Left Fork Grill — Restaurant in South Salt Lake

One day, I was browsing locations to have a quick bite of breakfast in my local area. One such location caught my eye:

Left Fork Grill.

Left Fork Grill sits in an unassuming building next to a business park, marked only by signage and its reputation. Not wanting to spoil the surprise of my soon-to-be meal, I hopped in my car and ventured on my merry way to the restaurant.

When I got there, I was hit with a conundrum; street parking was packed, no less than the restaurant parking lot itself! Indeed, there was a sign on the door warning patrons not to park in the business park out back, as those spots were for staff and patrons of those businesses only.

Feeling slightly daunted, I took some time to acquire a parking spot, and much to my delight, found one in a nearby parking lot. I crossed the street, stepped inside (a kind gentleman held the door open for me, no less; coming from a Californian, born and raised, this kind of gesture is not seen commonly there), and was immediately hit with a wave of nostalgia. The interior was much like a now-defunct restaurant, called Cable's, I regularly went to with my parents in my youth. In a way, it was a much-needed reminder of what I left behind in California, and a delight of my youth I could unfortunately no longer partake in.

My feelings already lifted, I took two steps to the counter, where I indicated my party size, and I was sat at the bar. Unfortunately, this is where my feelings about the whole endeavor become a bit iffy, as it seemed that newcomers did not receive as welcoming a treatment as regulars did. Observing the staff interactions with the regular patrons, it definitely seemed that the regulars received a warmer treatment than I, a newcomer and stranger to the establishment, received. In my mind, customer service is just as much a part of the restaurant experience as is food quality and taste, and this is where they fell slightly short of my standards.

Needless to say, my belly needed filling, and I wasn't about to let its calls for food go unheeded! I ordered one of my favorites, a breakfast staple: Biscuits and gravy. In this case, it came with an order of four biscuits, cut in half and draped liberally with delicious sausage gravy, plus two eggs any style (I got them poached) and a side to boot! For my side, I ordered bacon, of which I received three strips.

I will say that the biscuits and gravy were delicious. The poached eggs were cooked perfectly, made even better with the addition of hot sauce, salt, and pepper. They didn't skimp on the bacon, neither! I polished off the meal in record time.

Although the meal was good, the food came out fast, and the overall quality of the meal was superb, the service continued to remain substandard in my eyes. The check was brought out without my asking for it; it seemed like they just wanted me to leave, at that point. Most establishments would ask if the diner(s) wished to order anything else before presenting them with their check, but not Left Fork Grill, at least not in my case. Plus, it turns out it wasn't even the right bill.

After notifying them of their mistake, they presented me with the right bill, and I paid, my stomach satisfied, but wishing for more out of their customer service. A stranger/newcomer to a restaurant deserves the same treatment that any well-established diner gets, and if said stranger/newcomer does not receive said treatment, they may be discouraged from coming back to patronize the location again in the future, something I hope Left Fork Grill learns.

My rating is reflective of my overall experience at this restaurant, weighing all the variables presented in my review together. Poor customer service is something that can be remedied with sufficient training or enough customer complaints (although I should hope the latter does not come to pass before the restaurant addresses it). Regardless, give this place a shot! Although I've only had breakfast here so far, I bet you anything their lunch and dinner are also...

Well I am not one to sugarcoat my opinion which is just that, my opinion. I had heard about this place, and was glad to see there was not a big line for breakfast so in we went. The first thing that hit me was the aroma which was off putting like the smell of a smoked filled greasy food joint. I still thought, heck been here a long time could have this odor, and smokers cannot smell it. I started with a orange juice that arrived in a frozen (small for $4) mug, a nice touch and it was tasty even though it was from frozen concentrate it was good. My wife ordered simple coffee that she said was good. For breakfast she had the mushroom and Swiss omelette, I had the biscuits and gravy with pancakes and 2 eggs and their savory potatoes. Her breakfast was ok, mine was just plain bland, no much flavor to speak of in the gravy, eggs were much less than overeasy actually quite runny, more like eggs Benedict, potatoes were ok, again not much flavor, when I have to reach for the Salt and pepper, we have a problem NASA. the most disappointing thing were the over cooked very dark brown pancakes, I truly love a good pancake these did not work for me, when the butter doesn't melt into the pancake, a hope is lost. Neither of us ate the meal, and when the bill comes, and a breakfast for 2 is $40 it puts another bad taste in your mouth, the prices at restaurants has become a joke, and completely unnecessary when nothing they have has to be imported, sad when you feel taken advantage of especially when the good was barely ok. Sorry Iron Fork, this experience was not what it...

The cafe-style feel is a little dated. There are paintings on the wall for sale, which was kind of cute, but weird at the same time. Our waitress, Moni, was exceptionally nice & wonderful- best part of the experience, imo. We asked for a Coca-Cola and a Diet Dr. Pepper. Their fountain drinks tasted "off" on the syrup calibration, but it wasn't too horrible. We ordered the chicken fried chicken w/ mashed potatoes & corn. The gravy was thin, but lumpy. It had decent flavor, but not what I'd expect from country gravy. The mashed potatoes were phenomenal (after I added salt & pepper). Best part of our meals, by far. They put bell pepper chunks in their corn. I do not like bell pepper, so I didn't enjoy that. It was clear that the corn was freshly cut off the stalk, so I was disappointed that I couldn't eat it. We received a salad with the dinner menu item that consisted of a large pile of lettuce, 3 slices of cucumber, onion pieces, 3 large carrot slices, croutons & ranch. The ranch tasted like bottled Hidden Valley or similar. The salad was basic but good. We also ordered the chicken strips w/ fries. There were a lot of chicken pieces, not necessarily strips like you'd expect. I could tell they were made from scratch, but they lacked seasoning. The fries looked like frozen, out of the bag, but they were ok. Just nothing special; no seasoning. We spent a little less than $40 on food for two people. Pros: waitstaff is amazing Cons: Food is meh, parking lot is rough, & decor outdated Overall: Just ok; nothing...