Loon Café

TL;DR Gorgeous bartender gives good advice, Dirty Pork Stew better than the Chili.
I’m from Dallas, TX, staying over the weekend. I started my Saturday morning jaunt to Mall of America by taking the long, light rail route: Green Line to Target Center, Blue Line to MOA. I saw The Loon Café from the platform, and decided to give it a look… and to relieve myself… ahem.
Inside it looks like Cheers (btw, the bathrooms are down some narrow wooden stairs). The bar was tended by the Best Bartender in the World. She is certainly on of the prettiest; engaging, helpful, and efficient: gave me food and drink advice while filling three orders.
She guided me towards the Dirty Pork Stew after we talked about chili, Texas, and beers. So I opted for a shootout: a cup of each.
The chili is good: thick, no beans, chunk beef. Not tomato-​y, but too light on powder, salt, and cayenne. Texas score: ⁷⁄₁₀.
The stew had me at Bite 1: thick, meaty, complex flavors. No porky over taste, juicy cubes. ⁹⁄₁₀.
Y’all come now, ya hear?

Stopped in right before a concert at the Target Center to grab a bite to eat. We shared some artichoke dip and mini burger sliders. The food came out fast and they had $ 3 rail drinks which was super nice. Overall the food was just fine. Nothing special or anything I would order again.
On the other hand our server was AWESOME. She was very nice and attentive. She always had our drinks and water glasses full. We were in and out which was exactly what we wanted!
I have also been to the Loon for the bar/​nightclub scene. I will probably never come here again. They only had two bartenders working which made it impossible to get a drink. They also only have three bathrooms downstairs which creates chaos.

Chili great and the walleye sandwich delicious. Thanks WCCO for featuring the Best Chili in MN segment. Got us out from the northern suburbs to dtwn Mpls and to a cozy welcoming spot. Lots of TV screens for sports enthusiast’s viewing, window views, and nice bar.

Great grilled chicken wrap. Service is good and price is normal for downtown pricing. Busy place during the weekday lunch hour.

The loon is consistent and steady. Some good beers on tap. The bar food is quick and good… And not really at downtown prices, which is nice. Quite a few tvs. Some outdoor seating, although not a Kieran’s patio by any means…
They have some good chili! Also, the fajitas platter was very large! I probably could have shared it and still been full… not the best fajitas I’ve ever had… But I was also at a bar, not a Mexican place!

Dress code is overtly racist. I was stopped at the door and told that my white tshirt wasn’t allowed. The door guy explained that I looked fine but he wasn’t allowed to profile and that the white tshirt rule was meant to keep the «thugs» out. When a friend gave me an article of women’s clothing to pull over my shirt my Louisiana ID was scrutinized for about 5 minutes before I was allowed in. I suspect it was because I’d mentioned that I hadn’t seen such a blatantly racist dress code even in Louisiana, which typically takes the proverbial racist cake. Next time I’m in town I’ll encourage my friends to pick another spot to catch up.

Will never go back there again… they banned me for two weeks after a so called waitress named Paige tried to lie about me… I was a regular there for 3 years and they believed a waitress who was only there for 1 year and who also works at the loop… then when I asked what I did one of the owners couldn’t even tell me… bs…also there was a roach crawling from the bar as I forgot to mention… never again

It’s probably been at least 15 years since I have been here. A flicker of enough of a good memory to try it again on this trip to MSP. Food was good and reasonably priced. Had the salmon and can recommend it, well seasoned and well prepared. Good happy hour bev prices and options.
Sat at the bar though. And that is where things went a little off-​kilter. Small bar crowd this night. Bartender seems nice enough, but almost completely uninterested in waiting on me. An off-​duty waitress (I think) took pity and brought my food after it sat at the window for going on 10 minutes. Bartender never checked back until I closed the tab.
Sit at the bar to drink. Eat at a table.

My wife and I stopped here with friends quite by accident (didn’t want to walk further from the Metro tracks in the rain, so thought we would try it out). The drinks were excellent — especially those that made use of the fresh-​squeezed grapefruit. As to the food, I had the Brisket and it was great!

My friend and I stumbled upon The Loon Café after a Twins Game. We aren’t from the area and weren’t sure where to go. We sat up at the bar for what we thought would be one drink, but the bartenders and staff were all SO FRIENDLY that we stuck around. After being there for a couple hours, we were leaving to go find somewhere to dance, when we «found» the dance floor! While dancing, my friends purse was stolen from her. We immediately went to the bouncers and they were all VERY helpful, and even in the rain, one of them went to the various bars with us to alert the other door guys, and even helped us look in garbage cans and alleys. We returned, and decided to make the best of the night, and that we did. What could have been a horrible end to a night, turned out to be much better thanks to the friendly staff at the Loon! We will definitely be back!!!

Stopped in to use the bathroom due to other bars being packed. The bathroom is in the basement and what a dump. Paper towels everywhere on the floor and none around. Thought about sitting and ordering a beer. No service after 5 minutes and they clearly Saw us. The place reeked of stale beer and appeared as a Dive bar to me. We abruptly left and walked to Kierans Where service was great.

This place is pretty simple and awesome:
They have fresh squeezed grapefruit juice which is a huge plus for someone who loves a good Salty Dog/​Greyhound. They have a pretty basic menu (bar food), but there are some highlights. The chili is damn good, California-​Style BLT (with guac), and the dirty pork stew is excellent.
*They also have fresh squeezed orange juice, so if you like fresh orange or grapefruit juice it’s worth a stop.

I love the grapefruit and vodka mix drink. So freshing. Bartenders are super friendly and the Ambiance is very unique. Good place to go to get some drinks

I’ve got to preface this post by saying I’m not a bar guy.
That being said, I was at a concert next door at Mill City Nights, and since I went straight there from work, I hadn’t eaten yet. My friends band who I came to see wasn’t on for an hour or so, so I asked the woman at the ticket counter for recommendations on where to eat and she said the Loon Café next door, so I popped over. Now if you’re looking for a quiet restaurant, it’s not this place. It’s more of a bar that serves food, and the noisy bar atmosphere is my only knock on the place. But if you are looking for some absolutely FANTASTIC chilli, look no further. It’s so good, that it’s served at the Minnesota Twins games as their official chilli. Been drooling about it ever since. A+ food from these guys. Will go back, hopefully sooner rather than later.

As a lunchtime destination, the Loon doesn’t have much to ‘call’ about. On the upside, the Loon’s location is convenient for downtown lunch meetings, and the service is good. However, the round of sandwiches and salads we ordered during our stay were forgettable.
At a glance, the Loon’s menu is too large. It might be a good idea for the Loon to trim down it’s huge menu of 14 appetizers, 15 hot sandwiches, salads, cold sandwiches, Mex entrees, standard entrees, and BBQ. It might be more effective for them to focus on hitting a few items ‘out of the park.’ The BBQ might be awesome. The Mex offerings could be terrific. Based on the poor showing of other menu items, however, it’ll be a long time until I return here — when I do, it’ll likely be in the evening for cocktails.

Tacky décor but decent service. I am not a fan of high chairs as the norm but this is a decent place to sit if you want something near the light rail and target field
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We stumbled across this place while waiting for the Garth Brooks concert. I am so glad we stopped here.
The wait was a bit long with the concerts as you would expect and they seamed to need more staff to keep up with the packed house.
I would pass on the House Favorite Hot Spinach Con Queso Dip, nothing amazing and you could probably make that in your kitchen.
Do get the walleye fingers, they were amazing, fresh and very tasty. I would highly recommend and I hope to be back to get them again. You know when you order something and it’s very good when you can remember it a month later.
I also tried the Pecos Red River Chili, I thought it was great, this is a thick chili which I liked and it was a perfect blend. Great pieces of lean meat, overall very good and filling.
The jalapeño cornbread was excellent with the chili and made a perfect pair. The cornbread was moist and warm, not dried out.
Excellent job on the food Loon Café, hope to come back next time I am in the area.

I’m only reviewing the nightlife. I haven’t had the food, only the strong drinks and regrets. I consider myself well versed in the Minneapolis nightlife, but I hadn’t heard of this gem when my friends suggested going there a few months back. I now keep this place in frequent rotation.
DJ Steve owns my heart on the dance floor. Every time I go here I go home sweaty and with leg cramps. Non-​stop dancing. Cheap drinks. Great times. Great mix of current top 40 jams and fun throw backs (why are they called throwbacks? I definitely threw my back out trying out some sort of squat move when I heard «u can do it put your back into it.» Oh boy did I)
Back on topic, fun place to bring your friends without the douchey or trashy vibes I get from most of downtown bars.
Took a star off due to it sometimes being empty :(

A standard sports bar, with everything you’d expect. Nothing spectacular, but they have lots of beer, and decent pub food.

Super fun bar to hang out and have a few strong, cheap drinks. Apparently it’s even more fun on the weekend when the DJ is there, but I only have a Monday and Tuesday night to review. I stopped in with my local friend after dinner and we had a couple of their signature Grape Ape drinks (or try the Orangutang) and beers. Good selection of beer, good looking food (didn’t taste any so I can’t say for sure).
The bartenders are all really nice and took good care of us. Ryan (Carl/​Scott/​Gary) was our favorite! Mostly because he rescued us from what could have been an unsavory character who sat down next to me at the bar. But also because he gave us a round of the Georgia Blue shot (it has blueberry, peach and Smirnoff– trust me, it’s amazing), make sure your order one from him before you go.