East West Connection - Salt Lake City

The food here is VERY good. It should be stated that this is at it's core a Japanese restaurant but it still does other Asian dishes very well. Even though it used to be more of a south Asian fusion spot the restaurant has changed ownership over a few times over the years so you should disregard reviews before 2020. The current owner is from Hokkaido Japan. He trained as a cook in Japan before coming to the US. He formerly worked at the Kyoto Restaurant in SLC (which has drastically declined in quality since he and the original owners departed). So if you liked the old Kyoto when it used to be the top Japanese in Utah then you should go here. Everything we ordered was excellent. If you've ever been to Japan and gained appreciation for the attention to detail and quality you can get there you may understand this the Japanese food here is truly Japanese. Most people don't know this in Utah but it is rare that you have a Japanese chef from Japan making Japanese food in this state. You can probably count the number of places that fit this description on one hand. Also, like most restaurants in Japan, it is not a sushi spot. They serve an extensive menu of Japanese food but not sushi...likely because there is probably something in their lease agreement that prevents them from competing with Hi Sushi that is located downstairs. As for critiques I'd say if you are looking for ambiance, this isn't going to blow you away in terms of decor. Second thing is the servers were very prompt and helpful but you might need to go in with a good amount of patience for your food to come out. I think the kitchen is a bit slow. Maybe I was just really hungry. The reality is if you want the best food around here you are likely going to need to wait.

We stopped in here for a quick appetizer. My friend had always wanted to try them out and we were in the neighborhood running errands. We were greeted and seated fairly quickly. There were a couple other tables occupied when we arrived. As I browsed the menu, I noticed that they close from 2 PM to 5 PM. Why restaurants do this, is beyond me. Maybe to prep for dinner service. It's more of a burden than a convenience for your customers in my opinion. When I looked at the time it was 1:30. By the time our waitress came to take our order it was some time between 1:45 and 1:50. It took about 15 minutes to get our order. Two appetizers. A fried spring roll and a fresh rice paper roll with tofu. My fried roll didn't seem piping hot and I swear the protein in one of the pieces seemed undercooked. The texture to me was unpleasant. It also had a taste that just seemed off to me. The fresh rice paper roll had lettuce that did not look to be the freshest although my friend did enjoy it herself. Unfortunately not a great experience for me here.

Oh my ramen!!!! How yummy!!! My husband got the miso based corn butter ramen and I got the soy based ramen! Delicious! My son got the salmon teriyaki!! Glad we stumbled upon this restaurant while visiting Salt Lake! Great Vietnamese Coffee too!

This place deserves better reviews!! Love that it has an enormous parking lot. My friend and I went at 12 and immediately got a table. The waitress was extremely attentive. We told her we are both gluten free and she stayed with us for the probably 10 minutes it took for us to decide what to order. She kept going into the kitchen to confer with the head chef to make sure our food would be gluten free. I read on here that the lunch special isn't much food so I almost didn't order it but the waitress assured me it would be enough. And she was right! Look at all that! For only $12?? I liked all the mint in the summer roll. Much more flavor than basically all other restaurant summer rolls. I do have to say the dipping sauce was a bit vinegary for me. And the look luck beef was really good!! So tender and the sauce was delicious. I combined it with the rice and it was great. The waitress kept saying she wanted everything to be good so we'd want to come back. Great job!

Best food Asian food in the city hands down. Everything we have ordered over the many has been very good. I can 't understand why it isn 't more crowded. Our last dinner we ordered sweet sour chicken, spicy beef sauté, look luck beef, and curry chicken. All were great.