RFK Rankings · Salt Lake City
Best Late-Night Restaurants in Salt Lake City 2026
Open late · Salt Lake City · 6 kitchens ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 14, 2026 · Updated June 14, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Salt Lake City closes early, and the 2025 Main Street fire that took Whiskey Street made the late-night map shorter still. What remains is a small, honest club of kitchens that run past eleven, most of them downtown cocktail rooms where a serious chef happens to keep cooking. The benchmark is the late burger: $18 of wagyu at Franklin Avenue, $24 at Ivy and Varley, $19 of award-winning chili-and-habanero at Lucky 13. One room runs to 1 a.m. and one diner goes around the clock on weekends. Ranked on how late the kitchen actually serves and what the late hour costs you, with the spots that stop at eleven called out so you do not arrive to a dark pass.
1.Franklin Avenue Cocktails & Kitchen
A two-time Salt Lake Magazine Best Restaurant runs Snake River wagyu burgers to midnight seven nights; make it the default.
Franklin Avenue, tucked down the Edison Street alley downtown, is the best food-to-lateness ratio in the city: a kitchen open to midnight every night of the week under chef Matt Crandall, in a room named Salt Lake Magazine's Best Restaurant in both 2024 and 2025. The order is the Snake River Farms wagyu burger at $18, no-frills SRF beef and smoked bacon, which is a fair price for premium beef cooked properly at midnight.
Opened in 2022, it has become the downtown service-industry default for exactly that reason. The value holds as long as you stay on the burger and the well-made cocktails rather than wandering into the bar's pricier pours. Take a seat at the bar after the dinner rush, order the wagyu burger medium, and you have the most reliable good late meal in town.
Walk in to the bar, or reserve at franklinaveslc.com.
2.Lake Effect
The latest real kitchen in the city runs a 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. menu with $14 nachos; head there last.
Lake Effect, in the 1910 Hotel Victor building downtown, runs the latest verified kitchen on this list, a dedicated late-night menu from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. seven nights a week. The Tin Can Nachos, cheddar, black beans, pickled jalapeno, salsa verde, guacamole and sour cream, are $14 and built to share, which makes them the value anchor of a late round here.
Opened in 2017 and named Best Bar in Salt Lake Magazine's 2025 Best of Utah, it is a cocktail room first, so the math depends on discipline: the late-night food is cheap, the craft cocktails are not. Order a couple of late plates against one drink each and it stays reasonable; treat it as a cocktail marathon and the bar tab, not the kitchen, is what gets you. Come here when everywhere else has closed the pass.
Walk in; late-night menu runs to 1 a.m.
3.White Horse Spirits & Kitchen
Reopened after the 2025 fire, this Main Street brasserie pours oysters and steak lyonnaise to midnight; book the comeback.
White Horse, also under chef Matt Crandall, reopened on January 29, 2026 as the first Main Street business to return after the August 2025 fire, and runs a midnight kitchen seven nights a week. It is the more grown-up sibling to Franklin Avenue, a modern brasserie with a raw bar, where the Oysters Rockefeller and the Snake River steak lyonnaise are the late orders.
Entrees sit roughly in the $20 to $40 band, so this is the room where the late bill can climb if you let it. The raw bar priced by the piece and the steak list are the markup zones; a plate of oysters and a glass of wine at the bar is the value version of the same room. For a late dinner with a little more polish than a burger bar, this is the downtown choice, and a worthwhile one to support back from the fire.
Reserve at whitehorseslc.com, or walk in to the bar.
4.Ivy & Varley
Bobby McFarland's downtown room runs a late menu to midnight Thursday through Saturday; reserve, but watch the $24 burger.
Ivy and Varley, in the former BTG wine-bar space downtown, runs a late-night menu to midnight Thursday through Saturday under chef Bobby McFarland, with the room open to 1 a.m. on the weekend. The signature is an 8-ounce wagyu burger, beehive cheddar, fermented serrano aioli and bacon on brioche, at $24.
That price is the flag. The cooking is genuinely good, and the Salt Lake Tribune called the room one of the city's best back in 2021, but $24 is the steepest late burger in town, six dollars over Franklin Avenue's for a broadly similar plate. It is worth it on a night you want the nicer room and the table service rather than a bar stool; on value alone, Franklin Avenue wins the same craving for less. Note the late menu is Thursday to Saturday only, so do not turn up late on a Tuesday.
Reserve at ivyandvarley.com; late menu Thursday to Saturday.
5.Lucky 13 Bar & Grill
A 2012 World Burger Champion grills its $19 Ring of Fire to a midnight last call nightly; go hungry.
Lucky 13, a 21-and-over burger bar in the Ballpark District, runs its kitchen to a midnight last call seven nights a week, with the bar open to 2 a.m. The Ring of Fire, house-smoked bacon with roasted jalapenos and habaneros, grilled onions and cheddar, is $19, and the Nut Butter Burger is the cult alternative.
Opened in 2009, it was crowned World Burger Champion at the 2012 World Food Championships and took City Weekly's Best Burger the same year, so the price buys a genuinely decorated patty rather than a generic late-night burger. The portions are large enough that a burger and one side is the sensible order; the value trap here is adding the loaded fries on top of an already-big burger. Come hungry, split a side, and let the burger do the work.
Walk in; 21-and-over, kitchen to midnight.
6.Dee's Family Restaurant
The Sugar House diner goes 24 hours on weekends with $10-to-$20 plates; pencil it in for the post-bar pastrami burger.
Dee's in Sugar House is the around-the-clock option the rest of this list lacks: open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday and to nearly midnight on weeknights, with the full menu served throughout. Part of a Utah diner chain founded in 1953, it trades in honest comfort food, the Pastrami Burger and the classic Dee Burger, with most plates between $10 and $20.
This is the value floor of late-night SLC, diner prices at 2 a.m. with no surcharge, and the only spot here you can rely on when the downtown kitchens have all closed. It is not a destination kitchen and does not pretend to be. Order the pastrami burger, save room for the banana cream pie, and treat it as the safety net rather than the plan.
Walk in; open 24 hours Friday and Saturday.
Avoid for a late dinner
Closes at eleven, or closed for now
Copper Common. Ryan Lowder's wine bar is one of the best rooms in the city and a 2025 Best Restaurant, but the kitchen closes at eleven, not past it, so it misses the late window by a hair. Go for an earlier dinner and the excellent $12 CC Burger, then move on to Franklin Avenue or Lake Effect if you want to keep eating.
Whiskey Street. The Main Street stalwart that used to run its kitchen near midnight was destroyed in the August 2025 fire and, by its owners' own account, is not expected to reopen before late 2026 at the earliest. Do not plan a late night around it yet; White Horse, a few doors up and already reopened, is the working substitute.
How to eat late in Salt Lake City
Late dining in Salt Lake City is a downtown game. Franklin Avenue, White Horse, Lake Effect and Ivy and Varley sit within a few blocks of each other in the core, so the smart late run stays on foot between them, with Lake Effect saved for last because its kitchen goes to 1 a.m. Lucky 13 is a short hop south in the Ballpark District, and Dee's is out in Sugar House as the around-the-clock backstop. Note the alcohol rules: Lucky 13 is 21-and-over, and several rooms are bars first.
On value, the pattern is clear. The burger bars, Franklin Avenue at $18 and Lucky 13 at $19, give you the most food for the money at midnight, while Ivy and Varley charges a premium for the nicer room and White Horse is where a raw bar and steak list can run up the check. Match the spend to the night, keep an eye on the cocktail tab rather than the kitchen, and you will eat well late without overpaying. The Salt Lake City dining guide has the full picture, and the worldwide open-late ranking shows where SLC sits against later cities.
Frequently asked
What Salt Lake City restaurant has the latest kitchen?
Lake Effect downtown runs the latest verified kitchen, a dedicated late-night menu from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. seven nights a week, with $14 shareable nachos as the anchor. Franklin Avenue and White Horse both hold their kitchens to midnight every night. Dee's in Sugar House goes a full 24 hours on Friday and Saturday. For a real kitchen after midnight, Lake Effect is the answer; for around-the-clock weekend food, Dee's.
Did Whiskey Street reopen after the fire?
Not yet. Whiskey Street, a longtime late-night Main Street kitchen, was destroyed in the August 2025 fire, and its owners have said a reopening is not expected before late 2026 at the earliest. As of June 2026 it remains closed, so do not plan a late night around it. White Horse Spirits and Kitchen, a few doors up, reopened on January 29, 2026 and is the working downtown substitute with a midnight kitchen.
Where can I get a late burger in Salt Lake City?
Three good options, all open to midnight. Franklin Avenue downtown serves a Snake River Farms wagyu burger at $18, the best value of the group. Lucky 13 in the Ballpark District grills its World Champion Ring of Fire at $19. Ivy and Varley runs a $24 wagyu burger on a late menu Thursday through Saturday, the priciest but in the nicest room. For value, start at Franklin Avenue.
Is Salt Lake City good for late-night dining?
Honestly, it is limited, and the 2025 Main Street fire that closed Whiskey Street made it more so. The city closes early, so the late scene is a small downtown cluster of cocktail rooms with real kitchens, plus one 1 a.m. spot and one 24-hour weekend diner. There are six genuinely good options past eleven rather than dozens, so plan ahead and check hours, especially midweek when several late menus do not run.
What's the best late-night restaurant in Salt Lake City?
Franklin Avenue is our top pick, a two-time Salt Lake Magazine Best Restaurant with a midnight kitchen seven nights a week and an $18 wagyu burger that is the best value in town. For the latest food, Lake Effect runs a kitchen to 1 a.m. with $14 nachos. For a more polished late dinner, White Horse pours oysters and steak to midnight on Main Street. Pick by how late you need and how much you want to spend.
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