salut kitchen bar

heardgoodthings. joined mailing list and earned a free appetizer of hummus nachos. it was pretty good. we also ordered the malbec burger. cooked to order and loved sweet sauce that was on top as well as a very fresh brioche bun. would love to come back and sit on the dog friendly patio once it cools.

salut is a modern, american twist with italian eatery. they have a brunch special on the weekend which i recommend. and daily specials for whichever you stop by on the day of the week. i've had two dishes so far and been here almost 5 times? okay? maybe 3 but it's still wanting me to come more and more. they have unique special items of course. i've specifically had the chicken pita, which is grilled chicken breast onions and well let's not get into details but it wasgoodand for 2 dollars more why not add salute fries which is their special side of fries not any normal thin cut fries they are seasoned with parmesan and other goodie seasoning! but definitely check this place out they have a dog friendly patio, nice decor and pleasant service.

we went here for a late dinner on saturday night. bruschetta was alright, bread should've been toasted. salut fries were prettygoodtoo. food was average. service lacked. especially because our waitress told us it was reverse happy hour so the drinks were expected to be $8 instead of $12. we got our check (i purchased two drinks) and the drinks were not happy hour priced i paid $24 instead of an expected $16. i asked my waitress why our drinks were regular priced. she said that she had misinformed us and that the reverse happy hour was mon-thurs. thanks for telling us after we got our bill, she didn't even apologize. rude. i should've talked to a manager, but i wasn't in the mood to make it a big ordeal. now, i wish i did.

1435 e university drive tempe, az 85281 (480) 652-3600 http://www.salutkitchenbar.com/ i have been wanting to drop by salut kitchen bar since they opened and i spotted the "grand opening" sign on my drive home from work.  that was two years, which may speak to the location.  the restaurant recently celebrated its two year anniversary with great deals and i was wooed in by a $2 bottle of wine coupon (do read the very fine print on the wine specials, usually these deals require purchase of one bottle at full price--$28-$49). as a wine bar, i expected something pretensions from salut, but the atmosphere is warm and inviting--more rustic villa than  sleek wine bar.  the patio is spacious and charming. the eclectic menu features small plates and sandwiches with most options in the $10-12 range.  the wine list is fairly standard with the usual varieties from the popular spots with glasses ranging from $7.50-$14. the menu is broken down into "tapas," "bruschetta," "salads," "sandwiches," and "entrees" and is much heavier on lighter fare.  we went for a happy hour and ordered from the special menu the quinoa fritters ($9.50, $7 during hh) and the hummus nachos ($9.00, $6.50 during hh).  my partner ordered the malbec burger ($13) off the regular menu.  the wine special was for the house chardonney, which was blessedly non-oaked though nothing particularly interesting as is usually the case with house wine. i was pleasantly surprised by the quinoa fritters.  i'm  not always thrilled with the texture of quinoa, but the fritters were similar to falafel in texture.  the crimini mushrooms and dill havarti were the dominant flavors.  the red pepper sauce was a nice compliment and added a sweeter note.  i felt like the fritter could have been fried a bit more crisply to stand up to the sauce, but the fritters weregoodon the whole. at our servers insistence, we tried the hummus nachos.  i said they didn't sound like my thing, but our server promised to comp them if we didn't like

a must try. we had wonderful service! there was 14 of us that had never been there and we left full and happy! thegoodwas amazing, great appetizers.we had 8 different kinds of brushetta and the hummus nachos which were so amazing! great wine list and mixed drinks.the only negative thing i could say is that it was very hot in the restaurant.so much that we complained 3 times to 3 people and they all said the manager was aware that it was uncomfortably hot but would not do anything about it. never the less we will be back!

i would recommend this to a friend

a tempe favorite. this place has become a favorite of mine since they have opened. they do a reallygoodjob of plugging into the tempe scene. i love the outdoor patio and the atmosphere here. salut has great happy hour specials (7 days a week) that keep me coming back. the hummus nachos are amazing and they make agoodsize portion burger on a fresh potato bun. the sun devil and sriracha burgers are my two favorites. i love their wine selections and i'm looking forward to trying sunday brunch (chiken and waffles with refillable mimosas).

a comedy of errors made right by management and staff. first the errors 1) missed reservation time by 20 minutes; 2) waited 50 minutes for food to arrive after order; 3) served beef burger instead of turkey burger. now for what this restaurant did right; 1) got apology from no less than 3 different people and a drink comp for missed reservation time; 2) apology from waiter and the owner for long food wait; 3) burger comp, price cut on rest of food, free appetizers on next visit, more sincere apologies; 4) another free appetizer and apology from hostess on the way out the door. this is a textbook example of how a restaurant should handle customers when things go awry, and yes, at all restaurants things do happen, but it is how staff and management correct them that makes all the difference. i think the problems we experienced were due mostly the unexpected popularity of this restaurant and a crush of people at the time we visited. we will definitely be back to this restaurant for sure, they took a few bad things and turned them around and made the best of it. as for the food, well it was wonderful; the pistachio salmon was well prepared on a bed of orzo (barley) and the burger was prepared just right, the greek fries could have used a tad more time in the fryer, but they had a great flavor with the feta and herbs on top. keep up thegoodwork salut, this review would have been very different had you and your staff not stepped up to the plate.