Avoid the Twin Cities at all costs. Poorly planned / coordinated May - October construction season…read moremakes getting around impossible. Too cold November - April.

The Yelp Elite event was absolutely fantastic. This community is amasing to be apart of with som…read moremany incredible events, freebies, and activities. Mikhala is always coming up with a wide range of events around the Twin Cities and partnering with local businesses. My first event with this group was the Twin Cities Yelp Elite'ers at the Fair!

Oh my. This was truly the best night of 2016 so far. And…read moreit's going to be tough to top. How does one convey in words such high levels of epicness? I will press on. If you have a deep appreciation for heritage pork, then you should be at this venue. If you don't, then you clearly do not belong in such a place with this kind of zeal and squeal. Nothing less than 5-stars, my friends; nothing less. First, I have history with pigs (aren't reviews really just a way to tell the stories of our lives?). I grew up loving pigs. Miss Piggy was my favorite. In 6th grade, I begged my parents to get a pot-bellied pig (one day I'll give them the kudos for sticking to their guns on not letting that happen). Also in 6th grade, I ate too much candy and started to resemble a pig, so I decided to stay quiet about my love of pigs until I got my waistline under control about a decade later (phew). While loving pigs, pork did nothing for me...until I learned of heritage breeds back in 2008. The color! The flavor! The texture! There was no going back. And just to show off ('cause that's fun to do from time-to-time), I discovered & tried, at a fundraiser dinner back in 2011 for the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, Mangalitsa pork belly for my first time, and knew right then there could be no other. And this is where the Cochon555 story begins... My sweet Mangalitsa was here in many culinary creations (and other breeds, too). And many of its dear relatives were here. It was a big family reunion and I was on cloud nine. Out of sheer randomness (& a reminder from God that He loves me), I won 2 VIP tickets from Yelp to this event! I wasn't even aware of what Cochon555 until I saw the contest (HOW did I MISS THIS?). When I read up on it, I realized that this evening was scripted for me and soon enough I found that I won! The joy! The rapture! The tears! Thank you, Yelp! The machine bots that chose my name were Divinely guided! I will write reviews for you until I perish from this earth. I invited a foodie friend that gets as excited about sustainably raised heritage piggies, from our beloved local farmers, as I do. Our tickets were thoroughly redeemed with every delicious, lovingly prepared, & creatively presented piece of pork. People talk about how drugs have altered their mind and enhanced their experience. I can't speak to that. But I can speak to what THIS pork did to me. There were top notch, sustainably & creatively-based restaurants, competing & representing at this event, including: Travail Kitchen & Amusements Spoon & Stable Chef Shack Ranch Surly Brewing (who won the MN Pork King title) Zen Box My favorite food delivery mode was a man, from Travail Kitchen, scuffing around the room on his knees in a sombrero. The sombrero contained a delicious & subtly sweet pate in the center of the hat and the rim of the hat contained chicharrones broken up from a large hide they fried late the night before. The server was on his knees so that people could just grab from his hat at standing height...it was brilliant. There was prociutto-like bacon (I know, it's either one or the other...but in this case, it wasn't!) "skewered" in waves on a thin crispy bread stick (no, it wasn't a pretzel ;-). There were also sweet lard-filled chocolates (I could have eaten those all night!). I was blown away by Spoon & Stable's creation of marshmallows made out of pork blood (same whipping properties as egg whites; who knew?!) and so much more. There was also the whole hog butchery going on right after the votes were taken. This is something IMPORTANT! We're a society that is detached from where our food comes from. Majority of us aren't going to be able to tell others what portion of an animal that a particular cut comes from, so this was valuable, precious, AND educational. All parts of the animal were put out for sale! Loved that feature, too! For as much gushing as I'm doing, I will say there were a few items that I thought were boring and uncreative for it being at an event like this: wonton-type items (wrapping pork in pasta is most likely what all of us would have thought of doing...just wasn't a "wow" (not that it has to be). Another item is that this is NOT a gluten-free friendly event. Considering the focus on sustainability and that wheat is an overcropped item (which is overshadowed by those who have gluten allergies & sensitivities). While I CAN consume wheat, I choose not to, because of past wheat sensitivities. I was truly surprised that at this day and age how many chefs went with the bland wheat berry. There was even a separate pie outfit that came in as a pop-up towards the end that didn't offer gluten-free options. Wha? Yes, one can consume the filling if they must, but one can also create a stellar gluten-free pie crust. Regardless, I would go to this event again & again. Oh, and ladies, 3 out of 4 attendees (or more) are men. If you're looking for a piggy-partner-in-crime, you may find your match here ;-)

I had never been to an event like this so I knew very little about what to expect. It ended up…read morebeing awesome! There is a wide selection of local wine and other beverages to try. It was a great opportunity to learn more about some of Minnesota's local food and wine producers! There were many different variations of pork as well as other dishes to try. The seafood bar was phenomenal! Overall, great experience. I highly recommend d for those who love pork or are just looking for a unique food experience!

This was fun!!!! Our department did this as a team building event and we all had a great time. Our…read moredriver, Kirby, was awesome. He had a great attitude, made sure we had a good time, and kept us safe-especially since there was a Twins game on the day of our adventure. I loved that this was BYO. We were able to make sure there was something for everyone. Although, they have a tap on the "bike" so you can bring a keg if that's your jam. I definitely recommend this as a cool activity.

I booked Traveling Tap for a bachelorette party and would highly recommend!! CJ was our guide and…read morewas fun and helpful in suggesting stops. We did the Northeast route and it was very fun and not too hard. We stopped at Betty dangers, tony jaros, and psycho suzis and the employees at each bar were very welcoming and friendly to our group. It was my first time on a pedal pub and I was nervous but it was a lot more fun than I expected!

I've done a few state capitol building tours in my day, and have seen the outside of several more,…read moreand this is hands down the biggest and most beautiful I have ever seen. My sister, son and I came in the middle of the day on a Wednesday in August. You don't need to sign up; anyone can wander in and go on a tour that they have scheduled throughout the day. It's even free, though they of course gladly accept donations. Being from NJ, I was struck by the midwestern friendliness of everyone in the building. Nearly everyone engaged me in friendly conversation the whole time. The tour was 45 minutes and was incredibly interesting. Learned all sorts of facts about the building and Minnesota in general. We were the first tour to be able to go on the roof in three months as they had just finished up renovations. If you're not on a tour, you're allowed to just wander the building at your own pace. Definitely a must see for those interested in history and architecture!

What a beautiful State Capitol! So rich in art, sculptures, history & knowledge! Amazing! It was…read morerecently renovated & they had many insight & antidote of the before & after. Really a beautiful property to tour if in town.

The Governor's Residence is open for tours on scattered days in the summer and a few days in…read moreDecember. You are allowed to tour the public areas: gardens, main floor and basement. The home was donated by the Irvine family and is a great example of Tudor architecture. The library was one of my favorite rooms. Surprisingly it is small, but it fits with the MN tradition of normalcy. Photos are encouraged. You must make an advance reservation and ID is required to check-in. There is free street parking available.

As soon as I found out that the Minnesota Governor's Residence was open for tour, I signed up. I'm…read morealways up for some touring in Saint Paul so this was a must, especially since I've done the State capitol tour and some state departments already. I thought this was pretty cool, you get to learn about certain areas of the house and it's history.

Double check their hours on the Meet Minneapolis Visitor Center web page as the ones listed on Yelp…read moredid not seem accurate, at least when we visited in June 2024. On their web site they are listed as Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. (NOTE: Closed Sunday and Monday). As tourists staying in M'polis for a week we tried to visit this visitor center twice, but it was closed. The third time was a charm, but that was already halfway through our trip. It would have been nice to have been able to visit at the beginning of our stay when we needed information. We also found their 10-4 hours a little inconvenient as we like to get up and out early while on vacation. Besides that, the staff were very friendly and the store/info center is nicely appointed, if a little sparse. They do sell postcards if you're looking for some. Located near the Nicollet Metro station.

I'm a first time visitor to Minneapolis, and their flyer in the airport offering a free tote bag…read morewas a good enough incentive for me to walk over from my hotel. They sell souvenirs - including some from local artists. But the tourist information with maps of the metro, downtown, and tour info was what I needed. Thanks to the helpful staff, I learned about a Twin City Highlights bus tour that I'll take tomorrow. I loved the accents of the staff too! (I have a strong Boston accent.)

Kerri still amazes me with genuine outstanding kayak adventures! Today our large group kayaked…read morefrom William O'Brien State Park to Nita Mae's Scoop & Marine General Store in Marine on St. Croix. It was extremely hot but on the river it was cooler. The ice cream treats were just what we needed! The waterfall stop was perfect (no photos-sorry).

This was so disappointing. From the website and other reviews, it looks like the tour is supposed…read moreto take you inside buildings, feature interestingly dressed guides who get into character, are accompanied by a Medium, etc. We had none of that. Our tour just walked us up and down a stretch of Main Street by Stone Arch Bridge. We stayed outside the whole time (no creepy basements like we'd been promised) and didn't even make it over to the Mill Ruins on the other side of the river. The ghost hunting equipment was extremely chintzy, but that didn't bother me as much as just the way the tour felt surfacey and low-effort. The stories told were interesting, but there weren't that many of them and they were not very detailed or in-depth. Some tours I've been on, including a ghost tour, included 2-3x as many stories and facts, and they were also a lot more detailed. Our guide was very nice, fun, and did tell some interesting morbid history about NE Minneapolis, and I don't intend this review to reflect on them so I am not using their name. I'm sure they were just doing what the company tells them to do; the problem is with the company's design of the tour. Overall this tour was not worth the time or money, at least not the experience we were given.

My husband and I always do a ghost tour of some sort in each town we are in. We have been on many…read moretours in different cities. The first thing that upset me about this was it was scheduled for 8pm. We arrived at 7:30 and they weren't even open. At 8pm they opened the door only to explain they had left me a message that the tour would be at 9pm instead of 8pm. I never received that message! So we find ourselves with an hour to kill until the tour starts. I don't think Mike and I ever really determined why it was haunted as there are only 2 true large areas to visit inside. We compared notes later and neither seemed to remember why. I have no doubt there is something there, being believers, but needed more history explained, and of course for them to have contacted me directly when the time changed.