Skybar

When I was sixteen, if I were to imagine going to a cool bar, I would imagine going to a place like Skybar. As somebody who is damn near thirty, this combination of a dive, sports bar, restaurant and dance club, doesn’t seem so cool anymore. The hotel that the bar sit on top of can use some updating and so does the bar itself. The restrooms are grungy and stink of cigarette smoke.
Service was pretty good. So was the food. On Mondays they have a deal for $ 1 glasses and $ 5 pitchers of Coors Light. I drank a whole pitcher by myself and didn’t feel the slightest buzz.
Welcome to Utah.

Skybar let me down! I thought it was going to be super classy with quality people but dear God was I wrong. I was so wrong!
The layout is cool and the view is amazing but something went wrong with the promoting of this place. They are marketing to the wrong crowd! My first instinct was to run to the dance floor and get my groove on but I had to screech to a halt after what I saw. There were girls there with the worst white-​girl moves (I mean they danced worse than me which is really saying something), girls with their pants too low revealing their gluteus maximus, old old women, one girl was fairly large and dancing with a stank-​face, and finally one… only one guy that was gay and dancing broadway-​style! I mean, I love gay guys, but common! It was awful. We left after 15 minutes.
Find Me In: does it matter? I wore jeans with a cute top and heels but I could have been wearing a muumuu and fit right in.

it’s nice place to be stabbed in the parking lot on a saturday night.

A terrific place to take a date for dinner! (Affordable, uncrowded and classy with an amazing view of the mountains.)
Location: 13^th floor of the Red Lion Hotel.
Dress: classy casual/​semi-​formal. (I went in a sweatshirt and felt a little under-​dressed.)
It was strangely uncrowded for being a Saturday. For the majority of the time, my mom and I were the only ones eating there. If you are 21+ and want the better view go sit along the BAR side. My mom had gone up before me to relax and have a glass of wine at the bar. For some reason they don’t serve water in the general bar area. Mom ended up spending 5 dollars (2.50 each) for two small water bottles. Charging for water… really? Even during the day, anyone under the age of 21 (which is me until 2012) cannot be anywhere near the bar or within sight of it. So when I came we were relocated to the restaurant half on the opposite the bar. The restaurant side did not Have as nice of a view — mountains out of sight.
Happy hour specials start at 4:30 pm and can be purchased on either the restaurant or bar side. There is a whole page of happy hour food specials and tasty treats for only TWO DOLLARS! I highly recommend the mushroom Medley. Not if you are on a date — it is loaded with garlic. My mom and I were able to get our fill of food (and a drink) with leftovers for under $ 18 each. Thanks to happy hour We got to try a bit of everything. I really wanted to try the NY cheesecake but was too full by the end to order it. Someone should try it and let me know what I missed out on!
Our waiter (John, I believe) was very helpful and accommodating. He came by several times to make small talk and to see if we were satisfied. He was easy on the eyes, so that did not hurt either. The chocolate mint sticks that came with the check was a very cute touch. Mmm
2 stars for the view from the restaurant side
4 stars For the view from the bar
4 stars For happy hour deals
4 stars for the cute and helpful waiter
1 star For not serving free water in a glass in the bar area
Hope this will be helpful!

Ahhh, Skybar. How I love/​hate you.
Once upon a time I was smitten with this place and their Thursday night Latin night and the occasional top 40 night. We love to dance and this place was a little classier than most, adhering to a dress code, even. Then for awhile the thugs (wannabe) took over, then there became a rule of no drinks on the dance floor and the bouncers became quite militant about it. Then the drink prices skyrocketed. Then the hookahs arrived. Fast forward to now and the place is getting less and less populated every time we go. Dress code is completely gone as far as I can tell, the speakers sound like they are blown, the bass is gone and it just seems sort of sad. It also seems like the average age of patrons has gone up by a decade.
It’s hit or miss, and sometimes it can be fun, so it’s worth trying out. One thing to know is that you can ask to go in and look around for a sec before you pay cover. Sometimes you might want to walk in and right back out again.
It’s just not the same Skybar it used to be.

I like the sky bar for Salsa night. It’s a very nice venue that includes a full bar, food, a nice seating area, salsa lessons, and a lovely view of the city. If you want to meet some attractive, and classy latin singles, you will definetly find your pick here.

I came here to grab dinner with a view. I travel for work and relay on Unilocal to point me in the right direction. Have to say the reviews on this place were pretty dead on.
Luckily I arrived just prior to 7:30pm and there were some great deals on apps and few dinners ($ 1.99 apps and $ 9.99 dinners!). Thought I’d save the company a few bucks and choose a few items from the saver menu. On that note, I wasn’t exactly expecting too much and the food was pretty standard.
The comment about the managers and their hawk eyes was spot on! Really felt I was being looked over the entire time.
The entire place was really slow that Thursday and the highlight of the entire evening was the new waitress who took the time to chat it up. She did a great job and make for a much more enjoyable experience.

This place was sort of hilarious. I went with two friends after Brewvies lost power on a Friday night. The place was a bit dead. They are obviously trying to sell themselves as a slightly upscale club but they are hopelessly amateur.
For example, my friend tried to order a cocktail. The waitress didn’t know what it was, so he was describing it «Campari, etc». She had never heard of Campari. So he ordered a gin martini. When she came back, she apologized, saying that the bartender didn’t know how to make a martini so she had to help him. The mind boggles. It was also strange that all our drinks were flat — I had a flat mixer, my other friend had a flat beer, and a final cocktail had flat soda. So they really couldn’t make any drink, and they were fairly high priced. The beer guy had a side shot with his and they seemed to serve it in those little plastic containers like you would get ketchup in. Weird.
Also, the people there were just plain ugly — not that we were much better :-). The wait staff seemed nice enough, although as soon as it seemed clear we weren’t going to keep ordering a bunch of stuff the charm pretty much went away. As did we.

I wish there was a ZERO star rating!!! My husband and I ate here on one of our date nights. Although the view was nice, the food was mediocre, overpriced, and the service sub par. When we spoke with the owner he was absolutely rude! I’ve never been treated so terribly — by an establishment of any kind. I wouldn’t go back if you paid me!

It was a Saturday during a Halloween Weekend and my friend took me clubbing at the Sky Bar. Maybe Utah is just a lot more mellow than any other state, but it seems like the Sky Bar was a very laid back club.
Once you enter the hotel, you need to take a specific elevator that will take you up to the club; so you had to go through a metal detector and a few security guards. I thought it was hilarious how their security seriously & thoroughly frisked all the male guests and completely ignored all our female friends. I guess women in Utah have never concealed any weapons before.
Maybe I’m a snob, but I was not impressed with the view when I entered the club. Maybe the views in San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, & Tokyo over shadowed the beautiful view of Salt Lake City. The club itself was very spacious, clean and organized. There’s a section near a bar that was sectioned away from the dance floor; so it wasn’t loud and had plenty of comfortable seating for your party to sit down and socialize.
The lighting at the dance floor was very bright and the music was not deafening. Overall, the club seemed very calm & relaxed; so it was a good place to enjoy yourself without going too crazy.

Went to Sky Bar on a Friday… and it wasn’t as cool as the Saturday I went (which I heard from a lot of people, including one of the bouncers).
So if your crowd is broke-looking…ugly people… that can’t dress… that’s the night for you! High five!
Still gonna keep the three star rating… worth checking out, whatever your crowd is.

It was my first night (Thurs) at a conference in the bustling metropolis of Salt Lake City. I was bloody tired & beat from a full day, but I was in a new city, and I wanted to explore. One of my latest interests has been salsa, so I googled the salsa scene, and saw that there was «Latin Night» at the Sky Bar. I was staying downtown, so I made a 10-​min walk to the Sky Bar (it’s on the top floor of the Red Lion; which is a few blocks west of downtown. I walked in the Red Lion front entrance, but I later saw there is a better entrance at the rear of the hotel).
On Thursdays, the DJ spins salsa from 9 – 11, and then after that he opens up to other music (i.e. merengue, reggaeton, cumbia, etc.). To get in, I had to pay $ 5 (now I don’t know if this was cover or a Mormon 1-​day membership to walk into a bar — the liquor laws are crazy in UT). Once inside, to one side there is a restaurant, and the other way has a bar and dance floor. This place is laid out nice, and there are windows all around which offer awesome views. I’d have to say that the best views were on the dance floor for salsa. There were many couples getting their salsa on, and they were good. I ended up watching the dancers for most of the night. I also had a beer (I went with one of the pair of microbrews on tap). Now I’m a beginning salsero, so I was too intimidated to get on the floor – cuz the dancers were really good. There was an old timer who danced with girl after girl – he was awesome.
Next time I’m in SLC I have a new joint to get my salsa fix at! :)

This is one of those restaurants that was great — and the management tries to make you feel uncomfortable so it leaves a sour taste in your mouth…
3 stars for the awesome view from the top of the Red Lion Hotel (awesome panoramic of downtown nestled amongst the majestic snow laden mountains!)
3 stars for the good, friendly server Denise (who by the way is from Long Beach, CA and can make a killer Bananas Foster — table side)
3 stars to the chef who can make a grill a great swordfish!
3 stars for dinner for 4 with drinks for less than $ 100
3 stars to the city that allows smoking in a smoke free city (go figure)
On that last note, minus 12 stars for the obscure attitude of the manager that night. While we were finishing up dinner, I noticed the delightful smell of cigarettes — so I asked a waitress if we could smoke at our table. She was so sweet — said yes! (I was elated) and she bounced off to get an ashtray. While one of us went for cigarettes. A few minutes later we were smokin’! In a blink the waitress returned and said she was mistaken — sorry, we could not smoke in the dining area — we were quick to snuff out the stogies and we noticed the a quirk of a manager peaking out from behind his «podium» to be sure we snuffed our cancer sticks. No biggie, but he seemed to follow us for the rest of the night. What was the deal? We migrated to the bar area to finish out cigarettes and he scurried past us like an monkey on crack and was sure to squirrel past every 10 seconds to be sure we didn’t «cross the bar line» into the «no smoking zone» (He never said anything, but his presence was disturbing) Not only did he continue to walk past as we stood and smoked but he managed to make a few passes while we found a booth in the club area — (by the way, they do have a nice dance area — i guess we were there on the Hip-​Hop night — top 40 is more of what I expected) Did I mention there was only one other party of 4 in the restaurant… so the creeping manager seemed so much more creepy.
All in all, if you don’t smoke, this is probably a great place to go to. Im sure you wont get the attitude we got from the manager. I started to take it seriously that this guy was prejudice or something. And, to top it off, he is asian, too!
The restaurant has so much potential, good servers, great food, good dancing, they just need to up the music to top 40 and chill with the ghetto rap and get rid of the attitude of the managers.