10/24/09

Enjoyed the Food

by mnriver

The friendly staff made us very welcome in this relaxing environment. All three of us enjoyed our food, and we will definitely revisit. The Tofu Scramble was flavored well, with the vegetables cooked perfectly.

• Pros: Great environment
• Cons: Weren't any

09/10/09

Ditz city

by xochi74

For all the press they get you'd think they knew how to cook.

The waiter picked his nose in fron of us and wiped it on his apron.

The owner tried to schmooze us, yet when we told her of our distaste for bland watery food took umbrage with the commentary.

For what is supposed to be an upscale place I find it to be little more than a dump full of flakes who pick their noses or act like passive aggressive wimps.

We left booger boy a napkin for a tip.

• Pros: absolutley nothing
• Cons: They lie

08/14/09

Tofuuuu

by AnnieK

I had brunch at Spoonriver a few weeks ago, and I have eaten there 2 or 3 other times. Most recently, I ordered the delicious scrambled eggs, which were mixed with chevre and topped with truffle oil. My friend, however, ordered the tofu scramble, and as soon as the server set it down, I could smell the ginger and spices steaming up from it.

I happened to read the last comment about this dish, and I couldn't disagree more. Although I only had a few bites, I found the dish to be tasty and well-seasoned. A lot of restaurants have a token tofu dish for vegetarians, but this one was artfully prepared unlike the tasteless, oily preparations I've had elsewhere.

Other than the fact that it was a bit warm in the dining room, I can't think of any other issues with my meal. I would definitely return there for brunch after the market.

• Pros: Vegetarian Brunch Items
• Cons:  Warm dining room

08/09/09

Don't waste your money!

by MNVeggieGirl

I was so excited to go to this restaurant, I have heard it's sister restaurant Cafe Brenda is great from a number of people, so when my family was going to the Guthrie yesterday I thought this would be a perfect restaurant to try out. We're vegetarians and were sure we'd have no problem finding food on the menu. That part was true, but we had no idea just how disgusting the food would be.

First off, the wait staff took forever. And seemed to think that it was a great imposition to bring my son a straw for his glass of milk.

The food took about 45 minutes to serve, and mine was inedible. I received the Ginger-tofu scramble breakfast meal, and it was truly the worst food I've had in years. I spoke with the manager who seemed surprised as it was her FAVORITE meal on the menu. The food tasted as if it were ran cid.

My son had granola, yogurt and fresh fruit. The honeydew was hard and not ripe at all. The cherries were overly ripe.

The other meal was fine, but extremely over priced.

I was quite ill last night, with stomach cramps, and a headache that arrived shortly after I ate and has just started to resolve now. I very rarely get sick from food, and have no known allergies.

I would strongly caution against going to this restaurant.

The price is exorbitant, and the quality of the food is poor.

If you want to go to a nice vegetarian friendly restaurant, I recommend French Meadow. I will never return to Spoonriver.

• Pros: The menu is pretty. They have cloth napkins. Nice windows.
• Cons: The food is vile. Absolutely disgusting, and pricey.

06/05/09

Mediocre food, HORRIBLE service

by MegEWC

My husband and I went to Spoonriver this week ahead of a Guthrie show. The hostesses (there appeared to be 3 of them) took a couple of minutes to decide where to seat us (even though both the inside and outside tables were 1/2 empty). Once we were seated, a very attentive staff member brought us water and shortly thereafter a few slices of bread. I want to call out that this young woman (very slight, with large, round glasses) was quite attentive throughout the meal. Our water glasses were never even close to empty and she bussed everything with great timing. What stunned us was our server. She did have a around 4 tables in our area (which isn't a lot and she couldn't have been terribly busy with indoor tables since there were only 4-5 tables seated in total inside). It took well over 10 minutes for our two drinks to arrive (one beer that was served with around 2" of foam head, one mojito that was excellent). Our spiced olives took another 10 minutes after ordering to arrive (20 minutes to get a little bowl of olives and 2 pieces of toast?!?). Almost immediately after we finished the olives, our dishes arrived. I had the shrimp noodle salad ($19 for 4 shrimp and a relatively small portion of noodles with fresh cabbage, great mint and that was about it). My husband had the Spoonburger, which was advertised as lamb but was primarily rice and other fillers with just a hint of lamb (oh, and he subbed a salad for $2 and it was around 2 pieces of Bibb lettuce with very little else). We had to hail down our server to bring us our tab, even though our plates had been removed around 5 minutes earlier. Horrible, horrible service from the server. Mediocre food that is expensive for what you get.

• Pros: Location next to Guthrie, patio seating, interesting drinks
• Cons: Service, value for the food

10/21/08

Inventive local food; good service

by maggieo

Recently, my husband and I had a wonderful dinner at Spoonriver- not only was the food interesting and inventive, the service was fabulous (despite what other reviews have said). Granted, it was a less crowded Sunday evening, our server was very attentive, knowledgeable about the menu and forthcoming with great suggestions. Our entrees (the pork tenderloin, and an udon noodle with poached salmon special) and desserts (chocolate coconut mousse, and a fig stuffed puff pastry with fruit compote and cardamum yogurt) were great. The "spoon dips" appetizer was a bit blah and the wine list is a little disappointing but other than that, it's a lovely place that I would certainly recommend.

• Pros: great food, good service
• Cons: wine list

08/10/08

Good food, unfortunate service

by CityGirlJ

The food here was pretty good, but as other reviewers are saying, the service was sub-par for the cost. Hopefully, the owner can improve on this and encourage the wait staff to be friendlier!

• Pros: Location, Food, Drinks
• Cons: Service

08/06/08

Stunned

by DanaTravels

I signed up to CitySearch just to review Spoon River. I was in MN for business and decided to eat out, alone. Now, I love all things organic, local, fresh, and value high quality food worth the money I spend on it. I was looking forward to Spoon River.

While the food was stunningly mediocre (basic ice tea, herbed ricotta ravioli on the hard side of al dente, tasty lemon tart) the service was stunningly nonexistant. The place had maybe 15 of its 40 or so tables full, but the host took about 5 minutes to consult with his colleagues to find a table to seat me. Finally seated at my table on the pleasant patio, nary a water glass in sight, I waited 20-25 minutes before someone even said hello to me, and gave me a glass of water. Two waiters passed me by multiple times and I smiled at them, but there was no response. Finally my waiter came, said "Are you ready?" No specials, no hellos, nothing. I ordered, received my meal, ate my meal, waited another 20 mins for him to come back. The lemon tart was tasty with blackberries and an edible flower, but at $9 not good enough.

I've been in the service industry and know it's tough, and sometimes we all have bad days at work. But because of how they made me feel like an afterthought, and because I spent $38 on a meal that slightly bored my taste buds, I will not be going back to Spoon River. I will recommend it as a place to avoid to my colleagues and friends who travel to MN. There are too many other exciting places to eat, so don't waste your time or money - or a meal - here.

05/07/08

Rude Hostess, Average Food

by suzym27

I met a friend at Spoonriver on a Thursday for a light early dinner before a show. I arrived alone and found an empty dining room and 1 person at the bar (this was only 5:30). When I asked for a table for two the waitress sneeringly asked if I had a reservation, I responded no and asked if it would be possible to take a table on the (empty but for one couple) patio. She obliged with an eye roll. My waitress was extremely pleasant and recommended a great drink; unfortunately right after that the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. I hesitantly and apologetically asked the waitress if I could move to a table inside - she laughed and said it was no problem. As we reentered the dining room the waitress asked the hostess which table I should be seated at. After the hostess glared at me for a few seconds she showed me to the worst table in the place - jammed between a pillar and the second worst table in the place.

My friend arrived and the friendly waitress came and took or order, the basic ceasar salad and roasted red pepper soup were quite tasty - but somewhat overpriced. As a vegetarian I was very dissapointed by their vegetarian options. I would not return, given the hostess was so rude, the food was good but overpriced; I hope the waitress finds a more pleasant environment to work in.

• Pros: Nice waitress, decent food
• Cons: Very rude hostess, overpriced, limited vegetarian options

03/22/08

A culinary delite!

by JohnGaltUSA

My wife and I had dinner at Spoonriver before our show at the new Gutherie Theatre. We started with the Wild Mushroom and Pistachio Terrine appetizer, which was fantastic. We split a Greek Salad that was topped with the most wonderful feta cheese that we ever tasted. For entries, I had the Seafood Okisuki (Japanese noodles and vegetables in a savory broth). My wife had the Duck Confit Salad which was tossed in a tasty apple cider vinaigrette. It was a wonderful dinning experience and we can not wait to go back