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/