Replying to Salt lake city..U of U questions!

so I have been researching the college lately and was wondering what downtown was like. Iv been to salt lake city before a few years ago but wasnt looking for things in particular like clubs and bars and such. someone has tried to tell me that there are no regular bars or clubs in utah, its just restaurants and the bars are in the restaurants. Can someone verify this..are there good places to party in the city..?