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Fiddler’s Elbow restaurant review

Evening dinner review

With every passing year, it seems living in Utah becomes a little more like living any where else in the Western World. Slowly but surely, the state’s bizarro liquor laws are beginning to erode away. Now don’t get me wrong (I can almost hear the cries of “Go live somewhere else if you don’t like it!”), I actually kinda enjoy some of Utah’s quirkiness, but the private club laws were always the height of insanity as far as I was concerned. With these finally kicked to the curb, we ventured back on down to Fiddler’s Ebow for the first time in well over a year. Fiddler’s Elbow had been, for a time, a haunt of ours when we craved a drink and “something quick and easy” for dinner to go along with it. When they became a private club we kinda stopped going almost overnight.

First up, an essential tip for any Fiddler’s Elbow newbies. Check your sports calendar. If any local teams are playing, think twice about going, or go early. This place occupies a barn of a space, it seats probably 2 million, give or take, and offers endless parking out back. However, when any popular sports are on the myriad of TV’s, the place can get packed to the tall rafters.

Next up, Fiddler’s has plenty of booze. Sure the liquor menu has wine, spirits, and cocktails, but you came here for the beer right? Right? Providing you have, you can select from a host of local options, boring stuff like Budweiser, and some imports, like Guinness ($5.25 for a 20 oz pint, $16 for a pitcher), which is how we began our recent visit:

fiddlers elbow guinness

With Guinness firmly in hand we perused the menu. It hadn’t changed much from our last visit. The menu is as you would expect from a bar/restaurant, centered around typical bar food items like burgers and wings. But, thrown into this mix is an array of chicken, fish, pork, and steak entrees. There are also Italian and Mexican dishes to be had. The menu isn’t particular cohesive, but it does mean when dining in large groups, there’s something for everyone. Even the veggies.

A pile of Nachos ($7.95) almost broke our table as it arrived:

fiddlers elbow nachos

A tasty enough rendition of the bar menu classic. Wendi gave the plate her all, but failed to make any kind of appreciable dent. As Wendi resigned herself to having LOTS to snack on later at home, we saw a couple behind us sharing one order, such was it’s mass.

I opted for a long time favourite, the Halibut and Chips ($13.95):

fiddlers elbow halibut and chips

Maybe my memory is fading, but the portion size of this plate struck me as quite diminished since we last ate at Fiddler’s Elbow. The skin on, house made fries, were pleasing enough, but I’d have liked to see an extra handful on the plate. There also seemed to be considerably less halibut, although the portion I recall from the past was obscenely huge, so this is perhaps not a totally awful change (my coronary arteries thank Fiddler’s I’m sure). It’s always nice to see proper malt vinegar served up on the side as well.

The halibut was coated in a rewarding crunchy fry, as good as ever. Halibut as a whole is a bit bland for my own tastes, but splashed in the side of tartare sauce it went down a treat. I finished every last bite, avoiding the so-so accompanying slaw.

We both saved enough room for the Carrot Cake, oddly enough a favourite of ours:

fiddlers elbow carrot cake

Wendi loves the frosting, which is a cream cheese frosting, thus the oddly enough part of it being a favourite of mine. I think I might like it because I get to pretend I’m being healthy; hey it is carrot cake after all, and carrots are good for you! We finished up our dessert and Guinness and headed home. The final bill after tax and tip was, as I always think here, very reasonable indeed.

I almost didn’t want to review Fiddler’s Elbow. For every person who likes the place, there seems to be another who can’t stand it. I’m going to put my neck on the line and say I like the place, mileage may vary, you may not. Sometimes service is really sketchy, and other times, it’s downright great. I can attest, having spent most of the 2006 World Cup entrenched there, that during that time we received nothing but impeccable service, regardless of my football hooligan-esque ranting towards the big screens. Our server on this visit seemed a bit distant and spaced out, but hey, it was a Sunday, and we aren’t demanding diners.

The food too can be hit and miss on occasion, so you do need to order with a modicum of care. The menu is all over the place in terms of food. I’ve never had much success with their more traditional entrees, yet their bar food works for me every time. Their burgers always do the trick, as do their sandwiches.

When all is said and done, I like the place, I can’t say for sure exactly why, it’s not one thing, it’s a confluence of many that add up to the intangible. I suppose its like a pair of old shoes, familiar and comfortable. I can wander in on a hot summer Sunday afternoon, take in a game, a few beers, chow down on a burger and fries. I can hang out well after my meals over and maybe have a few more beers and shoot some pool. The prices work for me too, I virtually almost always walk out full and surprised I paid so little.

And if you do happen to find service isn’t great on your own visit, relax and order another beer, especially now that you don’t need a special card to do so.

Fiddler’s Elbow
1063 East 2100 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84106
(801) 463-9393

Website: www.fiddlerselbowslc.com



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3 thoughts on “Fiddler’s Elbow restaurant review”

  1. I actually really enjoy their hummus appetizer, and the pizza isn’t anything bragable, but it is cheap and filling. A lrg. 1 topping pizza is less than $7 on tuesdays.

    (and they serve Seira Nevada – Pale Ale. A beer I honestly can’t get enough of. I do think this particular beer is a bit overpriced though. I can get a bottle for a dollar at the liquor store, but they sell it for $5. I am considering sneaking in my own 6 pack next time).

  2. I agree that the Fiddler’s Elbow is indeed hit or miss. I wish they’d step their game up and become more of a reliable, go-to choice. They have everything it takes: great location, fun atmosphere, FE is just missing that little something that pushes a place over the top.

  3. Agree that this place is good and the beer selection is great. But service is hit or miss. We sat for 10min on a Sunday evening for a waiter to come get our drink order. Come on it’s a bar! We’ll go back because there are veggie options that are tasty, the beer, and we can walk to Fiddler’s from our house. Hope the service improves.

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