lucky 13

great place.. this place was packed... we walked in found an empty table and the waitress approached us within a minute to ask us ourdrinkorder. nice size beer for a good price. ordered a garlic burger with bacon and a side of fried pickles. i have nothing but great things to say. they smoke their bacon in house and man is it smokey and thick cut, which is exactly what i love about bacon. the burger was also perfect; cooked to medium(pink in the middle) so they are nice and juicy and not dried out like a lot of burger places. and fyi: they have written on their menu that they cook them to medium and if you want it cooked more then you must ask. service great, food great, ambiance great, and they even had a shuffleboard table, which is extremely hard to find even when you're looking for one. :)

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 todrink(lunch hour and all), but heard the burgers were 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.

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 ourdrinkorders within moments of being seated. he took our food order and we had our burgers within 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 best burgers we have ever eaten. will we be back. damn right we will!

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.

the burgers are 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 compdrinkor 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/drinkorder. 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.

great find for drinks, breakfast or dinner!. the food here is surprisingly delicious. great burgers, excellent breakfast menu and you candrinka fancy breakfast beer/cocktail at like 10am on a sunday because it's an actual bar! woo hoo!

best burgers and fries ever. i have been here a few times and never lets me down. cheap drinks, amazing burgers and bacon. fried pickles were great, rosemary garlic fries are the best. parking is very limited, but the food makes me overlook that aspect. service was pretty good, never had adrinkrun out, staff took time to tell us about local hang outs and other places to go.

discover where u are before u complain. i am not affiliated at all with lucky 13 aside from being a huge fan of the bar, food, and environment that has been created there. the facility is a bar, not a restaurant! it is in fact moreover a biker bar than anything else and if you are to afraid to yell for yourdrinkor wait for your food (since it isn't a restaurant don't expect fast food) then you should go back over to the mall and visit the applebees or the olive garden! nuff said,drinkhard and eat well!!!

close this bar now. worst ever. went out to this bar for the first time tonight, service was slow, management was extremely rude. ordered one vodka and redbull while playing pool around 10 pm. ordered my seconddrinkaround 11:30. took maybe 2 sips from my seconddrinkwhen the manger came over and took my fulldrinkthat i had already paid for. when i complained he explained that due to me standing within 5 to 10 feet of a very drunk gentleman that was cut off that i too could not finish my drink. after i complained the bartender gave me back mydrinkas i was not intoxicated. 10 minutes later i went out for a smoke break and left my blackberry case on the counter next to my drink, was outside maybe 3 seconds when i realized that i was missing my case went back inside and mydrinkand case were both missing. management is on a power trip and needs to be replaced. i will never go to this bar again and strongly urge the closure of this establishment if management is not replaced.


-----19 feb, 2011-----

worst bar ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. went out to this bar for the first time tonight, service was slow, management was extremely rude. ordered one vodka and redbull while playing pool around 10 pm. ordered my seconddrinkaround 11:30. took maybe 2 sips from my seconddrinkwhen the manger came over and took my fulldrinkthat i had already paid for. when i complained he explained that due to me standing within 5 to 10 feet of a very drunk gentleman that was cut off that i too could not finish my drink. after i complained the bartender gave me back mydrinkas i was not intoxicated. 10 minutes later i went out for a smoke break and left my blackberry case on the counter next to my drink, was outside maybe 3 seconds when i realized that i was missing my case went back inside and mydrinkand case were both missing. management is on a power trip and needs to be replaced. i will never go to this bar again and strongly urge the closure of this establishment if management is not replaced.


-----19 feb, 2011-----

worst bar ever, needs new management asap. went out to this bar for the first time tonight, service was slow, management was extremely rude. ordered one vodka and redbull while playing pool around 10 pm. ordered my seconddrinkaround 11:30. took maybe 2 sips from my seconddrinkwhen the manger came over and took my fulldrinkthat i had already paid for. when i complained he explained that due to me standing within 5 to 10 feet of a very drunk gentleman that was cut off that i too could not finish my drink. after i complained the bartender gave me back mydrinkas i was not intoxicated. 10 minutes later i went out for a smoke break and left my blackberry case on the counter next to my drink, was outside maybe 3 seconds when i realized that i was missing my case went back inside and mydrinkand case were both missing. management is on a power trip and needs to be replaced. i will never go to this bar again and strongly urge the closure of this establishment if management is not replaced.

bad atmosphere, poor service. i want to like the place, since the cooking is very good for the most part. but it's just a charmless dive without an ounce of character, and a crowd to match it. and it has a terrible beer selection and piss poor service to boot. there is no official dining area, seating just meanders awkwardly throughout the place, and it just feels cramped and dirty. in fact, i have yet to see even one towel out wiping a table down. there seems to be a general lack of help, slow ondrinkorders, even slower on food. we were told only one guy handles the entire kitchen. it's just not a place you want to eat at, simple as that. it'll be tough draggin' me back to this place.