Loring Pasta Bar

Their quality of food was trash... and paying 14 dollars for 5 small raviolis was ridiculous. Also, someone brought the birthday cake, and they charged a 2 dollar cake plate fee? It?s dinkytown?. Not downtown. Ohh then if we wanted to stay there after 10, we had to pay a 10 dollar cover? even though with the amount of people we had our tab had to have hit over a grand?. NEVER again more

Wow where do I start, love the atmosphere but the service and food were terrible, we ordered our drinks and appetizer first, three minutes later literally the appetizer came to our table luke warm, drinks came five minutes after that and ordered our entree, 6 minutes later the entree came out, so in 20 minutes we were served our entire meal. The food was really salty and our table wobbled so bad it was hard to eat off the plates without worrying about spilling our drinks. The live music was great!!! However not enough to make up for a very poor experience. The only suggestion I would make is if you want pasta go somewhere else or make it your self because you can probably make it just as well if not better. more

The seafood pasta is salt, salt ,salt. There are miniscule amounts of pasta. Please, you have a great spot, now tone down the salt and up the subtlies of flavor and, yes, some pasta in the pasta dish would be a bonus. We loved how the unbeieveable Brazilian music, almost seamlessly transformed into a salsa fiesta. Pros: Awesome Brazilian music and ambiance Cons: Where's the pasta? more

One of ordered the orza and another ordered the pasta. The Orza had a nice prestentation, but was what some restaurants would call a ""small"" plate. Not a good value. Pros: Fantastic atmosphere with great music! Cons: Small portions with some room for improved preparation more

After waiting for 20 minutes for them to bus a table on a ""Monday"" night, and then another 20 minutes before we were even noticed or actually, before we got up ourselves and went back to the host stand...you call that service? This was our second attempt to enjoy this place after hearing so much about it. Both times...we never even got a meal. And yes, the staff does have a problem, but you must be a regular or you might even work there in order to write such a great review about this place. When three different waiters walk past you on the patio and stare you straight in the face, and you know this is one of their sections, you know you have a problem. The staff is not ""wise"", just a bunch of ignorant young people who were probably hired by the same standards Abercrombie and Fitch hire their staff. I cannot of course, comment on the food, because I have never had the satisfaction of even trying it. ( special note-one star is obligatory, there's no option for ""none"") Pros: the reassuring knowledge that there are better restaruants Cons: restaurant=hospitality=service=not the Loring Pasta Bar more

I came for Sunday hoping for some nice lunch only to find them serving brunch. It was like eating at Old Country Buffet and they charged $15 per person! Pros: Nothing! Cons: Mediocre Food more

A group of us (9) went to Loring for NYE with high expectations. The music was great, the setting was gorgeous, and the staff seemed cool and friendly. Our waitress was really nice, although slightly slow on service. It was NYE, after all, so some leniency was to be made. Pros: Very hip, cool atmosphere. Think downtown jazz club. Cons: Everything else-food, service, customer service. more

Let's face it...the staff don't have a problem; you probably do. You come in from the 'burbs in your Hummer and expect some type of Oceanaire experience. The Pasta Bar isn't that place. I've never had a bad experience there. Of course, I tip well. Do you? The Loring is what it is. The bar is comfortable, the people watching great, the bread spectacular, and the staff is wise. These reviews seem to not tell the whole story - I would guess the ""food send-backs"" were largely questionable and maybe your rudeness offended the server from the get go. You don't dictate the terms at a place like the Pasta Bar; you should be on your best behavior and hope for the best. They don't really need your business as much as you need them. These kinds of establishments do not exist alongside the Barnes and Noble nor the Gander Mountain back home. My only complaint is the Salsa Weekend. Not a big fan. Pros: Everything but Salsa Dancing Cons: Salsa Dancing more

I have recently discovered Loring Pasta Bar, I absolutly love the atmosphere but the service is slow and the staff is not very friendly. I have age there twice now and the food was not as hot as I would have liked, this might be because the place is awfully drafty. Overall I liked it, mainly due to the decor. Pros: The atmosphere Cons: slow service more

Servers didn't have a very good attitude, they give you small portions (no refills on the small bread basket), my food was bland and lukewarm and there wasn't much of it, and too expensive for that kind of low quality. Me and my boyfriend were both still hungry and walked over to Annie's Parlour...there's a place that looks run down, but the food is amazing and the servers are really nice, helpful, and funny. I'd skip the overpriced atmosphere at Loring Pasta Bar for some great food at Annie's anyday. Pros: The atmosphere is amazing Cons: The food, service, and prices are awful more

If you're looking to meet up with someone and spend some time chatting, Loring Pasta Bar is a great spot. Definitely not ""fast-food"" (my table for two spent about 2 hours here). Which is actually a nice chance of pace compared with restaurants that want to get you out and turn the table around as fast as possible. Food was decent, not worth raving over. Additionally, parking is quite a chore. Pros: ambience, takes reservations Cons: parking more

We visited the Loring Pasta Bar on Sunday, September 14th '08 at 6:30 pm. Seated upstairs, there was one waitress for the entire area and she was either bored, tired, hungover or a combination of all three. She put the minimum of effort into service and it took nearly 20 minutes for the glass of wine I'd ordered to arrive (after being told that they ""didn't really have Zinfandel"" so I changed my order to a sauvignon blanc which was good. On a positive note, the waitress didn't hang over us all evening either. Pros: Ambiance, music Cons: poor service, food served barely lukewarm more

The food is average and the menu seems to change at the drop of a hat. The food is expensive for what you get, unless you're a student, then you get a pretty good student discount. It takes a long time to get your food, so don't be in a rush to get anywhere afterwards. Pros: Student discount Cons: Long time to get food more

I've been to the Pasta Bar on three separate occasions. The first was a great romantic dinner. The service was flexible and attentive, the food was good and the vibe was good. We ordered one of the coursed meals and they accommodated a substitution request and made good wine recommendations. Pros: great ambiance, generally good food Cons: inconsistent service more

I dont know about the food, I have never gotten around to eating there however it is my favorite place to go for dancing. Almost everyone there can dance! Its far from the likes of conga, jun bo, pantano or el rodeo. Its actually a nice place. The drinks are cheap and relatively strong. Pros: Nice variety of music Cons: gets too crowded, hard to dance when there is so many people more

The staff is incredibly friendly, and service is prompt. I'm a student at the adjacent University of Minnesota and REALLY appreciate the AMAZING 30% off (!!!!!!) discount for students. The prices are incredibly reasonable in the first place, and their respect for the university neighbors is remarkable. The atmosphere is beautiful and obvious care is taken to ensure a romantic and dream-like experience. The upper mezzanines are otherworldly, I highly recommend wandering around and discovering the creative architectural wonders this building offers. They also rent out rooms and the whole place for private parties which are spectacularly dressed and professionaly cared for. Five hundred stars, this is most definately worth the trip. Make reservations, though! Pros: Everything! Service, food, prices, ambiance! Cons: Nothing! more

I had a reservation at the Loring Pasta Bar for next week. Made the reservation a month ago. My six friends and new husband were going to be celebrating our new nuptials. They called today to state they were ""cancelling my reservation because a wedding decided to book the restaurant"" In other words, a better deal came along and they don't need my money. Needless to say I voiced my concerns. I was told ""you need to understand this is a special day for them!!' So in other words the heck with my special day. They stated they would get back to me this afternoon. Pros: Crappy Service Cons: Crappy Customer Service more

The Loring Pasta Bar has a gorgeous setting. The entire place is full of surprises, so wander around if you can. I don't remember the service, which is probably means they did their job well. The food is wonderful and you really can't go wrong. Great for dates. Pros: Ambience! Cons: Enviroment is almost distracting more

Because of the atmosphere and good food, we decided to use the Loring for our Wedding Reception. We set up a date and met with their event coordinator to discuss specifics. Things went downhill from there. Many e-mails and phone calls went unreturned. Then the woman that we were working with handed us off to some other person who never returned our inquiries either. At our cake tasting, wemet with the owner instead of the coordinator for some reason so we had to describe everything again because there was no communication between him and the coordinator.. He wrote everything down on little scraps of paper, which made us very nervous. There were many problems throughout the reception evening even though we have been talking about it for 4 months prior . We requested an open bar with tap beer. They started charging and only had bottled beer (NOT the bartenders fault). There was supposed to be little menus for everyone but they were no where to be found. Some of the food was cold. We wanted individual cakes on each table but ended up with one big cake to be split up. Then because there was an event in the adjacent Red Room (we were in the Sky Bar), and you have to go through the Sky Bar to get to the Red Room, there was constant travel of people, food and wait staff through our space into the other room. Very annoying. Again, the staff was VERY accomodating, professional and cordial (Jason the Head Waiter was excellent) but we were constantly hearing ""Oh, thats not what Jason (the owner) told us"". Very poor managment! We were never even greeted by the coordinator or owner even though we spent considerable money and conveyed our many problems with the wait staff. Again, our guests were unaware of these problems but the lack of communication could have easily wrecked the entire evening. Good place for a small dinner but stay away for any larger event as the owner is a flighty, unorganized slacker that doesn't realize where his income is coming from. Pros: Atmosphere, wait staff and some dinner choices Cons: Incompetent managment and non-existent parking more

This is the most beautiful restaurant I have ever been to...Literally, everything here is beautiful. The elegantly draped tables, the glorious checkered floors, the cascading walls, the delicate lamps, the industrial ceiling are all amazingly lovely. You could go here just to gaze at all the beauty the Loring Pasta Bar offers Dinkytown. The entertainment and food are also well worth it! This place is magical and affordable! Bring your date or your family. Both will be equally pleased. Pros: Everything! Cons: Nothing! more