Downtown Salt Lake City welcomed back a cherished dining icon this month as The Roof Restaurant reopened following a sweeping renovation. Perched atop the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the reimagined space now blends its signature views of the Salt Lake Temple with an updated culinary experience—arriving at the same time significant progress continues on the temple’s multiyear renovation.
A New Vision for a Cherished Restaurant
For decades, The Roof has drawn visitors with its panoramic vantage point and warm atmosphere. Now, the restaurant’s remodel introduces a shift from its traditional buffet toward a refined, sit-down format.
The updated menu focuses heavily on local flavors, featuring items such as wood-fired flatbreads, signature steaks, reimagined Utah favorites, and desserts that highlight regional ingredients like local honey. The new approach encourages guests to linger, savor, and enjoy the setting with renewed attention to detail.
The restaurant has also expanded its availability to the public, offering lunch and dinner hours six days a week. Its reopening joins the building’s revived lobby, mezzanine, and The Garden Restaurant, all of which have become accessible as phased renovations unfold throughout the historic structure.
Stunning New Temple Interior Details Revealed
As work continues inside the Salt Lake Temple, new interior features are beginning to emerge that blend historic character with modern craftsmanship. Newly installed chandeliers in the north addition’s sealing rooms offer an elegant complement to the temple’s 19th-century design language.
In the assembly room, artisans have restored and reinstalled original chandeliers, bringing renewed warmth to one of the temple’s most distinctive gathering spaces.
The north-side sealing-wing addition is also nearing completion. Stonework, window installation, and other detailed finishes continue to take shape as crews prepare the space to house five new sealing rooms—three larger rooms and two smaller rooms designed to accommodate future ordinance work.
When all work is finished, the temple will have a total of twenty-two sealing rooms across both the historic structure and the new addition, significantly increasing capacity for sacred family ordinances.
Visible Exterior Progress Across Temple Square
Outside the temple, work on the new entrance buildings continues to move forward. Crews are advancing stone cladding, walkways, and landscaping around the north temple entrance, while interior work in the main lobby shifts toward fine millwork and trim. These developments mark an important transition from structural reinforcement to detailed craftsmanship throughout the complex.
A prominent visual milestone also returned this month. The well-known “Holiness to the Lord” and “House of the Lord” inscriptions have been installed on the east side of the west entrance building.
The engravings were crafted off-site before being set in place, and gold gilding was applied to the lettering following installation. Their reappearance signals progress not only in construction but in the restoration of meaningful symbolic elements long associated with the temple.
Preparing for 2027 and Beyond
The ongoing Temple Square renovation remains one of the most extensive and carefully planned projects in Church history. Each phase brings the Salt Lake Temple closer to its future public open house, scheduled to begin in April 2027. Current progress reflects the continued effort to preserve the temple’s historic significance while fortifying it for future generations.
With The Roof Restaurant once again welcoming visitors and major temple features nearing completion, Temple Square continues its transformation into a space where heritage, worship, and community can flourish side by side.
Holly Wallace is a writer and storyteller drawn to meaningful questions and overlooked details. Her work explores Latter-day Saint life and culture through faithful inquiry, inviting readers to pause, consider, and engage more deeply with what matters most.
