Twin Cities Restaurant Scene – Is it just me?

Guys, I’m on one of those streaks lately that makes me shake my head in wonderment. Bottom line. I haven’t had even a dinner that I’d rate as a C+ grade in a Twin Cities restaurant in well over a year.

This is across the spectrum from some usually reliable sports bar-type places to some higher-end places that are well-established and should have no excuses.

Last night was awful. A group of 4 of us met up on a well-known St. Paul avenue for dinner after the Wild game. Long story short: All of us are gut-wrenching sick this morning. None of us had any food in common before we met at this place. And on top of this, the food was TERRIBLE. Heavily salted, over-seasoned, overcooked and just awful. This is a well-known place that has been in business for years. Total tab was north of $300 for drinks, apps, dinner and tip.

Now I’m sick as a dog AND I’m pissed because I was sitting up at 2 am talking to an also-sick Mrs. Grouse and she said, “You know everywhere we’ve gone for months as been barely passable if that. Remember our anniversary dinner?”

Our anniversary dinner back in October. How could I forget. High-end place in St. Paul, been there for decades, reservations made months in advance, draw your own conclusions. Service? Terrible. Parked us at a table and completely forgot we were there. I had to go on Waiter Safari to track down somebody to serve us. Food? Awful. Steak tough as a shoe and over-salted to the point where I’m crunching salt between my teeth. Sent it back. Waiter returns asking if I could cut it in half and see if the center of the steak was better. What the actual… Mrs Grouse had overdone seafood that was like rubber. Desert was terrible and coffee was cold. $300 tab. Evening ruined.

So we went back through the list because we had nothing else to do except be sick, and every place we’ve eaten in the past year fell into 1 of 2 categories: Very bad or just marginally passable. We couldn’t come up with a single meal we’ve had out anywhere in the Twin Cities area that we thought was even good, much less great.

Maybe it’s just bad luck or whatever you want to call it. Maybe I need a visit to the Maharishi Yogi to cleanse my aura. I just don’t know.

Am I just on a year-long bad luck streak? Or is something broken with the restaurant scene in the TC area?

Well, we have a Wild game outing for my son’s youth team in two weeks and we have a team dinner before the game at a popular spot by the Excel Center. Can you tell me what restaurant you went to? PM me if you don’t want to put it on the thread…

But to your question, yes, a lot f places are going down hill. Hard to get competent help these days and cost of business is through the roof – corners get cut, etc. Most places are just lucky to still be open for business in the downtown areas of both cities.

St. Paul side – never been disappointed at the St. Paul Grill. Also like Mucci’s on Randolph. During the summer Burger Dive patio is fun, wife loves the Brandy Alexander. Pretty wide range of price points.

I enjoy eating around the cities, we buy fancy lunches at work for each other on the days we take lunch. Definitely some places i find overated and not that good. But there are plenty of great places still. The lady friend and I don’t have the older kids tonight just the baby and I’m thing wildfire in eden Prarie.

You just need to go to applebees going out isnt worth it anymore really. Can make way better food at home for a lot less.

We live in the city and used to really enjoy going out. We have pretty much stopped going to the higher end places in St. Paul and Minneapolis. I can’t remember the last time I said “that meal was worth $300.”

We’re fortunate our neighborhood has some great little spots. We tend to gravitate towards local joints that don’t get the traffic or publicity. Food is always good and service is phenomenal compared to the more popular spots.

I know there are always places people recommend, but just overall do you guys feel like the quality of food has gone WAY down over the past 12-18 months?

If I said grade your last 3 experiences in the Cities (A to F school grades). What would your average grade be?

Mrs. Grouse and I looked back at her AMEX because you can filter the list to just restaurants. We don’t eat out together that often, but we didn’t have a single place that we rated any higher than a C grade going back 3 months.

And just in the last 3 months, we had 3 absolute stinkers including last night. Just gawdawful and none of these were hole in the walls, etc, the worst 3 meals we had were all at the $100+ per person level place.

BTW, I have called last night’s place and informed the manager of our experience. It was hard to read her response, I suppose for liability reasons she had to be guarded in what she said. I try to be fair in these situations and while I appreciate the offer of a gift card for “next time”, there won’t be next time at any place where I get sick so I turned down this offer.

In no particular order;Cossettas, Parlour, Shamrocks are all very good. Mancini’s, Kincaid, St Paul Grill in that order for finer food. Mancini’s Strip steak is $44 sides included.

Hazelwood is our favorite right now but they are not downtown StP. Their Parm crusted walleye is the best. Not a walleye in a restaurant guy, but The quality is top shelf-they must have a great source.

All remain very good. It usually takes just one bad time to fall off our list.

Calling the manager is old school. Post online with your experience. That will get their attention!

The problem is alot of mediocre restaurants charge 300 for a mediocre meal. We don’t go to many of the fancy places. More so the more quiet settings with great food for a good price. Most fancy restaurants and a combination of lame and sour crowd.

Why is it that people feel they can’t provide the name of stores/restaurants, etc that provide bad service/food, on a message board??

The Twin Cities has an incredible food scene, but it’s getting a lot more expensive. I think it’s a tough time to be a restaurant owner right now with all of the cost increases they’ve had to deal with between the cost of ingredients, the cost of labor, and the cost of complying with regulations (which also contribute to labor cost). Downtown St. Paul has to be especially tough, because it seems like they only get traffic on game/event nights. Regardless, food poisoning is a next level issue and I think it’s good that you let the restaurant know.

I agree with a lot of the comments above. Mucci’s on Randolph Ave. in St. Paul is one of the best, and you’d have to work pretty hard to spend $300 for two people there. If you really want to save money, hit up area dive bars. Skinner’s and Shamrocks and Burger Dive are all near there and great. We also like the Fireside in West St. Paul. Those places plus DeGidio’s, Tori Ramen, and Haiku sushi in Mendota Heights are on our regular rotation with the kids. My wife and I also love Pajarito. We’ll take our kids to Mancini’s for celebrations once in a while, and we all love it, but if you’ve never been you need to know that it’s a high volume place that delivers a lot of value for your $. It’s not a three hour steak house “experience,” and that’s part of what I love about it.

As for a $300 dinner with my wife, I’m sort of “meh” on St. Paul Grill but they do a consistently good job in my experience. I think that Meritage is great, but I haven’t been there for a year or more. There are better options in Mpls. Try Porzana or Maison Margaux and I’d bet you’ll be impressed. I want to try Bucheron but haven’t made it yet. There are tons of good high-end options west of the river. If you want to stay east on fancy date night, try Muriel or Estelle. Food poisoning is inexcusable, but your broader issue could be that the old standbys don’t cut it anymore. I don’t think dining quality has gone down broadly in the Twin Cities, but I’m certain it has gone down at some places and that’s especially tough to swallow when the price is going up.

Youbetcha wrote:

You just need to go to applebees…

I kid you not, one of the places that I would put in a tie for the “best” meal we’ve had at a restaurant in a long time would be…Red Lobster.

It’s one of my mom’s favorites. I would never go there, but due to stomach issues my mom can’t eat a main meal at dinner, so she loves to go to lunch and her favorite is…you guessed it. Honestly, I’d rate the one I take her to as a solid B just as far as overall grading.

So I’m not about to throw any shade on Applbees.

BTW, I saw a hilarious interview with Walker Hayes talking about his song “Fancy like Applebees”. Then the interviewer also talked to Applebees VP of Marketing or something and the guy was really funny. Somebody comes in and plays the song for him and he’s thinking this is marketing solid gold and then he realizes the Oreo shake had been a special item and hadn’t been on the menu for over a year. A massive scramble ensued to get another deal in place with Nabisco and get the Oreo shake back on the menu.

You will see a BUNCH of restaurants close after the Christmas party season. Many are just barely hanging on.

Hit Arbys or MCDonalds, you will get what you expect and not be disappointed.

Dutchboy wrote:

Hit Arbys or MCDonalds, you will get what you expect and not be disappointed.

You’re not wrong. I would have to add Culvers to your list, I can’t recall ever getting bad food there.

It’s not the ideal place for date night, however. I know, I know, women, you just can’t please them these days.

That is why I RARELY go out to dinner. There is always SOMETHING to be disappointed about.

I can make better food at home for a fraction of the price.

john23 wrote:

I agree with a lot of the comments above. Mucci’s on Randolph Ave. in St. Paul is one of the best, and you’d have to work pretty hard to spend $300 for two people there. If you really want to save money, hit up area dive bars. Skinner’s and Shamrocks and Burger Dive are all near there and great.

Another burger joint I like is Brunsons on Payne Ave. Far west side of St. Paul has a good Laotian place, Soul Lao, next to Wandering Leaf Brewery in Sibley Plaza. Not a big menu but the food is good. Order a beer at Wandering Leaf, order your food and Soul Lau texts you when it’s ready. Usually very quick. Wandering Leaf loves the crossover business.

As a single fella who’s taken quite a few dates to quite a few restaurants around town last few years can’t say I’ve ever been disappointed. FICA, I’m not a picky eater and enjoy most everything that’s put in front of me. Ymmv

Since I’m Northside, northloop always is good. Red rabbit, freehouse, drinks up top at the huey, bunkers for lunch, smack shack, all good stuff. Birdhouse in my hometown robbinsdale, heck even steveos throws out good food. Brick and bourbon, sunshine factory, earl Giles, Stanley’s, Victor’s 1959 has the best rice and beans!

I stay away from big chains, tgi Fridays used to be awesome, won’t go there anymore, Applebee’s and the sort don’t see me unless it’s for a hockey safety meeting.

Noticed it is a bit uneven at some spots, but most of the nicer places still seem rock solid. But yes it is a pricey affair especially when you throw a few $12 glasses of wine or a couple of manhattans on the bill.

Deuces wrote:

As a single fella who’s taken quite a few dates to quite a few restaurants around town last few years can’t say I’ve ever been disappointed. FICA, I’m not a picky eater and enjoy most everything that’s put in front of me. Ymmv

Since I’m Northside, northloop always is good. Red rabbit, freehouse, drinks up top at the huey, bunkers for lunch, smack shack, all good stuff. Birdhouse in my hometown robbinsdale, heck even steveos throws out good food. Brick and bourbon, sunshine factory, earl Giles, Stanley’s, Victor’s 1959 has the best rice and beans!

I stay away from big chains, tgi Fridays used to be awesome, won’t go there anymore, Applebee’s and the sort don’t see me unless it’s for a hockey safety meeting.

We still have great meals all over town. I’ve just become annoyed and unimpressed with what many would consider the foodie scene. All the places you mentioned are good. Coozie’s is also an underrated dive bar.

A couple of our favorites in my hood are Heathers, Bagu Sushi, Pizza Biga, and Townhall tap. Never a bad meal at any of them and reasonably priced.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Long story short: All of us are gut-wrenching sick this morning. None of us had any food in common before we met at this place.

Did you call the MN Dept of Health?? Maybe another E. coli, listeria or salmonella outbreak!!

More likely cheap English beer.

Dutchboy wrote:

More likely cheap English beer.

No joke, tap lines that aren’t cleaned regularly or properly can make a guy real sick.

Grouse, did you guys happen to be drinking the same tap beer? If I had to guess, I’d color you more in the bourbon category than beer but you never know.

Dutchboy wrote:

You will see a BUNCH of restaurants close after the Christmas party season. Many are just barely hanging on.

Hit Arbys or MCDonalds, you will get what you expect and not be disappointed.

Dont sleep on TACO BELL!

You guys missed the best one, white castle. Mancini’s has always been good. I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about kindred hearth, it’s by the vikings training camp.

Grouse, your anniversary is in October? Ours is also in October. Tell you what, next October you guys come over here and I’ll make dinner for all of us.

The best steak I’ve ever had was at a deer shack in northern St. Louis county. And the best fish I’ve ever eaten I make myself, if I say so myself. Pretty good at roasting chickens too.

Restaurants are crowded, noisy, and expensive. No joy in it for me at all.

SR

Netguy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
Long story short: All of us are gut-wrenching sick this morning. None of us had any food in common before we met at this place.

Did you call the MN Dept of Health?? Maybe another E. coli, listeria or salmonella outbreak!!

Given they all had different meals, that’s not likely. But norovirus is certainly a reasonable possibility. Norovirus from unsanitary cooks or employees is very common.

7 beers, 1 soda, a chicken mushroom Swiss burger and a bacon cheeseburger and tip 43 bucks at Winners in cold spring, and good food!

dang you were thirsty!! 7 beers!!!

Mike Schulz wrote:

dang you were thirsty!! 7 beers!!!

wife had one. And yes I was