Worst restaurants in the Twin Cities? (Minneapolis, Edina: mattresses, how much, neighborhood)

[knke0204]

What is the worst place you ate at in the Twin Cities area?

-Service
-Ambiance
-Food
-Parking
-Wait times
-Prices vs. quality
-Location

Avoid using places like 'Apple Bees' as there are a million of them. I'm talking unique places that are hyped up but fail to deliver a great experience.

Mine is Chino Latino... For how much I've heard about the place, I walked out saying 'meh'.

?

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

In general, I was really not that impressed with food in the Twin Cities. After a couple of bad/disappointing experiences, I pretty much swore off anything that wasn't an ethnic place frequented by ethnic people.

I think every place in Minneapolis that claims to have good pizza/pizzeria style food combine to create one cataclysmic disappointment. I was amazed at the lengths that a place like Pizza Luce went to be trendy, despite having food that could be blown away by any super cheap dilapidated pizzeria in New York, New Jersey, or PA.

[MplsTodd]

Originally Posted by FamousBlueRaincoat

In general, I was really not that impressed with food in the Twin Cities. After a couple of bad/disappointing experiences, I pretty much swore off anything that wasn't an ethnic place frequented by ethnic people.

I think every place in Minneapolis that claims to have good pizza/pizzeria style food combine to create one cataclysmic disappointment. I was amazed at the lengths that a place like Pizza Luce went to be trendy, despite having food that could be blown away by any super cheap dilapidated pizzeria in New York, New Jersey, or PA.

I have to disagree. I lived in New Jersey for 5 years and tried pizza all over the state as well as NYC. Other than a few places like John's Pizza in the west Village and a few other places, pizza around NYC was typified by a uniformity that I found very limiting. I really like how varied the pizzas are in the Twin Cities, from Green Mill to Carbones to Uptown to Galactic to Leaning Tower to Dulonos to Punch & Black Sheep, there's a tremendous variety of crusts, sauces and styles.

One thing I do miss about New Jersey though is the availability of Chicken parm sandwiches--other than Davanni's and a few other spots, they are tough to get here in the Upper Midwest!

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by FamousBlueRaincoat

In general, I was really not that impressed with food in the Twin Cities. After a couple of bad/disappointing experiences, I pretty much swore off anything that wasn't an ethnic place frequented by ethnic people.

I think every place in Minneapolis that claims to have good pizza/pizzeria style food combine to create one cataclysmic disappointment. I was amazed at the lengths that a place like Pizza Luce went to be trendy, despite having food that could be blown away by any super cheap dilapidated pizzeria in New York, New Jersey, or PA.

Things on the pizza front have changed since you lived here. There are some excellent wood fired pizza restaurants that rival anything I've ever had in Naples.

On a separate note, why are do the opinion topics here tend to be so negative? What do you hate about...? What's the worst...?" "Why are the X so bad?"

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

Things on the pizza front have changed since you lived here. There are some excellent wood fired pizza restaurants that rival anything I've ever had in Naples.

On a separate note, why are do the opinion topics here tend to be so negative? What do you hate about...? What's the worst...?" "Why are the X so bad?"

I forgot all about Pizza Nea, which was in my old neighborhood. I did like that place - just on the pricey side of pizza. There was Punch too - I guess I forgot about those since they don't really market themselves the same way. My bad.

MPLSTodd, I would assume that the best pizza would probably not be gotten in the village (do people from New York even live in the village? Manhattan is viewed as a fantasyland playground for the rich out here, even by most people who live in New York itself) - although I know very little about what life is like in Manhattan. The places in Queens are what my childhood revolved around - and it's still the best on the rare occasion I get it, as far as "American style pizza" (if that's what you want to call it).

Now, pizza is pizza, not fine dining, so I don't want to get too hung up on it. But in Minneapolis, the typical pizza place has a very doughy and cake-like crust, which I just didn't feel. Broadway pizza, which is highly regarded, and more on the "thin crust" side seemed like it was made on matza crackers. I tried Green Mills deep dish - which is supposedly what they are known for, and I did not like it, but I don't know how it compares to other deep dishes. I've never had it anywhere else.

I would argue that there are several well known varieties of pizza on the east coast, though. You have your regular pizza - which is thin crust, with large floppy crust (not crispy like a frozen pizza). You have your Sicilian pizza - which is a deeper dish, and I never really saw in Minneapolis (I'm not saying that it does not exist there, though, I just never saw it). And you have your tomato pie - which is from New Jersey, but is served in most pizza places here in Philadelphia. That's three very different and very common varieties, although you might have to leave "the village" to find them.

Not to mention strombolis and calzones - which if I ever came upon in Minneapolis, were disappointing.

But most of this is off-topic, I suppose, to the point of the thread, which is not comparing styles of blue-collar/poor college student food in Minneapolis to styles elsewhere. So apologies offered.

Also, MPLSTodd, a late edit - I think the fact that so many pizzerias out here offer such a variety of food: from american-italian entrees to interesting sandwiches, fast food type food, desserts, helps impede the abundance of rather crappy chains like Jimmy Johns, Brueggers, Panera, Subway that are *largely* relegated to the suburbs here, yet thrive within the city limits of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Maybe it's a different story depending on where you lived in in Jersey though - I'm more familiar with part of Jersey that's Philadelphia suburbs rather than the part that's New York suburbs (and that very narrow sliver in between...lol).

[alb84]

Oh, I definitely think there are some fantastic pizza places, though not necessarily "new york" style... My faves for pizza are Broders -- probably closest to NY style, Fat Lorenzos, Galactic -- which is more personal size/home made pizzas with organic ingredients and fusion-y combos, and Psycho Suzis -- fabulous deep dish, Punch -- for italian style pizza. It all depends what you are in the mood for!

Worst places I've eaten at... with so many good and reasonably priced local restaurants, I usually avoid the chains... Not a fan of the calorie/sodium/processed food bomb meals and generic atmosphere.

As far as a "hyped" place that I dislike, I would say Origami. Just average sushi IMO. My fave sushi place is actually Midori's floating world cafe in south minneapolis.

[Globe199]

Interesting thread.

Burger Jones specifically, and the Parasole restaurants in general. Highly overrated, mediocre food. Your mention of Chino reflects this -- I believe Parasole owns that place.

Another chain that I find kind of overhyped are the Blue Plate restaurants (Highland and Edina Grille, Groveland Tap, Three Squares, etc.). The only one of them that I found decent food is Edina Grille, although their beer selection is pretty decent.

Another way overrated place worthy of mention is the St Clair Broiler. The food is OK, but the atmosphere is real drag. Everything from the drab, shabby carpet to the absolutely horrendous lighting to the dumpy bathroom makes it a place you want to leave quickly.

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

Originally Posted by Globe199

Interesting thread.


Another chain that I find kind of overhyped are the Blue Plate restaurants (Highland and Edina Grille, Groveland Tap, Three Squares, etc.). The only one of them that I found decent food is Edina Grille, although their beer selection is pretty decent.

I'll second this. I came into a gift card for this company, and I tried the Longfellow and Highland ones. Aside from the postmodern drab, very bland.

This was actually my problem with the Twin Cities (being someone who will eat out occasionally, but not typically at a "nice" place) - there are sit-down restaurants like these - which have the quality of food of "delis" or "diners" on the east coast. Out here, they would be reasonably priced, they would have outdated seating, would be poorly decorated, have a limited staff, and your only expectation would be that the food would taste "okay". And almost all of them would meet your expectations.

There is such a lack of these in the Twin Cities that places like those Blue Plate restaurants (and other bar/restaurant type places) can surround this cheap but decent food with fancy lights and plenty of waiters, and convince people to pay way way more money than what the food alone would convince you to pay. To me, that price and the entire atmosphere comes with higher expectations on the quality of food.

[Citykid3785]

I second Parasole restaurants being underwhelming. That's usually the case with restaurants that focus on ambiance and marketing over food.

[Citykid3785]

Snuffy's malt shop, Chino Latino, and French Meadow bakery have all underwhelmed me.

When I went to Snuffy's, my food was small and mediocre. Secondly, they didn't take debit cards, which is all I had on my at the time. And lastly, when I had to go to the bathroom, I was forced to walk through a tiny 2 foot wide kitchen, down some creepy stairs, and into a basement area that looked straight out of Silence of the Lambs. I'm talking dirt floors with stained mattresses and lockers with dirty aprons etc.......... made me want to throw up that I had just eaten there.