The Beerhive Pub - Vienna Cafe

The Beerhive Pub - Vienna Cafe
128 S. Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1602
(801)364-4268

On the second day of our JUS convention we had a two hour break for lunch and decided to go out to find something. We walked around the corner from the hotel and along the way, passed a truck selling tacos on the street. This intrigued me quite a bit as I like exploring in this manner, but it was warm and there really wasn't any seating in the area. If you know me, I am not a big fan of al fresco dining and get even more jammed-up if I can't sit down and enjoy my meal comfortably, so we trudged along. We found a pub about twenty yards away and decided to venture inside.

On this day, The Beerhive had one guy sitting at the bar and it looked as if the place was brand new and had just opened recently. It was a beautiful bar and room with a ice trough along the bar meant to keep your drinks cold during your visit. I thought that was a nice touch. We asked for a menu and were informed that they don't have food, but they do serve food from the Vienna Cafe next door. This should explain the two names at the top of this post. The Beerhive had an incredible array of beers available, including many of the craft brews made by Squatters Pub. I was quite impressed with their offerings. I ordered a Poligamy Porter, with the understanding that you can't have just one. It was quite tasty to say the least.

For lunch my buddy James ordered the Chicken Roladen, which is a chicken breast stuffed with Guyere cheese and topped with a mushroom cream sauce and I ordered the Swiss bratwurst. We sipped our beers and chatted about the conference and it seems as if the food arrive in no time at all. James said his chicken meal was great, but he was all about the bratwurst I had ordered. The bratwurst came with German potato salad, a large dollop of brown spicy mustard, red cabbage and a large roll. The roll was actually split as if I would want to put the bratwurst on the bun, but it seemed to big for the roll to me. Additionally, I found the roll to be cold and hard and sent it back. Our bartender was very apologetic and came back with my roll having been toasted with butter on a grill. It was very good. My bratwurst had a wonderful pork flavor and went very well with the spicy mustard that accompanied it. I found the potato salad and the cabbage to be very flavorful as well. This was really great food.

James and I finished all of our lunch and were quite satisfied by the fact that we had stumbled upon this gem of a restaurant. The next time I am in Salt Lake City, I would love to go straight to the Vienna Cafe and have a great German meal. This meal brought back a ton of memories for me of when I lived in Germany while my father was in the military.

For my first visit to The Beerhive and Vienna Cafe, I have to give them four Stiffy's. Great food, great beers and a wonderful atmosphere!

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry