I will be there next week for work so this is relevant to my interest...best areas to go out for drinks? Young Joni and Surly are on my list
i'd look to see if there's a baseball game if you all into that, target field is a blast on a nice day. minnehaha falls (plus or minus sea salt for lunch) is a great way to spend time wandering in a park. sculpture garden is neat for half an hour. walking along the Mississippi is great. if the fair is going on that's worth a stop once in your life.
i'm partial to the north loop, bunch of bars, bunch of breweries, incredible food (if you can get reservations), etc. Modist the best brewery in town iyamimofwiw. Young Joni isn't there but is probably my favorite restaurant, back bar is an experience there too.
if you want a table you need reservations, might be out of luck if its next week though if you get there when they open you can snag a bar seat or they have a big communal table for walk ins too
Animales best BBQ in town(and would compete with anyone), the brewery its parked at sucks though. Able.
Surly is good and a cool hangout. I like Brits, unique British bar with a rooftop natural grass lawn bowling field. Target field is nice even though the Twins suck this year. Bars around there are fun. Lyrtch seems to know his stuff.
Others here know Minneapolis more intimately than I would, but I would throw going to Matt's Bar for a Jucy Lucy (burger with melted cheese inside the meat) into the mix. I do second the Young Joni recommendation. If you are into fried chicken, Revival is worth a look as well.
Neighborhoods, I'd probably stay Northloop/Downtown area (they are adjacent). You can cross the Henn Ave bridge to my old neighborhood and head to Nordeast for breweries and great dive bars all over the place. In addition to Young Joni, she opened Sooki & Mimi about a month ago. I haven't been yet though. Spoon & Stable - https://www.spoonandstable.com/ (reservation for table, bar seating available) Travail - https://www.travailkitchen.com/ (reservation only) Bar La Grassa recently reopened - http://www.barlagrassa.com/ (will need reservation, I think bar seating available) Hai Hai - https://www.haihaimpls.com/ Historically I would have said Butcher and The Boar but it closed and has reopened as Butcher's Tale. I haven't been to the reincarnation but you could tell us if it is good (get the smoked jalapeno and beef long rib) - https://butcherstale.com/ Breweries in addition to what has been mentioned BlackStack (I haven't been to the actual brewery but IMO it is the best local beer now) Dangerous Man
Holy shit I haven't been downtown or to the Northloop since like Fall before Covid. I can be found either in my comfy Northron 'burb or fucking right off out of town these days
I know. I feel out of touch answering. I've been to Spoon once and otherwise haven't been downtown except for lawn bowling league at Brit's and a dentist appointment. I don't think I'll go back to our office until January.
My answer to the OP is to hit up this cool part of Minneapolis that's just 3.5 hours north of dowtown called the north shore, then swing 3 hours west to this cool little neighborhood called Cuyuna national forest
if staying in the North Loop it's pretty much Hewing Hotel (expensive rich people place) or Towneplace Suites which is old but fine if your goal is just to wander the neighborhood and eat and drink, go to a baseball game, etc. tagging up on what Rabid said about dive bars in the northeast, it really is something mostly unique to a major city that still has a bunch of local neighborhood bars all within walking distance (albeit long) of one another like that, 1029, Tony Jaros, Yacht Club, Grumpys, etc. North Loop only has one dive left in cuzzy's but it's fantastic.
Ah, Cuzzies. So many dollar bills. For Nordeast, I like to start at Tony Jaros for a Greenie (because that shit will sneak up on you if you don't start with it), you can head across the street to Betty Dangers or toward Psycho Suzi's. In that area I like Gasthof's (is that open?), Mayslack's, 1029, Knight Cap can be interesting, etc. Not to mention all the breweries in the area. They're in the general vicinity of Young Joni too so you can match with that. Young Joni has a bar hidden in the back of the building too.
That place was so great for bringing out beautiful babies that didn't have the attitude of hot girls hanging out in downtown.
glueks isn't a bad spot near there, its "the oldest brewery" but the fucking thing burnt to the ground so mileage may vary on how believable that is. but also yeah wandering around at 1am isn't the best idea
I mean I've shut down the bars many times and never felt unsafe. Frankly most weekends in my 20s involved leaving that area at bar time and walking a mile home across the river. But if shit happens downtown it is in that area at that time.
I live in Atlanta. Minneapolis is legit one of 2 cities(Pittsbugh is the other) in the USA I have never been to but never assumed Minneapolis would be bad.
Minneapolis in the summer is generally very underrated. I'm old with 3 kids 6 or under so my going out is non-existent these days and I have no idea what anything is like at this point in the pandemic. But, Brits patio is typically a great place to hang out in the summer whether it is day or night. I'm even more partial to The Local but that is a better bar Oct-May (better indoor) while Brit's is preferable in summer.
over the last month or two you wouldn't know we had a pandemic, metro vax rate is sky high and people are cramming places tried to wander into cuzzys at 11am on a saturday and couldn't find a bar seat the other weekend
That is good to hear. I've seen bits and pieces of it but I'm also just not sure how neighborhoods and hot spots have changed in that time period. I mean downtown is generally dead when I've seen it but I'm not sure how that differs at nights/weekends. Brits and The Local are huge and feel much cooler full than at half capacity.
I just want to drop in and say Brit's fuckin rules. Went there last year and did some lawn bowling and I've been wanting to go back ever since.
It's ok. I'm suspicious of St Paul, but that's just from watching Rehab Addict off Discovery plus. I mean they can't all be large turn of the century homes over there.
Pick up a Woody Guthrie album and a beat up acoustic guitar and hang around the university neighborhood Spoiler
His autobiography is good, where I picked up the university neighborhood anecdote. Maybe something to read on the plane
Hating on St. Paul isn't even a controversial take. Lowertown has emerged recently and I guess Cathedral Hill and Highland Park have some redeeming qualities but it isn't a place that people from Minneapolis go often because you're typically driving past better places to get there. That being said, I do love Meritage and the patio at WA Frost.
nope, its in that weird spot of being a looooooong walk but also not anywhere i'd drive incidentally. just never reached the threshold of making a drive just to go.
Yeah, I understand. When I lived downtown I could take a 50 cent bus that was within a block of my house and goes down Nicollet or I would grab a cab/Uber going home. The walk was about 20 minutes which is doable but not ideal if it’s hot and you’re going to hang out. Each office I’ve worked in has been within 3-4 blocks so it’s common HH. One of the great things about Brits and The Local at HH is Target HQ is within a block so the scenery tends to be great (when they were in the office). Brits on a game day for soccer (world cup, Olympics, etc) is definitely worth experiencing. It’s also great for playing lawn bowling on other nights.