Nicollet Island Inn

Five years ago, we celebrated our wedding at the Nicollet Island Inn. The staff was, and is, always attentive and helpful.
The food is great, the scallops are always a favorite. Molly and I, celebrate our anniversary here as often as possible. Great memories!

Outstanding duck and crab cakes made the dinner a wonderful delight. I also enjoyed the drinks and the festive holiday decorations. The service is always very good here with very attentive, but not overbearing, staff members.

Been here twice with Groupons and each experience has been delightful. This restaurant is also an Inn and located alongside the Mississippi river. The ambiance here is so classic and modern. Quite romantic too. I like that they have free parking for their guests.
Ok, time to talk about the food. OMG! Even though we ordered the exact same thing both times, we continue to rave to each other at our dinner table about how good our food is. We always start with the beef tartare. AMAZING! The best we have ever tasted. This place is the reason why we both fell so madly in love with tartare. To go with the tartare, we both ordered a long island to sip on. For our main entrée, he ordered the flat iron steak cooked to medium well. Perfection. I ordered the filet mignon, cooked to medium rare. Perfection x’s two! As I’m typing this, I’m already thinking about when to go back. **drools**

This restaurant has been great for lunch (5 stars), but our recent dinner experience was average. Things are inconsistent. The hostess was friendly, but things went down hill from there. Our dinner of house salad and mushroom gnocchi was fine. Service was slow and our waitress was clueless and undertrained. It was expensive for what we had. Tap beer priced at $ 10 is high compared to other nice restaurants in the city. The best thing was they have a good view of the river and Segway tours. Ask for a window table.

Celebrating our 21^st anniversary. Lovely! Great wait staff, great food, great view. An nice as it was 21 years ago.

The Lamb and Scallops were very good. The ambiance is very nice and unique. The service is a bit slow and the bread basket is only brought when you ask for it. Make sure to get a reservation: even when the place is not full they seem to want one.

Haven’t been here in a couple of years, but when we went, we did have an awesome experience! From the ambiance to the service, food and music, we were delighted!
We stumbled in during a cold, snowy day in February of 2013, just for a cocktail and decided to stay the night. We ordered the roasted chicken and roast beef. Both were well-​seasoned and prepared. The wine list is extensive, and I partook!
Just a great experience. The only reason I haven’t returned is because I need to buy some new clothes. :-)
Nice place, nice people, nice atmosphere, good food, great jazz!
What else is there?
Oh! Well, they can’t offer sex, at least not for a fee.

This place is really extraordinary. We’ve stayed several times. The rooms, breakfast, and fantastic location make it incredible. I’ve stayed in places throughout the country and this inn is amongst the very best!

We spent 1 night at the Inn. Loved the room, everything was nice and clean. Only complaint was I woke up sore from the bed. We ate breakfast there the next morning. I had the French toast and it was the best French toast I’ve ever had! We would stay there again.

As a result of the hotel where I had booked a room being oversold, I ended up at the Nicollet Island Inn for May 14 — 16. Initially, I was outraged because my family was at the other hotel for a wonderful family occasion. But I ended up being the lucky one… the Nicollet Island Inn was a treat! The hotel is charming, friendly and the food was outstanding. The staff was attentive and my stay was amazing! A lot of reviews talk about what a romantic hotel it is. I am not disagreeing but for a single woman this was a fabulous hotel! Every staff member went out of their way to make my stay exceptional!
ROOMS: My room was very charming. For the first time in years, I really got a key to my room. The ceilings were high and the room was very spacious. My room was immaculate and cleaned very well each day.
RESTAURANT: One night for dinner, I had the best steak tartare and crab cake in a beautiful setting. My breakfast of huevos rancheros was perfect! I could see that there were some small private dining rooms that would be ideal for a family gathering or meeting. I was travelling by myself. There are still restaurants that don’t do that very well and punish you with the small table in the corner. Not so here, I always had a window seat with beautiful view.
BAR: The bartender was amazing! There were clearly regulars and he knew what they wanted before they ordered. When I arrived back at the hotel after my family gathering, I went to the bar for a glass of wine. The bartender must be a mind reader as he came up to me and said, it is not on the menu but we have a great cheeseburger served only at the bar. I was in love… with both the bartender and the very rare perfectly prepared cheeseburger.
I am not sure what Betsy’s role is at the hotel, I will just call her Fairy Godmother! She would just appear to make sure everything was okay and it always was.
This would be a charming place to host your family reunion or wedding. I am going to find an excuse to return to Minneapolis just to stay at the hotel! I would have given this hotel six (6) stars if I could.

We stayed here on a Saturday night for my birthday. The staff was very friendly and welcoming. The room was a little disappointing, with wallpaper peeling off the walls and tiles in the shower drooping and looking like they were going to fall into the shower. I had thought they had the sleep number beds and aveda products. Instead, they had canisters attached to the shower wall with shower gel, shampoo and conditioner. They said it was to reduce waste. I haven’t seen that in a hotel before (I have on a cruise ship, but not a hotel). To be honest, it just seemed kind of chintzy to me. The bed was not the most comfortable bed I have stayed in either. We did not appreciate housekeeping waking us up and trying to come into our room early on Sunday morning! Make sure you put out the sign saying do not disturb!!!
When you stay at this hotel, you are paying for the ambiance, not for the amenities, as there really aren’t any.
We had brunch there the following morning and it was very good. It was the longest brunch I have ever had, with it taking over 2 hours, and 15 minutes between courses. Maybe that’s normal for a 5 course meal? The service was very good though.
Overall, I would not stay here again. It was fine once, but once was enough.

We celebrated our 29^th anniversary on this stay. This is our 6^th or 7^th stay over the 29 years and have generally been pleased. This stay was spectacular!
The front desk staff were very welcoming and didn’t trot out the standard welcome but were personable without being forward. Perfect balance for my taste and preferences. Our room was generously sized and had a King bed, two easy chairs, an armoire, etc. Clean, well-​appointed and peaceful. A bucket of ice chilled the bottle of Champagne.
A note about the location: the Inn sits on an island with a north and south channel of the Mississippi River north and south. There’s a major arterial street to the west crossing over a bridge. While the thrum of traffic is noticeable in the adjacent parking lot the solid old walls and modern window construction reduce the background noise to near quiet.
We had dinner in the attached restaurant. Service was prompt, attentive but not intrusive and personable. No «what can I get you guys» interaction but not too far the other side «would M’sieu care for the barest hint of sea salt harvested by left-​handed poets?»
My wife ordered Scallops on a bed of risotto and pronounced it perfect. My lamb and fingerling potatoes were also delicious. The ‘by-​glass’ menu is a bit narrow but the wines offered are extremely good. (I had the AtoZ Pinot Noir and now vow to pick up a bottle. No, two bottles! Nah, a half case)
We love this place. But not as much as each other. (Feel free to go «ahhhh» or «ewwww» or make those snorting noises we made in 5^th grade when the couple on the movie screen kissed and swore enduring love!)

The most romantic place to stay in the Twin Cities. Beautiful, great food, warm and friendly staff, pretty rooms, all set to the music of the Mighty Mississippi.
Especially great for weddings.

I held a 3-​day training event at the hotel and was very very pleased with everything. The banquet manager Sarah is great to work with. The food was excellent and not overpriced. Our group had an ala carte lunch in the restaurant one day, and that too was great. Other great things: good coffee, excellent parking, beautiful setting, lovely hotel rooms.

I love to stay here, the setting is wonderful, great and interesting walks and right near the center of town. You can rent bicycles down the street and ride to the Guthrie theatre. The rooms are charming and roomy, atmospheric building and lovely staff. We haven’t eaten at the restaurant as there are bistros, cafes and bars around the corner that are so nice. I have stayed here three times and will return.

Beautiful rooms, great service and good food.
We stayed here last year, and ate at the restaurant, and loved it all. This was before they changed the head chef (earlier this year?), so I can’t vouch for the food offerings now. But the dinner we had was really good.

Very nice and great spot for a romantic night away. My wife and I stayed the night and room was comfortable. We woke early and had a nice morning walk around the island. then had breakfast at the Wilde Café.
very relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

I wish I could give two ratings; one for the restaurant and one for the hotel.
I stayed there my wedding night and ate at their restaurant. Two different experiences.
The hotel was nice, quiet and romantic, Victorian style. Nothing too fancy, but it was really nice; just perfect for what I was looking for. The service was good, and they were very welcoming.
The dining experience that night was not great at all. They decided to trim their menu to exclude the very thing that I had decided to eat there for. And the other option, the chef’s tasting menu, they also decided to scrap. So, I settled for their ribeye steak, and I was promised that it was wonderful. I’ve had better at Outback. Way too fatty, gristly and expensive for the quality. It was a romantic setting, however, and that was nice.
Now the breakfast on the other hand we had ordered to our room, and the Crème Brulee French Toast was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. What a wonderful breakfast, not at all what I was expecting when I think of french toast, but I was delightfully surprised. If you ever decide to eat breakfast there, you have to try this! I have been back a couple times to have this since.
Overall my experience with Nicollet Island Inn was «A-​OK.». The only downfall was the cutting out of certain items from their menu, and then the ones that were left weren’t good at all. It looks like changing the menu was a temporary thing, but if the food quality is still the same it doesn’t really matter.