Post #687292 by Ragbag Comics on Wed, Jul 24, 2013 9:27 PM

Bamalamalu hit the nail on the head, I'd say;

We never made it to the old Suzi's, but were up in Minneapolis this past weekend and we LOVED the new joint!

Based on what I'd read here and seen from Critiki and poking around the internet, I wasn't too sure what to expect; I figured we'd either go once and check it out or be back every day we were there.

Whulp... we loved it and went three times in three days! The second we walked in the front door and
saw the giant story-tall waterfall behind the hostess stand, we figured we'd be coming back.

We went on a Friday just before the upstairs bar opened, had a couple of solid cocktails (the Tiki-Tini, while nothing complicated, was excellent and comes in a cool martini glass-inspired Tiki mug), and a really good steak sandwich. When the bars upstairs opened, we went up and found a spot in the Ports of Pleasure bar and saw the band equipment in the center of the (giant) room- the live music was news to me, but yowza! Can't beat live Exotica, and Exotic-A-Go-Go were fantastic (now, if only Tonga Room would take a hint from these guys and get a decent band to play on the raft in the lagoon...)

We tried the Ports of Pleasure and Shrunken Head signature cocktails (in exclusive mugs) and both were very tasty. We also had an "Aged Rum Mai Tai" made with 12yr Appleton that was quite good, and an "Exotica" which was a Cachaca-based cocktail that I really liked.

The crowd was a total mix of normal, non-pretentious folks, and everyone was having a great time.
And it was JAM PACKED! The patio, the upstairs, the downstairs... we were afraid to leave our table because there'd be nowhere for us to go if we came back.

Next day we sat out on the patio; I grew up near the Mississippi further downstream from Minneapolis, so it was a great experience drinking a giant flaming bowl of rum under thatch umbrellas on the river. The patio is immense; I seriously wonder what the capacity of the whole building is? There has to be room for 700-800 people in this place between the two patios, the restaurant, the bar downstairs, and the three upstairs bars.

In terms of service, of our three waitresses (plus the hostess and the bartender we talked with for awhile) everybody was extremely friendly- Minnesota Nice all the way. Coming from Chicago which is quickly becoming the Land of Pretentious Hipsters in a lot of places, I can say I didn't get even the slightest whiff of hipster-y 'tude from these folks. They were all quick to offer suggestions from the menu, and were more than happy to replace a couple of the mugs we'd bought when they came to us chipped or cracked.

The ONLY con I would point out is that it is BUSY (though, to be fair, we were there over a weekend.)
Oh, and the parking lot is an absolute nightmare- the first night we were there there were cars parked everywhere (they have a valet service) and things were seriously jammed up in spots with cars parked in the thruway. If the weather is nice, I'd recommend parking a few blocks away and walking, or taking a cab.

They have at least five exclusive mugs now, a very awesome volcano bowl, and another super-sized mug they serve a drink for 2-4 out of (we didn't try that one, but certainly will next we're up that way.)

This thread seems awful light on pictures- I took a bunch and will upload a few of 'em shortly.

--Pete

[ Edited by: Ragbag Comics 2013-07-24 21:33 ]