Saint Paul Restaurants

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I love the ambiance and the good service.It is a sport bar located along 7th avenue. It’s a popular spot for lunch, dinner and snacks. They have a huge collection of hockey photos and memorabilia on its walls. The menu features US and Canadian specialties in big servings.I love their chicken wings.

Favorite Dish: Hockey City chicken Wings and Puck dog.

This is conciderably more elegant than those mentioned above. A romantic cozy environment and great food.

Many, many years ago this building was a drug store where F. Scott Fitzgerald used to buy cigars for his father. The building is on the Federal Registry of Landmarks.

A great place to bring a date.

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A grolla is a many-spouted cup, in a certain region of Italy, that friends can share a drink from.

La Grolla (lah GROHL-lah) is a cozy, casual trattoria that's perfect for romantic couples or a group of friends. The menu offers pastas, salads and meat or seafood entrees with yummy sauces worth blowing your diet for. It's aways busy on the weekends but in the summer, the patio is a hot spot that you won't get within feet of without a reservation. Prices put it into our "Special Occasion" category but if you're in town and on vacation with your sweetie, that's occasion enough. It would also be a good spot for a business lunch, although it can be noisy. Save room for dessert - they're heavenly! See the website for menu, hours, reviews, directions and such.

I wouldn't recommended it for the wee folk - it's more comfortable for big boys and girls.

Extra tip: La Grolla is 1/2 block away from The Happy Gnome with its enormous beer selection and comfortable patio (see my Nightlife tip.) This would be a good spot to sample some great Belgium brews or a single-malt scotch (huge stock) before strolling down the street for dinner. Or the other way around.

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Pizza Luce (pronounced lu-CHAY) has 4 locations in the Metro area and they're consistently on local award lists (Best pizza, Best Late Night Dining, etc). The St. Paul location is in a former print shop and is warm, comfortable and trendy without attitude. The walls are decorated with local artworks that changes regularly so there's always "new" decor!

The menu has appetizers, salads, hoagies, and a few pasta entrees but most folks come here for those award-winning pies. Pick a house specialty or have one custom-built from a list of 50 ingredients - all come on a medium whole wheat crust except for recent gluten-free offerings only available mid-week. I believe the pie in my picture is a yummy Ruby Ray with sausage, spinach, tomatoes and mozzarella but the BBQ chicken Wrangler is great too, and many swear by the Baked Potato Pizza. Um, maybe sometime... Large pies will run you about $20 but they're sooooo worth it.

Should you choose one of the Minneapolis locations instead, menus are pretty much the same from place to place but Happy Hours are not so take a look at the website for what's offered at your chosen venue and at what times/days. Full bar, some locations have patio seating in the summer.

Favorite Dish: Pizza!

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St. Paul Italian cuisine at its most romantic, Pazzaluna is loved for its ambiance and good food if not for its prices. No doubt about it, dinner here doesn't come cheap but you will be well attended to, have a very nice meal and a pleasant, grown-up evening. You can also manage the damage by restricting the amount of courses and number of wines you order. An appetizer pizza and a glass of wine in the bar will run you around $20 - about the cost of the average pasta entree. They also have a M-F happy hour with drink and pizza specials. That said, it tends to be on special-occasion listings and priced accordingly.

You may eat in the bar (more casual and light) or dining room (more dressy and dark) and order as many or as few plates as you desire. Our last visit (a birthday), we had an appetizer, a pasta entree apiece, 2 glasses of wine and split a dessert. We'd also come from an outdoor event and were underdressed but didn't feel out of place in the bar. Everything was great - waitstaff was attentive and fun, the food was yummy and even though they were very busy, we never felt hurried. Recommended for a special meal, Happy Hour or a stop-in for an appetizer and a drink. Not a good choice for the little ones. Open for dinner only - 4:00 PM (bar), 5:00 PM (restaurant).

Favorite Dish: They make their own gnocchi and it's so light that if it didn't have sauce to hold it down, it would float away! Yummy.

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This casual, fun little floating roadhouse has possibly the best location in town. Anchored on the Mississippi with a great view of downtown, you can have breakfast, lunch or dinner and watch the river traffic go by. The menu includes burgers, sandwiches, salads and appetizers with just a few entrees (steak, walleye, catfish. ribs & chicken) thrown in for good measure. Breakfast is supposed to be really good and they have brunch on Sundays with beignets and New Orleans coffee. Definitely not fancy, the bar stock is limited to about a half-dozen each domestic and premium/imported bottled brews plus a few bottled cocktails. No matter - the beer's cold, the service is friendly and it's just the perfect place for lazing away a hot summer afternoon or evening. Sun lovers, grab a seat on the upper deck!

River Boat Grill is across the Wabasha Bridge from downtown. Follow the signs to the East Entrance of Harriet Island Park and use the last parking lot by the "Showboat Landing" buildings. There will be multiple boats at this location but look for the one with the neon beer signs - you can't miss it. This is also a great walk, on a nice day, from downtown St. Paul hotels and attractions. Kid friendly, too.

Favorite Dish: Frankly, it's about the location, location, location and kick-back atmosphere.

Mickey's is an original 1930's Art Deco dining car listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in New Jersey, it's been a St. Paul institution since WWII and hasn't changed much since. It has also had cameo roles in several movies shot in the Twin Cities area (Mighty Ducks, Prairie Home Companion and Jingle All the Way). Always open - 365 days a year, 24/7. Standard diner menu. If nothing else, stop in for a cuppa joe just to say that you did.

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After having walked around a bit in the downtown area we decided it was time for lunch. And as we seemed to end up at the Landmark Center all the time, it is not surprising we ended up at "Great Waters Brewing Co", which is located almost across the street.

The place looked nice on the outside, so we decided to give it a try. The welcome wasn't what you call 'enthusiastic', the waiter was rather rude, but as we were tired and already sitting down, we decided to stay anyway. We both opted for the Great Water's Club; fresh ciabatta bread filled with Turkey, bacon, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and garlic aioli. And surprise, surprise, it tasted great! The sandwiches are served with fries, onion rings, potato salad or coleslaw for a total of 7,50 USD. Not that you really need any of these side dishes, as the sandwiches are quite generous, and more then I could eat.

As we were in a brew pub, we of course had to try one of their specialty beers. We tried the "Brown Trout Brown Ale", a full bodied rich brown ale, and again, it tasted great! So the conclusion would be, if you don't get the same grumpy waiter as we did, you probably will enjoy your lunch at Great Waters Brewing Co a lot.

I wish we could rate the satisfaction in several different categories on VT. If so the food would deserve a 4 (out of 5), the beer a 5 and the service a 1 (zero really, hahaha, or even minus if it was up to me).

Opening hours:
Monday to Saturday: 11:00 a.m. 2:00 a.m.
Sunday: 12:00 noon to 12 a.m.

You can drop by on their website to get a pre-taste of their menu