Porcupine Pub and Grill (Salt Lake City, Fort Union Blvd.)

   The Porcupine Pub and Grill, sitting at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon,  has a very easy-to-find location (before our visit I only remembered the gas station on the corner around that area). They have a small and simple menu selection to choose from which I thought at first sucked, but after we started reading what an interesting and eclectic selection they had, we were grateful for fewer options. The options range from pizza, to burritos, to pasta, to salads. But lets take a look at what our group got this time:



Allan

Danielle: Allan! How was your Pepperoni Pizza? 
Allan: The Pepperoni Pizza was really good, they did a great job with the crust. The crust is a really hard thing to not mess up and they did a good job of not messing it up and made it taste really good--it wasn't super chewy, it was very delicious. On the actual pizza itself they had basil, they had these seasoned tomatoes that were mixed into the sauce which all went together to taste just amazing.
Danielle: What's your taco rating?
Allan: I'd probably have to give it 5 tacos.

Danielle

Allan: Danielle, what did you get this evening?
Danielle: Okay, so I got the tomato... It was Dried Tomato and Artichoke Pasta, but I got it without red onions and it normally comes with red onions. And I really liked it--instead of having a spaghetti, or even a cheese sauce, it just has this really velvety tomato sauce, so it's just a really nice in-between. And I loved that it had huge chunks of sun-dried tomatoes, because I love sun-dried tomatoes. And I would probably give it 4 tacos out of 5.

Kira

Allan: With me is Kira and she is going to give us her take on her pasta.

Kira: I got the Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Pasta and it was really good, I really enjoyed it. It was a little different take on a pasta--it wasn't quite like and "Alfredo," but it wasn't quite like a "Spaghetti." I really liked that the sun-dried tomatoes were big, I really like that because I really like sun-dried tomatoes. I wish the artichokes were a little smaller, but I liked the flavor of that as well. They also give you really big portions, so I'd probably give it 4 to 4 and a half tacos, out of 5.

Josh

Allan: With me is Joshua Terry, who will tell us what he got. 
Josh: I got [the] Philly Cheese Steak and it was better than Tony's Cheese Steaks. It was good, I wish it had been a little bit bigger. Other than that it was really good--I don't have any complaints. Fries were really good--fries were awesome.
Allan: What kind of rating would you give it?
Josh: How do you do it--out of 5?

Allan: Yeah.
Josh: 4.

Kevin

Allan: Okay with me is Kevin--Kevin, what did you get tonight? 
Kevin:  I got the Philly Cheese Steak and Italian Vegetable Soup. 

Allan: Alright, what stood out? How did you like it?

Kevin: The soup was really good, but it had a little bit to much pepper in it--which I don't like. The Philly Cheese Steak was phenomenal--much better than Tony's--just like Josh said. Just look around, "Porcupine" is still open, right? 

Allan: What kind of rating would you give it?

Kevin: I would give it at least--at least a 4.5. Probably higher though.

Anthony

Anthony: My name's Anthony Hernandez, I had a Philly Cheese Steak. The Philly Cheese Steak was nothing in comparison to "Tony's Cheese Steaks: A Taste of Philly," that used to be open in West Jordan. Kevin Newsome wouldn't know a good cheese steak if it smacked him in the face. But nonetheless, The Porcupine Pub and Grill's Cheese Steak was pretty big, there was a lot of bread though, if the bread was a little bit smaller--if the bread-to-meat ratio was a little different than it would have been tastier. But I give it 3 tacos--it was tasty, it was real meat--not roast beef--so that's good. And the Fries were decent as well.

Curtis

Allan: Curtis, what did you get tonight?
Curtis: I got the Fish Tacos.

Allan: What was good about them? Was it good at all? Tell us about it.

Curtis: Everything was good on those Fish Tacos. The sauce that it came with was awesome--it was actually Wahoo fish. It was Wahoo fish, listen to me Josh... Anyway, but everything was awesome on it. Next time I come here--I don't care--I'm not trying anything new, I'm getting this again.

Allan: Alright, so what kind of rating would you give it?
Curtis: Well granted, we are TacoTuesdayReviews.com and I actually ate tacos tonight and they were freakin' delicious. I'm gonna give this 5 out of 5 tacos.

Ashlee

Allan: With me is Ashlee, what did you get tonight?
Ashlee: I got the Enchiladas.
Allan: What came with it? What did you think about it?
Ashlee: It had guacamole and sour cream; and there was a cheese [enchilada] and a chicken [enchilada] and it was good.
Allan: Awesome. Anything else that stood out? Or...?
Ashlee: There was a lot of food on the plate and I liked that.
Allan: Alright, so how many tacos would you give it?
Ashlee: I would give it 3 and a half tacos.

Colby

(--Editors note: It appears that Colby was mostly judging his food by it's price and not it's quality (which is supposed to be our staple). Please take that into consideration when reading this review--)

Danielle: Okay Colby, what did you get and how did you like it?
Colby: The Cheese Enchiladas, it was.. not good.  
Danielle: It was "not" good? Is that what you said? Why? Why?
Colby: I didn't like it just 'cus--I like La Luna, particularly; that kind of mexican. And it was kind of horrible price for what it was, but it was decent. But nothing too special--it was kind of all mixed together, also. Like you can't even distinguish what was the Enchilada, so...
Danielle: So how many--out of 5 tacos would you give it?
Colby: I'd give it a 1 and a half.
Danielle: Okay, 1 and a half tacos from Colby.

Kayrene

Allan: Kayrene, what did you get tonight?
Kayrene: I got the Italian Chicken Sub.
Allan: What did you think about it? 
Kayrene: It was pretty good, it came with and order of fries, so the fries were really good--I'm usually not a fry person, but I like these ones. But the sandwich had chicken--like grilled chicken--with pepperoni and some sort of mozzarella sauce and it was just really good.  
Allan: Awesome. Anything else that stood out that you wanted to mention?
Kayrene: Not really.
Allan: Well, what kind of rating would you give it?
Kayrene: A 4.

Miranda

Anthony: We're here with Miranda Hernandez, what did you get Miranda?
Miranda: The Spicy Chili Verde Burrito.
Anthony: How was that Miranda?
Miranda: It was okay--it was really hot.
Anthony: How hot?
Miranda: Really hot. Like I can't even eat all of it.
Anthony: You couldn't eat all of it? You like hot things?
Miranda: I can handle medium-hot things. 
Anthony: What did you like about it?
Miranda: The black beans and rice.
Anthony: What did you like least about it?
Miranda: How hot it was.
Anthony: Are you going to save and eat it later?

Miranda: Yeah, with a ton of ranch.
Anthony: How many tacos do you rate it, 1 through 5? 5 being the best.
Miranda: 3 and a half.

 And here we are. Overall the experience was very good; a couple of people didn't like what they got for dinner, but the majority greatly enjoyed their meals. The food that it served at the Porcupine has a unique twist on common dishes that you might find across the valley. On the way there a couple of us looked at some of the menu prices and at first glance it looked like we'd be shelling out a bit of money for this trip, but upon arrival we found that the prices were actually really good. And despite a few low scores, I feel confident that we would visit this establishment again.

Here is Porcupines Brunch, Lunch and Dinner menu sections.