Ray J's American Grill

Note: I visited the establishment and wrote this post before the virus shut down everything. I've decided to go ahead and continue posting as it was a snapshot in time. Many places are still open for carryout. Be sure to visit your favorite places during this crazy time. Support what you love. Now is the time!

Ray J's is often on the lists for best wings in the Twin Cities, but we had never gotten around to trying them. I'm not really sure why as the Northeast location isn't that far away for us.

We tried the smoky ranch and buffalo flavors for our full order of wings. The wings are the whole wing that is not cut, which I don't love because I find them hard to eat. That aside, their wings were quite good- crispy skin and juicy chicken. We liked the smoky ranch wings a bit better then the buffalo wings.

The waffle fries were ok, they are the coated variety of fry that I'm not crazy about, but these were hot and fresh. The seasoned sour cream was really great.

The service was great, very quick and efficient.


Ray J's American Grill 
500 Central Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Phone: (612) 353-4554
https://www.ray-js.com/location/minneapolis/

Mac's Industrial Sports bar

I believe I spotted Mac’s Industrial on a list of best wings in the Twin Cities, so of course we had to check it out. It is definitely a bar and pretty no frills one at that. But we found the food to be surprisingly solid and a step above bar food at most places. 

John had the buffalo wings. The wings were large in size and had a nice grilled finish so the skin on the exterior was a bit crisp. Very good. The buffalo sauce was good as well, it was the gilled finish that really made these good for me. 

I had the tostada nachos topped with beef, cheese and jalapenos and lettuce, sour cream and pico on the side. These were good and not too greasy either. The tostadas stayed crisp and the beef had good flavor too. I would order these again.

Mac’s had a wide range of tap beers, lots of local selections and a full bar as well. The service was solid too. No waiting for anything at all. It is hard to find sports bars with decent food, and Mac’s certainly worth a stop.

Mac's Industrial Sports Bar

312 Central Ave SE 

Minneapolis, MN 55414

Phone: (612) 379-3379

http://macsindustrial.com/

City Works

I had signed up for the birthday club for City Works some time ago, when considering going there before a downtown concert. So the coupon seemed like a good excuse to check it out. We went during an out of town Vikings game and it turned out to be a pretty fun place to watch a game. They had a ton of televisions and during the commercial breaks a DJ played music and funny videos.

I had the buffalo shrimp, which the waitress described as a City Works signature item. The shrimp were served atop blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles with pickled carrots on the side. I’ve had the buffalo shrimp at Redstone a lot and so these were compared to their version. The City Works buffalo shrimp were not bad. The sauce buffalo sauce was certainly spicy and the blue cheese had great flavor. The shrimp were just a tad smaller than the Redstone shrimp, so overall, these were quite good. I do think Redstone’s buffalo sauce is less spicy and had a better smoky flavor.

John had the Carolina Fried Chicken sandwich with spicy bread and butter pickles, mustard BBQ sauce and lettuce on a brioche bun. The fries were piping hot and seasoned nicely.

We found the service to be excellent throughout our stay. Redeeming the birthday credit required a bit of footwork online, but the manager came by and explained the process to us clearly and was very helpful and friendly.

Our only gripe about City Works is probably the prices of the beer for the amount served. For example, all the beer was served in a tulip style glass, which holds fewer ounces, but the glassware did not make sense for the types of beer were ordered. I had a Lift Bridge Farm Girl and it was $7.00 (can be seen in background of my shrimp photo) for probably 10 ounces. Nothing was served in pint glasses at all. The beer selection was very lengthy and a lot of local and hard to find offerings were available, which is a plus.  

Overall, I think city Works is a solid choice for downtown Minneapolis. I don’t know that I would go out of my way to return, but it is a worthy place to stop if you are downtown for an event nearby.

City Works

600 Hennepin Ave 

Minneapolis, MN 55403

Phone: (612) 361-2900

https://www.cityworksrestaurant.com/minneapolis/

RS Sports Grill

Now that Redstone in Minnetonka has moved across the street into Ridgedale Mall, the old building has been rebranded as RS Sports Grill. The interior looks pretty much the same as before, but they have added a lot of flat screen TVs all around the restaurant. It would be a good place to watch football or something.

John had a buffalo chicken sandwich with waffle fries and seasoned sour cream. The sandwich was OK, the fries were decent and the seasoned sour cream was acceptable. The buffalo sauce seemed to be simply Franks Red Hot sauce. I guess I had been hoping for something more like the Redstone buffalo sauce, which is very flavorful.

I had the cheeseburger sliders. The hamburgers were cooked perfectly, but did not have a lot of flavor. I did like the deep fried pickles on each. A nice touch.

The service was OK, but I don’t think either one of us were too impressed with them menu selections. The menu seemed a bit limited and what we had was not very impressive. I had been hoping for more creative and better executed bar food, but I think we got average bar food. Hopefully, it time they revise the menu and step things up a bit.


RS Sports Grill
12501 Ridgedale Dr
Minnetonka, MN 55305
Phone: (952) 544-0993

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

Outtakes Bar and Grill - at the New Hope Cinema Grill

This summer a few new restaurants have opened in our neck of the woods, but the best of the bunch has to be Outtakes Bar and Grill. It is next door to the New Hope Cinema Grill and has the same owners. The Cinema Grill has always had better than average food anyway, so I was hoping Outtakes would be just as good and it was.

I has the BBQ flatbread that has BBQ sauce, cheese, chicken, bacon and onions on it. I really liked the thin, crisp crust. The BBQ sauce had a nice flavor, if a bit on the sweet side. The portion was filling and generous and I took some home to eat the next day.

John had the buffalo chicken sandwich with waffle fries. He liked the sandwich a lot. The chicken was grilled and had buffalo sauce, tomato and lettuce on a lightly toasted bun. The portion of waffle fries was large. I believe all sandwiches come with chips and you can upgrade to waffle fries for an extra charge of $1.99. Even after adding the waffle fries, the prices are in line with similar sports bars in the area for similar food quality.

Both were solid choices and we will certainly return again soon. The location is close to home and very convenient. It’s always nice to have a go-to place that you don’t have to drive very far to get to. The service was quite good as well. I found it slightly amusing that the servers take down your order on a cell phone. At first, I thought the server was texting at our table while taking our order. After watching  her do the same at other tables I realized that is part of the ordering system apparently.  The space has been newly remodeled and is rather sleek and modern looking. We are definitely looking forward to returning often.

Deals and Discounts: Outtakes has a daily happy hour from 3-6pm and a late night happy hour from 9-midnight. They currently offer deals on both food and drink as well as a daily food special. More details are available on their website: http://outtakesbar.com/Home/Happy



Outtakes Bar and Grill
2749 Winnetka Ave N
New Hope, MN 55427
(763) 417-0017
http://outtakesbar.com/

Stanley's

Stanley's in Northeast Minneapolis is quickly becoming a favorite stop of ours. They have a great selection of beers on tap and a great menu with a wide variety of choices. The service is always friendly and quick as well. It is definitely a good place to watch football or basketball games on TV since they have quite a few TV's.

I love the pretzels at Stanley's! I've ordered them the last couple times we have visited. The honey mustard dipping sauce has great flavor and the pretzels taste freshly made as they arrive warm. These are probably the best pretzels I've found around town!

John ordered a burger and did the build your own burger with bacon and Swiss cheese. He said the bacon was very tasty and it was a solid burger overall.

I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich with bacon and pepper jack cheese. It caught my eye on the menu as it also had the honey mustard sauce on it. The sandwich was quite good. I am not that crazy about the french fries for some reason. They have some sort of coating on them that does not improve them at all.

Deals and Discounts: There is a coupon in the 2013 Entertainment book for Stanley's this year. They are a new addition to the book and a good one too. The coupon is buy one entree get one free (up to $10 off). Stanley's also has a good happy hour and wide variety of specials all the time. We were unable to use the coupon on this visit as they had bloody Mary's on special and we could not use the coupon with other specials. That's ok, we will use the coupon next time.


Stanley's 

2500 University Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
(612) 788-2529
http://www.stanleysbarroom.com