Park City’s Red Banjo Pizza Parlour leaves much to be desired
The Red Banjo Special comes with pepperoni, Italian sausage, red onions, green peppers, olives, mushrooms and a lemon wedge.
The hot wings at Red Banjo Pizza Parlour in Park City were great, with a spiciness that was subtle at first bite, and featuring a persisting kick.
The Red Banjo Special pizza and an order of hot wings at Red Banjo Pizza Parlour in Park City.
Sometimes, your instincts fail you.
Case in point: My visit to Red Banjo Pizza Parlour. The Park City eatery, which sits next to the Egyptian Theatre on Main Street, is a place I’ve walked by countless times while covering the Sundance Film Festival. I don’t know why Red Banjo had intrigued me, but desire is a mystery.
The restaurant is apparently Park City’s longest-running eating establishment, having opened in 1962. Seemed like a good sign. I made my way there on Monday evening, the snowiest day of this year’s festival so far, and the snowiest I’d personally ever seen the festival. It had been a long day, and I was ready to eat an entire review’s worth of food. Walking in, the vibe felt like a mix of old-timey saloon and old-timey Italian restaurant. And yes, there were many banjos on the wall — even a red one.
My Sundance counterparts, Herald writers Doug Fox and Derrick Clements, weren’t able to make it, so I perused the menu for the proper smattering of items. Since it was a pizza place, I ordered the Red Banjo Special, a pizza with pepperoni, Italian sausage, red onions, green peppers, olives and mushrooms. (I ordered mine without mushrooms. Because mushrooms are an abomination.) I also got the Philly Cheese Steak and an order of hot wings.
The wings arrived first, and these were great, with a spiciness that was subtle at first bite, with a persisting kick that I enjoyed. They weren’t too saucy, either. So far so good.
The Philly Cheese Steak came next. This was underwhelming. The bread-to-meat ratio seemed off — it could have used a lot more steak on there. As well, the green peppers had most of the flavor cooked out of them. Later on during my meal, I overheard my server telling a group of patrons that the Cheese Steak was their most popular sandwich. This seemed pretty surprising.
Then came the pizza. It certainly looked appetizing: evenly distributed toppings, a lemon wedge placed in the center — which, as it turns out, is a great flavor addition to pizza. One slice in, though, and I knew this just wasn’t for me. It was like the pizza couldn’t decide if it was crispy or soft, sitting in an awkward limbo between the two. It wasn’t a bad pizza, it just wasn’t particularly good. Later on, when I was leaving, I saw a rack of by-the-slice pizza (not the full-size pizza I had ordered), and these slices looked a little different. Perhaps that would’ve been a better option.
Now, I know it was a hellish day for Park City patrons, and possibly restaurants, too. Maybe I didn’t get the true Red Banjo experience. I just can’t imagine myself going back to Red Banjo — nothing in my experience seemed worth repeating. It was fine once, but sometimes once is plenty.
So yes, my instincts failed me this time. As I write this now, though, I’m sitting in Collie’s Bar and Grille, a sports bar also near Main Street. I came here a few years ago and had a delicious burger, so I decided to try my luck again. The medium-rare burger at Collie’s was, once again, just perfect, the atmosphere ideal, and the professional basketball up on one of the restaurant’s big screen TVs. It’s nice to know my instincts won’t always fail me.
RED BANJO PIZZA PARLOUR
Where: 322 Main St., Park City
Hours: Noon to 10 p.m. daily
Prices: Appetizers $2-$7; pastas, salads and sandwiches $4-$8, pizza $9-$18
Info: (435) 649-9901, “Red Banjo Pizza” on Facebook
Dining
