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Such a lovely restaurant. We were greeted by Norra and got us seated right away. Our servers Brittany & another lady from our previous visit were very attentive. This restaurant truly gives outstanding service to their guests. The food are served hot and fresh. My kids love the thunderberry pie and coconut pie with ice cream. While waiting for our food, we were so fascinated with the decor, there were different license plates on the ceiling. I highly recommend anytime who comes by in this area to try this restaurant. No wonder they've been around for a very long time. Great service and great food! 10/10 per kids review
We've driven by this restaurant several times but on a Sunday, therefore its been closed. Not today, we stopped and had a treat. Reminiscent of an old diner. Good service. HUGE portions. Hubs and I shared the Stuffed Biscuit smothered with country gravy. It's like a sausage biscuit but better. Though the biscuit was a little too dry for my liking. I probably should have asked for some extra gravy. We couldn't finish. We had the option to order a half portion and we should have. The strawberry rhubarb pie was delicious! It came warm and I should have splurged and gotten it with a scoop of ice cream. Oh well, next time. Stop by this little historic gem.
I had never heard of this restaurant prior to passing it on my way out of Zion but it's a must-stop. The history of the place is written on little laminated cards on the table and it's fun to read about the family that started it all, and the amazing home made pies that Fern created and shared with the community. I had a slice of the coconut cream pie and can confirm - ITS INCREDIBLE PIE! I did also get a cup of their soup of the day (was tomato bisque that day) which was smooth and lovely, and got an order of their homemade bread to go with it. I cannot stress enough that it was some of the BEST home made bread I have ever had, and it paired so well with the creamy soup. It was an unconventional lunch but I left so happy! And my server was very sweet and attentive. Overall - if you need food or just want to try a spectacular slice of pie, you have to stop here. The place is absolutely iconic, an American treasure for sure~~
04/17/26 If you read nothing else, read this - DO NOT SKIP THE PIE! The pie will change your life. Sorry other pies, but Thunderbird has ruined it for all other pies. This is my new standard for pie excellence. We got the Thunderberry and apple pie with buttered rum sauce served warm in the diner and a la mode. Excellent choice. Both were warm and delicious and we just couldn't stop eating both of them. We loved the pie so much that we got a slice of coconut cream to go and ate it for breakfast the next day. I have been dreaming about this pie ever since and have even had the thought of taking a flight back to Utah just to get a slice. On top of all that, our waitress Jersey was a delight. She made meaningful conversation with us and was spot on with her service. The burgers were good too, but man, if we didn't order burgers, we probably could have eaten two more slices of pie and I would have liked that just fine!
Definitely 4 stars, fine if you count the fact that it's in such a remote area just outside on Zions East gate. First off the service was phenomenal. I even left my credit card behind accidentally and picked it up the next morning with no issues. Their ho-made apple pie with buttered rum sauce was outstanding. The crust was flaky and the apple filling held up well. The sauce was the perfect complement. Their 1/3 Burger was delicious. Ate it so fast I didn't get a chance to take a picture. The fettuccine was surprisingly good, perhaps a little thick on the sauce but that's personal preference. The ho-made chips were a little disappointing for the simple fact that all the cups were of uneven thickness.
Love this Ho-Made pies!! Thunderbird restaurant has great American food. Just like mom used to make! The service was great and pleasant. Ambiance is a step back to the 40-50's which is AWESOME!! My apple pie to go awaits!
Everything was so good. Our group had Country Fried Steak, Steak dinner, and Spicy Chicken Sandwich with onion rings. And of course we all got a different pie to share. Jason was our server and he was so sweet and attentive the entire time. The atmosphere is fun and interesting. They've been doing this since 1931 and there's a reason why, they fucking rock.
Busy restaurant, getting seated, order and food all took some time. Decent chicken fried steak was a bit dry. Small portion size is ok for me but some may be disappointed vs an IHOP or Denny's for example.
Had to stop for pie, obviously. Classic all-American diner vibes kinda gave IHOP's cooler, slightly less chaotic cousin. Service was fast, friendly, and the chocolate cream pie was quite yummy.
My husband and I stopped here for breakfast on our way from Orderville to Springdale & were pleasantly surprised! It was a neat mom 'n pop diner feel with a really interesting history behind it (very inspiring story about the original owner, Fern). Our food was good & their "ho-made pie" was great!!
I had the pastrami burger with French fries. It was delicious! Also, our waitress Kaylee provided exceptional service and checked in on us multiple times throughout our meal. We're visiting from CA and felt very welcomed and taken care of. If I'm ever in town again, I'll definitely come back again! Thanks Kaylee!
Great diner ambiance and a heart warming origin story. Stopped for breakfast, and the food is great. Service is amazing - friendly staff and efficient service. I had the senior breakfast that came with two slices of bacon, an egg, hash browns and toast. Just a bit too much food. My husband had a "short stack" of two pancakes and couldn't even make a dent in them! Two huge pancakes about 8" in diameter and each about an income fluffy goodness. This place is on the side of the ride on the way to the east side of Zion or on the way to Bryce. Take the time to stop - it's worth it!
We ended up eating here a few times because it was so good. Mediterranean Salad was DELISH!!! Burgers were delicious too. Great place!!!
This diner is the perfect stop before heading into Zion, easy, welcoming, and exactly what you want before a day on the trails. The service is genuinely good, with staff who keep things moving and make you feel taken care of without any fuss. But the real standout is the pie. Truly some of the best anywhere; flaky crust, rich fillings, and the kind of "ho-made" taste that makes you consider ordering a second slice to go. A great starting point for your park day and absolutely worth a visit for the pie alone. read more
If you only get one thing when you stop by, get the pie! The apple pie was fantastic. 5 stars for the pie. Tried the country fried steak, salad bar, and the spicy chicken sandwich. Solid 3 stars for the entrees. Would be much better if the steamed veggies with the country fried steak were fresh. From the taste of it, it tasted like Costco Kirkland frozen veggies. Same goes for the sweet potato fries, they also tasted premade/pre-frozen. For the price point, I was expecting better quality food. Service was very lovely! The ladies here were very warm and welcoming. The decor is really interesting and fun to look at. They've got an eclectic mix of license plates, toy cars, and vintage cameras on display. All in all, it was a fun pit stop during a road trip --- the pie was great, but the entrees could you use improvements. read more
Driving on US-89 and UT-12, there were a number of billboards up advertising the famous "Ho-Made Pies" served at Thunderbird Restaurant. Since we were staying in the attached hotel, we figured we would try a slice! When we checked into the hotel in the afternoon, we wanted in and saw a bunch of fresh pies in the display case in the front, but we decided to hold off until after dinner. When we returned, they were all gone! Luckily we talked with the waitress and she told us that they still had plenty in the back. They also fresh bake pies every morning to be ready by 7AM opening. Chocolate Cream Pie Slice ($4.99) - That's one hefty slice of pie! It's at least half a pound of pure sugar. The topping is stabilized whipped cream while the base is a really chocolatey super thick custardy, probably cornstarch-thickened, pudding, more like jello than pot de crème. The pie crust seems a little wan, not that heavily baked given the lighter color. It's a harder crisp with a good amount of flakiness and is probably shortening based. Yet the crust still stays crunchy even with the onslaught of pudding above. As a whole the slice is ridiculously heavy and rich, super filling after dinner. I can't vouch for anything else on their menu, but Thunderbird Restaurant certainly serves some good pies! It's reasonably priced and is served in a huge portion. There's not much else I could ask for. Bathrooms - Outside in the hotel lobby read more
Such a lovely restaurant. We were greeted by Norra and got us seated right away. Our servers Brittany & another lady from our previous visit were very attentive. This restaurant truly gives outstanding service to their guests. The food are served hot and fresh. My kids love the thunderberry pie and coconut pie with ice cream. While waiting for our food, we were so fascinated with the decor, there were different license plates on the ceiling. I highly recommend anytime who comes by in this area to try this restaurant. No wonder they've been around for a very long time. Great service and great food! 10/10 per kids review read more
We've driven by this restaurant several times but on a Sunday, therefore its been closed. Not today, we stopped and had a treat. Reminiscent of an old diner. Good service. HUGE portions. Hubs and I shared the Stuffed Biscuit smothered with country gravy. It's like a sausage biscuit but better. Though the biscuit was a little too dry for my liking. I probably should have asked for some extra gravy. We couldn't finish. We had the option to order a half portion and we should have. The strawberry rhubarb pie was delicious! It came warm and I should have splurged and gotten it with a scoop of ice cream. Oh well, next time. Stop by this little historic gem. read more
4 months ago
I had never heard of this restaurant prior to passing it on my way out of Zion but it's a must-stop. The history of the place is written on little laminated cards on the table and it's fun to read about the family that started it all, and the amazing home made pies that Fern created and shared with the community. I had a slice of the coconut cream pie and can confirm - ITS INCREDIBLE PIE! I did also get a cup of their soup of the day (was tomato bisque that day) which was smooth and lovely, and got an order of their homemade bread to go with it. I cannot stress enough that it was some of the BEST home made bread I have ever had, and it paired so well with the creamy soup. It was an unconventional lunch but I left so happy! And my server was very sweet and attentive. Overall - if you need food or just want to try a spectacular slice of pie, you have to stop here. The place is absolutely iconic, an American treasure for sure~~ read more
5 months ago
04/17/26 If you read nothing else, read this - DO NOT SKIP THE PIE! The pie will change your life. Sorry other pies, but Thunderbird has ruined it for all other pies. This is my new standard for pie excellence. We got the Thunderberry and apple pie with buttered rum sauce served warm in the diner and a la mode. Excellent choice. Both were warm and delicious and we just couldn't stop eating both of them. We loved the pie so much that we got a slice of coconut cream to go and ate it for breakfast the next day. I have been dreaming about this pie ever since and have even had the thought of taking a flight back to Utah just to get a slice. On top of all that, our waitress Jersey was a delight. She made meaningful conversation with us and was spot on with her service. The burgers were good too, but man, if we didn't order burgers, we probably could have eaten two more slices of pie and I would have liked that just fine! read more
Definitely 4 stars, fine if you count the fact that it's in such a remote area just outside on Zions East gate. First off the service was phenomenal. I even left my credit card behind accidentally and picked it up the next morning with no issues. Their ho-made apple pie with buttered rum sauce was outstanding. The crust was flaky and the apple filling held up well. The sauce was the perfect complement. Their 1/3 Burger was delicious. Ate it so fast I didn't get a chance to take a picture. The fettuccine was surprisingly good, perhaps a little thick on the sauce but that's personal preference. The ho-made chips were a little disappointing for the simple fact that all the cups were of uneven thickness. read more
Love this Ho-Made pies!! Thunderbird restaurant has great American food. Just like mom used to make! The service was great and pleasant. Ambiance is a step back to the 40-50's which is AWESOME!! My apple pie to go awaits! read more
23 days ago
Everything was so good. Our group had Country Fried Steak, Steak dinner, and Spicy Chicken Sandwich with onion rings. And of course we all got a different pie to share. Jason was our server and he was so sweet and attentive the entire time. The atmosphere is fun and interesting. They've been doing this since 1931 and there's a reason why, they fucking rock. read more
5 months ago
My husband and I stopped here for breakfast on our way from Orderville to Springdale & were pleasantly surprised! It was a neat mom 'n pop diner feel with a really interesting history behind it (very inspiring story about the original owner, Fern). Our food was good & their "ho-made pie" was great!! read more
3 months ago
2 months ago
11 months ago
I had the pastrami burger with French fries. It was delicious! Also, our waitress Kaylee provided exceptional service and checked in on us multiple times throughout our meal. We're visiting from CA and felt very welcomed and taken care of. If I'm ever in town again, I'll definitely come back again! Thanks Kaylee! read more
5 months ago
Great diner ambiance and a heart warming origin story. Stopped for breakfast, and the food is great. Service is amazing - friendly staff and efficient service. I had the senior breakfast that came with two slices of bacon, an egg, hash browns and toast. Just a bit too much food. My husband had a "short stack" of two pancakes and couldn't even make a dent in them! Two huge pancakes about 8" in diameter and each about an income fluffy goodness. This place is on the side of the ride on the way to the east side of Zion or on the way to Bryce. Take the time to stop - it's worth it! read more
6 months ago
We ended up eating here a few times because it was so good. Mediterranean Salad was DELISH!!! Burgers were delicious too. Great place!!! read more
Stopped in for a late lunch on our drive from Bryce to Zion. We ate light for our meal, having a stop at the salad bar plus soup. The food was good and the staff were friendly. Lots of interesting decor. We also got a strawberry rhubarb pie, which was ok but we were shocked when it came out heated up. This kind of pie shouldn't be heated, nor did it say it would be on the menu. But other than that, we enjoyed our visit. read more
3 months ago
Get the pie! Apple with rum sauce and thunder berry, both warmed à la mode. Jersey was our waitress and she was friendly and wonderful. Had a thunder burger and chili fries. Both were delicious. Great little place to stop, read more
5 months ago
OMG what a fantastic place to have a great a meal and relax. Our server Tanner was fantastic, attentive, great advices. The steak was superb. And the pie delicious. We will be back. Thank you. read more
3 months ago
We came to eat out of sheer convenience the first night but tried a few other places nearby and can safely say if you're hungry and need some quality food to fill you up after a full day of hiking? This is the place to be! Note they're only open Friday-Tuesday so you'll need to plan some backups if needed! Since we were dining a bit later in the day, our server was super chill with us just grabbing a plate at the salad bar if we wanted and didn't charge us extra. We also got complimentary bread with our order. For my entree I ordered the New York strip and my husband got the trout. My steak was amazing and so juicy! They cooked on really well and our server was so sweet, super friendly, and went out of his way to search literally everywhere to find me their last bottle of A1 sauce. I think he may have asked all of the servers because another one came by and was like, hey do you need more A1? I found another bottle! It was really great service and everyone was super cheery and just seemed genuinely happy. My husband got the trout which he said was probably the best fish he's had in a really long time which is saying a lot seeing we live in the land of 10,000 lakes! We would highly recommend coming here and will definitely stop in again if we make it out to Bryce again! read more
5 months ago
3 months ago
6 months ago
Very mediocre food. We went out from Zion after 8 pm so this was the only restaurant that was still opened. We arrived at around 8:20 pm, the restaurant was only 1/3 full. It has many empty tables but the front desk made everybody to wait 20-30 minutes. There's a gift shop next door. I could only assume that they wanted to boost sales. Regarding the food, the 6oz steak was good, but the other foods we ordered (sausage pasta and beef dinner) merely reached "eatable" level. The pasta was not even heated through and part of it was cold. Do not go to this place if you have another choice. read more
Great pies!!! When in Utah especially near Zion or Kanab, must stop and grab a slice of pie especially between hikes. Usually sold out of the whole pies and had to settle for a slice. Our favorites are the Strawberry Rhubarb and Thunder Berry. The diner also has good quick food. read more
Stopped in for the warm apple pie on the way to Bryce Canyon and it didn't disappoint. Great food. Service was friendly and the ambiance and decor were a lot of fun. Really enjoyed stopping here and will hopefully be back. read more
3 months ago
1 year ago
Cozy atmosphere and friendly service. My wife ordered steak, I ordered the trout almandine. I love the lemon pepper seasoning on the trout but was a bit confused it didn't come with almonds. I opted in for the salad bar so i just grabbed almonds from there so its was nbd. I'm glad i ordered it with rice as the flavors meshed really well together. read more
4 months ago
Great coffee and interesting decor. Glad I stopped here when passing by. Breakfast ends at 11 but the hostess snuck us in when we arrived just after 11. Outstanding service! Breakfast was great! read more
4 months ago
4 months ago
2 months ago
Delicious homemade pies of many options. Delicious food all made from scratch. Exceptional service. Unique ambiance. This was our third visit as we traveled from Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park, and we've never been disappointed. You don't stay in business for 93 years underwhelming your patrons. read more
2 years ago
GREAT pies and enjoyed the chili of the chili cheese fries. The 3 items were about $25 which seemed like a tourist trap pricing and not likely where the locals dine. Ambaince was fun with license plates everywhere and the service was respectful & responsive Only getting 4 stars due to the higher price point for a snack stop read more
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More info about Thunderbird Restaurant
4530 State St
Mt. Carmel Junction, UT 84755
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(435) 648-2262
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https://thunderbirdutah.com
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Thunderbird Restaurant - tradamerican - Updated September 2026
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