Red Iguana

Ask at Red Iguana and your server brings a flower-shaped plate of eight or nine moles to taste before you choose one.

Why go

Ramón and María Cardenas opened Red Iguana on 300 West in 1985 and moved it to North Temple after a fire in 1986 (Utah Stories). Lucy Cardenas and Bill Coker became the owners in 2005. In 2017 the kitchen ran without an executive chef, on eight lead cooks who were all born in Mexico. Lucy Cardenas told the Salt Lake Tribune that year how the family food had survived: We had never written down the recipes. My brother just had them in his head (Salt Lake Tribune).

Come for the moles, the complex blended sauces of chiles, spices, nuts or seeds, fruit and sometimes chocolate. Ted Scheffler of Utah Stories wrote in 2023 that the signature moles at Red Iguana are as authentic as anything I ever tasted in Oaxaca (Utah Stories). Lydia Martinez of Salt Lake Magazine tasted them one by one in 2025: Mole recipes are assembled with layers of flavor, and the nuance tiptoes up on you as you eat each bite (Salt Lake Magazine). Jenny Willden of The Infatuation sorts them by heat: spice lovers will enjoy the habanero-spiked mole amarillo, while the mole negro and mole poblano lean sweeter (The Infatuation). Martinez also sends you to the specials board, where sweeter moles such as mango or pumpkin often turn up for the week (Salt Lake Magazine).

Expect a wait and a loud room. Scheffler wrote in 2023: It's unusual for there not to be people lined up waiting for tables at the Red Iguana on W. North Temple at all times of the day and night. He also warned: If you're looking for a quiet, romantic dinner, or cookie cutter franchise fare, Red Iguana ain't the place (Utah Stories). On the way out, Willden's advice in 2025 was to take one of the mole sauces to go, if you can be trusted to properly wrap a pint in your suitcase (The Infatuation).

Order this / avoid

Order: mole amarillo, the hottest of the moles because of its fresh habanero, with yellow vegetables that temper the heat as they cook down. Lydia Martinez (Salt Lake Magazine, 2025) found it the most vibrant.2
Order: mole verde, made with fresh poblano and jalapeño, pepitas, sesame, zucchini, avocado and basil. Martinez (2025) found it herbaceous and the second-hottest. She called asking for it with carnitas an off-menu secret. Stuart Melling's wife had it in 2008 and found it almost flowery.2
Order: mole negro with turkey, made with mulato and pasilla chiles, Mexican chocolate, raisins, nuts and banana. Martinez (2025) tasted complex sweet heat.2
Order: the red pipián, a pumpkin-seed and peanut mole with guajillo chile. Martinez (2025): It tastes almost peanut buttery, in a good way.2
Order: Tacos Don Ramón, sirloin tips and the house chorizo crisped on the griddle. Stuart Melling (Gastronomic SLC, 2008): Probably the best taco I have had in as long as I can remember.5

What locals & experts say

Stuart Melling, Gastronomic SLC (2008), on the music: played at such a volume as to make conversation a shouting match.5
Lucy Cardenas, owner, on the kitchen (Salt Lake Tribune, 2017): It's a team effort.6

Good to know

Booking: book on Toast through the restaurant's page. It recommends a booking and requires one for six or more (September 2026). Otherwise expect to queue.
When: lunch through dinner every day, a little later on Friday and Saturday.
Price: the menu the restaurant posts has no prices. At Red Iguana 2, the sister restaurant with the same menu, the enchiladas suizas cost $14.49 and the chile colorado $15.99 when Scheffler ate there in May 2023 (Utah Stories).
Where: 736 West North Temple, in Fairpark. Call (801) 322-1489. Red Iguana 2 is at 866 West South Temple.

Verdict

should-visit — Go to the original Red Iguana on North Temple for the moles, and taste them side by side before you choose one. The house recommends booking on Toast. Critics from 2008 to 2023 found a queue at most hours.