Lucky Cricket

Another revisit for us. Lucky Cricket at the Shops at West End. Sorry for another rerun, but I think this place will take awhile to warm up to for us and everyone else.  I want to like it. I really do. But I'm just more sure. We decided to give it another try because it is close by and convenient.

We started with the pork dumplings. I'd call these solid. We both liked this dish.  

We also had the chicken wings. The sauce was soy based and the wings were nice cooked. These were also solid.

 Next, we had the Peking chicken. the chicken was juicy and cooked perfectly. 

And last, was the kung pao shrimp. the shrimp were so tiny and sad. The sauce had a good garlic flavor, but I just could not get past the sad, sad shrimp. I would not order this again. Not worth the $17 price tag.

The service was a bit on the slow side. We had to ask for plates on two different occasions. They were happy to clear things, but very slow to reset the table. We found ourselves waiting for drinks for one time and also for the check.

Overall, I think this visit was a bit better than our first visit, but it certainly was not great. I'm still not sure anyone really knows what this place is supposed to be. If it is an Asian restaurant, the food needs more work. If it is a tiki bar, the drinks need some work. Maybe it will continue to improve the longer it is open. We can hope anyway.

Link to our first Lucky Cricket visit:
http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2018/12/lucky-cricket.html



Lucky Cricket
1607 West End Blvd
St Louis Park, MN 55416
Phone: (952) 206-6830
https://luckycricket.net/

Lucky Cricket

We get pretty excited for anything tiki themed, so when we heard that Lucky Cricket, a tiki themed place with Chinese food owned and operated by Andrew Zimmern, was opening in the West End Shops in St Louis Park, we were pretty excited. However, the reviews and press have been rather underwhelming so far. But we decided to check it out for ourselves anyway.

 It was a cold and snowy day, perfect for a quick tiki getaway!

John had the Ancient Mariner drink that included rums, pimento, grapefruit and lime. I had the mai tai. The mai tai tasted ok but I was not thrilled it was a frozen drink.

Later, I ordered the Cherry Zinger drink that actually arrived in a tiki mug. This was local vodka with cherry, almond, lime and secret bitters.

For food, we started with sheng jian bao, crispy pork dumplings with vinegar, soy, ginger dipping sauce.

 Next, we had an order of fried rice. It was OK, nothing great.

Up next, the crispy glazed 18 hour ribs with hunan peanut chile sauce. The ribs OK, pretty tender, but not a ton of flavor or spice. We maybe should have added some of the chile oil on the table to the sauce to spice things up a bit.

The Szechuan wontons were last to arrive, I think the serer forgot to put the order in as they did not arrive until we asked about them.

 John had green tea ice cream for dessert. It was topped with fruit and toasted coconut. 

Overall, the service was a bit off. He forgot one item until we asked for it and things felt rushed overall, like he was trying to turn the table. But it was not that busy when we arrived or left, it was late afternoon. So it seems like a new place that is still working out a lot of the kinks and issues. Hopefully the food improves quickly, or this will be a short lived venture.

On a positive note, the room is really cool and has lots of fun touches all around. Might be a good spot to just stop in for a drink or apps before a movie, rather than a full meal.



Lucky Cricket
1607 West End Blvd
St Louis Park, MN 55416
Phone: (952) 206-6830
https://luckycricket.net/

Punch Bowl Social happy hour

John and I went to Punch Bowl Social for happy hour the other day. We just grabbed spots right at the bar, though it wasn’t very busy as all of the games were booked for a private party. They had a variety of food and beverage specials and happy hour runs from 3-6pm.

At the recommendation of our bartender/server I tried the Lil Street Tacos, which were filled with cocoa dusted pork carnitas, salsa adobo, crema,  radish, queso cotija, lime and cilantro. The prok was very tender and juicy with great flavor.

One taco was not enough, so I ordered two more to make it a meal. Not a bad deal at $2 each.

We also had the chips and dip, which were kettle chips with charred inion crème frache. The chips were decent and the onion dip was great. Great snack to nibble on.

John had the Knock Jr. burger which was grass-fed hormone-free patty, comeback sauce, pickled onion, lettuce, American cheese, sesame seed bun and fries. This was a decent sized burger for a happy hour item priced at $8.00. The only difference between this and the normal burger is the patty was smaller and the other one costs $13.

The service was just fine at the bar and the bartender had some excellent food recommendations, so I am glad I listened to her. I think we need to go back and try some items from the regular menu as it looks interesting. The food is solid for happy hour, so one would assume it is just as good or better for full entrees.


Punch Bowl Social
The Shops at West End
1691 Park Pl Blvd
Minneapolis, MN 55416
Phone: (763) 400-3865

Cooper Irish Pub

We visited the Cooper Irish Pub after a movie at the Shops at the West End in St Louis park recently. I thought I had already done a write up on the Cooper, but I guess not. It is one of the pubs under the same ownership as the Local, Liffey and Kieran's in Minneapolis and St Paul. The menus are quite similar, if not the same and the drinks are the same, with all featuring the Big Ginger, which is a favorite drink of mine. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of the Big Ginger. It contains Two Gingers Irish whiskey, ginger ale, a lemon wedge and a lime wedge. It is pretty simple and quite refreshing and tasty.

John had the fish and chips with cod. The fish and chips is good, not as good as Anchor Fish and chips, but definitely good. The portion is very large and you can select from cod or Canadian walleye for your fish.

I had the chicken shots, which are chicken pieces lightly battered with a tangy 2 gingers whisky glaze and ranch sauce for dipping. It is a nice snack or appetizer item and I was not that hungry after snacking on popcorn during the movie, so this was perfect for me. The sauce is not spicy, but kind of sweet and sour.

We sat at the bar on this visit as there was a wait for a table and spots at the bar just opened up. The service was acceptable and it was getting very crowded by the time we left around 8pm. It is a good place to stop in and grab a drink before or after a movie.

Deals & discounts: Finally, some happy hour deals! Cooper has a great happy hour with food and beverage specials and it runs at both early and late times. I recommend checking the website for a current menu and times. Though I am not sure that is accurate, we were there on a Saturday before 6pm and got happy hour drinks, but according to the website, they do not offer happy hour on Saturdays, so I'm don't think the website is correct.


Cooper Irish Pub
1607 Park Pl Blvd,
St Louis Park, MN 55416
(952) 698-2000
http://www.cooperpub.com/

Bonefish Grill

We stopped into Bonefish Grill on a Tuesday night for a quick dinner. It was not busy at all and we were seated right away. I suspect things are a lot busier on the weekends though, when the West End gets quite busy. Reservations are accepted.

The server brought some bread and olive oil with pesto to start.

We ordered the Bang Bang Shrimp at our server’s suggestion for our appetizer. They are crispy, lightly breaded shrimp with a spicy and slightly creamy sauce on them. They were quite flavorful, though the shrimp were a bit on the smallish side. Also, the bottom of this dish was filled with lettuce, so the portion was not as large as it looks in the photo.

I ordered the Spicy Tuna Bowl. It is seared ahi tuna with avocado, sweet chili sauce, jasmine rice and passion fruit salsa. The tuna tasted fresh and the portion was quite generous. Once you assembled a little bit of each element on the plate, the combination was very flavorful. Since I enjoy working with my food, I liked this dish, but I can see that some people might not appreciate it.

John had the Wood Grilled Sea Scallops and Shrimp. While this sounded like it was perfect for him, he thought the scallops were pretty salty and the shrimp were a tad mushy. So it left a lot to be desired. He liked the jasmine rice and the pea pods were crunchy and fresh tasting.

Overall, the food was OK. I don’t think we were overly impressed. While the menu has more variety than other chain seafood places, I don’t think the quality impressed us very much. We did find the service to be very good. Our server was quite attentive throughout our visit.



Bonefish Grill
1607 West End Blvd
St Louis, MN 55416
(952) 746-4058
https://www.bonefishgrill.com/

Crave

We visited Crave at the Shops at the West End recently before a movie. Crave is not usually at the top of our lists, but we had a gift card to use.

We had a reservation and while the entry was full of people waiting, we were seated right away. The server stopped by shortly after we were seated. The bar area was packed and the dining room was full as well. The room is certainly comfortable and attractive.

We started with the tuna poke and it was probably my favorite item we ordered. The tuna and avocado was fresh and flavorful and the portion was pretty generous.

The volcano roll was topped with scallops and had snow crab, cucumber and avocado with a sweet and spicy sauce.

The steak sliders had Angus beef, juniper mayonnaise, crispy onions and pickled jalapeño. The steak was tender, but a bit on the well done side and the juniper mayo had a strong pine flavor that we did not care for very much. While unique, I don't think the juniper flavor complemented the steak and onions very well.

While our visit was fine, I always feel a little underwhelmed when I visit Crave, but I am not sure exactly why. Have you been to any of the Crave locations? What do you think of it?

Deals & discounts: A nice variety of food and drink specials are offered on their daily happy hour, which is held both early and late in the evening. The early happy hour runs Monday - Friday form 3-6pm and Saturday from 11-5pm and a late happy hours runs Sunday - Thursday from 9 to close and Saturday from 10 to midnight.


Crave
1603 West End Boulevard
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
(952) 933-6500

Raku Sushi - revisited

We went back to Raku sushi again as they had another Groupon deal. It is hard to resist those when you know it is good food and a good deal. 

John had the megu sashimi roll with no rice, spicy tuna, asparagus, yellowtail inside, wrapped with soybean paper, topped with salmon, eel, avocado, caviar and crunch, served with special spicy sauce.

I had the snow thrill roll with tuna, salmon, yellowtail and avocado inside, topped with crunch flakes, served with spicy mayo and eel sauce.

The service was just fine again on this visit. 

Deals and Discounts: Groupon had a deal back in just recently for $15 for a $30 certificate, which we jumped on. When we arrived I also noticed they had signs for a variety of happy hour specials as well. I would call or visit their website for the current happy hour deals, as I am sure the offerings can change frequently. 

Here is the link to our last visit: http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2013/02/raku-sushi-and-lounge.html

Raku Sushi and Lounge5371 W 16th StSt Louis Park, MN 55416(952) 378-1803http://www.rakumn.com/

Rojo Mexican Grill

This is the winter that refuses to end and just when you think you can't take it anymore, it snows again. In April. And in May. So when life hands you lemons, or limes, why not drink margaritas during a blizzard. It just might make you feel a bit better. So that is what we did for happy hour during another one of the snowstorms recently.

strawberry jalapeno margarita- spicy!

Rojo Cadillac margarita- quite good!

beef red chile burro

three cheese quesadilla

shrimp tacos

I liked the shrimp tacos and they had good flavor, but were not spicy at all. The rice is very bland as are the refried beans. Though John's strawberry jalapeno margarita was really spicy! All I could taste was hot, not strawberry at all. Michele liked the quesadilla because it only contained ingredients she liked-- the chicken and the cheese. John had the beef burro, which is a burrito, but they call it a burro for some odd reason. John said the sauce was not very spicy and the meat was bland as well.

The service was very good during our entire visit. The waitress checked back with us frequently. The food was all good, but nothing amazing. Though there was nothing wrong with anything we ordered and no problems with the service. I felt like this after my last visit here. Everything was fine, but there was nothing I loved so much that I can't wait to come back. For some reason the prices here always seem a little bit high compared to the portion sizes. Or maybe I just have not found the perfect entree here yet.

Deals & Discounts: Lots of happy hour deals to be had here. They offer both an early and a late night happy hour. Check out the current offerings here: http://rojomexicangrill.com/happy-hour


Rojo Mexiacan Grill
1602 West End Blvd
St Louis Park, MN 55416
(952) 657-5385
http://rojomexicangrill.com/

Raku Sushi and Lounge

A new location of Raku Sushi opened at the Shops at the West End near the end of 2012. The area is becoming a very popular destination for dining and date night as the Showplace Icon movie theater is located there as well.

The restaurant is more interesting inside than I was expecting as well. When you enter, there is a host stand and off to the right is a small bar area. Behind the host stand are several tables covered in yellow stone and lit from within. The chairs and tables are built-ins you step down into and made from that stone and they look really neat, though I don't imagine you can move your chair or table around at all. There is a larger seating area in the back, with red booths and origami birds strung from the ceiling that look very pretty. The menu also had a much wider variety than I was expecting as they have a variety of Japanese entrees on the menu in addition to sushi selections.

We started with the pork goyza, which were excellent, although I was starving and I forgot to take a photo of them. They were pan seared and had just the right amount of crunch on the exterior.

I tried the lotus special roll, which had spicy tuna and yamagobo inside and tuna, avocado and spicy mayo sauce on the outside. I had no idea what yamogobo was, but it turns out it is a vinegar marinated ginger root. When I was eating the sushi roll, I thought it was carrot because it did not have much flavor. The sushi roll was great and I would definitely order it again.

John was feeling super adventurous and ordered the marine sashimi platter. It was 18 pieces of assorted fish ranging from fatty tuna, yellow tail tuna, salmon, red snapper, shrimp, fluke and tomato, which was described as an omelet.  The portion was quite large, very filling and all of the fish tasted very fresh.

The service was good and the food arrived pretty quickly. Our server was great at keeping our water glasses refilled and checking back to see if we needed anything on a regular basis. Overall, we had a great time and I think we will return again soon.

Deals and Discounts: Groupon had a deal back in December for $15 for a $30 certificate, which I jumped on. When we arrived I also noticed they had signs for a variety of happy hour specials as well. I would call or visit their website for the current happy hour deals, as I am sure the offerings can change frequently.


Raku Sushi and Lounge
5371 W 16th St
St Louis Park, MN 55416
(952) 378-1803
http://www.rakumn.com/