Very
few places in Salt Lake City, let alone the entire country, inspire
such reverence as Red Iguana. Many of you have sung its praises
to a clueless co-worker recently emerged from the underside of
a rock or posted your soliloquy on Yelp or Chowhound convincing
even more people to visit the colorful, if faded, enclave.
Now they've opened a new location, aptly named Red Iguana 2.
The new location doesn't serve as a diplomat
to some far-flung corner of our local culinary map. Rather, it
promises to alleviate the concentration of diners who gather daily
at the original location that's only a few blocks away. And everything
-- the electrifying look, the saturated flavor, and the universal
appeal of huge portions -- is very much intact in the new location
. ![]()

















It
was nearly four years ago when
The
Red Iguana Mexican restaurant has always posed two great challenges:
The first is getting a table; the second is which killer mole dish
to order.
"The
opening of Red Iguana 2 seems to have awakened dormant Red Iguana lovers,
like myself, who too-rarely visited the restaurant because of those
aforementioned wait times. At 11:45 a.m. on a recent Friday, there
was a half-hour wait to be seated for lunch at the new Red Iguana 2.
On a Monday and a Wednesday, there were 45-minute delays for dinner
seating. I’m convinced that if the Cardenas family—owners
of the Red Iguanas — built a half-dozen additional Red Iguana
restaurants, they’d still be mobbed. And indeed, there is a third
Red Iguana slated to open in the City Creek Center food court in March.
So I ask, what is it about Red Iguana that makes it so damned popular?"
