Pizza Karma

A second outpost of Pizza Karma opened last fall in Maple Grove. We had been intending to visit the Eden Prairie location for awhile now, so I was happy to see it open in Maple Grove as well. We visited on a weekday evening and it was empty except for one other table. I hope they are busier on the weekends.

We started with the tandoor fired wings with dry rub of fresh ground spices. The wings were a bit small and anemic, but the dry rub had a great flavor. The spices were Indian-inspired and quite flavorful, but not spicy.

We had the chicken kebab pizza topped with chicken, tomato-fenugreek sauce, fresh mozzarella and onion pepper medley on plain crust. The naan crust was very light, crispy and airy. We both liked it a lot. It is a personal sized pizza, so one per person would be a nice serving size. We decided to share since we had the wings to start though.

Pizza Karma is a quick service restaurant, where you simply order at the counter and your food is brought out to your table as it is ready. The employee at the counter was helpful and friendly. The space was modern, open and airy. We enjoyed everything we tried and look forward to returning soon and trying some of their other unique pizza options.



Pizza Karma
11611 Fountains Dr
Maple Grove, MN 55369
Phone: (763) 432-7561
https://www.pizzakarma.com/

Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken

I noticed while shopping up in Maple Grove recently, that the Bonchon Korean Fried chicken recently opened. The website said they were in the midst of a soft opening, so we visited for a weekday dinner.

We started with the fried rice with eggs, onions, red bell pepper and Bonchon soy garlic sauce. I didn’t care for the bell peppers in the fried rice, but John liked it a lot.

We ordered a medium order of the wings (20 pieces) with half and half of two sauces, the soy garlic and spicy sauces. The spicy was actually spicy too. The chicken was very juicy and tender and I really liked the thin and crispy breading on the wings. Koren fried chicken is delicious. Of course, I don’t’ think I’ve found a type of fried chicken I do not like!

Cole slaw comes with the wings or you can choose pickled radish instead. The slaw was really good and helped tone down the spice of the wings.

The wings are available with only drumsticks, boneless wings or a combo of wings and drumsticks. They also offer a  variety of Asian and Asian fusion dishes on the menu ranging from buns, udon noodles soup and tons of other options.

The service was quick and efficient. It is a rather small sit down restaurant, but you can call in an order to go or get it delivered through Door Dash or similar delivery services.

Note: Bonchon is a chain. In Minnesota, there are additional locations in Uptown Minneapolis, Dinkytown and Mall of America with more locations coming soon.



Bonchon
11708 Elm Creek Blvd N
Maple Grove, MN 55369
Phone: (763) 760-7100
https://bonchon.com/korean-fried-chicken-maple-grove-mn/

Patrick's Bakery & Cafe

We visited Patrick’s in Maple Grove for brunch for the first time awhile back. John had been to the location near Southdale for lunch ages ago. We were seated immediately and had great service even though there was a large group next to us.

John had the Forestier burger, which is an angus beef burger on freshly baked baguette bread and topped with caramelized onions, mushrooms and bacon bits with French fries. He really liked that this is served on a baguette instead of a traditional hamburger bun. The fries were great also.

I had the ham and cheese croissant sandwich, which is a flaky croissant filled with ham, Dijon mustard, bechamel sauce and shredded mozzarella. The sandwich was served warm and had plentiful fillings. It was a lot of food and I liked the side salad and vinaigrette dressing. Everything tasted as great as it looked.

We found the service to be quick and friendly. We had a very enjoyable meal and would certainly return.


Patrick's Bakery & Café
The Shoppes at Arbor Lakes
12489 Elm Creek Blvd N
Maple Grove, MN 55369
Phone: (763) 420-7770
http://patricksbakerycafe.com/

Portillo's Maple Grove

I was fortunate enough to notice an email to Portillo's for a preview meal the week before their opening to the public. I snagged a time that worked for us and got confirmation via email and regular mail. The meal was free with a donation to a local charity.

We arrived to a packed parking lot and a line out the door, but the line moved very quickly. They had people writing the orders down so once you got to the register, the order just had to be input. The food took about 10 minutes to be ready, but by then I had managed to find a place to sit.

The food is not particularly photogenic, but it tasted a lot better than it looked. I had the Italian beef sandwich with cheese and hot peppers added. The cheese was shredded cheddar and a little sparse. The peppers really added flavor to the sandwich and I did ask it to be dipped in gravy. IT made the bun soggy, but added more flavor. The beef was tender, but didn't have a ton of flavor. I also had cheese fires that come with a small container of melted cheese, which tasted better than it looked. The crinkle fries were were good though.

John had the Maxwell Street Polish sausage topped with grilled onions. He said it looked a little burnt, but it tasted like the one he had in Chicago last time we visited. It is a spicier sausage.

Overall, the visit went much better than I expected. The service was fast, friendly and professional. They should be ready for the hordes to descend when they open to the public! We look forward to going back regularly.


Portillo's
12251 Elm Creek Blvd N
Maple Grove, MN 55369
Phone: (763) 316-0860
https://www.portillos.com/maplegrove/

Malone's Bar and Grill

We visited Malone's in Maple Grove for lunch on a Sunday recently. We needed a place with lots of TV's for NFL football on and this certainly fit the bill. They take reservations, which was a great selling point for our large group with small kids.

I had the buffalo chicken sandwich with grilled chicken, waffle fries and seasoned sour cream. The sandwich was good and the onion bun was very fresh and soft. The waffle fires were excellent, but the seasoned sour cream was not very good. It basically tasted like sour cream and not much seasoning.

Megan had the Jimmy burger, which was topped with fried onions, lettuce, tomato, American and cheddar cheese and Jimmy sauce. Jimmy sauce is basically like special sauce at McDonald's.  

John had the California burger and said it was good. It was topped with Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and guacamole.

I found the food much better than I expected and the service was good as well. The server did a good job with our group. I would certainly return to Malone's again. They have a lot of HD televisions, which is great; I don't think there is a bad seat in the house.


Malone's Bar and Grill 
12635 Elm Creek Blvd N
Maple Grove, MN 55369
Phone:(763) 447-6500

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers recently opened in Maple Grove. We stopped in for a quick weekend lunch to try the food. The service was fast and cheerful and the room was certainly busy and bustling.

We both ordered the Single Steakburger with cheese and a side of fries. The burger is made from high quality beef and served on a butter toasted bun. The burgers are quite thin as a result of the cooking process. The fries are very, very thin matchstick fries. They are very fresh and hot and tasted quite good. There is a special seasoning salt you can add to the fries and they have a special fry dipping sauce as well. Both just seemed to make everything quite salty however.

Other menu selections include frozen custard, chicken sandwiches, Chicago Style hot dogs, onion rings, chili, chili fries and chicken fingers, so there is something for almost everyone.

While the food was fine, I’m not finding any reasons to go out of my way to return. The burgers are very, very similar to Culver’s and there are a lot more Culver’s locations in Minnesota than Freddy’s locations. (Freddy’s does have a second location in Savage, MN.) The burgers appear to be made in a similar manner to Culver’s in that they are smashed thin on the grill and made from high quality meat. The menus are slightly different, but the custard selections seem similar as well.


Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers
11600 Fountains Dr
Maple Grove, MN 55369
763.600.6713
www.freddysusa.com

Three Squares

We visited Three Squares in Maple Grove recently for dinner on a Monday night. It was busy when we arrived, especially for a Monday night, with a wait for a table. We ended up finding a spot at the bar, so we just ate there.

John had the fish and chips. The fries were really good and the fish was also good. The breading was a bit heavy and thick, and the fish was light and flaky.

I wanted to try the perogies, so I got the steak and perogies entrée. For the price ($14.95) the steak was very good, cooked and ordered and very flavorful. The perogies were really good as well, with a horseradish dipping sauce on the side, for added flavor. The perogies are basically pasta filled with mashed potatoes and I liked them a lot. It is an out of the ordinary side dish.

The service at the bar was fine for our needs, though the bartender was very busy serving people eating at the bar and preparing drinks for the entire restaurant, so some people were waiting for things on occasion.

Deals & discounts: I highly recommend joining their eClub. We’ve been getting coupons on a pretty regular basis recently. On this visit we used a buy one get one free coupon. The only catch is that it was only good Monday through Friday.  There is also a Blue Plate Restaurants app available and you get a $10 off coupon just for adding the app to your phone. I think we will be using that coupon next!


Three Squares
12690 Arbor Lakes Parkway North
Maple Grove, MN 55369
(763) 425-3330

Chick-fil-a

Chick-fil-a has been in Minnesota as of this past summer. This should have been cause for celebration on my part! It has been a favorite of mine for years now, ever since I first tried it while visiting a childhood friend that lives in Atlanta. I have not done a post because I was not sure I wanted to promote the business in any way due to the CEO’s viewpoints. However, I decided that the sandwiches are just too tasty to ignore and I have loved Chick-fil-a long before that fiasco made the news.

Chick-fil-a’s  menu is not extensive, but it has more items on it than I recalled. They offer a breaded chicken sandwich, spicy chicken sandwich, salads, grilled chicken, wraps, chicken nuggets, chicken tenders and even breakfast.

On this visit I had the Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich and waffle fries. I always add some mayonnaise to my sandwich and remove the pickles. I just don’t love pickles. The chicken is a whole breaded chicken breast and not some preformed mystery meat like McDonalds. The breading is quite thin, crisp and light. I really like the fact that they have waffle fries instead of regular French fries. The waffle fry has better potato flavor and more surface area for the fry to become crisp and golden.

There are now six Chick-fil-a locations in Minnesota; U of M campus, MSP airport, Bloomington, Maple Grove, Apple Valley and  Coon Rapids. Maple Grove is closest to home for me. Just don’t forget that Chick-fil-a is not open on Sundays. We did that once and I should have known better!


Chick-fil-a
11820 Fountains Way
Maple Grove, MN ‎
(763) 416-1773
www.chick-fil-a.com

3 Squares - 12/17/11

Maple Grove is chock full of chain restaurants; some good, some not so good. 3 Squares is part of a locally owned chain, the Blue Plate Restaurant company and because it is locally owned I tend to not think of it as a chain in the traditional sense, but I guess it really is. All of the restaurants in the Blue Plate chain are pretty good. Some examples of sister restaurants are: Edina Grill, Highland Grill, Scusi and The Lowry. All have slightly different menus from what I've noticed, but they all have a few things in common like the yummy sweet potato fries, solid burgers and good breakfasts. 

On this visit I ordered a special, the short rib sliders and sweet potato fries. I love, love, love the sweet potato fries at all of the Blue Plate restaurants. They come with this really awesome chipotle aioli dipping sauce. The sauce probably has something to do with mayonnaise, but it is just a little bit spicy to jazz up the sweet potato fries. The short rib sliders were really good because the meat was very tender. 

John ordered the bacon cheeseburger. Look at that quality bacon on the burger! The burger was very good and cooked to order.

They accidentally brought John sweet potato fries and not the regular fries he ordered so he ended up with a giant plate of regular fries. The waitress was very quick about bringing out the correct fries for him.

We've been to 3 Squares before and would absolutely return again. The service was friendly and efficient.

Deals: 3 Squares has an excellent happy hour and a great variety of tap beers with a nice selection of local beers. I recommend checking out their website or calling for the most up to date specials. They also have a rewards card and/or stamp card program.

3 Squares

12690 Arbor Lakes Parkway
Maple Grove MN, 55369
Tel: 763-425-3330
Fax: 763-494-3339
www.3squaresrestaurant.com