Merlins Rest

Visited on Friday, December 19th

Erin's Review
This past month has pretty much been a blur. Due to a number of different factors, we haven't been out to eat to one of the places on our list for almost a month. We did try last Friday - and we now know that Blue Door Pub is not a place to go at 7pm on a Friday night with no reservation with 6 people. Or with 2 people, apparently. We'll have to go back and try that place on weeknight. We headed over to Merlins Rest after trying Blue Door Pub again and easily got a table there.

Merlins Rest is a "British Isles and Irish Pub". I pretty much always like these type of places, and I wasn't disappointed - it was exactly what I was expecting. The surcharges for fries and live music are a little off putting - Ben gets into that more below. I ordered a Strongbow and fish and chips, British style. The Strongbow was the same as it is everywhere - and I think $5.75 is a little steep but nothing outrageous.

The fish and chips came out very quickly (probably less than 10-15 minutes from when we ordered). This wasn't that weird as it doesn't take that long to cook this dish, but Ben's should have taken much longer and came out right away as well. I thought the fish was perfect - greasy and salty, just like I remember eating when I spent a semester in London. The fries were just ok - not sure if they hand cut them here, which I would expect for a $2.75 surcharge when ordering with a sandwich.

I liked the atmosphere at Merlins Rest - it was pleasantly crowded with a little live music going on that wasn't too loud to interfere with conversation. It would be a great place to go with a small group. It was also fairly bright, which is different from most bars and pubs. I would go back if I was having a fish and chips craving. Other than that, probably not - but I can see why fans of scotch would love this place.

Ben's Review
I was sick all last week with a flu-like cold (I got MY flu shot this year, did you??) and Erin was getting sad that we couldn't go out to eat at all. By Friday I felt good enough to venture back out and eat something other than toast with butter, washed down with water. We wanted to try Blue Door Pub after getting shut out last Friday night when our group of six had issues finding a place that could take us without a long wait. I hadn't realized how small BDP was at the time. On this night it was nearing 7 o'clock again so I suggested we have a backup in case BDP was again full up. This turned out to be a good plan because BDP was indeed full again with people already standing, waiting for a table, so we headed to our backup, Merlins Rest on E. Lake St.

If you look at the Google Maps pictures of Merlins Rest, it looks like a place that would sell fireworks off of 94 once you cross into Wisconsin - a huge white sign with huge, simple block letters. I had read on their website that they had an Irishman decorate the interior of the restaurant, but clearly the same TLC hadn't been applied outside. Nevertheless, we headed over knowing what to look for, of course I nearly blew right by the place because since Google came around they have replaced their sign with a more "Irish pub looking" sign that says "Merlins Rest" in the appropriate script.

It wasn't apparent if we should wait to be seated when we got in, but I suppose the absence of a sign means you can seat yourself, so we grabbed a tall table on the left side of the bar. On the right side there were several of those circular booths that I like - it'd be fun to come with a bigger group and grab one of those.

Being that I was just getting over being sick, I knew I wasn't going to have a drink, although the scotch list is tempting. The scotch menu is an entirely separate menu that you can get on request. The list is impressive, and they include the 'wench' ratings for each scotch on the list. I had never heard of a 'wench' rating for a scotch, so I just assumed that was how people rated scotchs. As I'm searching google now, though, I can find NO mention of a 'wench' rating or a 'wench' scale for scotch, so maybe the people at Merlins Rest just like saying 'wench' (who doesn't?).

Anyways, I was sticking to water, but I'll be back for the scotch. As for food, I was a little shocked at the $2.75 surcharge to have fries with your burger instead of chips. That seemed a little excessive so I looked for something other than a sandwich to order. I read the description of "Ol' Grandmas Cottage Pie" and I was sold. A layer of ground beef with carrots and parsnips, covered with garlic mashed potatoes, covered with cheese. Yes. That is what I needed getting over a cold.

Our food came out much faster than I expected, which makes me think they didn't actually MAKE the food. In spite of this my food was pretty damn good, although instead of carrots and parsnips (which I was actually looking forward to) it was just ground beef with red peppers? Further evidence that it's not cooked on site. The portion was also huge, I just had the rest of my meal for lunch today as it lent itself nicely to reheating.

• Service: Our server was around to check on us at perfect intervals and was not overbearing.
  
• Food: The food was good, but I am suspicious that it is just frozen meals heated up.
  
• Drinks: Top notch scotch list, full bar, and typical pub beer list.
  
• Ambiance: It was nearly full when we arrived, there were only a couple tables open and the place had a good volume. Some live music started while we were there, but it was almost background noise, not loud at all.
  
• Price: The prices were interesting. The base prices seemed reasonable but the $2.75 for fries was a bit much, and there was also a notice that prices "may increase $0.50 to $1.00 during live music." That seemed a little vague and annoying. If I go back for scotch, I probably won't eat.
  
• Convenience: Merlins Rest is right on Lake St. with plenty of on-street parking available.

Deets
Merlins Rest
3601 East Lake
Minneapolis

Chris & Rob's

Visited on Tuesday, November 25th with Scott

Ben's Review
When my co-worker Scott mentioned that he was probably going to hit up Chris and Rob's for dinner, I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to pay him back the $7 I owed him. Convincing Erin was not difficult :)

Not realizing how far away this place was, I got off of 94E at the Cretin-Vandalia exit hoping to avoid the freeway traffic, but it ended up taking a good long time to travel ~35 blocks on St. Clair Ave. from Cretin to W 7th St. Along the way Scott and Erin had the chance to discuss the merits of food processors vs. stand mixers and other cookware.

We got a parking spot right outside the front door (literally about five feet away, it was awesome). We walked into a nearly empty restaurant, I think there were two other tables occupied, not that unusual for a Tuesday night at 5:30 I guess. Scott had been talking up the Italian Beef sandwich served "wet" meaning that it's dipped in beef juice, kind of like a french dip, which makes for a tasty and messy sandwich. I went with a chili cheese hot dog with a side of fries, Erin had the Italian Beef sandwich ("dry") and Erin and Scott split an order of tater tots. When Scott heard that I was paying he also added on a Summit.

There aren't servers at Chris and Rob's, you order at the counter when you walk in and they bring the food out to your table when it's ready. The workers were really friendly and joked around with us while we were ordering, you could tell they enjoyed the work environment. Sadly I don't think we saw Chris or Rob.

My chili cheese dog was exactly what I wanted (it's hard to mess this up). Apparently you can optionally get two hot dogs in one bun, I'm not really sure how this would work, seeing as my hot dog was already overflowing, but I'd like to try it sometime, and I'm a little sad that I didn't this time, it would make for a much better story :)

I also would like to go back to Chris and Rob's to try their pizza. I think they are known for their hot dogs, brats, and sandwiches, but they aren't strictly a hot dog place, they are billed as the "Chicago taste authority" and I would suppose that authority would cover Chicago style pizza. Given that their menu isn't expensive I'm sure we'll be back at some point.

• Service: Great service, and I would expect no less when there are more employees than customers.
  
• Food: The food is good and cheap, but better than fast food. If I lived near here I wouldn't ever get fast food.
  
• Drinks: They have a couple typical beer selections (Miller, Bud, and Summit). I wasn't even expecting to have a beer so any beer was good beer.
  
• Ambiance: There was nobody around when we were there, so it was a little quiet. The walls are decorated with Chicago pictures and memorabilia which is interesting to read.
  
• Price: The prices are as cheap as anywhere in the city. My chili cheese dog was $3.59. Hell, some places will charge you more than 50 cents for cheese on a burger! At Chris and Rob's the chili dog and the chili cheese dog are the same price (does this mean people who get the regular chili dog are getting screwed??)
  
• Convenience: Located right on W 7th St., so there must be bus access, but no parking lot. We found a spot but you might have to walk a block or so if the area was busy.

Erin's Review
Ben alerted me at about 4:45pm on Tuesday that we were going to Chris and Rob's for dinner. I only had my point-and-shoot camera, so the quality of these photos isn't too great, but you can get the idea.

On the long ride over there, Scott was extolling the virtues of the Cheesy Beef Sandwich. After hearing him go on about it for the ride, my choice was clear. I chose to get mine un-dipped because I figured it would be soggy enough from the juices in the meat, and I was right. This was a very satisfying sandwich, with a ton of meat. More than I needed, for sure. At Scott's suggestion, I added sweet peppers to my cheddar Cheesy Beef. I'm glad I did - it did add a lot to the sandwich. I know this because I enjoyed bites with pepper more than I enjoyed the ones without. Pretty simple :)

Only slightly difficult to eat

Scott and I split an order of tots, which were delightfully crispy and salty. Not much else to say about them...

Ben has detailed the experience perfectly in his review... since it has already taken us almost 2 weeks to get this review up, I won't make anyone wait any longer by trying to make this sound like anything more than a quick stop for food after work :)

Chris and Rob's is a great place for a quick, filling meal that is a step up from normal fast food. I would definitely return. Aaron gave the pizza a positive review, so I'd like to try that next time around. Despite what Ben says above, I don't think the pizza is necessary "Chicago style"but that won't stop me from trying it.

Deets

Chris & Rob's
603 West 7th St.
St. Paul

Amazing Thailand

Visited on Saturday, November 15th with Jake, Allison, and Justin

Erin's Review
After a long day being a photo assistant at a wedding with Kate, I was absolutely exhausted. I was originally supposed to go out somewhere in St. Paul with Kate that night, but she ended up having to go work at her "real" job. Ben texted me during the day to ask if I wanted to go out to dinner and we decided on Broders. Unfortunately, the wait was longer than we could handle. Maybe someday we'll get there... Ben then suggested Amazing Thailand which sounded just fine to me. I basically just wanted some noodles in any form.

We got there a little early and had to wait a few minutes for our table to be ready. As soon as we were seated I ordered the Jalapeno Cream Cheese Wontons because I was starving. Half of the table had decided on Pad Thai in some form for the entree. Too bad for us when someone (Allison I think?) asked if it was good and the server flat out said no. Hmmm... we quickly went about changing our order. The server said that the Pad Thai is made in a different style than most people are used to so a lot of people don't like it. Has anyone out there tried the Pad Thai at Amazing Thailand? Is it really that bad?? Since our server was so full of opinions, I asked her what she would recommend and told her I had originally wanted Pad Thai and was just looking for some comfort food. She told me to get the Pad See Iew. So I did. Jake did as well. Allison got the Spicy Noodles and Justin got the largest plate of yellow curry fried rice that I have ever seen.

For real. Who could eat this in one sitting??

The wontons came out soon after we ordered and were quickly devoured. They were excellent, although one that I had didn't actually have jalapenos in it. I was only slightly bitter about that.

My Pad See Iew was exactly what I wanted. A large plate of delicious noodles, veggies, and chicken, and egg. Pretty close to Pad Thai... I think thicker noodles might be the difference. I loved this and will probably order it instead of Pad Thai when I'm in the noodle mood at a Thai place again. Everyone else loved their meals, except for Allison. I think she just was wanting something different though, it wasn't that her meal was prepared badly. She did enjoy her cinnomon cookie martini though, so all was not lost for her.

I really enjoyed Amazing Thailand. It was full and bustling and the decor was interesting. I would go back... but probably won't for awhile due to the abundance of other Thai places on the list.

Ben's Review
After watching the Gophers lose horribly to the Badgers on Saturday we decided to get some dinner with Jake, Allison, and Justin. Jake and Allison live close to Broders so we were going to try to go there but we couldn't get in :( After driving back to Saint Paul to pick up Erin (who was locked out of the house), we settled for hitting up one of the many Thai places we have on the list now, from all the suggestions we got from the poll, Amazing Thailand in uptown.

There was no way in hell I was paying $13.50 to park again (I'll stop bitching about that soon I promise), so I dropped Erin off at the restaurant and drove around the block to find a spot on the street, which I did a block and a half away. Nice. Jake, Allison, and Justin also found a spot on the street not far from me.

As I walked into the restaurant I immediately noticed the cool Thai-looking decor. I don't know if the decorations were ACTUALLY Thai, but it fit the stereotype of Thailand, with gold shrines straight out of an "Indiana Jones" movie. The bar is big and full of people, it looked like a good place to hang out. The bar is square with one side being a wall and then three sides are the actual bar with a big island in the middle where all of the booze is stored.

We got seated (sat?) about five minutes after arriving as we were a little early for our reservation. I was, as usual, stumped about what to get. I recently got on a curry kick, making some Indian curry a couple weeks back and really wanting some Thai curry over rice. With a menu as big as the one at Amazing Thailand though, that seems a little bland. Although, Erin's dad will tell you that you should "get a burger when you're at a burger place", and I figure any Thai place is a "curry place." Luckily the special that night was a pumpkin curry that was served in a little pumpkin with the rice on the side that Erin convinced me to get. As usual, good advice on her part.

The curry was indeed served in a small pumpkin that I thought looked more like a squash. They initially forgot my rice side, so I was confused for a minute about what was going on, but we got it sorted out. The curry was excellent and just what I had been craving - a very runny curry with some chicken and veggies over rice. When you order your dish they ask how spicy you want it on a scale of 1-5. In typical indecisive fashion I went right down the middle with a 3. Our server told us that the numbers were "Minnesota numbers" as opposed to "Thai numbers", saying that the cooks used to make it even more spicy but they got too many complaints. A 3 was a good mix of spice while still having good flavor.

I thought our server was pretty cool, she even did some snooping on a table near us to see what they had ordered because it looked good. However, she steered Allison away from the pad Thai and suggested a different noodle dish instead that Allison didn't really like. Bummer for her :)

One of the best things about Thai restaurants is that you usually have enough to bring home for another meal, which was awesome. All in all, a great meal.

• Service: Our server was great and they kept our water glasses filled.
  
• Food: Excellent pumpkin curry and huge portions.
  
• Drinks: Full bar with a decent beer selection. Not sure if they have happy hour specials or not.
  
• Ambiance: It was busy on the Saturday night that we were there and the place had a good din.
  
• Price: The prices were decent. Our bill was $50 with tax and tip which included a couple drinks and an appetizer.
  
• Convenience: This is uptown so parking's a little difficult. Amazing Thailand is across Hennepin from Calhoun Square so if you go south just one block you're in a residential area where you should be able to find a free spot.
  

Deets
Amazing Thailand
3024 Hennepin Ave S
Minneapolis

Highly recommended for the food and atmosphere

jasmine 26

Visited on Thursday, November 12th with Ryan and Corlissa

Ben's Review
Erin arranged to have dinner with Ryan and Corlissa last Thursday night. We ended up going to Jasmine 26, at 26th & Nicollet. Without knowing exactly where the restaurant was, I grabbed an open parking spot on Nicollet which was luckily only a block away. (I didn't want to pay $13.50 again!)

As we sat down, Ryan told us that they had Surly Bender on tap, in addition to the rest of the beers on the menu. I looked over the list and nothing called out to me, so I opted for the Bender. Our server came back a minute later and apologized, saying that they didn't actually have the Bender, it was instead Surly Furious. No apologies necessary :)

The water glasses at Jasmine 26 are tall and heavy, so when I grabbed my beer I was a little surprised at how light it seemed. I figured I was just used to the weight of the water glass and forgot about it. Throughout dinner though, I couldn't help but feel like the beer glass was NOT a real pint glass and Erin agreed. I didn't ask the server, but I have a strong suspicion that they have miniature pint glasses, maybe 12 oz. Also, there was a head of about 1.5 inches on the beer, further reducing the amount of beer I was getting. This turned out to be the only negative of the meal.

Erin and I ordered the lettuce rolls as an appetizer - these are kind of like spring rolls except they are wrapped in lettuce and tied with cilantro, I thought they were kind of cool, but a little hard to eat without looking like a fool, everything kind of falls apart as you bite in. For my entree, I was drawn to the spicy eggplant stir fry in the 'Specialty Dishes' section of the menu. I was thinking of going for the pad thai, but that seemed like a cop-out; I'm at a new place and I should try something I haven't had before.

The stir fry was excellent and big enough for lunch the next day, which seems typical of the Asian places we've been going to. We've either been splitting an entree (Tum Rup Thai), or I get another meal out of it. Although the stir fry was called 'spicy', I wouldn't have guessed it. It had a great flavor, but it didn't bite back like I would expect a spicy dish would. I also tried some of Erin's crepe, which I thought looked like a huge omelet. It was good, but I would like it to have more meat, it was mostly bean sprouts inside.

I liked Jasmine 26, but there was nothing that would make me go back before trying other Vietnamese restaurants around town.

• Service: We had good service, it probably helped that it wasn't very busy when we were there.
  
• Food: My stir fry was great and the portions were large.
  
• Drinks: Small pint glasses make you feel like you're getting cheated. The bar looked like a cool place to hang out.
  
• Ambiance: I've read other reviews of Jasmine 26 when people said it was full of people. It was a little slow when we went, but I can picture the restaurant having a nice din to it when packed in on a weekend.
  
• Price: Good prices, $12 for my entree that got me two meals. Beer was $5.
  
• Convenience: We found a spot on Nicollet to park but I would guess it'd be a little more difficult on a weekend. Plenty of buses go down there too.

Erin's Review
My friend Ryan suggested that we join him and his girlfriend for a double date last week first because he enjoys our company, and second (and probably most importantly) because he wanted to be featured on the blog :) I told him to choose any place on the list. His choice (after one rejection from me) was jasmine 26. Sounded fine to me!

We arrived at 7:30 and the restaurant was pretty empty. I had perused the menu on the website earlier that day, but still had no clue what to order. Ryan had gotten a Thai beer (or so he said) that was pretty good, so I ordered that right away. It took us all a good long time to decide what to get because the menu is pretty extensive. The server was very friendly and attentive throughout the evening.

The lettuce wraps were chosen by Ben as an appetizer. They were pretty good, but my preference is usually toward fried appetizers. I chose the Jasmine Crepe for my entree. The "crispy tumeric coconut crepe" tasted great, and was filled mostly with bean sprouts with a little bit of pork and shrimp. I wasn't even that hungry but I ended up eating pretty much the whole thing, so it wasn't super filling. This was exactly what I wanted for my entree, but be forewarned that if you are super hungry you might want to choose a different dish.

Ryan and Corlissa both liked their entrees. I believe they each got some variety of fried rice. Ryan commented several times that his tasted faintly like ketchup, but in a good way. So take that for what it's worth :)

The atmosphere of jasmine 26 was nice - I liked the decor and lighting. It was very date-like, which is in contrast to many of the other Vietnamese places on Nicollet. The food at some of the other places may be better (I personally liked Quang better, but I'm not exactly a connoisseur of Vietnamese food...). However, if you want to enjoy an adult beverage with your meal in a well-decorated and nicely lit room, this is a good choice. I would compare jasmine 26 to Ngon Bistro in St. Paul.

Deets
jasmine 26
8 E 26th St
Minneapolis

Recommended for the atmosphere