19 Best Restaurants of 2025—St. George
The desert setting in St. George is under threat as rampant growth in the form of horrid strip malls and cookie-cutter housing developments continues to gobble up the landscape. This is why we were happy to see new experienced operators take over Xetava + Rusted Cactus—a serene, view-forward restaurant and bar located at one of Ivins’ first planned developments, Kayenta, in the community’s precious artist village. Kayenta was started in 1975 and reflects what we imagine was the idea of desert living (Kokapellis are abundant) then as it grew in the ’80s and ’90s. Matt Mackay, who also runs The Cliff, has inherited the kind of space you couldn’t recreate today. He was, in a sense, grandfathered into a more tranquil time in the area’s history. Matt MacKay and his team, led by Chef Dylan Loper and front-of-house veterans Catesby Carman and Jorma Terenski, show respect for the setting and offer a challenging and thoughtful menu that perfectly pairs with the views of the red cliffs and open landscape out the window, xetava.com.
Each year, Salt Lake magazine presents its choices for the best restaurants in Utah. This year, we zoomed in on the individual neighborhoods and fast-growing parts of our state that are emerging as dining destinations. But no matter where they are located—be it a busy downtown block or a charming perch in Southern Utah—by our reckoning, these are the best restaurants in Utah.
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