Cuisine: Greek, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern

Restaurant Features: Counter Service, On-Site Parking
Locations: Coon Rapids, Edina, Lakeville, Roseville (Falcon Heights), Plymouth,  and Woodbury, MN
Addresses & Maps:

Coon Rapids-
3179 Northdale Blvd. Coon Rapids, MN 55433
(763) 422-2003
Edina-
6539 York Ave. S Edina, MN 55435 (612) 866-6363
Lakeville-
17701 Cedar Avenue (Cedar Avenue & Dodd Road) Farmington, MN 55024 952) 431-3466

Roseville-
1700 Snelling Ave. Falcon Heights, MN 55108 (651) 645-8800
Plymouth-
3355 Plymouth Blvd. Plymouth, MN 55447 (763) 553-2040

Woodbury-
10060 City Walk Drive  Woodbury, MN 55129 651-738-9757

Links: Dino’s Website * Dino’s on Facebook
Hours: Daily 10am-10pm

Atmosphere: Dino’s offers counter-service and is about the same size as a typical fast-food restaurant.  The entire restaurant is furnished with your basic hard-top tables set close together, without a booth in sight.  There is a beverage station near the front counter with two large soda dispensers.  A couple of TVs hang from the ceilings and there are also some paintings adorning the walls.

Menu: Side Items include French Fries, Seasoned Fries, Pita Bread, Pita Chips, Hummus, Greek Olives, Pepperoncini Peppers, Falafel, Spanakopita, Onion Petals, Spinach Puffs and Greek Meatballs.

Dino’s offers a Greek Salad ( lettuce, feta, Greek olives, cucumbers, peppers, onion, pepperoncini peppers, and Greek dressing) with choice of meat.

The Sandwiches at Dino’s are served on fresh pita bread and include the Gyro (meat with raw onion, tomato and tzatzini sauce), Jr. Gyro, Spicy Gyro, Chicken Gyro, Jr. Chicken Gyro, Greek Chicken Breast, Greek Philly (sauteed peppers and onions and melted Swiss), Greek Meatball, Falafel (deep-fried patties made of a mixture of ground chick peas and seasonings), Steak Souvlaki, and Chicken Mushroom Swiss.  **Any sandwich can be mega-sized for an additional charge. Any sandwich can be ordered as a Value Meal, which comes with soda and either fries or side salad.

There are also a couple of Wraps including Greek Chicken Caesar, Hummus, and the Gyro Bacon Cheddar Wrap.

Entree Plates offer meat choice with Fries, Greek Salad or Rice, and Grilled Pita.  Meat choices are the  Gyro, Chicken Gyro, Steak or Chicken Souvlaki (kabobs), or Spanakopita (spinach, onions, feta and ricotta cheese wrapped in filo dough and baked).  Combination Plate includes each of the meat choices.

There are also two Family Packs available.  The Family Pack comes with 1 lb gyro meat, sauce, toppings, and 5 pitas.  The Mega Family Pack is the Family Pack with an additional two orders of Fries and 1 large Greek Salad.

Desserts include Baklava, Cookies, or Ice Cream.

Price guide: Side Items $1-2 Sandwiches and Wraps $5-6  Value Meals $8-9 Salads $6-9  Plates $7-9
What I ordered: The Greek Chicken Breast Sandwich with Spicy Feta and side of Seasoned Fries.  Normally this sandwich comes with regular feta cheese, but I LOVE the spicy feta and have them substitute the regular feta for the spicy.  This particular sandwich came with both, which was a little too much.  The chicken breast was marinated and tender, cut into strips.  The sandwich was big and messy, so I opted to eat it most of it with a fork.  The onions were plentiful, sliced thin and the spicy feta had a nice kick to it and was full of flavor.  The Seasoned Fries were delicious!  Dino’s adds their own Greek Seasoning which is pretty salty and garlic-y, but so so SO good!

One of my companions ordered the Spicy Gyro Sandwich.  It is similar to a regular gyro except the spicy comes with the spicy feta instead of tzatziki sauce and also has romaine lettuce.  My companion enjoyed it but prefers the traditional gyro.

Another companion ordered the Souvlaki Plate, with one chicken and one beef kabob, Pita Triangles and Onion Petals.  The meat was very good, but there were just five bites of meat on each skewer.  The Onion Petals were crispy brown and the portion was rather large.

Service: Ordering is done at the Counter and it usually takes less than ten minutes for the order to be ready, at which point they will either call your name or bring the food out to your table, depending on how busy they are.  There are often staff members who will walk around to bus tables or ask you if you’d like a drink refill or anything else.  Definitely a step above most other fast-food type restaurants.
Overall Impression: I really enjoy Dino’s, it is fast and the food is good (especially anything with spicy feta!).  The seasoned fries are AWESOME.  Dino’s is more expensive than other fast-food restaurants but less expensive than most sit-down restaurants.  I wish there was a Dino’s in Hugo or Maplewood!

Cuisine: American, Pizza, Steak, Chops & Ribs, Steak, Chops, Ribs

Restaurant Features: Bar, Patio Dining, Sunday Brunch, On-Site Parking

Location: Eagan, Eden Prairie, Maplewood, & Plymouth, MN

Addresses & Maps:

Eagan: 1288 Promenade Place Eagan, MN 55121 (651)287.8784

Eden Prairie: 12365 Singletree Lane Eden Prairie, MN 55344 (952)930.3742

Maplewood: 1745 Beam Ave E  Maplewood, MN 55109  (P) 651-366-6440  F) 651-366-6441

Plymouth: 3005 Harbor Lane North Plymouth, MN 55427 (763)559-1595

Links: Jake’s City Grille Website * Jake’s City Grille on Facebook

Atmosphere: Contemporary with warm, rich colors;  very relaxing and inviting. Large dining room split into two sections, with additional seating on large patio.  I found it interesting that the wall between patio and restaurant is a clear-garage door; not sure if/when it is opened. There is also a nice view of the kitchen and wood-fire oven in the back of the restaurant, you can watch your pizza being baked!

Menu: Jake’s has a very large menu! Appetizers include Buffalo Wings, Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Dumplings, Lettuce Wraps, Seared Tuna, Bruschetta, Nachos, and Walleye Fingers. There are a variety of Burgers and Chicken Sandwiches and Specialty Sandwiches like the Prime Rib Dip, Walleye Sandwich, Lobster Clubhouse, or Smoked Turkey Melt.  In the mood for a good steak? Choose from Ribeye or Prime Rib (3 sizes to choose from), or Ribs and Beef Brisket.  Other entrees include Glazed Chicken, Pork Chops, Shrimp, Walleye, Salmon.  Tex-mex selections include Smoked Chicken Enchiladas, Fajitas and Tacos.  Pasta selections include Cajun Chicken Fettucine, Spicy Garlic Shrimp Linguini, and Baked Penne with Sausage.  There are also wood-fired pizzas with many choices of toppings.

Jakes also offers a Sunday brunch.  Items include Mesquite Beef Brisket, Peel-N-Eat Shrimp, Eggs Benedict, Huevos Rancheros, Scrambled Eggs, Jumbo Sausages, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Smoked Gouda, Au Gratins, Southern Fried Chicken, Made-to-Order Omelettes, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Pan Gravy, Ciabatta French Toast, House Smoked Salmon, Fresh Fruit, Bagels and Cream Cheese, Caramel Rolls, Cinnamon Roll

Price guide: Appetizers $7-12  Burgers/Sandwiches $8-12 Entrees $15-21 (More for large prime rib)Pasta $11-14 Pizzas $9-11 Sunday Brunch $14

What I ordered: Smoked Chicken Enchiladas (Herb seasoned shredded chicken, onions and pepperjack cheese wrapped in corn tortillas with ancho chili sauce, pico de gallo and sour cream).  I have to say I thought this meal was really good, better than I expected for a non-Mexican specialty restaurant.  The black beans must’ve been marinated in spices because they had really good flavor  The rice was also excellent.  The enchiladas themselves were very cheesy, but had chunks of white meat chicken.  The portion was modest, I was actually able to eat the entire thing.

One of my companions ordered the Fire Grilled Chicken Ciabatta
(Caramelized onions, cheddar, Jake Sauce and chipotle mayo). She liked it so much I ended up ordering the same sandwich on a  separate visit a few days later with a different companion.  I was blown away by the amount of french fries that were on my plate!  The sandwich was very good, it had a sweet sauce that was similar to BBQ, but more sweet and not as thick.  Loved it on the ciabatta bread.

On my second visit to Jake’s, my companion ordered the largest Prime Rib (22oz).  Huge steak for the money! It was very tender and cooked perfectly.  The au juis at Jake’s was very good

I was too full to consider dessert on either occasion, but they all looked really good, as you can see from their dessert tray.

Service: Excellent on both occasions.  The servers were very knowledgeable about the menu and made recommendations, or answered all questions.

Overall Impression: Great atmosphere, huge menu of excellent food, prices a little high but comparable to similar restaurants.