A Utah pizzeria ranks on a national top places to eat list

A Utah pizza eatery has ranked on a national list of top restaurants to eat at in 2026.

Yelp, an online platform that hosts user-generated reviews of businesses, released its 2026 Top 100 Places to Eat list on Wednesday, and Slackwater Pizza ranked ninth.

Blake Hirschi, co-owner of Slackwater‘s locations in Salt Lake, Sandy, Herriman and Provo, said the designation is both “humbling” and “bizarre.”

“At the end of the day, we serve pizza and craft beer, and we try to do the best we can,” Hirschi said. “I do think there’s a lot of amazing restaurants in Salt Lake City that deserve to be on this list, too.”

Slackwater, which opened its first restaurant in Ogden in 2011, now has five locations across the Wasatch Front.

It’s the only Utah restaurant on the list, which is curated based on the restaurants that receive the highest number of Yelp community reviews and ratings, as well as other factors.

Yelp highlighted Slackwater’s creative streak, especially when it comes to pop-culture pizzas, such as its “Tastes like Burning” spicy pizza which is inspired by a character from “The Simpsons” who uses that line.

“We do like to think of our pizza dough as a blank canvas, and we can paint whatever kind of food picture we want on it,” Hirschi said.

Sometimes, their pizzas are inspired by local events. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their Ogden location created a specialty menu full of dishes featuring peaches, to help with the annual Brigham City Peach Days festival, Hirschi said.

February’s specials are inspired by the Grateful Dead, the rock band whose founding member Bob Weir, died Jan. 10. The “Shakedown Grill” — a grilled, five-cheese sandwich, stuffed inside a calzone with capicola and ham, and served alongside a tomato bisque for dipping — is an homage to the band. It evokes the Dead’s album and song, “Shakedown Street,” which also refers to where vendors sold their wares near the band’s concerts.

“If you go to Shakedown Street at a show, there’s always little vendors selling grilled cheese sandwiches and other things like that,” Hirschi said.

Yelp highlighted a Slackwater review from user Kaysha R who praised the “magic” infused in their pizza. Kaysha also noted Slackwater’s “extensive beer menu.”

Hirschi said he and his business partners Krissann Smith and Justin Gumm never expected this honor.

When they were starting, “Justin would be out on the corner trying to convince people to come try a pizza,” Hirschi said. “If they didn’t like it, he wouldn’t make him pay for it.... There’s definitely been a ton of grinding since.”

But, most of all, he said, it’s the people who make their business successful — from the dishwashers to the diners.