Harvest Restaurant

Where: Harvest Restaurant, 3003 N Thanksgiving Way, Lehi

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Warm Apple Cider, Curried Butternut Squash Soup, Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Butternut Squash Ravioli

What It Cost: $51.00

What We Thought:

Most of the time at expensive restaurants, I leave the place thinking, "Oh sheesh. How many hours am I going to have to work to make up for that? Why did I spend so much on a meal that was not much better than something much cheaper??" 

Fortunately, Harvest Restaurant was not the same.

I don't remember what was going on (probably I finished a big test or something), but I wanted to celebrate! With plans of heading to the new outlet malls in Lehi, we decided to splurge on this exciting-looking restaurant at Thanksgiving Point. Entering the restaurant from a cold winter night, I immediately loved the warm and cozy ambience. The decor was a little cheesy but still very nice, and we were lucky enough to be seated next to the crackling fireplace. 

We started out with some warm spiced apple cider, which was perfectly warm and delicious on a cold night. We especially loved the cute little teapot it came in, though it was a little hard to pour from...

Prior to our meal, we received this cute little loaf of bread. It was served fresh and hot, and was absolutely adorable of course. It was quite a lot of bread for just two people, but we thoroughly enjoyed it - light airy honey wheat bread with some sweet butter on the side.

I was a little bit on a butternut squash kick for the night - I couldn't help it, it just sounded so good! I was a little disappointed because the soup didn't actually arrive until the rest of my food had come. It would have been nice if it had arrived earlier as a starter like I thought it was going to. Nonetheless, it had a delightful flavor - the sweet squash balanced out by the savory curry flavor. I liked the toasted pepitas on top, which added a little textural variety to the smooth and creamy soup. It was pretty filling; on a night when you're not as hungry, it could definitely be a meal in itself!

Owen ordered the buttermilk fried chicken (with my encouragement), and it was exceptionally gratifying. The chicken was a nice thick cut, which made me a little nervous, but it was cooked all the way through while still remaining succulent and juicy. We liked the flavor of the buttermilk coating, and the buttered green beans were fresh and crisp. The mashed potatoes were a little too gluey for me, but they still had a nice flavor and went well with the chicken.

The butternut squash ravioli was the highlight of the meal for me. I should have taken another picture, but the ravioli pastas were individual little works of art - they were made from this bright red and orange stripe patterned pasta that was really amazing.  Once I could get over their prettiness, I bit into an incredibly savory and scrumptious ravioli pasta that was coated in a creamy sage sauce. Grated pecorino gave a nice tangy flavor that helped cut the creaminess, and the toasted pecans were a unique and innovative touch that really enhanced this dish. I liked the little chunks of butternut squash that were mixed in, and I wished that I wasn't so full from the soup so that I could keep eating it!

What You Should Do: I would definitely recommend Harvest as an excellent choice for a quality night out. I only wished the service was a little better (getting my soup out late/she was not very attentive), but altogether, we really enjoyed our meal here. The food was all absolutely delicious, and we definitely want to go back again!

Read other reviews here:

Also, Merry Christmas!!

The Skyroom

Where: The Skyroom, 6th Floor, WSC, Brigham Young University, Provo

Who Went: Chelsey & Devynne (plus Owen once)

Number of Visits: 4

What We Ordered: Buffet

What It Cost:  $30 for 2 people

What We Thought: 

Basically, the Skyroom is the "fanciest" place that you can eat on BYU campus. First off, you have to figure out how to get up to the 6th floor in the Wilk (take the elevator that is just east of Taco Bell). Then you get up there and they ask if you have a reservation (recommended, but usually they aren't super busy, so you can just go). Then you have a server who comes to your table and asks what you want to drink -- a server, on BYU campus? Well, sort of. Mostly they just function to bring you a drink (all soft drinks are included in the price, but you have to pay more if you want a special lemonade) and clear your plates, but it does feel kind of nice.

Once they take you drink order, you get to go to the buffet! Woo! Stuff yourselves people! Honestly, I haven't really been to many buffet places because from a young age, my mother instilled a deep fear of buffets within me (all those people touching the same food...yikes!), but the Skyroom is not bad for a BYU location. The food is obviously all prepared offsite beforehand (those beans look way too from-a-can...), but as far as on-campus food goes, it's pretty dang good. One thing I have to warn you about - the buffet menus they post on the website are almost always wrong. The day we went was supposed to be Chinese day, but instead we got Carne Asada tacos and enchiladas. Oh well. Just don't get your hopes up too high for any particular food.

They have a pretty good selection -- a regular salad bar on one side, a side with fruit and mixed salads (use caution when choosing here, I've had bad luck with a couple. The chicken curry salad and California salad are pretty good though), one side with soups, one side with entree-type items (rice, beans, enchiladas, tacos, carrots for us). And then they have another table with the meat cut of the day -- ours was BBQ ribs (seemed kind of strange), and they also had a little salsa bar which was fun. And then...the dessert table. This my friends is the #1 reason I come to the Skyroom. BYU knows how to do their sugar right!

Of the food we had, I felt like the tacos were better than I expected. The carne asada was surprisingly meaty and juicy, and the chicken ones were average. The enchilada was a little too greasy for me (but I'm not a huge ground beef fan), but the BBQ ribs were actually alright! Devynne didn't like her tortellini salad, and the tortilla soup had a strange flavor. But they always have a great selection fruit and the BYU cottage cheese is THE BEST!

Yeah that's a lot of desserts. Don't worry about it. We mostly only grabbed every kind just to sample them all, not to eat the whole thing...

Of all the desserts, I think the cheesecake bars were my favorite. The breads I had were a little dry, and the fruit crumble bars were not super flavorful. But the rocky road and 7-layer bars were both heavenly, and I actually really liked the coconut cake! Plus there were even MORE options that we didn't even try! Yeah man. Dessert Central.

What You Should Do: Go for a special school day. If you don't have a car, but want to eat somewhere with service and lots of options, then the Skyroom is the place for you. It certainly is not cheap, but you WILL leave feeling quite full, since you can eat as much as you want. It's only on-campus food so it's not anything super gourmet or unique, but they always have many choices, and usually at least 3/4ths of them are pretty tasty. Plus -- DESSERTS! Yay!

Benihana

Where: Benihana, 165 S West Temple, Salt Lake City

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Land 'N Sea (filet mignon and scallops) and Hibachi Supreme (steak tenderloin and lobster tail) Teppanyaki Specialties

What It Cost: $83.00 (including tip)

What We Thought: 


Warning: Be prepared for a huge overload of photographs here! Since they cook everything right in front of you, they serve it to you right as it's ready. And since I was so hungry, I couldn't wait to get more than one food item per plate! 


Owen's birthday was last week, so I wanted to surprise him by taking him somewhere a surprise and special. He's more into the presentation of the food and into the show, so I knew that Benihana would definitely be the place to take him. This was actually my first time here, but I've seen The Office, so I felt pretty well prepared.

When you are looking for this restaurant, you have to be pretty vigilant -- it's tucked in between two big buildings and is kind of hard to find. The Blue Iguana is also right next to it, so if you've been trying to find that restaurant as well, good luck. Just look for the signs they usually put out on the road. Oh, and make sure to bring your parking ticket, because they will validate for at least part of your meal!

I knew of course that the prices would be ridiculously high, and in fact, I think this is probably the most expensive meal we've ever had together, except maybe at Disneyland. But what I wasn't counting on was the amount of food we were going to get! Fortunately, I had eaten my lunch at 10 that day and was STARVING by the time we went, so the large amount of extra food that comes with the teppanyaki specialty entreés was just what I needed.

We started out the meal with the onion soup. We didn't get to pick the soup (all side options came automatically with the price of the entreé), but it was pretty good anyway. It was more flavorful than I thought it would be, and it tasted like there were actually some onions in there.

The description of grilled vegetables was a little misleading, since it only came with grilled zucchini, but it was still pretty good. You never have the problem with food being served cold, which was great! 

The salad was definitely the most disappointing part of the meal. It just had some shredded cabbage and carrots on top, a couple grape tomatoes, and WAYYY too much dressing, which was very strong. I couldn't even finish the salad, it was just too much to handle. 

Our teppanyaki chef was definitely the BEST part of the meal. If you can, I would totally recommend trying to request Cornelio (our chef). He was so funny, making little jokes under his breath the whole meal, flipping knives and food and shrimp bites all over, and he worked very hard to serve the best food he could cook up. The couple who sat across from us said that they had been coming here 25 years, and that this was the best food they've ever had! I guess we totally lucked out since it was a first trip for both of us!

The only thing I was sad about is that Cornelio said that they aren't allowed to do fire anymore. THAT would make things even more awesome.

I love all things Disney, so of course I loved this Mickey Mouse he made for us. We were the only ones at our table who didn't order fried rice -- I'm kind of picky about my fried rice, and didn't want to spend an extra eight bucks on it since we were already getting a lot of food. But everyone else got it, and looking back, I think it might just be because it makes for a more fun show? Cornelio was a little offended that I didn't want to try his famous Benihana rice, so after he served everyone up, he scraped a little bit of the remains onto my plate to try! I was actually glad I hadn't ordered it - it was a little dry, and I like some more greens in my fried rice. But it was still awesome to try a little! 

He drew the eggs into a rooster. And then made a really funny joke that I can't remember! But he was great.

The meal came with some shrimp on the side. I'm not a big shrimp person, but I had to try them to see. There are two things that I wish I could change about Benihana, but I understand why they do it this way: 1) Everything is pretty much good at one of two heats (HOT or warming), and 2) Everything is pretty much seasoned the same way -- salt, lemon, butter. I know they do this because they have to bring everything out on the same cart and it simplifies things, but I would like a little more variety. Maybe if they marinated some options beforehand or something? Oh well. The shrimp tasted alright, but it was a little too rubbery and squishy. Owen says that's just how shrimp is, but I felt like it was a little overdone.

Owen's tenderloin was served with mushrooms, and he asked for it to be cooked medium well. You can tell with the little bits of pink that Cornelio knows how to cook his meat, but it probably would have tasted a little more tender if Owen had asked for a rarer preparation. It tasted like butter and lemon (like everything else), and was a little tough, but not too bad.

Cornelia, doing work on the shrimps. Considering they have to keep everything cooking at the same time, and on the same surface, I'd say he did an admirable job.

This filet mignon was the highlight of the food for me. I requested it medium, and it was so perfect, so juicy, and surprisingly flavorful. I told Cornelio that it was probably the best prepared red meat I've had in the state of Utah, and I think he didn't know if he should take that as a compliment or not...but it was delicious! Owen was super jealous and kept trying to sneak some off of my plate.

Owen tried lobster for the first time, which I warned him against since who knows how fresh lobster in Utah would be...?? It was okay, but probably not worth the price. It had the best presentation of any of the food - usually the meat or something was just shoveled onto our plate from the hot surface, but at least this one was still in the pretty bright red shell. But you couldn't tell from this pile of meat why anyone pays extra for lobster.

A little onion volcano! Fun! If only there could be fire....

It turns out I was totally spoiled with the scallops at SORA a couple of weeks ago...These little pieces of seafood were much tinier and much more rubbery than what I had remembered. Once again, I don't think the heat settings that the Benihana chefs are confined to are the most desirable for cooking this kind of meat, so they weren't the best scallops in the whole world. But at least it was fun to get to watch them being cooked! 

Our entreés ALSO came with ice cream at the end of the meal! Yeah, lots of things included with the meal! Owen got the cinnamon gelato, which I really liked, and I got the rainbow sherbet (yes I'm 5 years old...), which Owen really liked! So at least we both liked one of them :) It's pretty hard to go wrong with a scoop of ice cream, so these were about what I expected. Nothing fancy, but hey, who's going to turn down ice cream? Not me.

What You Should Do: Go for a special occasion. It's WAY too expensive (and the food isn't that spectacular) to eat here very often, but you have to at least experience it once! It sounds like we totally lucked out with our experience and got one of the best chefs, so I would maybe call ahead and request to have a chef who is highly rated or something. If you're going to be dropping $80 on a meal, you want it to be a great experience, and a great show. We got both of those things and had a really fun time. I was surprised at the amount of food that came with our entreés, so even though it was a lot of money, it was also a lot of food and we were very full by the end of the meal. The service was really great for us, and I'm glad that we lucked out with having such a great experience! The only thing I regretted about the meal was wearing clothes that are hard to wash...since they cook everything right in front of you, by the end of the night we both totally smelled very strongly of Benihana food! So just be sure not to wear something that's hand wash only :) 

Read other reviews here: