Finnish Bistro

Pastries are really hit or miss, along with the food. From the reviews, it seems like some items are consistently good while others are mediocre or fluctuate in quality. I’ve only ever had a bad version of the French toast and some good and horrible pastries. Going here is like Russian roulette, so if that’s your thing by all means.
Additionally, the owner is unbelievably rude. After getting double parked by the owner, she did not apologize and instead told me it was my fault. I was a half hour late to where I needed to be. Thanks!

I really wanted to love this bakery when I stopped one early morning. Finland is a great country, and who doesn’t love a bistro? There was unfortunately nothing really special about the stop. The coffee shop inside serves good coffee, but is a chain with many locations. Took a loaf of Finnish Rye Sourdough home (hoping to embrace Finnish deliciousness), but it was hard as a stone. The bakery/​bistro was not what I expected.

Great all day breakfast menu with some unique Finnish dishes along with Daily quiche specials. I go for the oats cakes. Best part is that the place is at the top of St. Anthony Hill: perfect place to finish a sprinting climb!
Downside is the coffee comes from DBC next door, which require a second wait in line!

OMG, I love this place hands down and so does my wife. I had a Groupon for about ½ off which was steal. We decided on getting Sunday breakfast. I have to say getting there early is key and we got there around 8 am. This place certainly has atmosphere and nice to try out a new neighborhood like St. Anthony’s Park. Well, parking is on the street which was no problem. I settled on the crêpe like breakfast plate (Lefse Scramble) and my wife had the omelet (House Breakfast «Aamiainen»). I noticed some day old bread at about ½ off which was the cranberry bread (my favorite) so got that. Also, there was a $ 3 – 4 sale for frozen catered soup (split pea ham soup) and got that too. Anyways, the food got to our table fast so we enjoyed some peace and quiet until more people came. Some rude guy with a family saw us getting ready to clean up and picked up our table to move closer to another one. Our glasses of water were still on the table. So, not sure why he couldn’t ask us if we were done. I guess what I am saying is to avoid the chaos and get there early. Plus, there is a cool band setup so you can hear some local music but again it is later in the morning. Coffee is also not through the bistro but the adjacent coffee shop if you like Dunn’s brother. Personally, I think their coffee is a bit too strong. Oh yeah, back to my comment on the take-​out food. The bread was delicious and finished it over the week. But honestly, I ate most of it since my wife knows I like it more. The soup we split the next week and it was very hearty. I was tempted to get more but we really didn’t want to get stuck with something we didn’t like. There were other options like butternut squash and ginger carrot but the split pea ham soup sounded the better option and limited quantity too.

The atmosphere and ambiance is very nice — the restaurant is in St. Anthony Village and the place kinda has an old European feel to it. Parking may be a little challenging since there was only street parking and there are some restrictions set by the city but I didn’t have a problem.
From my understanding this restaurant was founded by a lady from Finland years ago and pretty much has been a party of the St. Anthony community for decades. So I’m writing this from an outsiders perspective.
I ordered the traditional Finnish pasty and the lamb gyro (doesn’t seem like a traditional Finnish cuisine to me but it sounded good).
The pasty was definitely pre-​made and reheated but I still enjoyed it. The pastry that the beef tenderloin was enveloped in was tasty and buttery. It also came with a side salad and tzaziki dressing. Overall, it was good but over-​priced.
The gyro was also good (not great). It came with no sides and very little lamb meat. For $ 10, it was waaaay over-​priced considering that you were mostly getting a thick pita bread mostly filled with lettuce and some lamb meat.
Overall, it’s a nice place to eat once in a blue moon given the nice ambiance and neighborhood, but the value for food was not that great.

The food is really tasty, however, the last time there my sister ordered the Caprese sandwich that comes with a salad (her fave) and this time they gave her the dill dressing and a couple slices of pineapple. She went back to ask for the salad and was told that ‘she gets the chefs choice and being that she isn’t very outgoing, just decided to go back to our table and eat. Not long after the owner walked by to ask customers how their food was– we mentioned the salad issue and she was great– she brought out a salad and a free sampling of cookies! All delicious.

I used to live down the street, great little place to walk to and get coffee or some delicious pastries. The walnut brownie is out of this world. The omelets are also fantastic.
Unilocal is a interesting concept. Take all of these reviews with a grain of salt and realize that most regulars here love the place and that hundreds of people eat here, enjoy it, but don’t pull their smart phone out and immediately write a review…
I’ve had bad service, I’ve had great service. The owner has never been anything but welcoming and usually thanks us if she is not doing 100 other things. She stands by her restaurant and does her best to appease the absurd coupon’ers obsessing over a few dollars.
The point is, on a beautiful day, grab a drink and hangout outside at the tables, the neighborhood is wonderful and so are the people. If you are one of the people who expects the red carpet to be rolled out and a mild form of indentured servitude as your server, stay away from here, you are doing everybody a favor.
Finally, put your phone down, and maybe try listening to what the person across the table is saying. The pictures and reviews can wait, enjoy yourself and the ones around you.

Lefse! My mom made this when we were kids. I saw some of the great looking photos posted here on Unilocal and decided to give it a try.
What a disappointment. They deny ever having made some of the food in the photos posted on Unilocal.Problem is… That’s why we came here! The place is cold and echoey. The counter woman was distracted and rude.
My sister’s eggs were not poached but fried and the sauce on them was actually cold! They were super inflexible about substituting anything for the bread that came with my breakfast. We did order 1 lefse for which they charged me $ 4.95! They stated they don’t do Unilocal,but if you own a business now days… you «do» Unilocal wether you want to or not. It would have been nice if the info on their Unilocal page was up to date and the photos accurate. (Note to owner: you CAN manage your page!) The only good thing was the baked goods. We took some to go and went. Will not be back.

I enjoy this great little combination bakery, café, coffee shop. My favorite menu item is the lefse scramble with a side of reindeer sausage, which is part of their breakfast menu that is served all day.

We took our Finnish great aunt to the Finnish Bistro.
The tables are set up for parties of 2 – 4 people. We had a party of 5 so we found a table for 4 and stuck a chair on the end. We happened to get a follow able under the vent and it was pretty chilly.
It is pretty casual. We grabbed our menus, that have a great selection, at the order counter. We took them back to our table and tried to decide what to order, it was a tough decision! We ended up ordering too much food!
We ordered at the counter. They have cans of pop, milk, juice, etc. if you want coffee or tea you need to order at the neighboring Dunn Brothers counter, which shares a space with the Bistro.
I had the Pulla French toast. The bread was a bit dry, but the caramelized fruit on top and syrup on the side made up for it.
My kids had cheesy quesadillas, and they were super gooey and cheesy!
My husband had the pasty and he said it was filling and OK, not a lot of flavor.
My husband thought the baked potato pizza was the best.
I have yet to try my mushroom and Swiss quiche. I really like quiche in general, so we shall see!
I think we will go back.

Finnish Bistro is in a quaint location in St. Anthony, where you feel like you are submersed in a little European village. It is so lovely, and I welcome it warmly after I am done riding someone’s ass with road rage on Hwy 280.
I am a lover of savory breakfast, but I get so sick of scrambled/​fried eggs and whatever the hell is in breakfast sausage, and I am also a gravlax fiend. So I like to come here and treat myself to a traditional Finnish breakfast of cured fish, meat, and cheese. This platter comes with smoked salmon lox, pickled herring, salami, egg, cucumber, tomato, Swiss cheese, cucumber dill sauce and bread. I love the variety and could eat this any time of the day. I recently had their soup of the day, which was a carrot-​turnip soup, I believe. And it was just what the doctor ordered on a rainy day. It was savory, sweet, and had the perfect amount of bite. It was a little creamy too. I accompanied it with a half salad with salmon lox of course. I love their house dill dressing and the salad is a great mix that actually includes real vegetables (even broccoli and cauliflower).
However, I find them pricy. The Traditional Finnish breakfast is ~$ 22, which is a lot for a plate of sliced cold items. But for some reason I always fall victim to it. Also, my order of a cup of soup + side salad w/​lox was over $ 20. I had a «wtf» moment with that, for two sides, but the salmon alone is $ 7 and is worth it. Service has always been great and inviting when I’ve been there. Note: You order and pay at the counter then they will bring your food over. There are self-​serve bus bins after.

We had occasion to eat here a lot and we really grew to like this café/​bakery. The sandwiches and salads were great. My wife particularly enjoyed the gyro. I had good luck with their omelettes, the flat bread pizza, and the Finnish beef pastry. Being of Finnish decent, I enjoyed supporting this restaurant. Best of all, however, were the bakery/​pastry/​dessert items. As others have said, the almond kringle is delicious. So are the donuts, pastries, cakes, and cookies. If you’re a fan of little sidewalk cafes, definitely try the Finnish. You won’t be disappointed.

My friend loves this place so it’s our go to location for breakfast whenever she is in town. Love the food-​particularly the sour cream dill sauce. The service is great. The music is good.
While it’s a cozy location I’ve never had a problem getting a table.

I’ve been here once before, and while making my way towards a Bruegger’s I passed it and I just had to come in again, I will always patronize a small local establishment over a chain establishment. And oh am I glad I did! I had the most wonderful fluffy, soft, delicious salmon and asparagus quiche that came with a very fresh mixed greens salad and a nice cucumber ranch house dressing. I also had a classic finish Pulla roll which is such a nice break from traditional American pastries. I paired that with a Clown Shoes clementine white ale. I also got several fresh chocolate covered macaroons. Whenever I find fresh, moist macaroons like these I grab a small bag full. The only other place that has them like here is at Lucy’s Delicatessen in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin. Thank you Como neighborhood for another delightful place.

Mercifully, a lot of the food at this place is not very Finnish at all. I say «mercifully» because having Finnish immigrant grandparents and a mom who’s first language was Finnish growing up in far Northern MN, I know that the Finns have many virtues, but great cookery is not among them. They have good baked stuff but the food is a lot of bland stuff and fish mistakes. Trip there in 2002 only confirmed that. My opinion only, and your mileage may vary.
THIS place however has a really good farmers omelette and of all the things a mashed potato pizza. Both dishes had superior quality potatoes and cheese. The egg for the omelette was perfect, and that is not an easy thing always. Music was being played on a Saturday morning — very traditional Finnish folk music per my mom, who would know. I look forward to going back for a happy hour and apps.

I can not believe I did not write a review for this place yet! When I was living in this neighborhood, St Anthony Park, I would always come here. At the time I would walk here when it is nice out. After living there for a year, I moved to another town called St Anthony. Lol. There is something about the name St Anthony that I couldn’t get rid off.
Anywho, the place is tiny and connected to Dunn Bros. During the day you could do work and it gets crowded because of the good healthy food. You go up the register and order your meal. They give you number stand to put on a table and bring you the food. Don’t try to order food at Dunn Bros because they only serve coffee:)
I usually get their House Breakfast «Aamiainen» for $ 10.95. It is unbelievably good! It has Kielbasa sausage and bistro potatoes grilled with sauteed spinach and onions with two eggs, toast and fresh salsa. Seriously I had tried to make this at home and it was unsuccessful. Don’t even try, just come here! Their sweet station is something you could not pass. You have to try something at least. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.
Server is alright. When they get busy sometime they forget about you. Understandable. I almost forgot to mention that I came here last time because this restaurant participated in Dining For Life where they donate their proceeds to people living with HIV/​AIDS in Minnesota. I love it when I see people helping people. And this restaurant donated 100% that day.
Highly recommended and parking maybe a little tough. Enjoy!

Very good. I couldn’t decide what to get (like usual) and was trying to decide between the lefse breakfast scramble and the house breakfast. The lady (I think it was the owner) was very patient and helped me decide and even asked some of the other people behind the counter which one they liked better. In the end I went with the lefse scramble with ham and egg whites. I also got one of their almond kringle bars because they had a ton of them there and I absolutely love almond flavor.
It’s the kind of place where you order at the counter and they bring it to you. It was done very fast and came out with some fresh salsa and orange slices. Omg, the scramble was so good! I loved it. I added some cholula for some spice because it was a little on the bland side but overall very good. The lefse was delicious.
The almond kringle was heavenly. Good thing this isn’t very close by otherwise I’d be tempted to stop more often.
The place is kinda small and when it got busy it was hard to move around and get away from my table to leave.

I liked the service here the girl who took my order was nice, approachable, and accommodating to my substitutions.
The atmosphere made it look like the food would be great but looks are deceiving. It was very crowded and it was seat yourself and bus yourself.
The food … The presentation was nice but the food was not. The price was too high for the quality of food. The tomatoes were not fresh. I ordered a caprese sandwich which was suppose to come with a side of fresh greens but instead got canned beets. We also ordered the vegetable omelette and was able to substitute the cheddar cheese for hollandaise sauce with no extra charge, and it wasn’t that great. There was something fishy about it from my perspective but not to my girlfriend. The toast caked with melted butter, not enough mushrooms (4 and half measly mushrooms) and the salad was not helping the plate, looks like it was tossed into the meal to help it appear complete.

Hellllllo, Finnish Bistro!
Went here with a friend last night. It was amazing. Started with a glass of wine. Very generous serving. Met my friend and we tried to order the pasty — unfortunately they were out. BUT FEAR NOT! The guy taking our order was quick to recommend some other things on the menu that we ended up loving! Plus, we grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as Finns eating pasties our whole life so we didn’t NEED pasties. We just wanted them.
We ended up ordering the salmon lefse. It was delicious. Adequate portion size. Even though there aren’t «waitors» per sé, they do pay attention when you need your table cleared. Everything else on the menu looked great, and I plan on keeping this place in mind to bring my Finnish father to when he visits and for breakfast in the future.
What a great, delicious, and unique place!

I stopped in here with a friend for a weeknight dinner after having this place in mind for a long while. We were luckily able to find street parking even with the crazy snow this winter and the heavy residential location.
Food — Taking a look at the menu, I’m skeptical if some of their fare is really served in Finland. Lamb gyro? Quesadilla? Greek omelet? Though they advertise «authentic European cuisine», I would say a menu with diversity does not mean the variety is actually good. I had the Farmers «Munakas» omelet and my friend had the Greek omelet and they were both very basic. I could have made these at home and they would have been hot too, which brings me to the service.
Service — ehhh yikes! It took 3 people behind the counter to take one customer’s order at a time. My friend and I placed our orders at the counter and then we received a number to place on our table. I’m cool with casual dining, what I’m not down for is chaos, it was obvious that the staff didn’t know what was going on. We waited for our dishes, one came out but the other one was no where to be found, after 10 minutes of waiting I got up to check with the staff behind the counter. Turns out my plate was just sitting there getting cold and the staff didn’t bother check which table it belonged to. Reasonably priced but I would pay more for the service to get its act together.
Space — kitschy, like the beginning of grandma’s antique collection and cramped when busy. To put it nicely there were other customers’ derrières in my face when eating. Also, the Bistro shares space with a Dunn Brothers, possibly why it’s having an identity crisis with the décor.
I would really love to try the pastries as they looked delicious, like they were out of a Maratha Stewart magazine, but sadly I don’t think there’s anything else to draw me back.