Stone Hearth Grille — Restaurant in Tropic

Unfortunately we had a bad experience at the Stone Hearth Grille. Sunday July 27th while checking in at the Stone Canyon Inn we booked a table for our family of 5 for Monday July 28th. When booking we had a glance at the tables outside on the terrace, admired the wonderful view and said that we looked forward to enjoying this view during our dinner the next day.

My wife, son and daughter arrived exactly on time on Monday July 28th. When I got there 3 minutes later with my daughter I walked outside on the terrace - where 3 of the around 12 tables were filled - but could not find our family members. I walked back inside to ask where they were sitting and was told to walk further around the terrace were there would be another spot.

We walked back outside past the three filled tables (a gentleman on one of the tables smiled when we passed and said 'they have hidden them around the corner') to find my wife, son and daughter sitting in what we thought was the storage room for the terrace furniture. It was around the corner on the side of the building with two walls, roller screens on the third side and no view at all ( !! ). Furniture was piled up against the walls and we were literally put away from the restaurant and the terrace. Of course this was not what we expected nor had reserved.

I walked back inside to speak to the restaurant manager to request if we could be replaced to one of the empty tables on the terrace. I immediately got a straight answer "no" and that this table was the only option. His blunt answer somewhat upset me. I informed if they were fully booked that night with no other tables available. He said they were not fully booked (later we noticed it was just the three tables and our family that night) and the only other option was to have a table inside. Apart from the fact that the entire inside was completely empty, one of the reasons to have dinner at the Stone Hearth Grille was to enjoy the view.

When I pointed at the empty tables on the terrace and requested once again to please replace our family to one of these tables the restaurant manager said that we might experience nuisance from mosquitos there. When I replied that we would accept that risk one of the waiters stepped in and said the we could not have one of these tables out of 'safety measures'. Now it became clear to me that they were making reasons up as they went along and I insisted to leaving the table in the 'storage room' and getting one of the other tables. The unoccupied tables on the terrace where set-up as either for 4 persons or 2 persons. It was of course very easy to combine a 2-persons table with a 4-persons table to create a table suitable for a family of 5. The restaurant manager refused and unwillingly said we could sit a one of the available 4-persons table and that was it.

Since it was 08pm and there are no other similar dining options in Tropic and surroundings we had no choice than to sit at a 4 persons table with our family of 5 for a three-course meal. I took the seat on the corner of the table and it all more or less looked like a scene from Fawlty Towers. Especially when the waiter started serving our menus and there was hardly any room on the table for the plates and glasses.

Around 08:30pm we got our main course and expect one other table with 4 guests the complete terrace was empty. We never saw the restaurant manager again nor saw any mosquito that night.

We spend around 100 usd per person. Food was OK to good. The view magnificent. The atmosphere terrible and service worse.

We refused to let this bad experience ruin our holiday and decided to forget about. Now back home and cleaning my mailbox I bumped into a reservation confirmation email and decided to leave this review after all.

We simply cannot reason why we were put on that bad table in the first place or why they refused to address or request to be replaced in any way. Perhaps they do not like young people on their terrace (our children are 12, 16 and 18 and appreciate fine dining)? Perhaps the restaurant manager...

I really wanted to love this place! We bumbled onto Stone Hearth Grille not expecting to find a restaurant of this caliber in the tiny town of Tropic. I was so excited for our dinner and planned it to celebrate our last night in the area. Our waiter, Trey, was mostly timely and was charming and smooth. He took our orders promptly. Mine: The chèvre/beet salad and roasted poblano "relleno". His: The ribeye - "Oscar style" with hollandaise and crab. My beet salad was delicious, although the beets were quite thinly sliced I expected them to be more the star of the show. My "relleno" arrived and I was surprised at my first bite that it was tepid - and more of a salad than a hot dish. The flavors were mild and the poblano was crunchy (without any detectable char from roasting). The only "toasted seed" detected on an otherwise lovely presentation was one lone pepita. My partner's ribeye was cooked very rare despite my hubby being quite specific that he wanted it more to the rare side of medium-rare. Ribeyes are expected to be fatty, but he was surprised at how gristly it was. When Trey returned to check on us, I mentioned to him that the entree presented more like a salad than a hot entree. His response was simply to agree, but not to ask if I'd prefer something else. At that point, it was clear he likely wouldn't respond any differently to the quality and prep of the ribeye. Thankfully, it was smothered in hollandaise (which was delicious). We ended up taking most of the steak back with us and repurposed it for a chopped steak scramble in the morning. Upon being presented our check, we saw that our ticket was turned into the kitchen as wanting a 'rare' ribeye. Apparently the chef prepared it exactly as Trey had requested (but not as my partner had wanted). I'd hoped to have found a 'contact us' spot on Stone Hearth Grille's website, but found none. Hopefully they'll read this in the sprit that it was written and improve on their internal communication, their staff training, and ensuring empathetic...

As we read reviews, we don't want to neglect giving our own, though it was over a year ago when we last dined here. We live in Northern Utah, 20 minutes from the Idaho border. We were staying in Manti (yes MANTI) to attend the last day of the temple open house before its rededication. Folks around that beautiful area are friendly, but dining options are as scarce as they are basic in March, devoid of summer festivals and farmers markets. We agreed to have a nice dinner date during our stay, and my wife was determined to find a menu devoid of French fries. If you look at a map, you can see how far our treasure hunt took us to achieve this goal, as we finally discovered Stone Hearth to fit the bill perfectly. I could dig up photos of our meals that night, but the details don't matter. Get what appeals to YOU, not me. Was it expensive? Hell, yes. Most expensive meal we've ever had. Was it worth it? Absolutely. As we read some of the one star reviews this evening on Stone Hearth (as entertainment that's only occasionally informative), we became conscious of the deliberate efforts this proprietor makes to create the experience that gave us such fond memories, efforts we took for granted. This is a place to take your honey, not your family reunion. Intimate, quiet setting is intentional, not happenstance. Staff is not overworked so they can give you class and enthusiasm in a relaxed atmosphere. VIP servings are artful, not case lot sale. Come for the memories and the view, not a 'deal.' To say you couldn't taste the seasoning says more about your palette than the plate. We don't live nearby, so we aren't able to frequent this place often. But when the timing and occasion is right, we'll dine here again in a heartbeat. So glad this exists. Worth the two and half hour drive out of our way it...