Spoonriver

Love the location, parking was easy on a Wednesday night, atmosphere was nice, we got right in with our reservation. Food wasn't anything amazing - the dish seemed a little underinspired. I'm used to fresh, local, organic food, etc. etc. and support it 100%, but you have to still use your cooking talents to bring it to life. I had a ravioli dish that was not very flavorful and super saucy (not in a good way) - it was more like a cream soup than a light sauce addition to the dish. The food and service here need to come up to a bit more of a professional level (not stuffy though) and I would be happy. Our waiter was okay - but seemed more like a college student than a professional (perhaps that is par for the course in Minneapolis, not sure). I felt like I could have made the dish better at home, BUT I will go back because I want to support places like this in Minneapolis. Loved the size of the restaurant and that I wasn't served this huge oversized portion that seems to be the normal in the Midwest. Give this place time to get a rhythm. Pros: location, atmosphere Cons: food preparation more

Looks chic, cosmopolitan & cool at first. . .but needs some serious work at the front of the house. On arrival, we were kept waiting for 45 min despite a reservation. We asked if we could have a drink outside and the hostess told us no. We either needed to drink & eat inside or outside but we could not have drinks out and move in when our table was ready. (All but 2 tables outside were empty). For a place that didn't have a table for us when promised, I would expect a little more welcoming accomodation. We were treated like we had the plague. The bar did not have enough seats and we would have sat in the waiting area with our $$! cocktails but a server was folding napkins on all of the patron seating space. Very unsightly and unhygienic! Once seated, our server tried hard but his casual attitude and lack of real knowledge about menu selections and wines was disturbing for a place trying to be of high caliber. Everything we asked about was "good or great" and there was no attempt at descriptive commentary. BORING! The wine selection is minimal (almost as if they blew the budget on all of the glitz and couldn't afford any variety). The food was really no different then Cafe Brenda. Same stuff, different look. It was good, not great and the experience was really negated by all of the missteps by the front of the house staff. You will look cool dining here but a real critic will not be kind to this place until it can get its act together. I applaud Chef/Owner Brenda Langton and her culinary career and she was in the restaurant and very visible during our visit but she needs to get a clue about the shortcomings of her new endeavor or it will be shortlived. more

My boyfriend & I tried to get into the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon after seeing people eating outside and inside, but the door was locked. Plus, one of the patons little boy had gone outside and could not get back in to where he said his mom was. As some patrons were just leaving, they let us in, including the boy. I informed the manager or whoever the guy at the bar who had asked if "I needed any help", that the door was locked and that the little boy got locked outside from his mother. The guy looked at the both of us like we were a couple of idiots and said "yeah, the restaurant is closed!". Very pompous, very rude, very little cosideration for the situation, and very poor customer relations! Well, it would probably be good customer communication to post the hours on the window or something along those lines so a person can EASILY tell if a restaurant is open or not! Nobody wants to enter a resaurant and be told off and be made to feel dumb, especially when there could have been better communication initiated by the owner! Not to mention, I had visited the restaurant with fiends a couple of weeks earlier and the food was just okay. I split the trout with my friend, which was just okay. We all shared an appetizer of bread, cheese & fruit compote of some sort, and it was not good at all. Finally, my friend ordered some kind of chocolate cake and it was aweful! Very dry and tastless. I've been to highly rated vegetarian restaurants in San Fransico, New York City, and Chicago and Spoonriver would never be able to compete! There are too many good restaurants that have friendly staff and good food and Spoonriver is not one of them. It's sad, becuase I think Minneapolis is hurting for original, unique restaurants (not chains!) and I really wanted to have a good experience here and provide a good review. But that was hard to do when the front hous was snobby, the server was unknowlegable, and the food was tasteless! Pros: Bright atmosphere Cons: Poor/Rude Customer Relations, Unknowledgable staff, Superiorty Complex/Attitude more

Looks chic, cosmopolitan & cool at first. . .but needs some serious work at the front of the house. On arrival, we were kept waiting for 45 min despite a reservation. We asked if we could have a drink outside and the hostess told us no. We either needed to drink & eat inside or outside but we could not have drinks out and move in when our table was ready. (All but 2 tables outside were empty). For a place that didn't have a table for us when promised, I would expect a little more welcoming accomodation. We were treated like we had the plague. The bar did not have enough seats and we would have sat in the waiting area with our $$! cocktails but a server was folding napkins on all of the patron seating space. Very unsightly and unhygienic! Once seated, our server tried hard but his casual attitude and lack of real knowledge about menu selections and wines was disturbing for a place trying to be of high caliber. Everything we asked about was ""good or great"" and there was no attempt at descriptive commentary. BORING! The wine selection is minimal (almost as if they blew the budget on all of the glitz and couldn't afford any variety). The food was really no different then Cafe Brenda. Same stuff, different look. It was good, not great and the experience was really negated by all of the missteps by the front of the house staff. You will look cool dining here but a real critic will not be kind to this place until it can get its act together. I applaud Chef/Owner Brenda Langton and her culinary career and she was in the restaurant and very visible during our visit but she needs to get a clue about the shortcomings of her new endeavor or it will be shortlived. more

My boyfriend & I tried to get into the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon after seeing people eating outside and inside, but the door was locked. Plus, one of the patons little boy had gone outside and could not get back in to where he said his mom was. As some patrons were just leaving, they let us in, including the boy. I informed the manager or whoever the guy at the bar who had asked if ""I needed any help"", that the door was locked and that the little boy got locked outside from his mother. The guy looked at the both of us like we were a couple of idiots and said ""yeah, the restaurant is closed!"". Very pompous, very rude, very little cosideration for the situation, and very poor customer relations! Well, it would probably be good customer communication to post the hours on the window or something along those lines so a person can EASILY tell if a restaurant is open or not! Nobody wants to enter a resaurant and be told off and be made to feel dumb, especially when there could have been better communication initiated by the owner! Not to mention, I had visited the restaurant with fiends a couple of weeks earlier and the food was just okay. I split the trout with my friend, which was just okay. We all shared an appetizer of bread, cheese & fruit compote of some sort, and it was not good at all. Finally, my friend ordered some kind of chocolate cake and it was aweful! Very dry and tastless. I've been to highly rated vegetarian restaurants in San Fransico, New York City, and Chicago and Spoonriver would never be able to compete! There are too many good restaurants that have friendly staff and good food and Spoonriver is not one of them. It's sad, becuase I think Minneapolis is hurting for original, unique restaurants (not chains!) and I really wanted to have a good experience here and provide a good review. But that was hard to do when the front hous was snobby, the server was unknowlegable, and the food was tasteless! Pros: Bright atmosphere Cons: Poor/Rude Customer Relations, Unknowledgable staff, Superiorty Complex/Attitude more