Cuisine: Italian

Restaurant Features: Bar, On-Site Parking

Locations: Bloomington, Burnsville, Coon Rapids, Maple Grove, Maplewood, Oakdale

Addresses & Maps:

Bloomington- 4701 American Blvd W. Bloomington, MN 55437 (952)841-4044

Burnsville- 1451 County Rd 42  Burnsville, MN 55306 (952)898-4200

Coon Rapids- 150 Coon Rapids Blvd Coon Rapids, MN 55443 (763) 786-1089

Maple Grove- 12520 Elm Creek Blvd N Maple Grove, MN 55369 (763) 420-9699

Maplewood- 1749 Beam Avenue Maplewood, MN 55109 (651) 773-0200

Oakdale- 8367 3rd Street N.  Oakdale, MN 55128 (651)264-1447

Roseville- 1525 County Rd C Roseville, MN 55113 (651) 638-9557
Saint Louis Park- 5235 Wayzata Blvd Saint Louis Park, MN 55416 (952) 544-4423

Links: Olive Garden website  

Atmosphere: One look at the house wines lining the walls, and there should be no doubt this is an Italian restaurant!  Cozy, warm and dimly-lit are the words I would use to describe the atmosphere.  Several small sections of the dining area offer privacy and romance.

How cute is this little indoor courtyard that greets you upon entry? The perfect place to have a glass of wine while waiting for your table!

Menu: Warm breadsticks and Italian house salad are brought out almost as soon as you place your meal order. 

Appetizers include brushetta, stuffed mushrooms, smoked mozzerella, calamari and shrimp scampi.

Entrees include classic Italian recipes such as lasagna, fettuccini alfredo, ravioli, manicotti, spaghetti and linguini, and chicken or eggplant Parmigiana.

Not in the mood for pasta? No worries…there are a variety of Italian pork, beef and chicken dishes as well.

Price guide: Appetizers: $6-10  Classic recipes $9-12 Meat entrees: $15-20

What I ordered: Baked Manicotti with a delicious blend of cheeses…so much cheese in fact, that I needed to order a meatball to balance it out a little.  Very rich.

My companions ordered the Tuscan Garlic Chicken (Pan-seared chicken breasts with roasted garlic, red peppers and spinach in a white wine and garlic cream sauce, tossed with curly fettuccine).  Absolutely delicious, I will order this dish next time.  The huge cloves of garlic laced throughout the dish are a garlic-lovers dream, a vampire's nightmare. 

and the Stuffed Chicken Marsala (Oven-roasted chicken breast stuffed with Italian cheeses and sun-dried tomatoes, topped with mushrooms and a creamy marsala sauce. Served with garlic parmesan mashed potatoes.)  Another delicious dish!

Service: Our waitress was very nice and friendly, patient throughout the ordering process.  She offered suggestions and offered us samples of the house wines.  She was very friendly and prompt in checking on us.

Overall Impression: The food and atmosphere at Olive garden is pretty much the same at every location you would visit. 

Cuisine: Steak, Chops & Ribs
Restaurant Features: Bar, On-Site Parking
Location: Coon Rapids, MN
Address: 2780 Main Street NW Coon Rapids, MN 55448 (763)862-3389
Links: Texas Roadhouse Website * Texas Roadhouse on Facebook

Atmosphere: Downhome FUN! As you walk in the front door, the first thing to greet you is a stand of cute, bubbly hostesses (make sure you Call Ahead to put your name on the list and get a confirmation number;the Texas Roadhouse is always PACKED).  Adjacent to the hostess stand is a juke box stocked with classic & popular hee-haw music; play a few of your favorites (complimentary) and listen to them play throughout the large U-shaped restaurant (bar is in the middle of the restaurant). Although the restaurant is quite large, the Roadhouse literally packs ‘em in, table-to-table with just a small path to the “Outhouse”  at the back of the restaurant.  The bathroom is not really an outhouse, but it does have only 3 stalls and a line almost out the door.

Apparently, the Texas Roadhouse is a popular spot for birthday celebrations; we knew this because no less than 6 times did the entire wait staff come together to serenade the birthday guest.  It was actually kind of funny to see, while being sung to, the birthday guest had to sit on a wooden “horse” complete with saddle, with the chandelier doubling as a “spotlight” on said guest. (In this case the guy with in the black sweater (back to camera) on the left side.

Menu: The Texas Roadhouse is known for their steaks. Check ‘em out before you order!

Beside the steaks pictures above, other popular menu items include Fall-off-the-bone ribs, chicken- fried-chicken, BBQ or smothered chicken, grilled porkchops, catfish and walleye.  If you’re hungry while looking over the menu, enjoy the peanuts and hot buns with sweet butter…they’re sure to tide you over. Texas Roadhouse Menu

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Price Guide:

Appetizers $5-9

Steaks: $9-$19

Ribs: $13-$17

Entrees: $8-$13

What I ordered:

The menu proclaimed its famous “made-from-scratch-recipe” Texas Chilli, so I chose that as one of the two sides that came with my steak.  I mistakenly assumed that “made from scratch recipe” meant homemade, but unless my taste buds deceive me, this chili tasted like it came straight out of a can.  Besides the chunky tomatoes and mildly-spicy kick, I was highly disappointed with the chili.  Next time I would defintely get the side house or ceasar salad as one of my sides instead.

Since the Texas Roadhouse is known for their steaks, I decided to go with the 12oz ribeye (medium)  smothered with muchrooms, onions and jack cheese, with texas steak fries as my second side.  The flavor of the mushrooms and the seasoning on the steak had a hint of garlic, pepper and salt.  The ribeye was cooked exactly to medium, but I thought it should have been more tender than it was, as it was a little on the tough side.  The fries were slightly crispy and nice and hot on the inside, lightly salted.

My companion ordered the 16oz prime rib (medium rare).  The cut was thick and tender as can be, with a slightly aged flavor.  The au jois was also very flavorful.  Probably the best large prime rib you will find for $17.99!

Service: Other than having to call ahead 2-3 hours before you’d like to dine-in, the service was very good.  As I mentioned earlier, the staff was very fun and friendly.  Our server did an excellent job keeping up with refilling the drinks for our party of six and kept bringing additional baskets of the warm buns.  Our food took approximately 30 minutes to arrive, but the peanuts and buns (not to mention good company) made the time pass extremely fast.

I will definitely go back to the Texas Roadhouse in the near future.

Cuisine: American, Burgers, Bakery, Ice Cream

Restaurant Features: Bar (beer only), Counter-Service, Games, On-Site Parking

Locations: Roseville (site of this review), Bloomington, Coon Rapids, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove and Saint Louis Park.

Addresses & Maps:

Roseville
2740 North Snelling Avenue, Roseville, MN  55113 651-636-3833
   

Bloomington
3801 Minnesota Drive, Bloomington, MN  55435  952-835-3833

Coon Rapids
8955 Spring Brook Road, Coon Rapids, MN  55433  242-780-2909
   

Eden Prairie
11825 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie, MN  55344    952-943-1010
   
   
   
   

Saint Louis Park
6445 Wayzata Blvd., Saint Louis Park, MN  55426   952-593-3833
   

Links:  Fuddrucker's website

Atmosphere: Fuddruckers is decorated with an "Oldies Rock" theme. Vinyl albums, posters and pictures of some of the classic oldies bands line the walls. There are even a couple of large round booths in the corners decorated as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The King. Large back room is a great place to invite a big group or throw a birthday party. Video games and arcade will keep the kids entertained for quite some time :)

Menu: Where else can you go besides Fuddrucker's and order the perfect size burger for your appetite? Choices are 1/3 lb, 1/2 lb, 2/3 lb and the 1 lb burger! Choose your own fixings and decorate your burger from a serve-yourself line adjacent to the pick-up counter. Besides the World's Greatest Hamburgers, they also offer chicken, fish, 1/4 lb beef hotdogs, and a variety of salads. Check out other menu items on the Fuddrucker's website.

All sides come ala carte: Onion rings, wedge-cut fries and chilli-cheese fries, nachos. Fuddrucker's also has a bakery and ice cream shoppe to entice your sweet-tooth. Mouth watering cookies and brownies are available at a very reasonable price! You can also create your own ice cream flavor from a variety of homemade flavors and toppings. Malts are also fabulous, try one! Oh, did I mention that all of their buns are baked fresh on-site daily and grilled to perfection?

Price Guide: Burgers range from $5.50 for the 1/3 to $8.50 for the pounder. This price does not include a side. Sides range from $1.69-$4.00

What I ordered: 2/3 lb southwest burger. Comes with monterrey jack, crispy bacon and guacamole. If you like to spice it up a bit, I highly recommend adding some fresh pico de gallo and/or banana peppers. I like a lot of guacamole, so I also ordered an additional side.

Hungry? You have to be to eat this amazing 1 lb burger with all the fixings!

Service: Order-at-counter-dining. You get a light-up coaster when your food is ready, and then pick-up at the food counter. Usually Fudd's cranks out the food pretty fast, even on a busy night. On this particular Monday night they were not busy at all, but we waited almost 25 minutes for our food. It was worth the wait!

Overall Impression:  Fabulous burgers, fun atmosphere & great bakery!  Exceptional place to bring the kids