***A New review of Good Earth dated 1/29/12 can be found here***

Cuisine: Healthy Eating, American
Restaurant Features: On-Site Parking

Locations: Roseville, MN  Edina, MN
Addresses & Maps:
Roseville- 1910 West Highway 36  Roseville, MN 55113 651-636-0956
Edina- Galleria 3460 Galleria Edina, MN 55435 952-925-1001
Hours: Monday-Saturday 7am-10pm Sunday 7am-9pm

Links: Good Earth Website * Good Earth on Facebook

Atmosphere: The inside of the Good Earth has an natural feel to with earth-colored decor.  There are booths around the outside of the restaurant and several wooden tables and chairs in the middle, easy to combine for larger groups.

Menu: Breakfast foods include fresh juices & smoothies, Organic Oatmeal, Granola, Ten-grain Hotcakes, Buttermilk Pancakes, Corn Cakes, Cinnamon French Toast, Wild Mushroom Omelette, Veggie Omelette, Tomato Basil Omelette, Turkey Sausage Scramble, Grilled Salmon Hash, Good Earth Huevoa, Breakfast Quesadillas, Black Bean Roaster, Breakfast Wrap, Bacon & Eggs, and the Heartland Breakfast.

Woks & Steamers include Coconut Curried Shrimp, Szechuan Chicekn, Steamed Veggies & Brown Rice, Mandarin Orange Beef, Thai Chicken Noodles, Steamed Salmon & Veggies, Seared Shrimp.

Sandwiches include Thai Chicken Wrap, Harvest Wrap, Grilled Shrimp Club, Cashew Chicken Melt, Almond Tuna Salad, Turkey Club, Grilled Veggie, Smoked Turkey and Provolone, Turkey Burger, Planet Burger,and Bison Burger.

Entrees include Teriyaki Chicken, Thai Chicken Satay, Scallops and Penne, Chicken Quesadillas, Whole Wheat Tostada, Salmon Cakes, Vegetarian Enchiladas, Lemon Caper Tilapia, Grilled Salmon and Mango Salsa, Turkey Meatloaf, Black Beans & Rice, Wild Salmon with Root Vegetables, Greek Pizza and Thai Chicken Pizza.

Good Earth also has a large selection of fresh soups and salads.

Price guide: Breakfast $7-10  Woks & Steamers $11-15  Sandwiches $9-11  Entrees $9-15
What I ordered: To start with, we were given a nice basket of breads, including crispy, flat crackers and fresh multi-grain bread, served with a side of fresh hummus.

I was torn between getting the chicken quesadilla, veggie enchilada, or Thai chicken wrap, so I asked my server his opinion.  He said that of the three, the Thai Chicken wrap had the most flavor and was on the spicy side, so I went with his suggestion.  I thought the wrap was good, but it wasn’t packed with as much flavor as I was hoping, although I could taste each individual vegetable and the only spice I detected was  cilantro. The peanut sauce was good, but very thin.

My companion ordered the veggie enchilada.  I wish I would’ve gone with this entree! It was loaded with sauteed veggies including a variety of peppers, so it was packed with flavor! I am not positive, but I think the rice was cilantro-lime.

Service:We were able to be seated immediately.  Our server was very knowledgeable about the menu and helpful (although I was disappointed with his suggestion).
Overall Impression: The restaurant filled up very quickly by 6pm with people eagerly awaiting  healthier food choices.  Good Earth is a good choice for the health-conscious on a reasonable buck for fresh and organic ingredients.

***A New review of Good Earth dated 1/29/12 can be found here***

*****A NEWER Review of Big Bowl Chinese & Thai dated 5/6/12 can be found here*****

Cuisine: Chinese and Thai

Restaurant Features: Bar

Locations: Roseville (site of this review), Edina, Wayzata

Addresses:

Roseville (Rosedale Center)  1705 Highway 36 West  Roseville, MN 55113 (651) 636-7173

Edina 3669 Galleria Edina, MN 55435 (952) 928-7888

Minnetonka (Ridgedale Center)  12649 Wayzata Blvd Minnetonka, MN 55305 (952) 797-9888

Links: Big Bowl Website * Big Bowl Facebook Page * Google Map

Atmosphere: Located inside Rosedale Mall, Big Bowl is a large restaurant with a trendy Asian flair.  There are several booths around the edges of the dining area and in the bar area, with many smaller tables within the middle.  At the back of the restaurant near the kitchen is an area for make-your-own stir-fry.

Menu: Appetizers include steamed Chinese dumplings, veggie or chicken pot stickers, hot buns filled with pork, chicken satay, egg rolls, Thai-beef lettuce wraps, shrimp summer roll, teriyaki spare ribs, calamari, and a few soups and salads.  Thai curry dishes include yellow curry with chicken or veggies, panang curry chicken, scallop and shrimp citrus curry, thai green vegetable curry.  Chicken dishes include kung pao, orange peel, lemon chicken, chicken with vegetables, and Thai hot pepper chicken.  Beef dishes include Mongolian, Kung pao, and beef with broccoli.  Seafood dishes include crunchy sichuan cashew shrimp, Thai hot pepper shrimp with basil and peanuts,  crunchy sichuan scallops, sweet ginger sea scallops and shrimp, and teriyaki glazed fresh salmon.  Pad Thai is Big Bowl’s signature dish, try it with vegetables/tofu, chicken, shrimp or salmon.  Big Bowl also has a make-it-yourself stirfry bar option.  You choose your vegetables, meat, sauce, and noodles and they will cook it for you.

Price guide: Appetizers $6-9  Entrees $8-15

What I ordered: My companion and I started with an order of the veggie pot stickers (Classic pan fried northern Chinese dumplings stuffed with cilantro, green onions, crushed peanuts)  It was also served with three dipping sauces, sweet and sour, plum and sesame mustard.  Excellent choice! These pot stickers had a ton of flavor and excellent texture.

I wanted to try a curry dish and decided to go with the Panang Curry Chicken
(chicken, light peanut-coconut curry, peas, snow peas served over jasmine rice).  This dish was packed with flavor! The sauce was indeed “light” if they mean “thin”.  It was delicious, but I think would prefer it with a little more peanut flavor and if it were a tad bit thicker.  The vegetables were very good, but the texture of the chicken was kind of slimy.  I enjoyed the first ten bites or so and then got kind of bored with it.

My companion ordered pad Thai with vegetables.  This seemed to be a hit! I tried a little bit of it and thought the noodles had good flavor.  As you can see, there were a lot of veggies in the dish.

Service: The host staff was very friendly, as was our server.  I think the server may have been new though, as he was not as knowledgeable about the menu as he could’ve been.

Overall Impression: Great ambiance and decent food.

Cuisine: Italian, Pizza

Restaurant Features: Bar, On-Site Parking (for all but Rosedale Mall location)

Location: Burnsville, Edina, Minnetonka, and Roseville, MN

Addresses & Maps:

Burnsville- 1025 Country Road 42 Burnsville, MN 55337 (952) 898-4366

Edina- 7651 France Ave S Edina, MN 55435 (952) 844-0084

Minnetonka- 11390 Wayzata Blvd Minnetonka, MN 55305 (952) 417-9880

Links: Macaroni Grill website * Macaroni Grill on Facebook

Atmosphere: Dimly lit and somewhat romantic, you might not even realize that you are situated within the Rosedale Mall.  There is a mix of tables and booths underneath a wooden faux-gazebo structure.

Menu: Appetizers include bruschetta, fried mozzarella, shrimp & artichoke dip, calamari, crab-stuffed mushrooms and parmesan crusted artichokes.

Pasta dishes include the Pasta Romano, penne rustica, shrimp portofino, vodka rustica, seafood linguine or create-your-own pasta from a choice of pastas and sauces.  Stuffed pastas include lobster ravioli, chicken cannelloni, and chicken marsala ravioli.

Classic dishes include chicken or veal marsala, chicken, eggplant or veal Parmesan, fettuccine Alfredo, spaghetti with meatballs, chicken and shrimp scaloppine and twice baked lasagna.

Meat entrees include chicken portabello, steak, grilled halibut or salmon, grilled porkchops, and honey balsalmic chicken  There are also a selection of brick-oven pizzas, salads and soups.

Price guide: Appetizers- $5-10   Pastas- %9-16  Meat Entrees- $12-21

What we ordered: Macaroni Grill always provides free loaves of their fresh, hot bread.  Break off a piece and dip it in the olive oil provided.  Delish! The texture is light, similar to ciabatta.

For my entree I ordered the Mama’s Trio, a sampler of the chicken parmesan, chicken canneloni, and twice baked lasagna.  The chicken parmesan was very good, as was the lasagna (however the lasagna was warm at best, not hot).  The cannelloni had nice flavor, but the outer shell was pretty dry and crunchy.

My companion ordered the chicken parmesan entree, served on a  bed of angel hair pasta.  The size of this chicken was magnificent!  The combination of textures with the chicken and angel hair pasta was a big hit.

Service: The hosts and serving staff were very friendly and pleasant.  Drinks and food served in a timely fashion.

Overall Impression: Decent Italian food if you like chain-style restaurants. Prices are comparable to other Italian restaurants of the same caliber, good service.

Cuisine: Chinese

Restaurant Features: Bar

Location: Edina

Address: Southdale Center 2700 Southdale Center Edina, MN 55435 (952) 926-1713

Links: PF Chang’s Website * PF Changs on Facebook * Google Map

Atmosphere: PF Chang’s considers themselves  a “stylish, high-energy bistro” and I would have to agree; swanky and dimly-lit, this is not your typical Chinese restaurant!  The tables are all set within this massive space (nice for accommodating larger parties), with large booths lined around the outside of the room.  Large bar spaning thew back of the restaurant, with Chinese murals painted on the wall.

Menu: Appetizers include include Chang’s chicken lettuce wraps, crab wontons, peking dumplings, spring rolls, seared tuna, and fried calamari.  Hot & sour soup, wonton soup, shrimp salad, and salmon salad are the popular soup & salad choices.  Entrees include almond cashew chicken, lomein, shrimp with lobster sauce, Cantonese roasted duck, Chang’s Spicy chicken, ginger chicken and broccoli, black bean chicken, orange peel, lemon or sweet and sour chicken.  There is a large variety of scallop and shrimp dishes (kung pao shrimp, Chang’s lemon scallops, etc).

Price guide: Appetizers $9-14 Entrees $14-24

What We ordered:

Black Bean Chicken (Slices of chicken, stir-fried in a black bean sauce).

Salt and Pepper Prawns (Stir-fried in a salt and pepper mix of chili peppers, black beans, ginger and green onions. Served with a sweet mustard sauce. ) Nice texture to the shrimp and I loved the sweet mustard sauce for dipping.

Spicy Chang’s Chicken (Lightly dusted and stir-fried in a sweet Sichuan sauce).  I loved this dish! The chicken had just the right combination of sweet and spicy.

Chow mein (Egg noodles stir-fried with chicken).

Combination fried Rice (Mixed with egg, soy and sliced scallions, beef, chicken, pork and shrimp.)

We were celebrating a birthday and got this complimentary chocolate cake (Six layers of rich chocolate cake frosted with semi-sweet chocolate chips and served with raspberry sauce. ).  Delish!

Service:Pretty good, considering our server had a big section and was very busy.

Overall Impression: Food is excellent, but expensive!

Cuisine: Burgers, American, Ice Cream

Restaurant Features: On-Site Parking

Locations: Edina, Highland Park, Minnetonka, Roseville

Addresses & Maps:

Edina- 4502 Valley View Rd Edina, MN 55424 (952) 920-0949

Highland Park- 244 Cleveland Ave S, St Paul, MN‎ – (651) 690-1846‎

Minnetonka-17519 Minnetonka Blvd, Minnetonka, MN‎ – (952) 475-1850‎

Roseville- 1125 Larpenteur Ave W  St Paul, Minnesota 55113 (651) 488-0241

Links: Snuffy’s Website * Snuffy’s on Facebook

Atmosphere: Located within a large strip mall, Snuffy’s Malt Shop is reminiscent of an old-fashioned burger joint: The red and white striped wallpaper, the red vinyl booths, and the ice-cream counter.  There are three small sections within the restaurant, all of which contain 4-person booths. There were a few small table sin one section, but accommodating a large group would be quite a challenge.

Menu: Snuffy’s is most famous for their hamburgers and malts!  Burger choices include the basic hamburger, cheeseburger, California bugrer, or the Snuffy’s Burger (lettuce, bacon, tomato, cheese).   If you’re not in the mood for a burger, try one of Snuffy’s grilled sandwiches (ham, chicken, cheese, etc).

Choose from over 20 Malt flavors or try an old fashioned soda, phosphate, or float.

Price Guide:

Burgers: $3.75-5.25 extra patty $1.50  (add $2 for fries or $2.50 for onion rings)

Grilled Sandwiches: $3.35-5.35 (add $2 for fries or $2.50 for onion rings)

Kids Menu $3.25

Malts: $3-4

What I ordered: Bacon & swiss burger with a side of onion rings.  The burger was made of fresh hamburger, and was tender and juicy (a bit on the greasy side).  Although the menu didn’t specify the size of the patty, I would say it was about a 1/3 lb.  It came served on a grilled bun, but I wish the buns had been more thick and sturdy.  I could almost detect a hint of sweetness to the bun as well.  The onion rings were a big hit; nice and crispy.  Of course I also ordered a malt… I went with the Snuffy Colada (strawberry, banana, and pineapple). Thick and delicious; heavy on the malt, just the way I like it.  Could predominately taste strawberries (I wish it would’ve had more pineapple), but it was very flavorful.

*****************************************************************

Service: Very friendly.  Despite how busy it was, Snuffy’s did a great job of finding us a table as soon as possible.  Our server was prompt and courteous throughout the meal.  At one point a malt glass at our table was accidently broken and management inquired immediately to make sure noone was hurt.  Manager was very kind and patient while cleaning a very big mess from our table.  Our experience also required a take-out order; everything was neatly packed and bagged.

Overall Impression: Fun, inexpensive place to come with a small group.  Good burgers, even better malts!