Sometimes you need to go beyond fabulous food and seek out an experience to go with it. Utah has hundreds of truly wonderful restaurants, cafés, diners, and bistros. Today, we’ve focused on a select few that offer something truly different - a dining experience that goes beyond the norm - offering not only great food, but also unique ambiance, excellent service, or anything else that puts these spots above the rest. Do yourself a favor and visit these unique restaurants in Utah:

1. Dine In A Yurt - Park City

Here you'll find a highly unique yurt-based restaurant. Your dining adventure at The Viking Yurt begins with a star-lit sleigh ride up the mountain. Then, you’ll snuggle into the toasty yurt to enjoy four hours of dining. Yes, FOUR hours. No wolfing down your food here - it’s the European style of dining! The restaurant has only one seating of 40 people each night, so it's intimate and personal as well.

Check out the Dine In A Yurt website for the most up-to-date hours, schedule, and menu.

2. Ruth's Diner - Salt Lake City

Saucy, audacious, and tough, Ruth was undoubtedly one of the most fearless women in Utah’s history. She began as a cabaret singer in 1912, then opened a downtown burger joint where she fed working girls, customers, and johns who wandered over from the brothel across the street. Unlike the sweet, demure women of the time, Ruth could swear like a sailor and smoke like a chimney. And wow - could she COOK! When her building was bought and demolished, Ruth just dragged a trolley car up into the mouth of Emigration Canyon, where the restaurant still stands. Ruth has gone on to the cabaret in the sky, but diners can still sit in the trolley car and enjoy her recipes at Ruth's Diner -- try her famous mile-high biscuits and gravy for dinner, and don’t miss the meatloaf and macaroni and cheese for lunch, or whenever the fancy strikes.

3. Five Alls - Salt Lake City

Go back to the Renaissance era, but without any of those pesky plagues and commonplace beheadings. Five Alls’ costumed waitstaff serves you like a king from pewter dishes. Dinners are five-course, European style, and tastier than any meal King Henry VIII ever enjoyed (difficult to confirm, but we’re pretty confident). Open for dinner only; reservations highly recommended.

4. Communal - Provo

Communal is dedicated to creating its delicious dishes using locally-sourced ingredients. As a result, the food is fresh and tasty. But Communal’s philosophy goes deeper than the food -- they believe that good food should be part of a great community. When you arrive, you’ll be seated at a long table, with a bunch of strangers. No worries - they won’t be strangers for long, because Communal also offers locally-brewed beers from Wasatch, Squatter’s, Epic and Uinta breweries (yes! You CAN get a beer in Utah County!). Raise a beer to your new dining neighbor and maybe even make a new friend or two!

5. La Caille - Sandy

Vineyards are in short supply in Utah, but La Caille has its own. The restaurant, at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, sits on 20 acres of property, including a 3-acre vineyard. Patio dining during the warmer months is cooled by the breezes from the canyon. This is one of the few Utah restaurants where you can enjoy caviar and escargot! And, of course, you’ll find a comprehensive wine menu. Bring your wallet - this is the most expensive restaurant on the list, but it’s well-suited for a romantic or elegant occasion.

6. Prairie Schooner Steak House - Ogden

If you didn’t know that Utah was settled by Mormon pioneers, you’ve been living under a rock. Pioneers and covered wagons are kind of a big deal in this state. Nowadays, we travel in minivans, Suburbans, Subarus and occasionally even a Prius, but you can still get a romanticized version of the wagon trail at Prairie Schooner Steak House. You’ll sit inside a covered wagon, under the "stars," next to a campfire. Enjoy a juicy steak with all the trimmings, then go home to your air-conditioned abode and sleep on your cozy mattress that isn't in a covered wagon. This place is all the best parts of prairie schooner dining with none of the hassle!

7. Hell’s Backbone Grill - Boulder

Whether you’ve already driven across Hell’s Backbone, or you’re just gearing up for the white-knuckle experience, Hell’s Backbone Grill is a good place to find your inner peace, chill with a beer, and relax. The owners, Jen Castle and Blake Spalding, follow Buddhist principles of sustainability, social responsibility and community. The grill is located on their organic farm (they’d like to remind you that they have a tractor and goats - it’s clearly legit). They grow the organic food, they cook the organic food, they serve you the organic food - and it’s amazing. They’ve won so many awards we can’t even begin to list them all, but they were definitely well-deserved.

8. Campfire Lounge - Salt Lake City

Any kid growing up in Utah knows how to make tinfoil dinners - you cut up some onions, carrots, and potatoes and throw in some ground beef. Throw it on a campfire, dig it out an hour later, and try not to burn your tongue on the deliciousness. The owners of Campfire Lounge clearly remember this Utah tradition, and they’ve made it better. The adult version of the Utah classic dinners come with your choice of ground sirloin, shrimp, chicken, bratwurst, or tofu. Sit around one of three outdoor fire pits and enjoy your "hobo dinner" (or a burger, sandwich, or tater-tots). Afterward, try some S’mores (original, peanut butter or Nutella/banana). Enjoy the patio with your dog (but not your kids -- Campfire is a bar, so only 21 and over are permitted inside).

Have you enjoyed a meal at any of these unique restaurants? Of course, this list is nowhere near exhaustive - there are hundreds more that we couldn't include. Check out this article featuring 13 famous restaurants in Utah that you should definitely try at least once! What are your favorite places to dine in Utah? Tell us your picks in the comments!