Gluek’s Restaurant & Bar

Walked in on a lunch break from work… wasn’t greeted for 15 minutes. Three staff members walked past me. A woman behind the bar asks if I’m with the party in the back, I said, «no, I’d just like to order food to go» she responded, ok, you’ll have to wait a second. I waited, waited. And waited more. Two other groups who appeared to be non-​minorities walked in and were greeted with a smile and small talk then asked if they could be helped. Ok, enough I will leave at this point, they’re purposely IGNORING me. I’ve had time to sit and write this review and still not helped. I will now go back to work and tell my co workers how I was treated. I walked across to JJ was treated superbly. I guess I understand that ignorance does still exist. I wouldn’t give them one star based on their unprofessional, rudeness demeanor however, I didn’t have a choice!

Came here for food and beer and was not disappointed! Ordered the «Heidelburger» and it was delicious! The pork wasn’t overwhelming seasoned and the sauerkraut and cheese complemented the burger as a whole. A friend ordered the «Berliner», which I debated on getting for a while, which was also definitely worth getting! Maybe the pot roast on the Berliner was a little dry but it may have been because we took our time enjoying the atmosphere and beer!
Service was fine, the waiter even helped us choose what have been popular items and his opinions on the german beers. I’d definitely try to go here again and try the walleye or stragonoff next time!

Don’t really care what the food is like. We have been waiting for 40 min for food. This place has been here for a while they should know how to prepare for a busy night because of a ball game. Food was horrible !!!

Service is terrible, the kitchen is so slow on getting the food out. Very disappointed!
Chef, GET YOUR KITCHEN IN ORDER!!!
I wouldn’t visit again.
Food was horrible, tasteless. Ask for hot sauce…

I hate to give such a low rating because I actually enjoy Glueks, but the customer service I received is the reason for the low rating.
Back at the end of 2015, I booked Gluek’s party room for my wedding rehearsal dinner to take place in September of 2016. I should have known something would go wrong since multiple phone calls went unreturned after leaving messages for Kaz, the event coordinator. I finally managed to get Kaz on the phone (after I called again, not her calling me) and gave her my info and booked the date. I asked if there was anything else she needed like a contract or money down and she said «oh no, it’s far enough out. I’ll just get back in touch with you when it gets closer.»
Fast forward to this week (mid May) and there hadn’t been any correspondence since the initial booking. I decided to reach out to Kaz to make sure of some things and see if there was any more info she needed. I emailed her rather than calling this time. She responded to me that they would not be able to accommodate our group because they had given the reservation to someone else. The reason for this is because she had not heard back from me after emailing me twice. The only issue with that is she had written down my email address incorrectly when we first spoke, so I never received the emails.
I understand that a slip up like that can happen, but being that we had only ever communicated via phone, a quick phone call would have done wonders to make sure she wasn’t giving away someone else’s reservation. Now instead of having my groom’s dinner set and ready almost a year in advance, I am stuck trying to plan something in just under 4 months. The worst part was the fact that no effort was put in to try and make it right. I understand that someone else has the room that night and I won’t get it back, but there was nothing else even offered as a token of good will. Simply a «can’t help you» email and never heard from them again.
Love the bar, the food, and the beer but they likely have lost a customer.

Awesome, friendly service. Family oriented and were very accommodating. Would for sure go back again. Local beers on tap were very good and non fried appetizers were on point.

Gluek’s is my all time favorite bar downtown Minneapolis for alot of reasons. I work downtown and live 6 miles from the heart of it all so Ive been to every place Minneapolis has to offer. I stumbled my way into Glueks for the first time 12 years ago and have been an a fan of this place ever since. The staff is phenomenal. Everyone from security to wait staff to bartenders and managers… they’re all the best in the business. The food is always great. I always go with the 4 sausage sampler… with a shot of Patron on the side :) It’s the best! On top of all of that is the live music. Gluek’s always has the best local artists in town on the books and there’s nowhere I’d rather see a live show than Glueks — «the oldest bar in Minneapolis». It’s one of the greatest places to be in Minneapolis yall so be sure to go check it out!

Great bar with local beers and live bands. Our waitress was super accommodating and took our picture and advised is on beers. Would recommend this bar to anyone stopping by.

Walleye to die for! Good carrot cake. Excellent service. Awesome décor. Fun place. Take light rail parking tricky.

Went there for St. Patrick’s day, My wife and I had the corn beef and and cabbage with small potatoes, the beef was so tender and the rest of the food we found delicious! Big beers, Many choices. A great place to go for good food and drinks

We were going to the Timberwolves game one night and running late. Tried stopping at Kierans but it was packed. Walked across the street to Gluek’s and it was busy too, but the hostess was great and managed to find us a table in back. The waitress was prompt and very helpful suggesting we split the fish and chips instead of getting the walleye cakes appetizer. She was right — the fries were good but not as good as the hunks of fried walleye. We needed to get to the game and the check arrived promptly, followed by the manager checking in to make sure everything was ok. In and out in 35 minutes on a busy Saturday night. Food was good, service was great.

We’re stein club members. Good food, love the atmosphere, and it’s close to the stadium!

Good food & bar. I’ve been coming here for years… sometimes for beer, sometimes for food & mostly for the music & Root City! Anyways, the food is here always good for the most part & same goes for the service. Weekends & event nights are always busy as it is close to the Target Center & First Ave. They have a ginormous pretzel with beer cheese & honey mustard that is super good & fun to share with your crew! Don’t sleep on Gluek’s…a Minneapolis bar for anyone. ;)

I ate their food last night for the first time. The food tasted ok but I got the worst food poisoning of my life. I was up almost the entire night because of it and feel HORRIBLE today. I will not be going back

this place gets it. They got good beer, good german food and appetizers. I’ve had good and mediocre experiences here as I go there a lot. But its more for convenience and ambiance, and less of everything else. They need to improve on their service and some of their drinks, but their beer is good, their food is great for a bar, and some of their staff are actually pretty good at what they do. I definitely recommend them if you are in the neighborhood.

Didn’t eat here but oldest bar in Minn gets a high mark. They have their own brews… not bad. Live music cool vibe:)
Grabbed a shirt before I left $ 20.00!

Stopped here for beers and apps before the twins game. Nice beer selection, good food and good service. Can’t go wrong here at least for apps and beers.

excellent food and great service.

This is an iconic Minneapolis pub. I Love the beer selection, very good casual food that compliments the casual atmosphere. Make sure to check out the old bar, stained glass windows — cheers!

Visited Gluek’s briefly with some Minneapolis locals to grab drinks and listen to the live music. The band was really great and came over later to say hi. The drinks were strong and kept on comin’. I’d come back on a late night with friends, but not if we had important things to talk about — the music was loud!

Great beer. Our server was fantastic. That guy was working his butt off and having a great time doing it! Would return for sure. We didn’t eat as the kitchen was closed.

I was thoroughly frustrated by this restaurant/​bar! I called ahead to see if they would be showing the Women’s World Cup and they assured me that they would. I booked dinner reservations based on knowing that the Cup would be on … NOT … they said that they didn’t even carry Fox Sports 1 on their TVs. We went to Kieran’s to watch the game and came back to Gluek’s for a retirement party (the reason we checked on the dinner viewing in the first place) … the provided appetizers, while very generous of the host group, were terrible. Bland, cool (not warmed nor chilled, just left out too long) and the staff was very miffed at having to serve us. I will never go back to this place and will recommend everyone else stay away, too. There are too many good alternatives in Mnpls to have to put up with this crap! .1 Star rating is way too much!

Awesome atmosphere, food, servers! Second time in same trip here!

Mixed feelings about this place. Our group of 6 went here for a late meal before some dancing. Ended up staying for the music a bit after.
Food: Pretty good, though seemed a bit expensive for what it is. I had the Mac and cheese (spaetzel) with a brat, which was good but not great. My friends had burgers they really liked. Good service.
Beer: Don’t ever order anything on tap. We ordered two «Glueks» beers and they were completely flat but we thought maybe it was just their beers until another friend ordered a Guinness and had the same issue. They all had no flavor. Very disappointing for a place that touts their beer. We all switched to bottle beers, which were of course just fine but a bit overpriced.
Music: Solid band, expect for a couple songs, but rather poor acoustics and too loud. I feel old for saying that.
Overall not bad if you stick to bottle beer and want a decent meal. There’s probably better music venues though if that’s what you’re after.

Gluek’s is old and Gluek’s is good.
Great meal and a great price. Want more? GO to Germany.

Factoring in all the possible reasons why, I still can’t find a reason to forgive Gluek’s for the poor service and bad beer. My date and I popped in for a quick beer after work and found the place nearly empty. It was just the two of us at the far end of the bar and a group of 5 bar employees who were clustered about halfway down the bar.
Even though it should have been fairly evident that we were customers (i.e. we had just come in from outside and sat down at the bar) it still took nearly 10 minutes before we were approached and asked for our drink preference. Upon ordering two (different) beers, our server placed two beers in front of us and walked to the other end of the bar to stare up at a TV.
To say that the two beers were flat would be an understatement. These two Gluek-​branded beers had not one bubble floating to the surface which gave them the appearance of bad lake water. Had our server not been lead to believe that the TV’s mounted above the bar were for the employees enjoyment, she may have noticed the lack of fomage and investigated, as it was, we were left at «our» end of the bar to debate how we could improve our circumstance. Since it was the end of my own workday, I decided that I didn’t owe it to this establishment to train their wait staff and so we left enough cash to cover the cost of the (un-​drunken) drinks and walked a half block to a competing establishment.
Why two stars you ask? I’m giving Gluek’s the benefit of the doubt since this was the lull between Christmas and New Year’s and I also loved the interior feel of the place. My guess is, if you go there on a night when the place is hopping it would have a different vibe and might measure up. But, for me, there are just too many great places to try for me to give Gluek’s a second shoot.

Spent one hectic night at Gluek’s before a Garth Brooks concert recently. Me and my girlfriends thoroughly enjoyed our time there!
Very busy place on this Friday night and I’d say just about everyone was there for the Garth concert. Now I’m not even a huge Garth fan but what can I say? My ticket was a present and it was a good time with friends :) We found a table toward the back without any specific expectation for what we were in for.
Our service was excellent, waitress was attentive despite being VERY busy. I loved the Gluek’s IPA, I *think* I drank 3 of them plus a delicious bloody mary. Between three of us we split an order of the Mediterranean plate and one their famous Bavarian pretzels which was HUGE and delicious! It was more than enough food for all of us.
Atmosphere is very old world German/​Austrian pub, clean and very nice.
Overall: Highly recommend — hope to be back soon!

Nice with the right amount of divey built in. I’ve been coming here since 1983… and it is a tradition… Gluek’s was one of the first true brew pubs… and the Cold Spring beer options remain my favorite.
I do miss the Sticht beer-​when will it be back?
We’ll see you in about 6 weeks!

While it wasn’t a quite a World War II level atrocity, Gluek’s didn’t exactly make me proud to be half-​German.
Came here with a couple friends, was immediately struck by the dinner crowd: there wasn’t one. A lonely drunkard at the bar and an undoubtedly bored waitstaff were the only thing keeping me from thinking I had just walked into an abandoned beer hall. Ordered the beer cheese soup and a bratwurst mac and cheese. The beer cheese soup was okay — it’s very possible it was just melted nacho cheese, but I was drinking at the time, and I like cheese (hence me ordering mac and cheese with a cheese soup… okay that was dumb). So who knows. The mac and cheese was super gummy… the pasta was some strange consistency I know not what. Bratwurst was okay.
2 stars for nice beer selection and free Unilocal beer. Also, waitress was great.

So, I had been to Gluek’s once before — and for the same reason: All You Can Eat Fish Fry! Though I’m no longer a practicing Catholic, I do enjoy the tradition of Lenten Fish Fries on the Fridays leading up to Easter. I went to Gluek’s to enjoy their version a few years ago and remember loving the hush puppies, a fun spin on the more standard standard french fries. I’m not a big rice person, the beans have hunks of sausage (I don’t eat pork or beef), cole slaw is a pretty take-​it-​or-​leave-​it side, but fish and hush puppies? Sign me up! When I told my mom about this recently, she demanded we go together.
So, last week my mom, stepdad, boyfriend and I were all meeting for Friday’s Fry and made reservations for earlier in the evening, though it appears this was unnecessary as we were stuck in the back of the restaurant near an open door (we kept our coats on the entire meal because it was cold) and were only one of maybe three parties in a pretty large room. My boyfriend and I were wise to bus here as my parents got stuck with $ 13 event parking (Twins game same night) AND had to contend with awful traffic. Once seated, my boyfriend and I both checked in and got our free beer which is a pretty nice feature — but the actual Gluek’s beers are mediocre and I switched to something else as soon as I finished my freebie.
My mom and stepdad ordered a Bavarian Pretzel appetizer and it was as big as my stepdad’s head. We tried some and it was pretty good. It came with some kind of mustard as well as some of their beer cheese soup. As for the main event, my stepdad and boyfriend both opted for the walleye sandwich… they weren’t sold on the catfish or the sides that came with it. My boyfriend also ordered a side of beer cheese soup which came out first and had popcorn on the side. He said it was pretty lackluster. My mom and I were dying for hush puppies so we told our server up front that we were more there for All You Can Eat Hush Puppies than fish. She took the cue and when our plates came out, a third dish containing extra hush puppies was placed between us.
The walleye sandwiches had huge hoagies and neither my stepdad nor my boyfriend bothered with this («too much bread» they both complained). Instead, they used their forks and knives and ate the fish saying it was «just okay». However, when they tried bites of our catfish, they both exclaimed that it tasted like aquarium water or something worse and were glad they’d ordered the walleye. Neither my mom nor I could choke down the fish (SUPER fishy but on top of that, there was absolutely no seasoning or anything remarkable about the breading) and we made very little progress on anything else… but we definitely went to town on the hush puppies!
To summarize: I filled up almost exclusively on hush puppies and beer, felt sick the rest of the night, and will probably not go back unless they start offering hush puppies as an appetizer.

I hit up Gluek’s this weekend with a large group for a birthday dinner and drinks before heading to see the show at Brave New Workshop.
Gluek’s is a great place for groups. We had lots of room, were able to add people as needed, service was fast and good. We wanted to be able to sit together, enjoy a casual dinner, and get to our show on time. Mission accomplished Gluek’s!
A few people in the group tried the walnut burger and said it was pretty good – sound like worth trying if you are looking for something a bit different.

Bonnes bières, bonne ambiance. Parfait pour l’after work. Pas testé les appetizers donc rien de spécial à dire. Si! la serveuse était très sympa aussi!
Voilà une revue qui né laissera pas indifférents de nombreux Unilocaleurs, c’est sûr ;-)