I took my wife for lunch and we decided to try this place in St. Paul. The place is brand new, so it's very clean. It's long and narrow, so to me, it felt crowded. We were seated at the long wall bench and think the tables could have been spaced better. The fact that I could hear the other two tables conversations over our own kind of ruined our lunch date.
The service was alright. Nice polite friendly staff. Our waitress could have toned it down a bit though. Telling us not to try certain dressings with our salad because they tasted horrible. This isn't something you should be discussing with customers.
We both ordered the hamburger after hearing rave reviews from friends and work colleagues. My wife had the burger with salad and house made ranch dressing (because the other ones tasted terrible apparently) I had my burger with fries.
The burgers arrived and looked quite delicious, a lovely home made patty with all the fixings and a garlic aioli. I couldn't wait to sink into it. After my first bite though, all I could taste was garlic and Italian seasoning. The overwhelming taste forced me to investigate this burger in great depths. It literally tasted like a meatball you'd expect on your spaghetti. Upon my investigation, I could actually see the chunks of minced garlic and Italian spices and there was tons of it. This patty alone ruined my meal as i couldn't eat it. The plus for this burger was the house made tomato relish. Was excellent.
The fries were nothing special. Frozen deep fried fries tossed in salt and pepper. I've never been a fan of pepper on my fries but it didn't bother me much. My wife's salad was a typical garden salad. And the ranch sauce was quite nice.
Now I can forgive a mess up in the kitchen every now and then. It's a new restaurant and mistakes will be made. Perhaps the chef goofed up on my burger, whatever. The one thing I can't forgive is the astronomical price tag attached to this plate. $18 bucks for a burger is very steep and I won't have it again.
I would return to this establishment again but I think I'd prefer the evening menu more than the lunch menu.
I wouldn't recommend this place just yet, simply because I'm indifferent with my review. If you do plan to go, be prepared to pay, as the menu is not cheap. read more