Michelangelo’s on Main

We came here on a Saturday Night and although it didn’t look very crowded, the staff acted like they were at their wits end. While we were waiting for our table, a waitress was holding up pieces of tiramisu and saying «Oh, this isn’t good. We can’t use these! These are disgusting. Here, come look at these» which, honestly, should have been our cue to leave. My husband was served lasagna with only one noodle and I was served grossly under-​cooked gnocci. My silverware even had food caked on it! I gave the second star because we both loved our starter soups. Past that, though, we were anxious to leave.

Came in on a Friday night and ended up waiting about ten minutes for a table. Our waitress was incredibly apologetic about the wait, and offered us wonderful service throughout the meal. I ordered spinach ravioli, which came with a small side salad (or soup, which was clam chowder or tomato basil). The ravioli was exquisite, and the caesar dressing was some of the best I’ve ever had. Our meal ended nicely when we were offered cups of tea, and we walked out of Michelangelo’s feeling incredibly satisfied. Also, there is homemade tiramisu on the menu, and although I didn’t order it, I’d go back just to try it :)

This place is hidden off Main street right next to the beerhive. We got there on a random weeknight and were the only people in the entire place. Our waitress took our drink orders while we decided to go family style: Caprese salad, pesto gnocchi, penne arribiatta, with a soup and salad as our sides. All in all it was pretty good. Nothing stood out a true winner or loser from out entire meal. The mushroom soup was lacking some flavor but could be fixed with some salt and pepper and the penne was delicious however you need to watch out for the large cloves of garlic dispersed through it. The one thing that was definitely good was the bread. It was perfectly salty and soft. The prices were reasonable for the amount of food given. The service was a bit slow considering we were the only ones there. We had to ask to have our water glasses refilled. I might go again if I remember but it’s not a restaurant that will stick out in my mind.

The Caesar Salad dressing was the best I ever had. The Chicken Parmesan was huge, perfectly breaded, and covered in cheese. The spaghetti was light and amazing. I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant!

I’ve lived and worked near Main Street for years now, but only recently stopped into Michelangelo’s — I saw they were participating with Dine-​o-​Round.
After I was seated I waited a good 10 minutes before anyone took my order. The impression I got was they don’t get a ton of traffic.
The bread was SO GOOD. Seriously, go for the bread. I got the sandwich of the day which was totally good, and a salad on the side.
Pretty reasonably priced for a filling, quick lunch. I’m interested to see what dinner looks like, though.
I wouldn’t give the place a 10/​10, but the view onto Main Street was really lovely.
And the bread was good.

Best lunch stop on Main Street. The bread here is fantastic and lunch is always top notch. Friendly owner too.

Service was quick, I was seated immediately and my order was taken just a second later. Waiter was quick and polite. I got the spinach ravioli with chicken, and I don’t know if it was the chicken, but the pepper was overpowering and ruined the rest of the dish. A pretty meal does not equal a good one.

This is both the worst food I’ve had in Salt Lake City and hands-​down the worst Italian food I’ve ever had in my life. Got food poisoning. It came out of nowhere. I literally had to pull over and shit behind a dumpster.

I have visited this restaurant three times now.
On Visit one we had great service. Or server knew the menu well and had great recommendations. One of the items we ordered was not available so I ordered something different. The desert was not what I expected from an Italian restaurant.
On visit two. The restaurant was uncomfortably hot. The server was mediocre at best. They were out of several items.
On visit three we entered the restaurant at 9:46 p.m.
We were promptly told they were closed. I questioned her by saying I thought you were open for fifteen more minutes. (The time posted on the door was10:00 p.m.) she said the kitchen was closed.
Overall, my impression of this restaurant. They want you to think it’s fine dining. But the service is closer to Denny’s. The food is good. But if they are out of it. How would you know.
This business obviously doesn’t want my business. If they did, they wouldn’t turn me away during business hours. I am sure the owner will be happy to know his employees turned away fifty dollars the night they said they were closed. And potentially thousands over the next few years during which I won’t return.

This must be the Spring of troubled restaurants. Maybe it is the weather — but my effort to try new venues is proving to be disappointing at best.
Michelangelo took 4 years to complete the Sistine Chapel — our dinner took slightly less.
Six friends and I spent 5 glorious days skiing the mountains of Utah. On our last night before we caught the red eye back East we decided to try Michelangelo’s on Main in Salt Lake City. One of the guys seemed to remember eating there and thought great hearty Italian food would be the perfect end to our sojourn. He was sooo wrong
We had reservations for eight and found parking right in front. The bar beside (BeeHive Pub) was jammed but when we entered Michelangelo’s the restaurant was empty expect for 1 table. Disregarding obvious signs of trouble — we stayed.
Our waitress was very informed, most helpful in helping us understand the specialties, recommend very good wine and through out tried her best to make us feel at home. Unfortunately she didn’t have the support to make it happen.
We ordered our meal and settled in. As we waited and waited for our appetizers we consumed lots of bread and olive oil. Famished we waited over an hour for appetizers to arrive. At that point there were three tables (including ours) occupied in the restaurant.
After an hour and half — I finally got up and went to the kitchen. worried we’d miss our flight I was prepared to cook the meal myself! I asked for the manager or the owner. Neither on premises, the chef showed me that he had received an influx of tickets from the bar next door (The BeeHive) and confessed he was swamped and had been preparing their food. So while we toiled in at Michelangelo’s — those drinking and partying next door were eating. If some one had advised us — we would have eaten there.
We were informed that that they had not staffed up for the night. This provided little comfort. When dinner finally arrived (1 hour and 45 minutes later) the Mac and Cheese was cold, the mushroom ravioli was acceptable (we were informed that they had run out and had to go to the store to buy mushrooms while we waited) and my Veal Marsala was tasty but nothing special.
We skipped dessert as our plane was on time.
The owner called in and apologized profusely. The same was true for our waitress and the chef (not their fault, more a question of lack of management and perspective on how to treat a customer) He comped the dinner (not the wine) which was quite nice — but did little to change our perspective.
At my age — I can not afford to wait almost 2 hours for dinner when it is moderate at best.
Go next door — same food, maybe for less (?) and a lot faster.

I came here for dinner with my wife, son, and his girlfriend. We were promptly seated. There were not a lot of people for a Thursday night around 8 pm. That worried me a little bit. Those that were there were deep into eating their meals.
Service: pretty good. We ordered a wine which our waitress could not serve us because of her age, so the maitre’d came over and made a recommendation and brought the bottle. It turned out to be a mellow red which worked well with the different meal choices. Overall, a good recommendation. They were ready with the specials. Both the maitre’d and the waitress returned to our table a number of times during the meal to check on water needs, remove plates and check for dessert.
Food: we had prosciutto and melon for an appetizer which I wasn’t too sure about but the others liked it a lot.
I’m a sucker these days for chicken piccata, thin breaded chicken filets in a wine/​butter/​lemon sauce with capers. Their’s didn’t have the artichokes usually included, but had tomatoes and overall was good.
My wife had the grilled salmon salad and it was quote «great» unquote. My son had the Gnocchi Gorgonzola which he complemented and his friend had the mushroom ravioli which she enjoyed as well. No dessert because we were full although they recommended the bread pudding.
Atmosphere: old Italian, slightly lit, could be romantic for a couple. We took a booth in the back. The customers were spaced around the place.
Parking: street parking with numbered spaces and a credit card machine nearby to pay for parking.
Go back: yes, when we’re in town. There were no complaints around the table.

Probably won’t be back. This is more of a 2.5 review.
Envision this. A friend and I walk into a virtually empty restaurant at 5:00 p.m. on a Saturday. We are seated promptly and given bread almost immediately. Takes about 30 minutes to get water, and 45 minutes to have our order taken. (Keeping in mind that the restaurant is still very much empty) At around 6:00 p.m. two huge parties walk in, and if we thought the service was slow before, it became increasingly worse as time passed. Because the kitchen is completely visible from most tables in the restaurant, we saw our food sit for 20 minutes before it ever came to us. We also saw the staff loudly bickering on several occasions. Although, after waiting for so long we were more than happy to see some form of entertainment.
By the time all was said and done, we were there for a total of 2 hours. And sometimes when you’re engrossed in conversation and enjoying an incredible meal, this is ideal. But when you’re trying to get out of somewhere and it takes the waitress a solid 10 minutes to swipe your card, it’s problematic. Our waitress was kind, but told us casually several times that she was very stressed out which is usually an awkward comment to have to respond to.
And honestly I would have overlooked all of that if the food was a knockout, but it wasn’t. Very, very standard over Americanized, Italian food. It tasted fresh, but it didn’t taste authentic and was overly rich. Could have probably had something similar at the Olive Garden, in half of the time.
On a positive note, the food is relatively inexpensive and the atmosphere is killer. Very simple layout, but incredibly intimate feeling and has a great location on main street. If the food and service rivaled the aesthetic, this would have been a profoundly different review.

I’ve heard a ton of mixed reviews about this place over the years but had never checked it out myself until just recently. I must say, I was impressed.
I had the pesto gnocchi and it was delicious. Some of the best I’ve had stateside (reminded me of some fantastic gnocchi I stumbled across in Oakland, CA many years ago). It was cooked perfectly, was wonderfully flavored, and had the perfect amount of richness. And I loved the bread served before and during the meal, it was fantastic.
There seems to be a lot of negative comments about the service but we didn’t encounter any issues. But then again, we ate here for lunch and it wasn’t terribly crowded. All in all, I really enjoyed my meal here and will certainly return.