Sweetwater Kitchen

4.5 stars. It’s worth the short detour off hwy 12 to visit Sweetwater Kitchen— and if you’re looking for a place to stay and want to tap in to your inner hippie, check out the rooms at the resort. While you’re at it, drive up Hell’s Backbone to the top and check out the 5 star views. We enjoyed the food that was served at Sweetwater. The portions were abundantly sized. We began with a smoked trout dip the moved on to two different salads— the wedge being particularly excellent and then split a chicken pot pie. It was rich! No room left for desert. The service and setting were top notch. This is a fine establishment and my only recommendation would be to cut the serving sizes by a third. We plan on returning.

Splendid surprise in the desert. It’s a little out-of-the-way, but well worth the drive. It’s even a more incredible experience if you can spend the night. The restaurant is phenomenal, and the adjacent lodging accommodations are lovely. It was a welcomed restful night after being in the desert for a few days camping. The staff was phenomenal, and the trout taco absolutely blew me away!

Highly recommend this restaurant for their high quality and lovingly prepared cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere and beautiful setting. All of our needs were anticipated by wait staff including the marvelous E. Our dinner for nine (both vegetarians and meat eaters) will be remembered by our family as the very best on our weeklong trek visiting Utah's national parks. Dessert (cheesecake and bread pudding for us) is not to be missed! Sweetwater Kitchen is about an hour leisurely drive from Capitol Reef National Park, through the Dixie National Forest (Aspen trees) with roadside pullouts for expansive vistas.

What a spectacular meal, and such an absolutely beautiful location. You definitely do not want to pass this place up. We had the House Bread, and it was baked fresh, and was hot when it came out, with three sides of infused olive oil and balsamic drizzle. We also had the Polenta Fries, and they were so delicious, and came with what tasted like a home made spicy ketchup. The Cheese Board comes with three different types of extremely tasty, fresh cheeses, toasted bread, jam, apricots, candied pecans, and pickled onions and green bell peppers--it was seriously heavenly, and they had sauteed fresh sage on it, which was insanely good. The Golden Beet Salad was amazing as well, with crisp, fresh lettuce, super fresh golden beets--which complimented the salad amazingly--goat cheese, candied peca

Phenomenal food in an incredible setting. The beef is sourced from the surrounding ranch lands, which are farmed using regenerative agriculture. The steak was one of the best of my life, and the side dishes were just as delicious and memorable.