Muffuletta Cafe

10/18/09

Great Lunch Menu

by Altruist

Muffuletta’s Café offers a great lunch menu. I enjoyed the ambiance and the varied lunch menu. The server was very friendly and offered the better lunch selections. The $5 glasses of wine were a nice addition.

I recommend the Muffuletta's for lunch.

• Pros: High Quality Food, Great Wine Selection
• Cons: Service was a little slow

07/18/09

Great Food, Inattentive Service

by stevekathg

The Dinner-of-the-Month crew ended up in St. Paul for the July dinner. Everyone enjoyed the food and the restaurant itself. Our waitress was professional; at least the few times we saw her throughout the evening. She took a long time to notice that the last two of our group had arrived and needed drinks, was nowhere in sight when our entrees came out, didn't come to check on us until we were almost done, and forgot to bring me the wine flight I ordered (worse, she seemed to know it was missing when I was finally able to get her attention). Heck, the waterboy was the first to notice that some of us needed drink refills. This unfortunately distracted from an otherwise flawless meal. I had the gnocchi with duck confit, which while a little too salty, was very flavorful and lighter than it sounded or looked. My wife had the mufulletta sandwich, which was very good and not at all greasy like they are at some places. We also shared an order of the mac and cheese, which was also very good (and they were nice enough to split it up for us into individual plates. We would definitely go back, and hope for a better server. There was a nice selecetion of wines by the glass at reasonable prices, and the wine flights were well priced at $12 and included some interesting selections. Wish I could tell you how the wines were, but as I mentioned, I never got. P.S. - no attempt was made to comp us anything for the oversight.

• Pros: Great Food, Good Prices, Nice Atmosphere and Location
• Cons: Inattentive Service

12/20/08

Yummy food, great presentation

by sundaze11

I dined here as a guest of a small wedding, so I can't comment on the prices, but the food was amazing. The bride and groom had a custom menu put together for their party and the food was just divine and expertly presented. I had an excellent beet salad that had nuts, a cream dressing and crispy green onions... The flavors of the ingredients were so unexpected, but perfectly complimented one another. The main courses looked equally fantastic. Salmon complimented with a pomegranate glaze and greens was perfect- again an amazing blend of flavors. The other dishes looked equally fantastic. Desert and service were out of this world as well. For a party of 30, I was impressed with Ian, the sole waiter who handled our room!

07/30/08

Relaxing

by misschillaxin

Great date place if your trying to get to know somebody. Fantastic mashed potatoes!! I have never experienced bad service from this place. I really feel that Americans are a bit snooty. Complaints of bad service really should be justified with something other than a forgotten glass of wine.

• Pros: great ambience...calm quiet
• Cons: A bit spendy but worth it

07/26/08

Pleasant ambience if the weather is good

by pollysigh

Four of us dined here last night. The weather cooperated, and we ate on the outside deck. Very nice. With the minor exception of a temporarily forgotten glass of wine, the server did a good job. Now for the food. We had crab cakes to begin, which had a very fine texture, unlike most others where there are discernible pieces of the crustacean. The flavor was good, but the texture was a bit off-putting. The sweet corn puree, jalapeno oil, and avocado mousse which accompanied it were disappointingly small in quantity; in fact, it must've been "Minnesota jalapeno" since there was no kick at all. The roasted beet with horseradish creme fraiche salad was one of the better versions of this preparation. Our entrees were a sea bass special for the night and the duck confit gnocchi. The former was overdone and its sauce was microscopic; the latter was a mish-mash of flavors, which served to mask them all, including the duck. Desserts, mostly chocolate, were quite good and priced much lower than one might expect. The main irritant - aside from two servings of overcooked fish - was the paucity of sauces for the crabcakes and the sea bass. We've seen this many times before in many restaurants in the middle-upper and upper price ranges: Why do chefs seem to think it's sufficient (or even artistic) to drop three quarter-sized micro-pools of sauce on plates? It can't cost the establish a significant amount more to serve more. We're not talking essence of white truffle sauce from Alba Italy here. Sometimes, as in last night, the amount is so paltry that actually tasting it is a challenge. Sauces can do wonders for a prep, but not if they're so miniscule. On balance, a disappointing night out.

• Pros: Nice deck for dining
• Cons: Disappointing provender

The charming neighborhood of St. Anthony Park is home to this equally charming cafe.

by Contributor

In Short
Avoid the noisy booths by the kitchen and the dimly lit tables by the cleaning supplies, and angle for a window seat. In warm weather, dine on the large outdoor deck, and see the beautiful St. Anthony Park Library. Starters include Muffuletta's spicy signature 1977 Beer-Cheese Soup (the year of the recipe) and succulent jumbo lump crab cakes. Twists on pasta dominate, but there's also chicken with figs, peppered salmon, along with the New Orleans-style sandwiches that gave Muffuletta its name.

06/24/08

Disappointing evening

by fretenstew

While the setting is lovely and the food was above average, our table of seven was treated to sloppy service this mid-week evening. Three requests brought another basket of bread, two for water refills, the dessert menu was presented but the waiter never returned to inquire as to whether we wished to order dessert, no coffee was offered, and several requests were necessary to receive the bill. The 20% tip was automatically added to our check, so there was no means to express our disappointment with service via our tip. Not a good night at Muffuletta.

05/19/08

Fresh

by Namaste13

This was one of the freshest meals I have ever had. I think this restaurant has a great mission that will make it remain a classic for years to come. Great location, great atmosphere.

01/03/08

What a Wonderful Resturant !!!

by gman1948

We went there for New Year's Eve dinner. The food and service was wonderful !!!! I had the duck --- yumm-yummm. I will be back!!

• Pros: Thumbs Up! Way Up !! Ambience-Parking-Service
• Cons: Non

05/19/06

User review by randystarr

by randystarr

We live in the neighborhood and have been going to the Muffuletta Cafe for many years now. The staff has always been good to us, with the exception of an aggressive loudmouth every once and awhile. We miss Mark. He was always filled with great stories, extra attention and an ability to make you feel special. The food has always been very, very good. A new menu is printed every day, so they can offer whatever foods are fresh and tasteful. They explain how their food is prepared so there are rarely surprises. I love their different wild mushroom dishes and their seafood. My 12 year old loves the Muffaletta Sandwich and the garlic served before the meal. Its a great place to meet friends and laugh over wine and dinner.

• Pros: Atmosphere, Food, Friendlyness