lucky 13

my husband and i go here whenever we don't have kids - irbid our absolute favorite! i love the garlic burger and fries and my fav is the fried pickles - my husband loves the spicyburgersand jalapeño poppers - will be going there for many years to come!

very good burgers. good value for money.

the place does not look attractive from outside. however it does look nice and authentic inside. service was a bit slow according to us standard. greatburgersand fries. the bouncer outside is professional although he kind of behave like a cop.

theirburgersare delicious in general, but if you are looking for low carb they will place the burger on a bed of fresh greens and give you dressing of your choice. i find it just as satisfying and my tummy doesn't want to kill me after. ask for extra dressing for sure....

i have tried several other burger joints in the slc area and i must say this was the best so far.   the others are "local" chains and some "family-oriented."  lucky 13 requires that everyone - and i mean everyone - must be over 21 and there is a person at the door who inspects every driver license.  so, make sure you bring yours!

now, i didn't come here to drink (lunch hour and all), but heard theburgerswere very good and lucky 13 did not disappoint.  the meat was nicely grilled with great flavor, the bun was soft and did not fall apart.  it was the bacon which really was a hit.  i believe they smoke it themselves and cooked just right.  

very busy, but got a seat right away - the parking, on the other hand, can be a challenge.

fast, friendly service and a 4 means will definitely place this on my favorite list to come back on my next visit.

greatburgersand beer. casual biker atmosphere. not a fan of rosemary fries. outdoor patio is great. avoid ute game nights if you're not a fan.

so i've heard a lot of hype about lucky 13 over the past few months. decided to try it out today, and brought along my boss and another co-worker.

arrived at 12:30 pm on a thursday. tiny parking lot was packed. took that as a good sign, so we found a spot off site and walked back.

once inside, we were asked for our photo id's, which were scanned when presented. inside was packed with hungry patrons, so we ended up finding seats at the bar. waited no more than a few minutes to be seated.

our waiter was cool and took our drink orders within moments of being seated. he took our food order and we had ourburgerswithin another 10 minutes. fairly quick, considering how busy it was with the lunch crowd on hand.

i ordered the pigpen burger with rosemary-garlic fries. both were served hot, and the flavor combinations made for an extremely enjoyable meal.

my co-workers and i all agreed these had to have been one of the bestburgerswe have ever eaten. will we be back. damn right we will!

the secret’s out. what was once a hidden gem that few people knew about, the dive bar known as lucky 13 is now a place where finding a seat at any time of day or night is a challenge.  but you can’t blame the crowd.  once rumors got around town of lucky 13–arguably the bestburgersin salt lake city–it was no surprise that people would flock there to have them. when i first discovered lucky 13 a few years ago , i remember telling people that they had to go there.  the reaction was always the same: “lucky 13, the old biker bar?!  really?!”  but once they tried the heavily-doused garlic fries and the house-smoked bacon burgers, they were hooked. lucky 13, located on 135 west 1300 south in salt lake city. the “dive bar” status of lucky 13 has not changed, regardless of the crowds or the fact that the small bar won the title for best burger in the 2012 world burger championship in las vegas.  but the rockabilly-style decor and not quite comfy chairs provide part of its charm.  the patio is

not a good burger, horrible staff. i recently visited slc and this place came up on a few lists of bestburgersin utah. i went there and we ordered the stinky burger (blue cheese and bacon) and the ring of fire (heavy with the peppers). before i even get to the food lets talk service. the server was inattentive and the place seemed dirty. i got a water and the glass was cracked and when we ordered 2 beers she didnt even offer to serve with a glass. she took forever to take our order and it took almost an hour for 2 burgers!!!! they werent even that busy (there were several tables open). we got the food and she never even asked how it was-she offered more water after we were ready to leave. the stinky burger was ok, the blue cheese wasnt that pungent and the bacon they make themselves was overly chewy. the burger itself was dry and the fried pickles i got on the side were awful. the ring of fire was good at first but then the haberno peppers overpowered the burger and cheese. overall, not good! if you want a good burger try kopps in milwaukee, bop n grill chicago, burnside brewery in portland or blue door pub in st paul.

unlucky with staff. i love eating out, always average tip between 25-45% & served for years so i don't consider myself unfairly biased when reviewing a restaurant. but lucky 13 has upset me enough to write this long overdue review.
i used to love going to l13, and went there twice a week before it became the popular hipster hangout it is today.
i've had everything on the well thought out menu and you'd think the waitress/staff would know my name or at least recognize me after dozens of good checks with great tips. not so at l13. never even a thank you! for a 40% tip? at least acknowledge me and i might ask for you in person and keep lining your pockets.

theburgersare good, but then again so are crown burger and apollo with a lot less attitude. still, i continued patronizing as i watched the price of menu items climb, even though the waitstaff is probably the worst in salt lake.
i don't blame the over 1 hour wait times on the staff or kitchen, hey when a place is popular and gets busy, it can be a long wait! what i do blame lucky 13 for is rude attitude staff and botching orders. lost orders with no apology or attempt to expedite an order that was 1hr and 20 min late or even a suggested comp drink or fries to say sorry we blew it. lost credit card for bar tab they rudely 'claimed' they didn't have... phonecall the next day to a different staff member and "yeah it's right here on the bar. come get it."
on another occassion 3 of us were seated before four nearby tables that arrived 15-20 minutes after us but got their food before us and we ordered nothing fancy. again, no apology, just a huff and snarky -"why didn't you say something?" when replying "we tried to get your attention." were told, "can't you see i'm crazy busy?"
but that still wasn't the last straw. i decided it was just a crazy night and tried l13 again, and took a few friends there for a birthday burger celebration. fail. after 35 minutes the waitress hadn't even acknowledged us for a first greet/ drink order. they weren't terribly busy on a wednesday so there was no excuse. after waving her over she asked what we would like and still hadn't brought drinks after 20 minutes. we decided to get food somewhere else after paying and leaving lucky 13 for the last time. until things change i won't be back. even mcdonalds have staff who are friendlier and more on the ball. and wash your hands. i do notice if you work there and buzz out of the bathroom with just a flick of water under the faucet instead of using soap. not cool.

awesomeburgerswith great and unique combinations! loves the food though the service had much to be desired. not the friendliest and very slow. we sat at our dirty table for 10 minutes before a waiter ever even came by to greet us and clear the table. thankfully the food made up for it and i can still post that i like it! the nut butter and bacon burger is not
to be missed!!

third time is not a charm!. upon the recommendation of slcc students i've visited lucky 13 on three different occasions. tried the ol man, stinky and mushroom burger. all great! rosemary garlic fries great. cajun fires awful! so much powdered flavoring they were dry. did i say awful? i meant disgusting.

now the really bad part.

first time, the hostess asking for my id was extremely rude. waited at the bar 20 minutes before someone took my to go order. 40 minutes later food arrived.

second time. went with 2 friends. waited 20 minutes to order. server rude!!!

third time. went with 3 friends on the weekend early. asked for a table outside in the shade. two seat were directly in the sun, so we moved. the waitress saw us. sat down and then the hostess came out and told us we needed her permission to move. her permission to move! now this is a dive, let's get that straight right off the bat. secondly, there were 12 or 14 tables outside. only three other tables had people, the rest were empty. then, when a server came i out told her that we were sorry to have put her out. then she proceeded to lecture us on moving tables. lest anyone forget... 14 tables... 3 occupied. how is that a hardship to the server?

well, we left an hour later and still only half the tables outside were filled and less than that inside.

theburgersare good. the service doesn't make up for that.

too bad, i usually tip at least 20%. not this time.

do not dare to change your seat at this restaurant!. today we thought we'd try lucky 13 which had been recommended for their burger and fries. we arrived at least an hour before the lunchtime rush, so there were only two occupied tables inside with two patrons each and two occupied tables outside with two patrons each. since we requested to be seated outside, the server directed us to a general area which unfortunately was mostly in the sun. we wanted to sit in the shade so we told the waitress we would like to sit elsewhere and then went around to the shady side of the patio. note: there were only four of us and the patio had fourteen tables of which only two were occupied. after we seated ourselves, the hostess came out and made a major point to chastise us for changing tables. she told us that we neded to have her permission to do so. we explained we just wanted to sit in the shade and since it wasn't busy at all, we thought it was ok. the hostess reiterated again that next time we needed her permission. then the server came out and basically chastised us again! she said in a very snotty tone, "well, you wouldn't do this at any other restaurant would you?" to which we replied, "when the seats haven't suited us, yes, we've changed tables at casual restaurants all over the world and never have any of the servers or hosts had any problem. in fact, they were more than accommodating to allow us a choice. at this point we thought we better apologize for fear that our food might end up in a less than savory situation. drinks were served and one of the glasses was filthy! food was served quickly,burgerswere large and tasted ok. fries were tough. now how does one make tough fries??? we will never recommend this place to anyone nor will we ever be back. beware...

if you feel the need to have the worst service ever experienced and wait over am hour for a mediocre burger then sure go to this place. lucky 13's server, jasmine, has the worst attitude i have ever seen. we ordered 3 burgers, it wasn't super busy, yet we waited over an hour. finally one of us asked what was taking so long after being completely ignored by jasmin for the full hour, she replied that they are usually this slow and walked away. we finally stood up to just leave when she told us to "chill the f*** out it's only been 10 minutes". if our food hadn't arrived right then we would have left. the onion rings were cold andburgerswere nothing special. i've definitely had so much better and will never go back again.

rosemary garlic fries = nom!. some of the bestburgersand garlic fries around! seriously, try the nut butter burger. it may seem weird putting peanut butter and bacon on a burger together, but it's excellent. they smoke their own bacon too!

i have been very disappointed with the way lucky 13 has been the past few months. they need to do a better job managing the kitchen the wait for food is way to long. we waited 45 mins just for our drinks and another hr for our food. then last friday i called 15 times to get a order to go and the machine says when they are busy they don't pick up the phone. so i go and there is 20 people there and the bartender says its been way slow today. talk about rude service a mean answering machine and its not worth the wait. sorry 13 you just lost a great customer. i can make a better burger at home.


-----04 apr, 2013-----

lucky 13 is awesome they added newburgersto their menu. talk about great food and service. i love this bar


-----06 jun, 2012-----

i love everything about this bar, the food the service and the people. thanks lucky 13 for 2 great years of service.