Red Iguana

Best Mex in the valley — and I’m an expert!
They have more enchilada sauces than anyone.

Wow! In town with a 3 hour layover and mom and brother (who live here) took us here for lunch. Delicious enchiladas. Homemade chips. Yum. I had the Mango enchiladas and they were really good. My meal also came with a heap of really good/​fresh guac. They also serve margaritas, which is always a good for an out of towner. I will return. We also only had to wait for a table for 5 minutes (3pm) which I hear is unheard of…

Best Mexican food I’ve had in a while! Even though my boyfriend isn’t really a fan of Mexican food he thought it was great. We had tacos de pollo and the killer nachos. Portions are huge — it would probably have been enough for both of us to share one dish but it’s just nice to have that variety.
Tacos de pollo was my favorite of the two — tortillas were that perfect sweet spot between soft and crunchy, and the chicken was juicy and flavorful with a hint of spice. Combine that with the cheese, beans and guacamole that’s already provided and mmmmmm
Killer nachos were just that. The bit of spice dusted on the tortilla chips is definitely a nice touch, and the heaping mountain of toppings — combination of sweet, salty, creamy, and savory keeps the palate going and wanting more.
Service was fantastic. Our waitress was very sweet, and the tortilla chips and water never hit the bottom. We left completely stuffed, with enough leftover for dinner tomorrow night!

Best Mexican restaurant I’ve been to ever! The food is like a mucho fiesta in your mouth! Don’t know how to describe it any other way.
Atmosphere:
From the outside it’s painted in bright red and yellow, there is a host that greets you before you enter the restaurant. Once you walk in there is a feel of old classic Mexico. Bright colors, intimate tables and tight quarters. It’s small inside but that doesn’t seem to effect the food or service provided. You can actually see and feel the steam coming out of the kitchen where they prepare the food. For as popular as the place is I’m surprised they haven’t expanded or built an addition to the restaurant.
Food:
My sister and I ordered the Tacos Don Ramon, Killer Nachos and Horchata (1free refill, wow how generous). Each bite of food was magnificent, mucho flavor, mucho taste and mucho yum! The meat is prepared well, tender and seasoned to perfection and tortillas were nice and crisp, not soggy or chewy. The only complaint I have is the horchata was kinda on the sweet side, I much prefer the drink when you can taste more of the rice milk and cinnamon verses the sweet, just my opinion though.
Service:
Service was excellent, well attentive, kept our water glasses full and didn’t make us wait long. He was well versed in the menu, observant and offered good suggestions.
Parking:
Valet is available even though they have a private parking lot. In Salt Lake you can always find parking, you can save a buck or two if you choose to park yourself.
Overall wonderful experience. I definitely recommend this location, especially if you’re a fan of Mexican food. It wont disappoint.

Best of best
I am not big fan of mexican. But this place is amazing.
sauce was top notch.
Service was great.
Only complain you need to wait long but that’s worth it.

Of course I reviewed the wrong location last time… Forgive me! This location is the better one. MUCH better. Staff is friendly/​competent and food is great. There is often a wait time but it seems to move quickly. Try this restaurant if you haven’t already.

Cute place with a lot of character and a huge menu! Great guacamole, salsa, and mole sauces!

We have been stopping for the last 15 years every time we are in Salt Lake to ski. Mole, mole, mole — so many to choose from. Ask for the mole sampler !

Ok, from what I heard, this establishment has stood the times here in Salt Lake City. There’s the Red Iguana 1, which is where this review is being done. And people said Red Iguana 2, which is down the street a little, is the over flow restaurant. Which means, a restaurant this good had to create a second spot just to accommodate everybody who wants to eat here.
Ok, enough with the hype. Let’s get on the skinny for this restaurant. While in queue to be seated, I noticed the amounts of «american» people in line with us. This is when I start to worry about the caliber of food. Plus the whole, «I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid» talk amongst the regular patrons. If it wasn’t highly recommended by my friend, I probably would steer clear. But I was very wrong.
I would have to say, this right here is probably the closest thing to the Holy grail of where Good Mexican food and Good Mexican booze drinks go hand in hand. Their Margaritas are to die for. Plus my first ever Mole experience is very good. I had the Mole Coloradito and it was sublime. I take it the sauce is where it’s at. The pork was a little overdone and tough, but that sauce was so good, It totally makes up for it. My boyfriend had the Conchita Pibil, that was very good as well.
Listen, I’m a taqueria kind of guy, and I’m a straight up snoot when it comes to Mexican food. This place, a raging two thumbs up. Red Iguana brung it and will keep bringing it.
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Where do I start? Apparently this place always has a line, no matter what time of day. Somehow we showed up right at the perfect time because they seated us right away. Victor M. Was our server, and he was very friendly! He asked us if we had been there before, and when we said no, he offered to give us the tour. He went over the menu with us, and then asked us if we’d ever had mole sauce? He then offered to bring out a sampler of all of their specialty mole sauces so that we could try each one. He also told us that their specialty was guacamole which was fresh made and amazing!!! He brought out a plate of the mole a sauce and explain what each one was.
There is so much on the menu it was hard to decide what to try, so we finally got Victor’s recommendation. I ended up getting the enchiladas suisa, one was covered in mole Amarillo sauce, and the other was covered in mole poblano sauce. After the first bite, I seriously thought I had died and gone to heaven!!! One reviewer called it Mexican Heaven, and I whole heartedly agree with that description!!! It was so good that my friend and I hardly said a word, except to make one word exclamations of «amazing»…“heaven”…
For desert, Victor brought us the flan, which was amazing as well! My friend got the jalapeño margaritas, and it was very tastey.
If you come to Salt Lake City, YOU HAVE GOT TO STOP HERE!!! I will definitely come back… and if I am driving within 100 miles of the city, I will detour, just to eat here again!

So delicious! Worth the wait!
The chimichanga and the and beans were the best!
The jalapeño margarita was good, the small sangria had a punch! Wow!

I know Red Iguana has a zillion reviews but a recent experience here has prompted me to write a review for a well reviewed restaurant which I rarely do, especially when I agree with the reviewers. One thing that I don’t think has been mentioned is the reception staff who are more patient than Job and who continue to smile no matter how big the crowd gets. We are talking about people pummeling the stage at a Paul McCartney concert large. They are so nice and so friendly that it literally brought tears to my eyes. As for the food, it is some of the best I have ever had, and as you know, Big Larry likes to try the exotic. There was a breakfast-​like enchilada with boiled eggs that should get the academy award for best hangover cure, with green mole that made me swoon. My lovely wife had the standard chicken mole which has such complex favors that I’m still trying to figure out what’s in it.
So you know they have great food, right? Nuff said. The real thing that elevates this place to wonderfuldom is the staff who are so attentive and so well informed that it is like being coddled in your mother’s arms. They will walk you through the menu item by item and explain the history of each dish and how the mole is prepared. Frankly, I have never seen its equal. Come for a visit, although be warned that a long wait is in store for you, but it is well worth the time on the bench.

There are two iguanas in the city of the salt lake: red and blue. After looking at the reviews, I decided I had to try the red one and I was not disappointed. The salsa that they give you is a bean dip salsa that isn’t spicy but nonetheless very good. I appreciated that our server brought us out samplers of mole and meats so that we could try each one out. I decided to go with the chicken verde mole and it was very filling! The dish came with a fried plantain, rice and beans and your choice of corn or wheat tortillas. I decided to do half and half. Paired that with a jalapeño margarita and my dinner was complete! You definitely won’t leave this place hungry. Another thing to mention is that their complimentary hot cider outside is there bomb!

The Red Iguana in downtown Salt Lake City is one cute eclectic Mexican food restaurant. This particular restaurant specializes in mole. When I began to look at the menu to see all the different moles that were available I was a little overwhelmed. Then the waiter said well I can bring you a plate with all the samples of the mall away so of course I asked him to do just that.
It was a pure flavor explosion. Each Michaele had distinguishing characteristics the flavor was intense, the texture creamy and it was absolute deliciousness. I really could’ve just had a bowl of mole for my lunch. But I didn’t.
I selected the moly Verde and the absolute freshness of the poblano and jalapeño peppers was amazing. All of the other ingredients blended together to make the perfect Mole Verde. Even at lunch the size of the order was more than I can finish so you do get a value for your dollar as well.
The other three people in my party all ordered various array of combination plates and I have the opportunity to try their enchiladas, a chili Relleno, and one Chile Verde burrito. All of these plates came with rice and beans as well and there really wasn’t a bad dish on our table that day.
After I return to California I found myself thinking about why isn’t there a red iguana in California I know it would do exceedingly well. So I must say this is something you have to try when you’re in the vicinity of downtown Salt Lake City. There are actually two locations by downtown. So until my trip next summer I will have to wait and try to remember the amazing smells coming from this little Mexican restaurant.

I’ve eaten here twice now, once a couple of years ago with my family and then again last night with friends.
All my friends here raved about this amazing Mexican place: «the best Mexican they’ve ever had.» Without asking, I already knew that they were almost certainly talking about Red Iguana. My family and I had been through this before. Against better judgement, I decided to let my expectations climb again, and came in hoping for the best Mexican I’d had in a long time.
Unfortunately, the results were the same as the last time.
I ordered the Pazole (special), «Killer Tamales» and a pepino margarita. Flavor-​wise, the margarita was wonderful. I was very disappointed to find out the cucumber chunks in the drink were frozen. The Pazole was bordering on the side of bland. Luckily, they give you a garnishing dish with lime, cabbage, Mexican oregano and red pepper flakes. The tamales themselves were good, not great, but good. The beans were average and the rice was below average. I had a couple bites of my friends Mole Negro, which they were all raving about. Much like the tamale, it was good but nothing amazing.
Mind you, this all came after an hour wait, during which our party of 6 was passed over for another party of 6, a party of 5 and a party of 7. I was standing next to the host station so I could see how things were going down.
Overall, the 3 stars I’m giving might be a little generous given the review above. My whole table seemed to enjoy the experience, but now with two mediocre personal experiences I’m forced to balance their love with my disappointment.

Ordered to go lunch. They told me 10 – 15 minutes got there in 8 minutes and they had my order ready all and all. It took me about 20 minutes to drive there pick up my food and drive home. Tasted great as usual!!! This is such a well run establishment!

Vivo en México y para mi gusto, el sazón de este lugar es muchísimo mejor que algunos restaurantes mexicanos que he probado en México. El servicio es muy bueno, sus margaritas también y por mucho es el mejor restaurante de comida mexicana que he probado en USA. El único inconveniente es que hay que esperar por una mesa. Si hiciera alguna sugerencia, sería que agregaran vinos mexicanos a su carta.

I’ve heard so much about how great Red Iguana is, but honestly, I was not impressed at all. I spent the majority of my life in southern Arizona and absolutely love Mexican food, and this was definitely not top notch. At all. I don’t have a ton of experience eating moles, which is what Red Iguana is most well known for, so I can’t comment on that in particular. My margarita was ok. Had a slightly weird metallic taste. Wasn’t as smooth as good margarita should be. I ordered one of the mole enchilada plates… it was ok. Just ok. Seemed a bit dry/​stiff not moist/​succulent/​wonderful. On a previous visit, I tried the chile rellenos… which were also, sadly, just ok. I did not find Red Iguana worth the price or the 30 minute wait to get a table. Honestly, I left thinking, «dang, I wish I could have that $ 20 back…»
Will not return.

Worth the wait! This place has authentic Mexican food. They have 12 types of moles for you to sample before your meal. I got the Tacos de Padros and it was delicious, I wish I saved room for dessert!

This place rules. The food is unique and a fused combination of different Mexican cuisines. It really isn’t like traditional Mexican food. It sounds cheesy (no pun intended) but it really is that and much more. The menu is extensive and a bit overwhelming but everything we ordered was quality. You could just tell how much care goes into this food.
Encurtidos ($ 9.99): awesome little egg battered and fried bombs of jalapenos, shrimp, and cheese. Served with fresh guacamole.
Huevos Mutelens ($ 12.99): my favorite dish we order. Pork carnitas smothered in cheese and spicy amarillo mole sauce which had a pumpkin taste to it, almost like squash, which probably comes from that Aztec influence in the food. The sauce was spicy and sweet and balanced in a way I can’t even explain. There’s more to it still… two poached eggs and we swapped the bacon for chorizo which was in its own amazing sauce. Tortilla chips around the edges help absorb the excess sauce. It was amazing, one of the best plates of food I’ve eaten in a long time. Comes with refried beans and rice too.
Maria’s Favorite Soup ($ 5.99): awesome flavor, one of the cheaper menu items, definitely worth it but out of everything, it didn’t steal the show.
Do not skip this place. It lives up to the hype and that is a rare and beautiful thing.

I had been looking forward to eating here for a very long time and the last time the wait was so long I went somewhere else, but not this time. Me and two other business guys planned this out whole trip and hit the Iguana at just the right time at got seated right away. Immediately we were greeted by our super friendly server and to be honest it was so difficult to decide on a choice based on the the reviews, recommendations etc… but it came down to this I asked our waitress who worked here for years what was one of her favorite dishes is… without hesitation she said chili verde. So that was my choice… topped with 2 over easy eggs again at her recommendation. While me and my co workers sat and enjoyed their great chips and delicious salsa we looked around at all the people who have stepped foot into this place with signed posters.
After a very short wait our food came out and wow they do not skimp on the portions here… well I was going to do whatever I could to put all of this away at the first bite. The chili verde had the right amount of spice/​heat that you just don’t get from a lot of places. Plus the pork was so tender it just fell apart on your fork. This was probably the best verde I have had that I can remember. Coupled with the excellent service by everyone in the restaurant. Your water, tea, chip, salsa are never empty which to me are big pluses and shows they really care about the customers and not about pinching pennies.
So glad we had a chance to eat here and we be doing the same in our next trip to SLC…

Absolutamente deliciosa comida mexicana! La comida es legítimo!
Translation = Absolutely delicious, this is legit!
The most amazing selection of Mole (pronounced MOH-​lay)… Being from So. Calif… this is the best we have had!
Start the meal with the mole sampler with chips and a side of guacamole! Add a margarita and you are set! Chase it with a nice Mole or Carnitas!
Comer en su major! oh yea, translation Dining at it’s best!