The best patio in Salt Lake City is the garden behind Sapa, where a koi pond and century-old Vietnamese teahouses sit just off State Street and feel a canyon away from it. If the evening calls for canyon air, Ruth's Diner has been setting tables up Emigration Canyon since 1930. And when the weather refuses to cooperate, one East Central pizza patio simply ignores it. Here's where to eat outside this summer, and the two or three spots that stay outside all year.
Key takeaways
- Sapa (4.6★) owns the showpiece patio downtown, a garden hideaway that feels a hemisphere away from State Street. Closed Sundays.
- Ruth's Diner (4.6★) has the canyon classic, a tree-shaded patio with live music on summer evenings. It now closes Tuesdays and Wednesdays, a change worth knowing before the drive.
- Bricks Corner (4.7★) built its patio insulated and heated, so Detroit-style pizza outdoors survives October. Open every day.
The patio list at a glance
Ratings are Google review averages, and days closed are current, as of July 2026.
| The evening | Go to | The patio | Closed |
|---|
| The showpiece | Sapa (4.6★, $$$) | Koi-pond garden hideaway | Sun |
| Creek and canyon | Ruth's Diner (4.6★, $$) | Tree-shaded canyon terrace | Tue–Wed |
| Date night under vines | Arlo (4.7★) | Vine-covered, heated in the shoulder season | Mon–Tue |
| City views with pasta | Stoneground (4.5★, $$) | Second-story deck over Library Square | Sun–Mon |
| Pizza in any weather | Bricks Corner (4.7★, $$) | Insulated, heated, year-round | Never |
| Big-group energy | Urban Hill (4.6★, $$$) | Generous Post District patio | Never |
| Garden courtyard brunch | Oasis Cafe (4.5★, $$) | Flower-laden courtyard with a fountain | Never |
| Morning by the park | The Park Café (4.7★) | Covered seats across from Liberty Park | Never |
| Slice on the corner | Pizza Nono (4.2★, $$) | Small 9th & 9th corner patio | Never |
| Picnic-table barbacoa | Nico's (4.8★, $$) | A few tables out front on North Temple | Never |
Which patio is worth planning a whole night around?
Three of them, depending on the night you're building. Sapa (4.6★, $$$) is the one people bring out-of-towners to: the restaurant's garden hides a koi pond and wooden teahouses more than a hundred years old, imported from Vietnam and rebuilt on site behind the sushi bar. On a July evening it's the most transporting seat in the city, and it anchors our downtown date-night guide for exactly that reason. Book ahead and skip Sunday, when it's dark.
Urban Hill (4.6★, $$$) is the patio for a group that couldn't agree on anything except eating outside. The Post District dining room spills onto a patio the restaurant itself calls generous, and it is; the menu runs from oysters to wood-fired mains, and dinner is served nightly with brunch on weekends. It sits alongside the rest of our downtown American picks.
Stoneground Italian Kitchen (4.5★, $$) is the sleeper. The second-story deck looks over Library Square, the pasta is made in-house, and the whole thing costs about half of what the view suggests it should. Dinner only, Tuesday through Saturday.
Our take: Sapa for the wow, Stoneground for the wallet, Urban Hill for the crowd. None of the three will make you regret skipping the dining room.
Which patio is worth the canyon drive?
Ruth's, and it isn't close. Up Emigration Canyon, ten minutes from the Avenues, Ruth's Diner (4.6★, $$) has been feeding this canyon since 1930, and the tree-shaded back patio is the version of Salt Lake outdoor dining everything else is measured against: mature shade, canyon walls, live music on summer evenings, Mile-High Biscuits with everything. Salt Lake Magazine keeps it on the city's best-patio shortlist, and weekend mornings the whole valley agrees.
Two cautions. The diner now closes Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which surprises people who remember it as a seven-day operation. And canyon evenings cool off fast even in July, so bring the layer you think you won't need. It pairs naturally with a slow drive back through the Avenues dining streets, and more canyon-adjacent eating lives in our Cottonwoods guide.
Where do locals actually sit outside on a random Tuesday?
Not at the showpieces. The everyday patios are the ones that hold this list up. Oasis Cafe (4.5★, $$) runs a courtyard the way a courtyard should be run: enclosed, flower-laden, with a fountain doing the ambient noise, open daily from breakfast through dinner. The Park Café (4.7★) has been serving since 1982 with covered seats across the street from Liberty Park and a 7 a.m. door; it's the city's default patio breakfast, a call we already made in our brunch guide.
Pizza Nono (4.2★, $$) works the 9th & 9th corner with a small patio and wood-fired pies. And on North Temple, Nico's (4.8★, $$) serves barbacoa and chile rellenos to a few tables out front. No landscaping, no pergola, just the highest Google rating on this list at picnic-table prices. It's more proof of the west side's case from our Fairpark Mexican rankings, and the fuller argument lives in our Mexican food guide.
Our take: the Tuesday patios are the honest ones. Nico's over almost anything downtown when the goal is dinner outside for under twenty dollars.
How long does patio season actually last here?
Longer than the calendar says, if you pick the right room. Bricks Corner (4.7★, $$) built its patio insulated and heated, and says so itself. Detroit-style squares outdoors in October are a normal order there, and it's open every day of the week. The pizza obsession runs deep enough that a second location opened in West Valley City this spring.
Arlo (4.7★) heats its vine-covered patio for the shoulder seasons, which matters because the vine canopy is the reason to sit there in the first place; City Cast Salt Lake put it on the city's best-patios list, and we said much the same in our Capitol Hill guide. Dinner Wednesday through Sunday, brunch on Sunday, reservations on Tock, and it tops our Capitol Hill rankings.
The rest of the list is fair-weather, which in Salt Lake still means May through early October most years. The desert handles the humidity problem; evenings just run ten degrees cooler than the afternoon promised.
Know before you sit down
- Early week is the trap. Sapa closes Sunday, Stoneground closes Sunday and Monday, Arlo closes Monday and Tuesday, Ruth's closes Tuesday and Wednesday. The everyday patios — Oasis, Bricks Corner, Nono, Nico's, Park Café — cover the gaps.
- Reservations behave normally here. Arlo books through Tock, Stoneground through OpenTable, Urban Hill takes them directly. The counter-service patios (Nono, Nico's, Park Café) are walk-up.
- Utah liquor law fine print: these run as restaurants rather than bars, so expect drinks to arrive with food, and kids are generally fine at the tables above.
- The sun is not negotiable at altitude. The covered patios (Arlo's vines, Park Café's roofed seats, Bricks Corner's enclosed setup) earn their keep at midday; the open ones are best after 6 p.m.
Salt Lake City patio FAQ
What's the best restaurant patio in Salt Lake City?
Sapa's garden patio downtown is the standing answer: a koi pond, century-old Vietnamese teahouses, and a full sushi-and-grill menu behind it. We keep the full ranked list in our best-patios collection.
Which SLC patios are open year-round?
Bricks Corner is the clearest yes: its patio is insulated and heated by design, and the restaurant is open daily. Arlo heats its covered patio into the cooler months, and The Park Café keeps its covered seats across from Liberty Park running daily, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where's the best patio for a date?
Sapa for a big-swing evening, Arlo under the vines for something quieter, Stoneground's deck when the budget matters. Our downtown date-night guide matches those rooms to occasions in more detail.
Can you eat on a patio near Liberty Park?
Yes — The Park Café sits directly across the street from the park's south end, open daily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for breakfast and lunch. Pizza Nono's corner patio at 9th & 9th is a short walk from the park's north side.
The bottom line
Salt Lake's patio season rewards a little planning: the showpieces (Sapa, Ruth's, Arlo) all take at least one early-week night off, and the everyday patios carry the rest of the week. Start with the table above, cross-check the day, and when in doubt, our best-patios collection and downtown rankings hold the longer lists. The mountains already did the hard part; all you have to do is sit outside.
Sources: Sapa Sushi Bar & Asian Grill, About Us (koi pond; teahouses imported from Vietnam; hours), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://www.sapabarandgrill.com/aboutus · Ruth's Diner, Home/About (since 1930; closed Tue–Wed; live music Memorial Day–Labor Day), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://ruthsdiner.com/ · Salt Lake Magazine, Best Patio Dining Spots in Salt Lake, retrieved 2026-07-23, https://saltlakemagazine.com/best-patio-dining/ · City Cast Salt Lake, Salt Lake City's Best Patios (Arlo), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://saltlake.citycast.fm/best/salt-lake-city-s-best-patios · Visit Salt Lake, Arlo Restaurant Brings Artistry to Salt Lake Dining (heated covered patio), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://www.visitsaltlake.com/blog/stories/post/arlo-restaurant-brings-artistry-to-salt-lake-dining/ · ABC4 Utah, Bricks Corner opens second location in West Valley (May 2026), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://www.abc4.com/news/second-location-bricks-corner-west-valley/ · Bricks Corner, Home (insulated heated patio; daily hours), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://brickscorner.com/ · Stoneground Italian Kitchen, Location (second-story deck over Library Square; Tue–Sat dinner), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://stonegrounditalian.com/ · Urban Hill, Home (dinner nightly; weekend brunch), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://www.urban-hill.com/ · Oasis Cafe, Home (flower-laden patio; daily 8 a.m.–9 p.m.), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://www.oasiscafeslc.com/ · The Park Café, Home (across from Liberty Park; serving since 1982; daily 7 a.m.–3 p.m.), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://theparkcafeslc.com/ · Visit Salt Lake, Drinking in Utah FAQ (restaurant vs. bar licenses), retrieved 2026-07-23, https://www.visitsaltlake.com/plan-your-visit/frequently-asked-questions/drinking-in-utah/
