Restaurant Review: Roosters Brewing Company and Restaurant, Ogden, UT

The night of the Xterra race in Utah, we went out to dinner on 25th Street, in historic downtown Ogden. The Mountain2Metro festival was in full swing, and after walking up and down the block evaluating our options, we settled on Roosters Brewing Company and Restaurant. To my pleasant surprise, they offered a gluten-free menu. Mind you, they had only a single copy, and it was rudimentary – someone from the kitchen had circled (in pen) menu items that were gluten-free, or could be prepared as such (handwritten notes indicated how to order an item in the latter case). But it was a GF menu none the less, and I felt good about that.

We started off with cocktails – gin and tonics with lime – to celebrate the race. The drinks were perfectly balanced. In my experience, this is not to be underestimated. Many a bartender, thinking they’re doing me a favor, make a gin and tonic much too stiff. It completely throws off the balance of flavors. You need just the right amount of gin and tonic, and then a squeeze of lime, to pull it off with success. Roosters did.

Salads followed next. No surprises here. Just straightforward tasty goodness.

For dinner, I ordered an angus ribeye steak, cooked medium, with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. Kelli had a baked chicken dish, which would have been ordered gluten-free if grilled (it also came with mashed potatoes and some veggies). The steak was delicious, though a portion of the cut was much too fatty/grizzly for my taste. Kelli had a mixed experience with her chicken – one breast was excellent, the other left something to be desired. We both agreed that the mashers were average. We’ve had much worse, but we’ve also had better.

So what does that make our final verdict? Roosters offers a middle of the road experience for the gluten-free diner. If you’re in Ogden, it’s worth a look, but 25th street offers much more that will surely catch your eye.

– Pete