Description: Our first two visits to The Spicy Lady were a mixed bag. The first meal, on Christmas Day, was all around superb, a terrific British style roast beef and a perfect Chicken Florentine. Our second visit was a let down and a bit of a disappointment. Although nicely flavored, lamb shanks were greatly in need of longer cooking, leaving them difficult to cut off the bone, a real battle. Our third visit had good points and some not so good. Starting with the best, the Vietnamese Spring Rolls were nice and the Kangaroo Empanadas were superb appetizers. The Kangaroo, inside a pastry shell with cheese and stuff, is not to be missed. Several of us had Crème Brullee for desert. It won unanimous praise.
She had a repeat of Chicken Florentine which was not up to the standards of what was served the first time. First time, the chicken was perfectly cooked, cooked through but still juicy, easily the best prepared chicken we ever encountered in Utah with the possibly exception of the old Bonanza Cafe in Beaver. Second try, the chicken was typical a Utah disaster, so overcooked that it approached the texture of cardboard. As this is the Utah standard, if you must eat chicken in Utah, the Spicy Lady is the place to go. It won't be any worse than anywhere else, and there is a chance it will actually be properly done, just don't count on it.
I had Hungarian Goulash, a culinary classic. Any restaurant that serves such classic cuisine gets a lot of points, but while it was good, something was not quite right. I've had Goulash in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Austria, and we make it home. The Spicy Lady's wouldn't make the cut. I think the problem was too much sour cream. The beef and onions were drowned in sour cream, rather than being accented by it. Still, you won't go wrong with it, but you will not be blown away.
Our appetizers and deserts cost about $9 each. Nobody had a a main course costing $20 or more.
Spicy Lady has a full bar, only the second in Heber City. Of course, this is Utah bar which means it is nothing like a real bar. The wrinkle is the only way you can order alcohol is if you also order food, and drinks and wine are very expensive-- state rip-off tax, it's not the restaurant. For an idea of haw baffling getting a drink is in Utah, in 2008, the State Legislature passed 187 pages of changes to the booze laws. The most important goes like this: previously, a "pour", the amount of a liquor that could be in a drink, was limited to 1 oz. A "mixed drink" could contain more than one "pours" of more than one liquor up to a total of 2.75oz. After the change, a pour is 1.5oz. maximum and a mixed drink is limited to 2.5oz. In the real world, a Martini contains contains a 3oz. pour of gin. So how much gin is in a Utah Martini, one pour of 1.5oz, or 2.5oz.? I can't figure it out, but either way, a Utah Martini is watered down.
Utah claims it liberalized booze laws for the Olympics, but when the Olympics were over, the State Legislature reversed many of the "liberalizations". A typical liberalization: "Beer gardens" could be set up by fencing off an area and posting a security guard at the gate to be sure nobody under age 21 entered the sin zone. One liberal change that stuck was that before the Olympics, restaurants were not allowed to display their wine list unless the customer specifically asked for it. Now, the waiter is allowed to ask you if you would like to see the wine list.
Restaurants cannot buy wine at wholesales prices, they pay the same a retail customers. Consequently, restaurant prices are 3-4 times retail prices (in most states, restaurants can buy wine at wholesale prices so the mark up over retail is 2-3 times). At most, but not all restaurants, BYO plus the "corkage fee" is cheaper than the wine list. The problem with BYO is that you have to go to State Liquor Store to buy wine, and the closest decent selection to The Spicy Lady is 15 miles away in Park City. You can't really BYO because only a bottle with a Uath state liquor stamp which is only on bottles sold in State liquor stores are allowed in Uath.
The Spicy Lady's wine list starts at $26 for an obscure Spanish red, which is actually pretty good. This runs contrary to typical restaurant wine pricing, where the lowest priced wine is the most overpriced bottle in terms of value for the money.
Service was chatty friendly good, and very fast even though the restaurant was almost full.
Our third visit was on a weekend night, when there was live music. All I can say is that it wasn' obnoxious.
So, after three visits to The Spicy Lady, we are still a little puzzled in deciding how good it is. When it is good, it is very,very good, but food quality is spotty. Considering the relatively low prices of the entrees, it is worth a shot, even with a trip from Park City.
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