Joan’s In the Park

Absolutely a gem! Never realized this was there and you clueless drive by it. Neighborhood feel in Highland area and small. Food and service, including by Joan herself, is wonderful. They were out of the streak but the dish I had was great and my wife’s very good. Worth the effort to come here.

My wife and I were looking for a new place for our 15^th wedding anniversary dinner. My wife did a search for «Best of» and found Joan’s. From go Dan our server made us feel comfortable. We went for the crab toast which had just the slightest hint of heat from the Ghost Peppers. My wife had had the market fish (Bass) and I went for the Hanger steak. Both phenomenal! The asparagus was a great compliment. The brown butter pudding comes with a spatula (thankfully) and is a necessary utensil to grab all of this dessert!

I’m from Austin, love farm to table, in town visiting family and stumbled upon Joan’s… this restaurant is beyond good. Had the kale salad, meatballs, crunchy shrimp, fish of the day, grass fed ribeye and 2 desserts. Oh and great wine selection! Definite 5 stars and 2 thumbs up!

Wicked good is how I would describe this place!
Delicious food, drink, lump lobster salad which is to die for, amazing filet mignon… TEN Stars!!!
Oh and my boyfriend describes this place as ORGAsMIC

Finally made it to Joan’s! It was a great time. We had the lobster salad, the rib eye, the scallops, the sunchokes and the carrots. The entrees were amazing! Be warned that the carrots are super sweet so I didn’t care for them but everything else including the bread and wine was great. Service was top notch, excellent recommendations and they found a cider for me off the menu. All around a great dinner.

Wonderful experience here! My husband and I went for our first night out since having a baby and enjoyed ourselves so much. The service was impeccable; they gave us complimentary champagne and confetti to celebrate (see pic).
The food was also excellent, highlight being the foie gras. Highly recommend.

Mediocre at best. Ordered several appetizers & entrees between the 2 of us & nothing stood out. Service was curt, the space small, loud & uninspired. Save yourself the disappointment.

Hands down our favorite St Paul spot! Fabulous wine list, tasty and unique small plates (tartare and any of their salads are our favorites) and high quality exquisitely prepped entrees. And their bread for table with special butter? De-​lish. You must get their famous pudding for dessert, served with a mini spatula so you can get every last bit of goodness out.
In summer the French doors of the smallish dining room open into an unexpectedly cozy patio. You’d never guess you’re between two cement buildings on busy Snelling avenue!
But better than all this is the staff. Mostly if not all family to each other, they treat you as if you’re their family.
Make a reservation or go early to snag a spot at the bar!

Joan, Susan and their staff makes you feel at home immediately as you enter their restaurant. The food is outstanding down to every detail. A great experience and even greater meal.

We came here for valentine’s day. The appetitzers are outstanding. Very unique and very delicious. The best dish was the brown butter pudding dish. It was so rich and so sweet.
I hope they have some seasonal changes on the menu for spring and summer.
I did not get to try the wine, but it looked like an extensive list.
Lastly, the service. We were sat promptly, and the food came out in decent time. Everyone was very friendly.
I can’t wait to go back!

The service was great, atmosphere was a bit lacking. The space was small and unusually warm. My date had the filet mignonette and «if melted in his mouth. l» I had the cod serviced with white mushrooms, cream sauce and lentils. It was delicious, albeit a very «white Scandinavian dish.» Currently they only have a wine and bier license.

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Pros: had a truly outstanding salad. The bread is wonderful. The service is great.
Cons: ordered the highest priced item on the menu (ribeye steak) and found it very disappointing. Very bland flavor, sinewy and nowhere near worth the high price. I couldn’t even eat a good portion of it since it was such a poor cut that was also terribly undercooked. My wife’s fish was undercooked and raw in the middle, so they clearly have some issues in the kitchen. The menu is very limited, so there isn’t near the choices you may expect. The place is deafening at times and would be a poor choice for an intimate dinner. Understand that this is an expensive place and it is virtually impossible to not exceed $ 100 for a dinner for two.
I won’t go back, which is a shame since I live about a mile away and really wanted to like the place.
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

Great service and unbelievable food! Pork belly was outstanding. Filet was perfectly cooked. Quaint little place with a comfortable setting.

We always eat at this lovely restaurant when we visit St Paul. The service is beyond amazing — Dan is so knowledgeable about wine and food — I put my trust in his recommendations and he always leads me to food bliss! Tonight the salmon was superb with delicate mushrooms, the rabbit salad was a delicious way to experience fall flavors. My husband enjoyed the beef short-​ribs and for dessert — of course the salted caramel pudding! Thank you to everyone at Joan’s for a wonderful and memorable dining experience!

The place is kind of unassuming, on the corner of Snelling and Bayard. You would drive right by if you weren’t looking for it. My wife and I stopped in at 5:00pm on a cool October Friday. The place really reminds me of a small 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s lounge. It is pretty cozy, with white table cloth and seating for less than 50 inside. We were thinking about sitting out an the adjoining patio, but it was a touch too chilly. There was quite a few who did opt for that option since they do have patio heaters.
The wait staff was nice and friendly with plenty of people helping with the service. As we were perusing the menu, the classic tunes from the 50’s through the 80’s were putting a nice comfort tone to the evening.
We decided on a couple of starters with one being Potato Gnocchi and the other being Crab Toast. They both came out in short order as we shared them both. The Potato Gnocchi was pretty good, but a bit bland. The potato taste reminded me a bit like lefse and it was a bit bland. It could have used a little bit of spicing up. The Crab Toast on the other hand was absolutely terrific. The light crisp toast, and warm crab with the light flavorful spices was just delightful. They came out with 4 loaded pieces that were about 2″ x 2″.
For dinner, I ordered the New Bedford Day Boat Scallops and my wife the Organic Roasted Chicken. The order took about 35 minutes because that is how long it took to roast the chicken. The food came out and we dug in. The ¼ chicken had a good crisp on the outside, moist on the inside, but otherwise pretty average. The skin had a slight flavor to it, but nothing really to make it stand out. The scallops were really good. The pistou (like pesto) was really good and a great compliment to the scallops. The porridge and mushrooms rounded out the nice hearty flavor of this dish. It was terrific.
We finished the night with a desert of Brown Butter Pudding. Um, super delicious. They even leave you with a mini spatula to get every last drop. It was needed. The wait person (Jennifer), took our picture and gave us a nice card with it in it, wishing my wife good luck on running the Twin Cities Marathon which is coming up in a couple of days. A very nice touch.
So in order of favorites:
1. The Crab Toast
2. The Brown Butter Pudding
3. The Scallops
4. The Roasted Chicken.
5. The Potato Gnocchi
Why not a 5 star? It was close, probably a 4 ½ star but the Gnocchi and Chicken just did not make it much past average.
I would definitely recommend going as there were plenty of items on the menu that sounds great. I am sure we will be back.

Joan’s is hands down our favorite «fancy» restaurant in the Twin Cities. When you walk in, Joan and Dan instantly make you feel like family. The restaurant is cozy but upscale. It’s not stuffy or pretentious, but you know you’re about to be treated to a fantastic evening.
Chef Susan makes good on the promise of the front of house; her food is spectacular. It’s amazing to think that the best steak I’ve had in the Cities was cooked in a pizza oven! The chicken & biscuits was amazing and unexpected. And the crab toast is phenomenal.
Definitely save room for dessert. We’ve tried them all, and they’re all good. But the brown butter pudding is the best!
Joan’s has it all! Great service, awesome food and delicious wine.

Wow. If you haven’t been to Joan’s, stop what you are doing and get your butt and appetite over to Joan’s. You’ll thank me. Stopped in on Wednesday before Circus Juventas. Seated in their patio/​enclosed outdoor room. Just wanted some appetizers and salad, so I have no comment on their entrees.
Had tartare, chicken biscuit, and crab toast. The chicken biscuit was good, the biscuit was really great, but the read of the items were kind of unremarkable. The crab toast was terrific. Excellent flavor. Great textures. The tartare is one of the best examples available in the Twin Cities. Cold, tender, well spiced. Yum. Glad they provided simple crostini that would muck up the tartare.
Great small wine list. If you can’t find something to make you happy, you can’t be made happy.
But it is the house-​made bread that is the topper. Just… awesome. Had a I knew about the bread before you ordered, I would have reduced my order. You can and should make yourself full on this bread. It needs no adornment. At all, but the butter was a good addition.
Joan and Susan made themselves available. Nice touch. And Dan was a great server. Just there as much as he needed to be. Completely relaxing night. Wonderful. Thank you.

What a charming little place! It befuddled me that it was never on my radar. I have never heard of it till a couple days ago. A place like this should have never been on a stealth mode, ever! Here’s an attempt to expose this little St. Paul’s gem to the masses.
We came here after a sad occasion not a block away at a funeral home. Dita D, Steve D, Steve T, and I were just walking and were in a somber mood. Steve T suggested this place as we were in his hood and he had been here several times. We passed the patio area as we walked to the entrance. Whoa! It got your attention right away! The patio was small but it was covered with ruffly fabric tarp top. On one wall, they put various earth tone curtains as decorations, but it really softened the whole place. It was really chic and charming. I just instantly fell in love with this patio.
The inside of the restaurant was tiny, but it was classy and comfy. They even were able to fit in a small bar. The menu was tiny but they had some awesome specials to offer. I went with the blow fish special. They told me it was related to the scary poisonous puffer we know affectionately as «FUGU» but it was no fugu. It just sounded cool and perhaps for some people the thought of a food being so dangerous it could kill you is cool. Not to me. I prefer to be killed by delicious food a slow death, not instantly. Still, I went for it because I just had to try it.
Steve T went with the same thing. Dita went with…(huge suspense building)…chicken. Steve D ordered the filet mignon special. We also ordered the short rib meatball appetizer. The meatballs were nice. It didn’t knock my socks off but it was tasty still. My puffer fish was a delight. Surprisingly it tasted like fishcake to me instead of just fish. It reminded me of otak otak in Malaysia/​Indonesia and/​or Norwegian fiskekaker. Tasty! Dita’s chicken was huge and she said it was one of the best chicken she ever had. Steve seemed to enjoy his filet. The filet was thick and tall. It was gorgeous next to some batons of squash and mushrooms. We all enjoyed our meals.
Now, desserts. We were given the heads up that the brown butter pudding was so good that Steve T wouldn’t willing to share. After some arm twisting, he was sharing but we all understood why he wouldn’t. It was so good! It was creamy and cold, topped with chocolate, salted caramel, and whipped cream. It also came with a rubber spatula to clean up any bits of pudding so nothing was left behind uneaten. So smart and cute!
The service was great. Joan herself was out and about, helping serve and greet the patrons. They did not have any hard alcohol, just beers and wines. They did have some wine based cocktails. We had the lingonberry fizz and that was lovely.
A couple of note of wishes: wish their portions were more comparable. Dita’s chicken was huge and the puffer fish was very tiny. I understood chicken was cheap but perhaps add more vegetables to the fish dish to make it more substantial. It wasn’t cheap so I was hoping that it would fill me up a bit more. However, the charm of the ambience and the whole feel of the restaurant would make you overlook some of the not so perfect stuff.
I love this place! I can’t even make a funny joke about anything. It was just a fantastic place to have a nice dinner with friends, alone, or whatever. It was definitely a great find. Thanks, Steve T!

We went back for our wedding anniversary on June 13. Just as amazing as the first two times. They really worked hard to make our anniversary special too — champagne to start the meal and they took a photo of us and printed it in a card to take home. Really nice. We will be back!

First time visit. Excellent presentation. Excellent use of fresh ingredients.
Very good restaurant.

This is the best, small, locally owned foodie restaurant I’ve been to in Saint Paul! The alcohol is plentiful while the menu is distinct. Every plate at the table looked fantastic and everyone was very pleased with the meal!
I highly recommend this restaurant for dinners with friends, colleagues or neighbors. It is just a skip and a jump from downtown Saint Paul and you won’t be disappointed by getting out of the usual offerings!
The servers were very nice and super responsive. You can’t go wrong!