The Owl Bar at Sundance Resort — Restaurant in Utah

I have only previously had the pleasure to visit the Sundance area during the winter season to enjoy dinner at The Tree Room, but I had not yet had the opportunity to visit during the summer! After this recent visit, I plan to come here much more frequently during the summer!

My husband and I had just finished hike and were actually heading to The Foundry Grill when we had realized The Owl Bar was already open. The bar is all open seating, including the outside, so we took a chance and were able to find some seating in the shade which was great! The outdoor patio was so peaceful and the scenery around was absolutely beautiful.

We ordered a couple appetizers and some drinks which all turned out great! I did ask our waitress a couple strange questions, like if they made the prickly pear juice in house or if it's a purchased syrup, so kudos to her for being so kind to my strangeness, hahaha. I did still go ahead and order the Prickly Pip and my worry was confirmed (the syrup was a bit heavy on the sweetness), but the other elements of the drink helped to balance that out a bit. I also ordered just a classic Lime Margarita, and that drink was executed very well! Very refreshing in the summer heat.

As for our appetizers, we noticed that many people had ordered the Nachos, so we did as well. Nachos are one of my favorite staple appetizers, and I loved these ones especially. Good distribution of the toppings and I also really enjoyed the black beans were partially mashed! The star of our whole meal had to have been the Fried Pickles!! I decided last minute that we would grab an order of the Fried Pickles, and I can confidently say that it would have been a mistake if we did not!! The breading on the pickle was so light and simultaneously had a slight crunch to it. Quite possibly the best fried pickle that I have ever consumed. Also, the chipotle aioli dipping sauce was incredible. It had a nice spice to it and wasn't so heavy that it would take away from the bright flavor of the pickle; the two paired together was so complimentary.

Overall, I am so glad we stumbled into the bar so we could enjoy this meal! Would very much recommend visiting during the summer (I bet even late summer and early fall would be outstanding). Cannot...

The Owl Bar needs a management overhaul. We waited about 45 min in line which wasn't a huge deal, understandable, it's a Saturday night. However, the service inside is absolutely the lowest tier I have EVER seen. We were greated promptly by our waitress who gave us menus and askes us if we wanted water. We said yes to the waters and were ghosted for 20 minutes. We watched as our waitress had conversations with multiple people around the establishment. The table next to us took so much notice that they told the bar to get someone to serve us. The same waitress we matched with in the beginning finally came out and we ordered everything we could before we were forgotten again. We had to remind her again about the waters we wanted. Our food didn't take too long after we ordered. Unfortunately my burger was a real burger when I ordered the impossible burger and no one provided utensils and napkins. We had to flag down a different waitress, ours was MIA again. We were finally able to return the food. 20 min later I received the correct order. We still did not have utensils or napkins. We asked a 3rd time and finally we were given utensils and napkins. When it came time to get the check we had to go out of our way to find our waitress and when it came time to return the check and give her my card she was gone. I had to go up to the cashier to process our check. It was a very frustrating experience. This is the first time I have decided not to leave a tip and it felt very understandable given all of the circumstances. When we left were chased by our waitress telling us that she gets paid $2/hr and needs tips to make a living. I thought this was very inappropriate of her to do this considering we were neglected by her. The food is very expensive, not great and service was the worst I have seen. Our bill was a little over $72 for an appetizer, entrée, and two drinks. If they are paying this waitress $2/hr they need to be ashamed of themselves regardless of the terrible service we recieved. Please do not entertain the thought of giving this business...

The atmosphere is great. The host at the front was super friendly, very knowledgeable, and very welcoming. The wait staff might have been a bit overwhelmed as the place was packed, and there only seemed to be two waiters, and a handful of runners. While we got our water was immediately delivered, we waited about 15 minutes to place our order. The appetizer came out about 1 minute before the entrees.

We ordered, Fried Pickles, one Wagyu burger Med Rare with sweet potato fries, Chicken burger with salad, and the pasta pomodoro.

The aioli dip for the pickles was fantastic, the pickles inside the tempura breading were good. However, I don’t think the oil that they were fried in was hot, as they were overly greasy.

The wagyu burger was rare, to almost raw, cold and greasy. The bun was greasy as it had butter on the top and the inside. The bacon jam was greasy, and the whole burger was just greasy.

The sweet potato fries were cold, so I only ate one or two. I’m not sure if the mustard sauce delivered with the plate was for the burger or the fries?

My mom said her chicken sandwich was good and the pasta was said to be good, but oily. The salad served with the chicken sandwich was over oiled.

We had to flag down the waiter for a refill on Iced Teas and Lemonade, however, he came back about 10 minutes later to tell us they had run out of tea in the bar and had to go to the restaurant. We just asked for the bill, paid and left.

While it was very busy and the service could have been affected by that, it still doesn’t excuse the quality. When I spend $22 on a hamburger, it should be edible. Needless to say, heartburn was with me for the rest of the day.

Again, it could have been the business of the day, however, I doubt I’ll be going back to Sundance...