Located on a back country highway, just outside of a small city in northern Utah sits Maddox’s.  The parking lot is packed.  The extremely wide hall way leading up to the hostess station is lined with wooden benches as people wait their turn to be gobbled up into the restaurant.  In business, for many decades, I went for the first time with my new bride, who imbibed this place as a child.

On a scale of 1 to 10

Food  – 10+

Clean, fresh, and tasty to the max.  Have you ever thought, that your chicken dinner has too much meat on it.  What would have happened if I hadn’t gotten the “scaled back portions?”   Corn on the cob was not steaming hot, nor was it warm to cold.  Somehow it managed to be served at the perfect temperature.   The baked potato couldn’t be served with both butter and/or sour cream because the butter  ccupied the entire pocket of the potato.  Sour cream had to come on the side.

Décor – 4

The walls were knotted pine.  Old time, rustic.  The dividing 3/4 height walls were set on rollers so the dining hall could be reconfigured.   Not dirty, but you could tell that this place is worked by it’s customer base.

Service – 10

This is where it gets interesting.  Like chips and salsa at a Tex Mex restaurant, the Maddox people bring you a bin of the most incredible hot dinner rolls you have ever tasted.  Light, fluffy, and, did I say, homemade.   With them comes a carffe of “our own pure well water”, and servings of fresh and raspberry butter.    Did I mention the jar of honey on the table to compliment the rolls.  Before we finished off the rolls, the waiter breezed by and put additional rolls into the bin. . . again, and again.

Price – WHO CARES

We noticed a customer get up to leave and recognized him as a key reporter on the local TV station.  We asked him why he couldn’t recommend more places like this on his TV show.  His reponse.  “There are no better places than this.  This is my most favorite place to eat in the whole state.”   (He would know, his “beat” would have him traveling the total state.

 

Lots of families.  Big groups as well.  Couples.

You have got to love finding one of these hidden treasures that only the locals know about.  More especially a place where the customer  experience is great food value at a reasonable price.