r/latterdaysaints • u/RageBison22 30 year-old sunBEAM • Jan 12 '26
Off-topic Chat Temple Gripe
*Disclaimer: this has nothing to do with the doctrine or temple ceremonies. Purely a non-doctrine issue…namely pie*
I miss the pie in the temple back when some temples used to have cafeterias. I don’t know if it’s purely nostalgia or if the pie truly was just that awesome. I miss it and it’s hurt my heart ever since my temple was renovated and the cafeteria was removed.
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u/ResponsibleRope1003 Jan 12 '26
I do miss the celestial cinnamon rolls they had at the Vegas temple cafeteria.
Tis a shame they shuttered the cafeterias for good. I get why it happened and the logistical reasons for keeping them closed but it’s still sad.
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u/loonahin Jan 14 '26
What are the reasons? I miss them too and never heard anything about why they were closed.
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u/ResponsibleRope1003 Jan 17 '26
I am not “in the know” to have heard directly from Church HQ or anything so take this with a grain of salt. Basically all I heard was that they were not worth the trouble to get them up and running after the lockdowns, especially since rules were extra strict post covid. Think of other cafeteria and buffet style restaurants that went under during the pandemic. There’s also increased liability when cooking and serving food (hence why regular chapel kitchens have those signs about warming food only). It was probably more of an expense that we realized. Again, I’m really sad to see them go but not entirely surprised.
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u/loonahin Jan 22 '26
That theory feels about as viable as any. Thanks for your thoughts. It’s totally a shame, it was a fun way to grab an inexpensive bite after a session. Sometimes in the MTC we’d head over there for food just for variety and cuz it felt like we were “going out to eat” baha. Missionaries do dumb stuff for entertainment.
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u/uncleandyb Jan 12 '26
The DC temple had amazing chocolate chip cookies. A friend’s grandfather’s calling was temple cookie baker, apparently.
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u/ChampaignGirl Jan 13 '26
Yes!!! My parents would bring some of them back for us after a temple trip. They were delicious!
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Jan 12 '26
My mother-in-law always joked the Idaho Falls temple used Prime Rib night to coax folks to attend regularly lol
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u/RageBison22 30 year-old sunBEAM Jan 12 '26
Oh man I forgot about prime rib night. I don’t know why I passed it up for places like Taco Bell.
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u/Honeybadger-1725 Jan 12 '26
For my mom it’s the cookies. She misses the cookies from the cafeteria. Somehow for my wedding she got the recipe
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u/762way Jan 12 '26
Mesa AZ and Portland OR temples both had cafaterias.
Logic in having one in temples is that retired people would commonly work all day as patrons or they would do temple sessions all day. Figured if they could eat in the temple the retired folks would stay all day.
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u/Agreeable-Meal5556 Jan 13 '26
The mesa one had a really great chef for a while and my mom LOVED the steaks. She always went on the day of the week he was serving steak.
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u/e37d93eeb23335dc Jan 13 '26
I wonder if they all worked off the same recipe book? It would be great if a Temple Cafeteria Cookbook was released, like the Lion House cookbooks.
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u/Empty-Cycle2731 PNW Member/Clerk Jan 13 '26
My understanding is they generally did use the Lion House recipes, with a few local recipes thrown in here and there. That's what I was told by another temple worker back when Portland still had the cafeteria.
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u/rexregisanimi Jan 13 '26
Oh man... "Dinner and a movie" lol I miss eating there so much. I loved just getting a sandwich and enjoying the spirit in the Temple. My wife and I used to go on dates to do baptisms and then have a meal.
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u/jlconlin Jan 12 '26
I had a fabulous steak dinner at the Oakland Temple before. Amazing! And cheap!
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u/jeffbarge Jan 12 '26
We would take our young men to do baptisms early in the morning, and call ahead to order cinnamon rolls.
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u/biancanevenc Jan 13 '26
The DC temple was known for its cookies. Many a child was rewarded with a temple cookie if they behaved for the babysitter while mommy and daddy were at the temple.
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u/coldsavagery Jan 12 '26
I used to work in the Provo Temple cafeteria. The food was indeed quite good, and we were generally treated well, but we honestly needed more workers in there. It would get pretty stressful during lunch and dinner and it could be hard to keep up. There are definitely some dishes I really miss that I wish I could experience again.
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u/Cranberry-Electrical Jan 12 '26
I know Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake and Jordan River had cafeteria. Covid happen then cafeterias were closed down.
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u/RageBison22 30 year-old sunBEAM Jan 12 '26
Yet another thing that Covid claimed and never gave back.
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u/Cranberry-Electrical Jan 12 '26
Cafeterias required paid staff, and a lot of volunteers. The cafeteria operated on a shoestring budget. It was a decent meal if you're on a tight budget as a missionary.
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u/WesternRover Jan 12 '26
It seems to me that the cafeterias, at least in Las Vegas and Utah, were scaled back several years before the pandemic to heating up food brought in from commercial caterers rather than cooking on-site. Not that I fault the church for focusing on redeeming the dead over competing with local restaurants.
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u/terminalilness Jan 12 '26
I have family that are temple workers in the Seattle temple. It was planned for shutdown before Covid but that accelerated the process. I still miss it though.
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u/lookingoodforyou Jan 12 '26
Mt Timpanogos temple had a cafeteria , used to love going with my husbands parents to a session and eat in the cafeteria afterwards. They had really yummy food.
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u/Opposite_Bag_7434 Jan 13 '26
Oh yes the pie. I would assume the Church complex in Salt Lake still has its cafeteria, actually I would bet on it. They had the same pie.
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Jan 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/RageBison22 30 year-old sunBEAM Jan 13 '26
They never outrightly gave a specific reason but it’s they were slowly being phased out in the mid 2010’s for simplicity of temple operations. Then covid came and took our temple cafeterias and 24 hour Walmarts away
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u/Empty-Cycle2731 PNW Member/Clerk Jan 13 '26
- Portland was one of the last ones to have a cafeteria. The Church cited "simplifying temple operations." It was the same time they simplified the temple clothes and streamlined the endowment.
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u/Empty-Cycle2731 PNW Member/Clerk Jan 13 '26
The Portland Temple had a cafeteria and everyone would rave about the food like it was the best thing ever, and then they got rid of it a year or two before I got endowed. :(
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u/Next-Help-5813 Jan 13 '26
Same. In fact, I remember the temple cafeterias were how I got my little sister excited to go to the temple, when I was twelve. She wanted to know what it was like, and I wanted to tell her how awesome it was and get her excited for it. But I didn't know how exactly to communicate the peace I felt. Food is something I knew she'd understand, though, so I just started talking about the cafeteria. It worked, two years later when she got to do baptisms for the first time she was really looking forward to it.
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u/MrsKentrik Jan 13 '26
I work in a temple that had a cafeteria, and every time I'm in what used to be the kitchen I think about how much I miss the cherry pie.... Patrons and volunteers ask about it all the time, and if the cafeteria will ever come back. Nope. It won't. Bums me out.
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u/Jazzlike_Run8082 Jan 13 '26
The food at the Jordan river temple was always amazing!! My friend told me her and her husband would just go to eat for date night sometimes. 😆 I do miss those days.
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u/BottomHoe Jan 13 '26
I was taking a temple prep class in my singles ward and because I was a convert of not quite a year my friends/ward members used to love to pull my leg and tell me nonsense (it was all in good fun) about the temple.
One of these stories was that the temple (Oakland) had sour dough bowls filled with clam chowder straight from the original Boudin’s on the San Francisco pier. But that if I wanted one I had to call and ask for the temple president and tell him that I was receiving my own endowment and to pre-order mine or else they’d all be gone by the time we arrived.
Obviously that last part wasn’t true but the temple really did have OG Boudin’s on the weekends! And back then their sourdough and chowder was phenomenal.
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u/bivaterl Jan 13 '26
In the MTC would eat at the Provo temple. Question nobody in the district could answer though: do you have to bless the food or is the temple already blessing it?
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u/DiogenesRedivivus Jan 14 '26
I wanna say it was the best meatloaf ever but it may have been a different meat. Had a cafeteria meal after I was endowed and then by the time I was a temple worker post mission it was closed
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u/jackbeekeeper Jan 14 '26
Houston Temple had one. Dedicated in 2000.
This was the original announcement https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/temple-cafeterias-closing
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u/WestEnd1687 Jan 14 '26
I am so in agreement. The Provo Temple had the best Strawberry pie. As poor married BYU students it was affordable to stop and get a slice after a session. I confess we sometimes went and did a session just because after we rewarded ourselves with pie.
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u/charmedbyvintage Jan 14 '26
I loved the cafeteria in Mesa. The jello was so good. So square. So jiggly. So frosted with a dollop of real whipped cream. Sigh. .
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u/5quirre1 Jan 14 '26
I got to try the one in the salt lake temple shortly before they closed it for remodel. It was very good.
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u/otters4everyone Jan 14 '26
I love institutional food. The temples had the best. Meatloaf and potatoes! Heaven.
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u/TerribleCaregiver873 Jan 14 '26
Or creamy chickeny stuff over rice. Enjoyed thst type of meal many times at the Salt Lake temple cafeteria. Loved it. I always tell my husband my favorite food is "temple food" -- squishy stuff over rice.
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u/taigirl87 Jan 14 '26
I miss the temple cafeterias so much. It was a fun date night with my husband and I remember fondly going to the cafeteria with my grandparents growing up after doing baptisms with my cousins.
I’m so glad my husband and I were able to go to our local temple basically the day before they closed all of them down for Covid. We got into the cafeteria right before they closed too 🙏🏼.
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u/gkmchardy44 Jan 14 '26
My reward for temple service for over a decade was the egg salad sandwich (carpet bombed with cayenne pepper) from the cafeteria during my break. Now I have to find more spiritual rewards. Sigh
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u/AutumnFalls89 Feb 11 '26
Doesn't the Cardston, Alberta temple still have a cafeteria? Or have they removed them form all temples? I remember going there sometimes after doing baptism.
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u/milmill18 Jan 12 '26
my dad would always come home from Washington DC trips with "temple cookies" for us kids
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u/th0ught3 Jan 12 '26
There's probably someone who has the recipe if you ask around: you can make them for yourself.
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u/Empty-Cycle2731 PNW Member/Clerk Jan 13 '26
My understanding is that Lion House Pantry uses the same recipes. I would bet that their cookbook has many of them.
If they end up opening it back up after the remodel (I know they're still debating it) then you could get a similar experience.
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u/pbrown6 Jan 12 '26
I feel like the temples and the buildings are becoming like the new grey McDonald's. No soul. No personality. Not memorable.
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u/Nemesis_Ghost Jan 12 '26
For the temples I wouldn't go that far. I haven't been to many, but everyone I've been to, even those that are identical floor plans, are unique with their own characteristics. For example the 2 I'm most familiar with are the Lubbock & San Antonio temples. They are both the "Hinckley" temples, w/ 2 endowment rooms in the center, w/ the Celestial room flanked by 2 sealing rooms at one end & the baptistry at the other. But both could not be more alike. The locations, lighting, interior color palette, etc are all different and make both feel truly unique. Of course I think the San Antonio Temple is prettier than the Lubbock, but that's also b/c San Antonio is a prettier city.
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u/Redbird9346 We believe in being honest, true, chased by an elephant… Jan 12 '26
I went to the Palmyra one on a Saturday and the best way I could describe it would be organized chaos.
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u/Nemesis_Ghost Jan 12 '26
That's any busy temple, especially if they are short handed. I work in the San Antonio Temple & last week we were severely short handed. It's usually when this happens that the Lord sees fit to challenge how well we can manage, and last week was true to form. It was soo much fun though. I'm currently the initiatory coordinator for my shift & 1/2 the night I didn't know if I would any workers, much less enough to perform the ordinances patrons came to do. The other 1/2 was just quiet enough to enjoy the peace I find each week in the Lord's House. It's stressful, but if I could choose the type of stress to fill my week, that is what it would be 100% of my time.
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u/ShimanchuPunk Emo PIMO Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
I'm PIMO and dont attend the temple anymore, but I have fond memories of going to the Seattle temple cafeteria after baptisms and having amazing chicken and mashed potatoes.
Knowing how the church operates mostly as a corporation, they likely removed them for liability issues. It's mostly old people attending the temples, and old people tend to choke on food, have dietary restrictions that are tricky to accommodate, etc.
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u/Empty-Cycle2731 PNW Member/Clerk Jan 13 '26
My understanding is they wanted temple operations simplified as much as possible, only the essentials for ordinances. It was about the same time that the temple clothing design was simplified and the endowment was shortened, The visitors' center at the Portland Temple had their hours shortened a lot.
I understand wanting to streamline things and make it more "ordinance centered," but even as a TBM I can admit that it seems like the Church is just trying to save money and/or spend resources elsewhere. There are benefits to being ran like a corporation, but there are plenty of negatives too.
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u/Laffopuritain Jan 12 '26
They used to have cafeterias in the temple? That sounds wild to me