331 Club

yuppie hangout. Pretentious, somewhat snobbish, and higher-priced than most of the bars in the immediate area. Good off-street parking. No TV, no sports: this is NOT that kind of crowd. The menu is mostly limited to a few sandwiches that the bartenders make themselves, with a few special items on certain days. Hit-or-miss.

Unlike most of NE Mpls bars, this place is decidedly non-working class (even anti-working class) and oozing the kind of phony hipster vibe more commonly found Uptown. It's either artistic yuppies nursing their $3 PBRs while acting stuck up, or it's middle-aged professionals sipping wine and keeping to themselves. Think of the cliquish art-student crowd from your high school days, along with older people who want a downtown vibe without the downtown prices.

The staff is painfully conscious of the clientèle they want to cultivate, and if you are not it, they will make you feel unwelcome or just ignore you.

The "patio" is on the sidewalk of University Ave, nearly an arm's reach from the heavy traffic.

Some of the bands are interesting, but it's all very artsy stuff (not rock or blues). Get there early if you want to sit, because the bar itself only seats about a dozen and the booths are few and quickly taken.

I am baffled by people who describe this place as "friendly". I have been there eight times and never seen anyone talking to anyone that they didn't come in there with. Half of the place is looking down their noses at the other half, while the other half returns the favour. It's "friendly" in the way that a clique is friendly among themselves.…

Embarrassing. My girlfriend and I went to this 'establishment' one afternoon. We immediately giggled upon entering because there was an undressed model being sketched by a small crowd of locals. We asked one another if we wanted to stay and decided we'd just get a few drinks.

The service (some fat guy in a tank top with bleached teeth and a spandex hat) thought he was some sort of authority figure and proceeded to acty very rude to us. He handed us a tiny, dingy menu that featured your run-of-the-mill bar food. A tuna melt was $7-8, which is laughable considering the overall condition of the bar as well as its cleanliness.

This bar features a plethora of crappy bands and there are a number of sociopath sops at and behind the bar. It's too bad because the neighborhood needs good business to maintain its reputation.…

Nordeast Hot Spot. The 331, located on the corner of 13th and University in the heart of Nordeast Minneapolis's Arts District is just as colorful as it used to be, only in a different sort of way. Previously a biker bar with a reputation for being a place a gal could, um, "get stuff", the new owners have recreated it with a fresh coat of paint, a stage they fill with musicians and artists of all kinds, and a small kitchen serving up a delicious tuna melt (capers!) and sweet potato fries. The place is hopping on Fridays and Saturdays, inside and out; and the scene out on the sidewalk with the smokers is worth sitting at a picnic table.…

With live music by T.C.'s best instrumentalists and singers, The 331 is a warm speakeasy in a neighborhood lined with traditional dive bars.. In Short
The 331 Club stands out in Northeast, a neighborhood dotted with traditional Minneapolis dive bars of the best kind. That's because the 331 is like those dive bars' prettier second cousin, dark and mysterious but full of warmth and light. To be sure, the 331 is old-school, but in a speakeasy, Prohibition-era way. Featuring a rotating cast of musicians who play old-timey tunes (The Roe Family Singers, Le Cirque Rogue Cabaret), the loungy spot is a welcome escape from the typical Twin Cities bar scene.…