The latest restaurant closures around SLC

Mercifully, I’ve not had to pen this piece for some time. During 2024, it often felt as if I was reporting on lost names on a weekly basis, sometimes more. With the recent slowdown in closure cadence, the following is a quick tally of the last few months.

Atlantis Burgers – Redwood

Pictured top is the former West Valley City location (3505 S Redwood Rd) of Atlantis, taken earlier in 2025. It appears the business has now transitioned to Pompeyo Burger Grill; there’s no word I can find to indicate if this is under new management, or former owners, etc. Atlantis’s locations in North Salt Lake and Kearns remain open by the looks of things.

Update June 27th: a reader reached out to report that exterior signs for Pompeyo has now been removed.

Este Pizzeria – Downtown SLC

Last week saw the downtown location (156 E 200 S) of Este announce its imminent closure. Posting on Instagram, the business explained, “we regret to inform that we will be permanently closing Este Downtown, our final day will be Saturday June 21st. A special thank you to everyone who visited us and made our days special, thank you so much!”

The update appears to affect only this location, with the popular pie shop remaining in place in both Sugar House and Park City.

Shanghai Cafe

I initially filed this one under maybe. Speculation on this Reddit thread seemed to suggest that the long-lived Shanghai Cafe in SLC (145 E 1300 S) may close at the end of July. According to the discussion, the site in question will be redeveloped, with the owners of the restaurant taking the opportunity to retire after more than three decades in the business.

In this week’s Utah Eats newsletter (over in the Trib), Kolbie Peterson reported a manager at the restaurant confirmed the final date of business as July 27th. Peterson also noted that the closure was related to the redevelopment of the lot for a new apartment buildout. This presumably means that other businesses in the plaza will be similarly affected.

Senor Pollo Mexican Grill – Downtown SLC

After a short stint in the heart of Salt Lake City, this location (170 S Main) has now been replaced with the new Italian restaurant, Galeano’s.

Louk’s Baby Donuts – American Fork

Another business with several locations in Utah. Louk’s outpost in American Fork (541 S 500 E) is sadly no more.

Happy Teriyaki

The South Jordan location (5474 W Daybreak Pkwy) of this Japanese chain has also now closed. The larger group, which operates nearly a dozen stores in Idaho, still has one location in the Beehive over in Pleasant Grove (1882 W Pleasant Grove Blvd).

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Stuart Melling

Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you!  I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC.  I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City  dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.

I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV.   Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune.    I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand.   What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.

Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.