Tin Roof Grill — Restaurant in Sandy

We used to go to Tin Roof pretty regularly before they closed. It's close to us, and the menu offered a handful of things a bit more interesting than the boring Sandy, Utah chain-restaurant faire. For the most part, everything on the menu was pretty decent (with some weirdness like the BLT coming on a hamburger bun, and whatever that breakfast spaghetti is supposed to be), but the service was always good, the beer was cold, and it was better than most other options that don't require a serious drive.

We started noticing quality dropping near the end. Dry, overcooked food, less attention to detail... A lot of this we attributed to Covid, which was understandable, but in retrospect I think a lot of it was also due to a decreased interest by the owner in operating a restaurant. One day it was closed. No explanation. Just closed. We had kind of stopped going by then, so it was mostly just a bit of a bummer to have a local restaurant gone, but they weren't exactly earning the business either.

Then word came that it was reopening under new ownership. We had a glimmer of excitement for what a new Tin Roof could be. A refreshed space. An updated menu... But then when it eventually reopened it kind of just came back as the restaurant we had become tired of vising already. The weird Covid plywood between the tables was gone, and a shelter was constructed over the entrance to the kitchen. The menu was exactly the same, except the drinks, which were all sort of ported over from Bout Time, I'm guessing. All the servers who we had come to know had clearly all moved on to new gigs. Hard really to blame any of that, and it would all be forgivable were it not for the fact that the food wasn't better and the service had become worse. The most obvious change: prices went up.

After reopening we've been back twice. Once for dinner, and once for brunch. Dinner was mediocre. The server didn't know the menu and I had to help her through our extremely uncomplicated order as she didn't believe the restaurant carried things that were definitely on the menu. That was after she spent 10 minutes chit-chatting with another table before even acknowledging us. The food was less than spectacular: one entrée was warmish and another other had been clearly under a heat lamp for quite a long time. I asked for a second beer when the food was delivered and my meal was almost gone by the time anyone returned with one. We chalked it all up to reopening jitters. But at least it was more expensive.

We went back a few weeks later to try brunch, thinking maybe their act would be more pulled together by then. It was somehow worse. There were only two servers, one behind the bar, the other working the restaurant, who curtly informed us we were sitting too close to the bar with our child. That's fine, she doesn't make the laws. She could be at least nice about it. Considering the place was only half full, two servers were probably enough, but it still took a very long time to get our orders taken, and even longer for the food to come. When it finally arrived it was not very warm, the portions were tiny, and the server acted like she was doing us a favor by even bringing it to us 40 minutes after we ordered it. Meanwhile the bartender and the manager(?) spent about 15 minutes standing by our table trying to figure out the perfect spot for the wait to be seated sign. Refills didn't seem likely any time soon, so we didn't even ask. We just wanted to eat our unspectacular food, pay the over-priced ticket, and be done.

It's a shame, really, because Tin Roof could be great. (I'm not sure it was ever really great, but was at least okay. Though it did seem to coast a long time on its Guy Fieri energy.) I love supporting local when I can, and I usually don't mind local being more expensive, but in this case it's both expensive and not good, and the servers seem to know it and just don't care. It's a shame, but I'm hopeful whatever opens there after Tin Roof inevitably closes again is better. I look forward to frequenting a better restaurant than what Tin...

First off, our server Greg was super busy, but still did a great job. He was attentive and happy to make recommendations.

The interior of this establishment was definitely diner-esq. Nothing too fancy here. Limited space.

Croquettes 7/10: basically fried potato and cheese balls. Good flavor, nice texture from the crunch and then the ooey gooey filling inside. They are served with marinara and garlic aioli. I normally love mayo/aioli but really did not like how they put both sauces in the same dish. Plus, the marinara was the aioli. We had 5 people, and got 2 orders of croquettes based on a recommendation from the server, but wish we wouldn't have. 1 order would have been plenty. Would have been 8/10 with just the marinara. I would have just asked the server for just marinara, but he was stupid busy.

Sirloin steak sandwich 5/10: this is thin sliced sirloin on a soft burger bun. The creamy horseradish that came with it was a nice addition. Not too much spice. This sandwich needed some additional flavor! It lacked salt. A perfect compliment would have been some type of gravy or a delicious au jus. Would have been 8/10 if this favor element was in place.

Fries 8/10: the shape of the fries were kind of a shaved teardrop shape. Kinda fun. They were fried nicely and seasoned very well.

Shrimp and bacon Mac and cheese 9/10: wow. This Mac was flavorful, juicy, had mucho cheese and a nice baked crust on top. The shrimp were good size too. Only thing that would have made it better is if they would have seared the shrimp with some blackening seasoning or something. As it was, the shrimp were pretty plain.

Cheesecake 1/10: let me explain. We watched several people in the restaurant order cheesecake and most seemed satisfied with their order (some seemed like regulars and were even excited about their cheesecake). We decided to splurge at $8/slice and bring them back to our hotel room for our whole family to enjoy. We tried 3 flavors, my assessment is as follows:

Peanut butter chocolate 0/10: dry, not as rich and flavorful as one would expect when ordering a cheesecake like this.

Raspberry key lime 2/10: this was recommended by our server. At no point did I taste any key lime flavor. I repeat, NO KEY LIME flavor. My wife also validated this assessment. The raspberry flavor was nice, but did not make up for the disappointment. Now I want to make my own key lime raspberry cheesecake. Lol

Cookies and cream 1/10: Dry, not creamy, not dreamy. Although there was an...

5 stars for the food and the service. They have a patio, tables inside are spaced, servers all wore face coverings, but it's small inside. Call for a reservation on weekends; a real and friendly person picked up on the first ring and was so helpful!

The food (except for the Lemon cheesecake, more later) was exceptionally delicious. The Fettuccine Alfredo, Baked Haddock and Beef Salad (had a better name on the menu!) were especially noteworthy for our group.

The cheesecakes were mostly really good. I'm not sure about all the "better than Cheesecake Factory" reviews and I understand wanting to diss the franchise in favor of the local restaurant. I wanted the cheesecake to be noteably better but I can't say that it is. Two of them were excellent cheesecakes- a raspberry and a blueberry (the Nutella toffee and a few others were sold out- ask at the beginning of your meal if you want a specific kind! There were lots of options still available). The lemon wasn't great, it was only good. It was visibly different than the others, especially because it was MUCH denser. It was hard to cut and the actual cheesecake was crumbly? Very unexpected and not like anything I've had before, maybe it's a special kind of cheesecake style, just not one I'm familiar with or likely to order again. It was a very mild lemon flavor, no tartness at all. I was surprised it wasn't served with any time of whipped cream to balance the tartness until I took a bite. It didn't need whip cream as there wasn't any tartness. If it hadn't been labeled Lemon, I would've said it was a great basic cheesecake for someone who likes plain cheesecake. I finished it off for breakfast this morning and it was good! But not great.

Sorry to spend so much time on one piece of cheesecake, but it was worth mentioning in detail as it was unusual especially compared to the other excellent cheesecakes. So I'll end with reinforcing I still give the Tin Roof 5 stars- it wasn't worth docking a star or even a half if that was an option. It's also worth reinforcing my opinion again that the entrees were all exceptional- even the veggies served with the baked haddock were delectable. We will definitely add Tin Roof to our list of local favorite...