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    Nicollet Island Pavilion

    3.6 (15 reviews)

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    Rachel R.

    This is a review of the grounds, not the venue. I have spent many calm afternoons lounging at the picnic tables and benches here. As a matter of fact, this was one of my favorite places to sit and read while studying for my pharmacy board exams. When there isn't an event going on at the pavilion, the grounds are peaceful and a lovely spot to get away from the bustle of the city. There is a great view of downtown, the Mississippi River and St Anthony Falls. I would recommend taking a stroll through here on a sunny afternoon, laying on the grass with a good read, or setting up a picnic lunch with a loved one.

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    7 months ago

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    3 years ago

    the lights were cool, food was crap.

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    14 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    When we first toured Nicollet Island Pavillion we met Morgan.

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    We have made a tradition of coming here the day after Thanksgiving. I am from out of town, visiting…read morefamily and friends. The building is a perfect space for bringing a large group together for games, chatting, eating, and sledding on the snowy hills just outside the doors. They used to serve hot food, but they no longer have that option. The food was not consistent or anything all that special, but it was a nice option. This time we brought Thanksgiving leftovers and some breakfast bagel sandwiches. The space is well maintained and clean. It is spacious and has lots of room for young kids to run around and not be a disturbance. Always look forward to coming here.

    Nord Room - The tastefully-decorated private event space called the Nord Room is great for small weddings and receptions!

    Nord Room

    (8 reviews)

    Uptown

    We held a brunch birthday party at the Nord room this past weekend…read more I was in touch with Briana to make the selection of the food menu and she was very helpful. We had the following items on the menu for 26 people: - a large beet and pear salad - bacon and egg breakfast croissant sandwich x 30 servings (cut into halves) - cheese plate - hummus and veggie plate - two 9 inch chocolate torte The beet and pear salad was delicious, so was the bacon and egg breakfast croissant sandwiches which was perfect since they were hot and not cold sandwiches. The cheese plate was excellent, my husband like the hummus and veggie plate - the hummus was rich and spicy and flavorful. I was disappointed with the chocolate tort - it was definitely too sweet for my taste. Retrospectively, I would only have ordered one 9 inch chocolate torte to be shares amongst 26 guest as we had 3/4 of a cake left to bring home. If you want a cake that is chocolatey without being overly sweet, I would go for the chocolate dipped cake. Some of their cakes are made with almond butter and it just tasted too weird for my taste. Definitely skip those. Be aware of the composition of the cake before you order it. I would say I would not come here for their cake in the future if you can help it. I would recommend getting cakes from patisserie 46 instead. Our server Jordan was OK. After having the food out and when guests started to self serve at the buffet area she was nowhere to be found and had to be hunted down for condiments like olive oil. She could have been more "present" during the event. The venue is excellent. There is a minimum food and beverage $500 spending to rent the room for free. Room was spacious enough for 26 people, will be tight if you have 30 or more. I would advise to keep the guest list to be approximately 25 people max.

    We hosted our cocktail style Wedding Reception here in June and felt it was woefully mismanaged…read morefrom start to finish. We booked all three rooms back in Fall of '23 and paid our deposit and were excited to get planning come May this year. We got to a month before the event and hadn't heard anything from the Event Coordinator regarding current menu, bar, timing, anything. Three weeks prior to the event we reached out and heard nothing for a week. Two weeks out we followed up and found out the Event Coordinator had changed from the one we booked with and the new one was out for an indeterminate period of time with a family emergency. We worked as best we could with the Event Captain but ended up with incorrect menus and pricing and were finally told the Event Coordinator would be back the Monday of our event week and it would be handled then. We got finalized menus and pricing 36 hours before our event. This was extremely stressful, however, we empathized with the Event Coordinator and were assured the event itself would be great. On the day, we arrived and the staff setting up was unsure how many chairs we wanted. They didn't know which equipment we had paid for to use that needed to be set up. They didn't know what the event was for. They were all very nice and let us know they had extremely limited information about our event which was very concerning for us. The Event Coordinator was present for about 5 mins to ask us about a backup wine if ours ran out and that was it (it did run out because there was only one bottle). There was no Event Captain, and the Coordinator was not on hand and (according to staff) unreachable during the event. We had agreed upon several things including a finite amount to pay for "open bar" and then switching to card after that point and we found out only AFTER we met our minimum that they were never told/weren't prepared to take cards. At that point, our options were no drinks (N/A or otherwise) for the last 3 hours or so of our event or we could just keep paying. So we ended up paying much more than was quoted/agreed upon due to lack of communication/oversight. We were told that guests could visit the attached Blue Stem bar, but it closed two hours before our event ended. We also had guests with dietary preferences/restrictions and had ordered vegan options and gluten free cake. We had asked if these could be explicitly labeled to avoid confusion and were told "yes" and on the day it did not happen so many of our guests were unaware there was anything they could eat at our reception. We were also told we could take our leftovers home and we only got cake when there was a lot of food left when they took it away. The sternos were out for some period of time and we couldn't find someone to help with that. The bar was left unattended. The bartenders were serving and refilling alcohol table to table (which we did not want or ask for), and did not pass appetizers as agreed upon. We reached out to the owner, twice, following our event to discuss our concerns to no avail. We LOVE French Meadow and are just heartbroken to have had this experience with them. Posting this (very lengthy) review in hopes no one else goes through this expensive disappointment.

    Nicollet Island Pavilion - venues - Updated July 2026

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