The Best Restaurants in Logan Utah: How Chef Dustin McKay Transformed a Historic Building Into The Beehive Pub & Grill

You can smell the house-made root beer brewing before you even walk through the doors at 255 South Main Street in downtown Logan. Inside the old Deseret Industries building—with its soaring brick walls and industrial bones—The Beehive Pub & Grill hums with the kind of energy that only comes when a chef who grew up in restaurant kitchens decides to put everything he knows into one place. Chef and owner Dustin McKay has spent nearly a decade turning this sprawling space into what one customer called "tied for best burger in Utah," and honestly, when you're biting into a King Kobe loaded with house-made onion jam, you start to believe it.

From Copper Mill to Cache Valley: Dustin McKay's Kitchen Journey

McKay's story starts the way a lot of great restaurant stories do: as a kid learning from his father. At just nine years old, he was already working the line at his dad's Copper Mill restaurant, absorbing the rhythms of a professional kitchen before most kids could work a can opener. That early immersion stuck. He went on to study both business and culinary arts at Utah State University, right here in Logan, which meant he understood Cache Valley's dining landscape from a student's perspective—the budget constraints, the craving for quality food that doesn't feel like a cafeteria, the need for a space that works equally well for a date night and a post-exam burger with friends.

When McKay purchased The Beehive Grill in January 2016, the restaurant had already been operating for seven years under the Moab Brewery ownership. The bones were good—that connection to Moab Brewery's craft beer expertise, the house-made root beer tradition born from Logan's old brewing restrictions, the historic DI building location. But McKay saw an opportunity to evolve it. He couldn't keep the original "Beehive Grill" name due to trademark reasons, so he rebranded as The Beehive Pub & Grill and got to work putting his thumbprint on the menu. Out came pulled pork sandwiches with bread from Crumb Brothers Artisan Bread and house-made BBQ sauce. In came signature half-pound burgers that would eventually earn cult followings.

The philosophy he brought? Consistency above everything. "We can't always survive on our glory days," McKay told the Herald Journal in 2023. "We have to constantly stay on point to make sure that we can impress the guests and that they can always rely on us to give them a good experience." It's that mentality—trained into him since age nine—that's kept The Beehive growing year after year in a competitive college town restaurant scene.

The Food & Experience: Elevated Bar Food With Scratch-Made Soul

Here's the thing about The Beehive that separates it from your standard sports grill: everything is made from scratch, and you can taste it. The menu reads like elevated American comfort food, but when the plates hit your table, you realize McKay's culinary training wasn't just for show.

Start with the King Kobe burger if you want to understand what people are raving about. One reviewer on Google called it exactly what it is: "The King Kobe knocked our socks off. Fabulous bacon, great meat (perfectly seasoned), and the best part is a healthy amount of house-made onion jam and blue cheese aioli. I couldn't get enough of it." That's domestic Kobe beef from Snake River Farms, applewood smoked bacon, Swiss cheese, and those two house-made condiments that elevate it from "good burger" to "drive-from-out-of-town-for-this burger." At around $13, it's the kind of thing that makes you wonder why you ever settle for less.

But burgers aren't the only play here. The coconut shrimp tacos are McKay's most popular menu item—three flour or corn tortillas loaded with fried coconut shrimp, cherry pepper slaw, sweet Thai chili sauce, baja sauce, and guacamole. One diner raved about the salmon: "melted in my mouth." Another called the Mac and Cheese Carbonara—cavatappi noodles with Applewood bacon and petite peas in sharp cheddar sauce—a revelation, though fair warning, it's rich enough that you might need to take half home.

And then there's the slow-roasted prime rib, a dish that multiple customers cite as better than anything the chain steakhouses offer. As one reviewer put it: "Everything we had was spectacular. Meals, sides, drinks, desert, it's all good. By far the best steak I've had in The Valley, they make Texas Roadhouse steaks look amateur by comparison." It's served with creamed horseradish sauce, au jus, and your choice of side. The 10-ounce is $26.99, the 16-ounce is $34.99, and both are worth every penny if you're celebrating something—or just hungry after hiking Logan Canyon.

The house-made gelato gets its own paragraph because people drive back to Logan specifically for it. Made fresh on-site with what they describe as "only the finest ingredients," customers describe flavors like fresh citrus custard as "firm, tart, and refreshing"—the kind of dessert that makes you ask the server if they can ship it to Virginia (one couple actually did).

Logan's Only Root Beer Brew Pub: The Moab Brewery Connection

Here's a story you won't find at most Utah restaurants: The Beehive's house-made root beer exists because Logan's city ordinances wouldn't let them brew beer when the restaurant first opened in 2009. The original owners—the same folks behind Moab Brewery—got creative. If they couldn't brew craft beer on-site in downtown Logan, they'd brew something else: craft root beer.

And that tradition stuck. Today, The Beehive is Logan's only root beer brew pub, serving both a traditional root beer and seasonal sodas made on-site. The recipe comes from Moab Brewery's brewmaster Jeff Van Horn, who perfected the proprietary formula using Northwestern Extract Co. ingredients—a blend of root beer and sarsaparilla extracts, cane sugar, and a yucca plant-based foam stabilizer that gives it that classic frothy head. Customers fill growlers with the stuff. Kids who grow up drinking it come back as USU students and order it with their burgers.

But The Beehive hasn't abandoned its beer roots. As the sister restaurant to Moab Brewery, they serve all of Moab's craft ales on tap—Dead Horse Ale, Raven Stout, Red Rye IPA, and more. The combination means everyone at the table has options, whether they're ordering a craft beer, a house-made root beer, a handcrafted cocktail from the full bar, or one of the mocktails.

Downtown Logan's Industrial Cathedral: The Historic DI Building

Location matters in the restaurant business, and The Beehive hit the jackpot with 255 South Main Street. The building used to house a Deseret Industries thrift store, and McKay kept the industrial soul intact when he took over. Those high ceilings and exposed mature brick walls create what customers describe as "a nice, modern decor, not too casual, nice but not stuffy." One reviewer compared the vibe to "a nice lodge restaurant in Park City or Vail"—earthy, relaxed, unpretentious but elevated.

The space is massive. There's a pub area that seats 85-90 people, a main dining room that can accommodate 300 patrons, an outdoor patio, and a private room for events up to 40 guests. Despite that capacity, McKay deliberately didn't cram in as many tables as he could have. "There is plenty of seating, with lots of space, very comfortable," noted one customer who'd eaten out extensively. That breathing room matters when you're trying to have a conversation over dinner, watch a game on one of the many TVs, or just decompress after a day in the mountains.

The waterfall sculpture near the entrance adds an unexpected touch of zen to the industrial setting. Live music on Friday nights brings in the college crowd and locals alike. Tuesday trivia at 7:30 PM has become a Cache Valley institution. And the downtown Main Street location puts you right in the heart of Logan's walkable core, close to Utah State University campus and just minutes from the Logan Canyon entrance.

Planning Your Visit to The Beehive Pub & Grill

Address: 255 South Main Street, Logan, Utah 84321

Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 11:00 AM - 8:30 PM
Friday-Saturday: 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Sunday: Closed

What to Order: The King Kobe burger is non-negotiable if you're a burger person. The coconut shrimp tacos are the most popular item for a reason. If you're celebrating, go for the slow-roasted prime rib. Don't skip the jalapeño cornbread. Save room for house-made gelato.

Pro Tips: Get there early on Saturday evenings—one customer counted 50 people waiting in the lobby after 5 PM. Reservations are recommended for groups and weekend dining. If you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, The Beehive has dedicated gluten-free fryers and extensive GF options including buns. Enter from the back side near the Logan Community Recreation Center if you want to avoid the Main Street traffic. Try the house-made root beer at least once, even if you're ordering a Moab Brewery ale.

Price Range: Burgers and sandwiches run $11-$15, entrees $16-$35, generous portions that often yield leftovers.

Instagram: @beehivepubgrill

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Since Dustin McKay bought The Beehive Pub & Grill in 2016, he's been building something rare in the restaurant world: a place that appeals to USU students on a budget, families celebrating milestones, business lunches, date nights, and everyone in between. That's the vision McKay described when he first took over—"a menu that streamlines everything so it appeals to a wide variety of people and meets everyone's taste profile." Nearly a decade later, that vision has turned The Beehive into one of the best restaurants in Logan, Utah, the kind of place where the Mac and Cheese Carbonara sits comfortably on the same menu as slow-roasted prime rib, where house-made root beer flows alongside Moab Brewery craft ales, and where a nine-year-old kid who learned to cook at his father's restaurant has created Cache Valley's most reliable spot to gather, eat well, and feel at home.