the expectation I had for this place was certainly not met. Definitely would not recommend. (Check my other reviews and you'll find that I'm typically leaving 5 star reviews. That’s how disappointing this dining...