Mona Restaurant & Bar

I had the unfortunate experience of being sent to frigid Minneapolis for a business trip; and my coworkers and I decided to go enjoy happy hour somewhere near our hotel. We made the mistake of listening to a well-​dressed gentleman we encountered in the Skybridge where we should go for happy hour. He enthusiastically recommended Mona Restaurant & Bar for some reason.
I’d describe the service as not terrible, but not passable either. Waitress was not informed about specials nor was she able to immediately answer some basic questions about an item on the menu. In addition she wasn’t very attentive even though the bar was empty and there were plenty of servers. (2 – 3 stars)
The menu was a bit confusingly laid out and not a descriptive as it should be. Most importantly, it didn’t state that ketchup would be extra. Nor did the waitress mention this $ 2.00 charge per small dish of ketchup. She simply asked if we wanted ketchup with our fries.
I’ve never been to a restaurant that charges for ketchup! Had we known that we were being gouged for ketchup, we could have just brought our own. That might have been tacky, but at least it we wouldn’t have been taken advantage (1 star)
The food was good enough for the price, but not too special. The variety left a little to be desired and some of the choices (although un-​sampled) did not sound even remotely appetizing. (3 stars)
The «happy hour» was a real bust. The prices weren’t that impressive for happy hour. And while we all ordered very normal cocktails, they were all apparently «premium cocktails» which had massive surcharges. (2 – 3 stars)
Go elsewhere to drink or if you plan on eating your fries/​burger with ketchup.

This is the story about a man and his grilled cheese sandwich. It is also the story of a man’s tomato soup. It’s a love story that involves Mona.
The grilled cheese sandwich at Mona’s (featuring three cheeses, scallions, sun-​dried tomato and crushed potato chips) has become a lunchtime legend for U.S. Bank employees working across the skyway. It’s served on ‘waffled’ brioche for $ 12. And. it’s worth both the price and the wait. It’s ‘cheezy’ in all the right ways, leaving you feel satisfied, pampered and just a bit guilty. During a recent visit, I paired the grilled cheese with Mona’s tomato soup (Of course!). The soup the perfect accompaniment to the sandwich, contributing subtle fennel, caraway, and tomato-​ey layers of flavor to an already-​great sandwich.
Treat yourself. Mona’s is a hidden gem in the skyway. It’s a small, intimate bistro where you can celebrate special occasions and time with friends and family without feeling rushed. I’m a particular fan of the open view to the kitchen where you can witness meals being prepared. With a drink and tip, be prepared to pay $ 25 or more for lunch.

Worst service I have ever received! There for lunch and it took 45 minutes for a BLT and a Caesar Salad. My friend had to go ask for catsup & a refill on my soda. We waited for five minutes to just flag down the manager to take his credit card!
When my friend (who was paying) tried to explain to the manager how bad the service was, she told him ‘I don’t have time to argue this’ and walked away from us!
Pretentious, average food at an expensive price. Location will assure they will close their doors within a year if they keep that kind of attitude!
Stay away from this place and spend your hard earned money somewhere else!!!

The chef puts out interesting and tasty food and the happy hour is one of the best. Mona also offers underground validated parking evenings and weekends (great in winter and summer). I have been to happy hour here a dozen times. Food is always above average and service is usually average (very slow on a couple occasions). I recently had the happy hour peartini ($ 5) the hand dipped and delicious onion rings ($ 5) and the hummus ($ 5). They deep fry the pita bread here, which I love. They also sneak in some interesting combinations such as sweet peas or sweet potatoes with the chickpeas. These things make a hummus dish stand out. I have also had the suicide fries, deviled eggs, cured meats plate and some very interesting wines. I really hope this place lasts because the location has not been kind to past restaurants and the great food and happy hour with free parking downtown is worth it.

If I could give zero stars I would. Due to what appeared to be slow service on the patio, we went inside to try and order a drink. The bartender essentially refused to serve us and was extremely rude. He refused to acknowledge us and did not make eye contact or come to where we were standing but instead spoke to another patron. We relocated to where that patron was seated and attempted to place an order. He curtly responded «Not Yet!» and walked away. We continued to wait and learned from a patron that they were running low on glasses. The bartender then proceeded to pour beers for the patron next to us but refused to acknowledge us. Instead, he spoke out loud to himself about how he would rather die than give bad service. At this point we were no longer willing to wait any longer. We walked outside to try and obtain service and watched several patrons receive drinks extremely promptly. Other individuals went inside and quickly came back out with drinks. Apparently the bartender was willing to serve them without issue. Frankly, the entire experience was extremely frustrating and has guaranteed that I will never return.

The concept of the menu is great, but the kitchen is horrifically slow (to the point were there was a 20 minute lag time between some of our friends’ main dishes… people were seriously finished eating before others had their dinner) and the execution of the some of the dishes were lacking in flavor profiles. We were there on a Saturday night and there were a total of three tables in the restaurant the entire time we were there. For a Saturday night in a downtown Minneapolis restaurant, that’s practically unheard of. And although our servers were polite, the actual service was quite spotty and slow. Maybe it was on off-​night, I’m not sure, but we certainly won’t be back.

I’ve been to Mona a few times now for happy hour and it’s typically been pretty average. It’s close to where I work and their happy hour goes on for longer than most places, which is nice. I recently went back with a friend of mine and had a horrendous experience and won’t be back. Here’s my rant on that experience:
After we grabbed a table, the bartender came over to take our drink orders. We had been in a couple months back and loved a particular red wine we had. He promptly informed us that he was the sommelier of the restaurant and was certain he could ascertain what that wine was. After a couple of guesses, he figured out which wine we’d had and we each ordered a glass. When I got mine I smelled it and could tell it was a bit off. But its a sweeter red and I thought maybe it was just different from what I remembered. Plus my friend seemed to be enjoying it just fine. They’re pretty strict on wine pours (which is totally fine) so the glass was ~5oz. After drinking about 2oz or so, it wasn’t sitting well, and I could clearly smell the vinegar of the turned wine. By this point my friend had stopped drinking hers as well and I motioned the bartender over and let him know that I thought the wine had turned. His response? «I’m the sommelier here and I know that wine. Its not bad.» Oooookay. I asked him if he’d like to smell it and he took the glass, smelled it and said it was fine. I told him it smelled and tasted bad to me and I have a super strong and sensitive sense of smell. He proceeded to argue with me, saying he could smell better than me because he is a professionally trained sommelier and he knows when a wine has turned and that wine was fine. At this point I was pissed. I don’t care if you don’t agree with a customer or not… you do NOT stand there and argue with them like that. He said the bottle was fine and he’d get me a bottle of something else, but he wouldn’t open a new bottle of that particular wine because it was fine. Huh? I never asked for anything! All I did was tell him it had turned. I told him it wasn’t a personal attack on him, and I didn’t know why he was turning it into a confrontation. And he said «Well I don’t mean to make it a confrontation, but I’m an excellent sommelier and I’m good at my job. That wine is perfectly fine». So I told him «Part of your job is costumer service and you’re horrendous at that, so obviously not!». He then proceeded to bring us our check with one glass still charged on it because we had consumed some of the wine (I never asked for another glass, never asked for it to be taken off the bill etc… but seriously… I’d had less than half of it). But okay fine. And then he proceeded to go back to the bar and talk about us (in plain view) to the other bartenders. Honestly… I have worked in restaurants for years, and he was so unprofessional and arrogant, that it blew my mind. I have never been treated like that ever. I don’t send wines back with any regularity… and I wasn’t expecting anything in return. I will NEVER go back there again because it was such an unpleasant experience.

** 2.5 stars **
Came here for a late lunch with another person.
First of all, there was nobody to greet you at the door, yet you are thrown off by the hostess table. I had to go find the bartender and ask where to sit. The bartender aka the waiter was courteous enough and nice. But unfortunately, he also reeked of hangover.
We ordered two drinks and two salads. The drinks were less than impressive but OK. The salads were very average. Overall, salads were fresh but had several issues with them.
The tuna salad was hard to eat with huge uncut spinach leaves completely overfilling the plate. Attempts to cut the leaves just left the other leaves on the table. I’m just glad I wasn’t on a first date. There was way too much tuna (2 giant scoops) and not enough cucumber to balance that out.
The other person’s steak salad had undercooked pieces of steak (raw; not rare). There was very little dressing.
Definitely enough food, but not impressed by any means considering the cost.

This is a real jewel in Minneapolis. Unpretentious, fairly priced, stellar food, incredible wine list and great deserts (loved the Cobbler). Go!

Always an experience in dining with interesting recipes by Chef Lisa. The service for our small gathering for a birthday dinner was wonderful — attentive.

Everything we ate at Mona’s was delicious. We let our waiter pick for the 5 of us and he picked perfectly. We started out with some smoked oysters and french fries (to die for) followed by charcuterie (pâté, brie, bleu, duck…). Then we had oxtail bruschetta, tomato tart and ratatouille lasagna followed by desserts. The chocalate stout cake and baked Alaska… perfect. Great restaurant with great service!!!

You can’t say I’m not branching out this year. Me in downtown Mpls at an underground parking site, with elevator and escalator to get there. The 333 address is advertised on a huge sign on the corner of 3^rd and 7^th, I still missed it, but that’s where it is. The place does have a kind of split personality. On the left is the dark bar, the divided restaurant looks totally unrelated. I was at the bar at a private party for my friend L A Nik. Happy hour prices all night for the apps. I ordered hummus with hot pieces of fried pita, and asparagus soup. I’m not sure what you can say about that type of soup. It was perfectly pureed, needed salt, a good size bowl. It had a really good homemade croûton floating on top Hummus was odd until I found out what was in it that made it that way. It had an orange hue, and bland, as in no kick. Turns out the ingredient wasn’t red pepper, but sweet potato, that explained it. I tried the fish on crostini. Huge and plentiful, tasted like whitefish, but was actually salmon. It was my favorite thing all night. I sampled a deviled egg, a little flat tasting, but it was the most delicately stuffed one I ever had. Soy, caramel popcorn anyone? Worth a shot if you like caramel. I tasted another HH oddity in some kind of crock. The bartenders were fantastic, always refilling my soda. The dinner menu looks intriguing, and they pride themselves using local farms and purveyors of fresh ingredients. They have a list as long as the menu. I was introduced to Chef Lisa, easy to remember Mona Lisa.

After the mediocre Happy Hour at Mona about a year ago it was time to this give place another go. I went on a quiet Saturday night for a few drinks and a snack.
Mona is located at the bottom of an office building and way off of Nicollet Mall, hence there only being one other table throughout my evening there. On a positive note I love the layout, it has a cozy dark bar area on one side and an open dining room feel with a view into the kitchen on the other. It has both casual fine dining and a bar but they don’t step on each other’s different dining atmospheres.
The dinner menu had a unique variety of winter dishes, the items ranged from oxtail, smoked oysters, duck pie to fennel gnocchi. All of them looked very intriguing and I think offered an interesting adventure for the palate, however I was not too hungry that evening.
My drinking companion and I split the Chicken-​fried Chicken. I emphasize drinking because I definitely had more to drink that evening than to eat. The dish was the perfect size for a medium nibble; fried yet not dry chicken on a bed of mixed greens and sweet pickles with a side if light red pepper flan. It was comfort food with conscientious sides. Then after a few vodka presses, from our attentive bartender Tim, the next logical step was the Warm Apple Crisp and it did not disappoint. It wasn’t meal sized but gave the perfect amount of sweet and the topping was all crispy goodness.
After this 2^nd visit I would give Mona more consideration as a spot worth venturing off the usual path for.

Lunch review. Off the beaten downtown Mpls path but still skyway accessible, you’ll find Mona. Another farm-​to-​table concept (you’ll find a list of their locally sourcing vendors on the back of the menu). When the restaurant is pushing their farm-​to-​tableness, I get ready for smaller portion for the same price I’d find elsewhere. This place was no different.
I had the salmon special for $ 13. The piece of salmon was the smallest I’ve been served in a restaurant. That said, it was well-​prepared with a yummy mushroom risotto. $ 4 fries were a reasonable portion and pesto mayo was good. Companion has an $ 8 salad that was smallish but good (probably shouldn’t expect more for $ 8 although it did appear to be an entrée salad).
My final take was I thought it was fine and the menu was as inventive as you’ll find downtown, but it just did not grab me. Will try again.

The beauty of a Chef driven restaurant is that it’s a Chef driven restaurant… this usually means rich, inventive foods that are familiar with someones own creative twist. The problem with a Chef driven restaurant, is that it’s a Chef driven restaurant… this usually means that the front of the house suffers because Chef’s have spent most of their career in the back of the house running the operations… That’s the problem I have with Mona’s. the service for the price.
Too many times I’ve walked in to grab a booth in the bar and just sat there staring dumbfounded waiting for someone to greet me. The staff is oblivious that someone new has been seated because they either have too many tables, or a section hasn’t been assigned.
On a nice summer day with a full patio– your bartender should bar tend. This means staying in one spot covering the rail, service station and remaining indoors. Have enough servers on before your «rush» so that the staff never has more than 4 – 5 tables at one time, and for God’s sake– either give them a section to work, or alternate seating with each table. Your guests suffer when your staff runs around trying to do too many things at once.
Try it, and I bet your check averages go up when people get their next round that much faster. Try it, and I bet your staff starts making better tips because your guests are happier.
But I do enjoy the food that I’ve tasted.

I can’t speak to the décor or the atmosphere or anything like that, because we ordered from them through Bitesquad.
In a nutshell: Very interesting-​sounding, badly prepared, very tiny food.
The only thing I got that was even halfway edible was the swordfish, which weighed in at a massive 1.8 ounces. That’s right, it was so small that I felt the need to actually weigh it. The pork was nearly raw and mostly fat — we threw it all away. There was something they referred to as bacon which was made of no such thing. The desserts sounded good, but the pistachio cake was about the size of a mini muffin and tasted like sawdust, and the beignets were hard as rocks and full of mysterious unidentifiable bits of something sour.
I’m not even going to talk about how long it took to get it, but it was long enough that the Bitesquad driver felt compelled to call me and say he was at the restaurant, but it looked like it was going to be a while.
An expensive lesson.

I CAN’T SEE… IT’s TOO DARK…
Holy cow, dark wood, dark tiny tables, dark, dark, and more dark. But still comfortably decorated. And the open kitchen is awesome. At least there was light in there!
We were there on a Monday night for a birthday dinner. We were the only customers the entire time. So glad we made that reservation ! It was actually too dark to read the menu.
After fumbling thru the wine list, we were amazed. GREAT WINE LIST !!!
However, I’m pretty sure my cocktail had little or no vodka in it. Oh well, I need to cut back anyway :-0
So we ordered several small plates, and they ALL delivered. Hummus was so smooth, fried pita was yummy, pickled veggies, perfect bread, oysters on the half shell, wonderful blue cheese, and on and on. The beef tenderloin was the best, then the pancetta wrapped halibut, then the bison skirt steak. But then, the lamb was all day chewing meat. Good flavor though. I still wonder why it took forever to get our food?
Apparently this is not a «special occasion «establishment that offers the birthday girl a lovely complimentary dessert. I guess you have to go somewhere else if you want to be treated special when you are the only table in the place.
DID I MENTION THE OUTSTANDING WINE SELECTION?

Very exciting new restaurant, with allot to say. It is located in the Accenture building and for years all we had was the Black Bamboo, their dollar scoops of food (I wish I was joking) and the MSG massacres. When I heard that the executive chef from the Corner Table was opening a restaurant in that space, in my building, I was as excited as one can be over food. The small plates are a great way to have lunch, happy hour or a big business dinner. This restaurant does everything right! It is a bit off the beaten path, but well, well worth it.
You have to start with the bar, which as people say, is a business bar, with masculine tones. That being said, the bar is not stuffy, and there is a very hip undertone. Every bartender is extremely knowledgable and very attentive. They are as adept as pouring a 12 year old scotch as they are making custom cocktails. Frankly, with the proliferation of cocktail bars, the cocktails here are as good as Bradstreet or Marvel, without all of the pretense. The happy hour food is perfect bar food, including great fries, unreal hummus (though I am partial to un-​fried pita – you have to ask) and scary good deviled eggs. In sum, this is the best business bar food in town; though no chicken wings.
When you go into the restaurant, the ambience changes from a business bar, to an open light airy restaurant with a beautiful open kitchen. The food does not disappoint. The lunch menu is awesome and perfect for a fast, reasonable and foodie lunch, with great sandwiches and salads.
Dinner is a real treat. The small plate menu allows you to try lots of dishes. There is something for everyone, basic meats, exotic dishes (such as the unreal bone marrow), great fish (love, love the scallops) and everything in between. In fact, there are so many interesting dishes, you will want to come back before the meal is over.
All and all, this is one of my new favorites, and is right up there with some of the best restaurants in town. Don’t miss it!
A quick tip, is they validate parking, so if you park in Accenture (which is great underground parking right off 8^th-​between 3^rd and 4^th), you park for free.

I had been looking forward to dining here for a few months because it was recommended by a popular food critic before it even opened.
We came here after watching the Holidazzle Parade and it might have been ¹⁄₅ full. The restaurant was furnished in dark wood with a very masculine look. We sat at a table right next to the kitchen, can’t believe how big the kitchen actually was, huge!
Our server didn’t know the menu very well, she said she normally worked over lunch. All the specials were read directly off her specials sheet and she couldn’t recite any of her recommendations without looking at the menu. Most menu items are small plates so don’t expect a lot per plate.
Our first course was butternut squash soup, very good and creamy and nothing too «out of the box» different. They but roasted seeds on the top of the soup for looks, they are too chewy for eating in my opinion.
The bread, four slices for $ 2 was ok, maybe a little spendy but I guess that is a small plate too!
Next course was marrow on toast… hmmmmm…no idea what I was getting myself into with this as I have never had marrow, at least not on purpose. The toast was a rosemary ciabatta that was very lightly toasted and had a small dish of honey pumpkin shmear (not a typo) On the side. Well, the marrow came out on a plate in a big ‘ol bone and a tiny spoon to spoon it out. I really didn’t care for the marrow, it tasted and looked like fat with the grease to go with it but the shmear (not a typo) was fantastic.
Next course was a Cassoulet with duck confit, braised pork, fennel sausage and turkey cracklins. This was the definite highlight entrée for me, good flavor and I really enjoyed the turkey cracklins. I did tasted the ribeye on sweet potato-​fennel hash and thought the rib eye wasn’t anything too exciting but the hash was delightful.
Last course was a seasonal crêpe with a sweet cranberries sauce over the top and perfectly cooked yellow apples and honey in the middle.
To sum it up… I guess I moan for Mona because I was not all that impressed with the food flavor from such a well seasoned chef.

Just finished having lunch at Mona with some clients. The interior is sleek and sophisticated as well as offering a more casual patio option. The menu is comprised of smaller plate options – almost everything is under $ 10 with a few seafood/​meat choices for $ 12. I would recommend getting 2 items – like a sandwich and soup or veggie side.
I had the roasted veggie sandwich – good but was a bit overwhelmed by the very strong smoky/​BBQ flavor. I don’t tend to like the smoked flavor, so if you do then this is the sandwich for you. I also had the sunchoke soup; I believe sunchoke is a kind of squash. Nice and creamy.
My other lunch companions enjoyed the halibut, french fries, ham and cheese sandwich, and lentil soup (which came with eggs sunny side up). Seemed like everyone enjoyed their meals, so you can’t really go wrong with anything on the menu.
We will probably be back soon.