Utah Food Reviews

Being a vegetarian (mostly) it is sometime difficult to find good food, for a good price that isn’t weird. We heard about Sweet Tomatoes from a good friend of ours who is also a vegetarian. Devin was a little skeptical because he LOVES meat. After our first visit, we were pleased and have been back several times since.

The restaurant is buffet style, offering mostly salads and soups. They also offer some great breads and home style classics like good old mac and cheese.

Food

Rating:

Generally, we have been pleased with the food. They have a theme to their food which changes about every month. During our most recent visit, the theme was “Back yard BBQ.” We weren’t really thrilled about BBQ flavored everything but it was a nice attempt. The food we definitely gave 5 gold stars were: the chocolate lava cake (delicious!), fresh from the oven sour dough bread, broccoli cheese soup, and chocolate moose.

Service

Rating:

Some buffet restaurants have servers who bring you your drinks and other condiments. Sweet Tomatoes you get everything yourself. This way you don’t have to wait for the server to refill your drink. The server was discrete and never did anything to interrupt our conversation and yet was friendly and approachable. In addition, the food was always kept full and fresh.
Unlike other buffet style restaurants, this one remained quiet even though it was busy. It felt like a restaurant instead of a cafeteria like some buffets. It was clean and family friendly. A few months ago we had a small birthday celebration for a family member. Though it wasn’t the ideal restaurant for a party of 15+ people, they did their best and were happy to accommodate as best they could.

Atmosphere

Rating:

Unlike other buffet style restaurants, this one remained quiet even though it was busy. It felt like a restaurant instead of a cafeteria like some buffets. It was clean and family friendly. A few months ago we had a small birthday celebration for a family member. Though it wasn’t the ideal restaurant for a party of 15+ people, they did their best and were happy to accommodate as best they could.

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Sweet Tomatoes Inc.
SweetTomatoes.com

10060 S. State St.
Sandy, Utah
801-352-9001

I waltzed into Costco today only to be asked before entering the heavenly store to show my Costco card. Is this some trandition I’m not aware of? I usually smile at the “greeter” when I walk in, but when they demand to see my card, I always question why. What’s the point of showing my card? If I don’t have a card, can I not look around to see if I want a membership? Are the products that Costco offers so exclusive that only people bearing the precious Costco membership card can see them? The checkers pretty much do a background check on you to verify your identity before letting you buy anything. So why do I have to show the front of a plastic card to shop at Costco? Sometimes there’s a wait to get in the store due to employee insistant to see as many Costco logos as his or her eyes would allow in one shift.

I love nearly everything else about Costco. So save me the five seconds and let me spend money.

After trying nearly every meal the Olive Garden, we decieded to venture out and taste the Italian flavor of Ottavios located in Provo, Utah. They also have a close-by location in American Fork Utah. When we arrived, the wait was about 5-10 minutes even though there didn’t seem to be a line or waiting list. We figured they were preparing our table or assigning a waiter to us.

Service

Rating:

The waitor was prompt and kept our waters full and bread loaded. That’s pretty much all I want out of a waitor. When we were finished with the meal, he didn’t come around with the famous circular dessert tray and “sell us” on some dessert. The last thing that I want to do when eating at a restaurant is be in a position of being pressured to buy something I don’t want. We asked for take-home containers which the waiter quickly put the remainder of our meals in. I would have given him a full 5 - stars, but he really didn’t stand out as the best waiter I’ve had, but he wasn’t the worst either.

The Meal

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We really enjoyed eating the “free” filler bread before our meal came out. They provide you with oil, vinegar, and parmesan cheese. I’m not a fan of the vinegar, but my wife is.

The starter bread

The starter salad

When you find the meal you want, you get to choose either a soup or salad. I got the ceasar salad, while my wife got the minestrone soup. The salad was fresh and crisp while the soup was also hot and tasty-however my wife did mention that it was a bit too hot.

The main meal was delicious and portioned for more than two people. I got lasagna, and my wife got a 4-cheese penne pasta. By the time it came out, I had my fill of bread and salad so I couldn’t eat much. This was the same as my wife. The plate was very hot, and the food itself was a great temperature. I really liked that the lasagna did not have mushrooms in it as I am not a fungus fan.

Four-Cheese Penne

Lasagna

Atmosphere

Rating:

I really enjoyed the quiet and dimly lit surroundings. There was an employee fully dressed as an authentic Italian playing the accordian (and singing Italian). He was a little loud when roaming near your table, but was nice when heard in the background.

Final Thought

Overall, we enjoyed our visit and found it to be worth our money. I believe with two meals, the tip, and tax was about 25 dollars. We generally get water as well to save on costs when eating out.

Overall Rating:

Contact Information

Ottavio’s Ristorante Italiano
ottavios.com
77 East Center Street
Provo, Utah 84606
801.377.9555

To start off our blog, we decided to review a common favorite restaurant in Utah County. They have a location in Pleasant Grove and one in download Provo. We attended a wedding reception there a few days ago and enjoyed our meal. Since it was a reception, the menu was limited which is a common practice among restaurants that host receptions or bigger parties.

Service Rating:

Since it was a reception, the service was a bit slow. Drinks came nearly the same time as a the main meal, and the meals were being delivered in stages to various guests. We were in the middle portion of people being served with about a 25 minute wait time from ordering. Our server was very nice. They had about 5-6 servers for our party which seemed somewhat adequate for the size of our party.

The Meal Rating:

For starters, we were served some chips and salsa-typical of most Mexican restaurants. It was good and quickly devoured by the guest at the wedding reception. I wished we received more than one bowl per four people, but it was nice to start out with something light.

The actual meal was looked great and tasted better than it looked. It was warm, but not too hot and I found it very enjoyable. Typically I don’t get the greens, onions, or other sides, but since it was a large group, I figured it wasn’t an option to get it without those things. I did, however, ask for rice only, which wasn’t a problem at all.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal, the service, and the company. They did a pretty good job allowing the true guests of honor to shine. I don’t know how much the meal cost, but I would guess that it would be in the 8-11 dollar range.

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