New Brighton Bar and Grill

We went often when this was a Champps. The parent company had financial issues and sold several locations. This was one. The new owners were very different. The main theme is sloppiness.
The storefront faces away from Silver Lake Road, so you can’t really tell there’s a restaurant there. It helped that they had a light up sign that said Champps so during prime time and on the drive home you can tell. The new owners put a plastic bag type material sign that said New Brighton Bar and Grill over it, but they never bought those hard acrylic sign inserts so if it lit up it would still say Champps. So they never lit the sign up again. This was mainly a place for dinner and late evening socializing and it’s dark during those hours in a Minnesota winter. I’m sure much of the target audience was unaware this place was even open.
From the north, which is not the side you see coming off the highway at dinnertime by the way, there was an unlit sign that said «now locally owned and operated» and then they put «still» over «now,» which was confusing because Champps has been owned by a private equity firm from Kansas for a long time now. That’s the sign I just posted a picture of. Now that the store has been closed for a while the sign is falling down.
The menu was the same as before just on a laminated card instead of the Champps branded booklet. None of the items changed. We usually had the Kobe Burger and the Carolina Burger because they were pretty juicy.
Gradually the store got messier and messier and the service was slower and slower and the crowds thinner and thinner. There were always lots of employees though, including four in the front host stand doing a job that could really be done by one.
The last time I went was probably in February. They had a specials menu that had some new interesting ideas on it. Previously they’d had the same rotation the previous owners had. I think Tuesday was tacos, Wednesday was fajitas, Thursday was burgers, Friday was fish. Sloppy joes were somewhere in there. It was nice to see them try something new but that must’ve been the last ditch effort because the next time I went there was a little sign that said «closed» in the window. Other than that it didn’t look any different than when it was open. I drove past every day for at least two weeks without even noticing.
I dug the food here. I thought the outdoor seating area was a big plus. Lots of people like sports bars so the bar with the TVs were an asset. But the west wall of the building that everyone drove past was blank while there was nothing really saying «hey, come here and have dinner with us.» Then there was a weak management team inside and gradually the speed and cleanliness slipped.
There isn’t a lot of dining in this neighborhood. The Acapulco in this same parking lot is about all that’s left now. We drive to Roseville, Blaine, Shoreview, Fridley etc a lot of the time so losing one of the few places in New Brighton is pretty annoying.

This place is now closed… Too bad I loved the outdoor seating.

I am not a person who Unilocal or goes to social media when I have a bad experience at a restaurant. I always try to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt and call to speak to the manager about a bad experience I am may have had. We had purchased three Groupon’s for this restaurant in the past few months. Our first experience with the restaurant was pretty good. Our waiter was great and the food was your average barfood. The second time we went was with a larger group of about 40 people and the service was definitely slower and the waitstaff wasn’t as polite as the previous time. Completely understand since we showed up in a bigger group we knew we were going to wait it was the rudeness that I wasn’t expecting. The last two times have been the worst experience. We had called ahead for reservations for a large group of course some extra people who hadn’t RSVPed for the group showed up. I would think the manager and waitstaff would’ve been happy to have more service come in instead we were told to go elsewhere because we were past our RSVPed group. So we give them one last chance and taking a team of kids there for dinner after a basketball game. Mind you it was a Sunday night and the place was empty except for The people sitting around the bar. There were 30 of us that came and we were split up with parents in one area and kids and another. The two servers we had were rude they made us feel as though it was our fault for showing up and making them work. Our food took over an hour and the best part was there were a few people that didn’t even get their food until we were leaving. My son was one of them and when he was handed the burger it was not the burger he ordered but the waitress told him well it’s what we have. So again I wasn’t going to go to Unilocal and I called the manager on duty last week to talk to them politely about the situation. Not once did the manager apologize instead she continued to tell me how it was our fault for showing up on a Sunday night with 30 people without RSVPing 24 hours in advance. Business must be that good for this place that they can turn down 30 people or like six families on a Sunday night. After the manager continued to tell me it was our fault the best was when I said we would go somewhere else next time for dinner and she said go right ahead we don’t need you. Classy! needless to say this is not a place to visit. their business must be so good that they can be selective of who walks in the door.

I’ve been here twice since Champps left, and the service is here deplorable! Had to wait almost an hour for our food to arrive and they still didn’t get our order right. The wait staff were very unfriendly as is the manager of the restaruant. Save your money and go to McDonalds across the street instead.

We were here last summer and ate outside and were quite pleased with it. But going again on New Years Eve around 6 when they were not very busy we were disappointed. The Special was prime rib which I ordered medium rare and it was fairly accurate. But it was cold– not even slightly warm. Dipping it in the au jus sauce actually warmed it a little. I complained and the waitress offered to heat it up but since it was already bordering on medium, I declined. Jambalaya that my husband had was ok, wrap that my daughter got was so-​so and she declined to keep the leftover. Very disappointed as we used to like Champps at this location.

Food was fine but the service was not good. Two coworkers and I went for lunch on a Friday afternoon. We were seated right away and the place was pretty empty. Our waitress was quite odd. Said hello to us but didn’t come back to take our drink order for almost 10minutes. Menu has the basic sports bar stuff. Much smaller menu than the previous champs menu.
We placed our order which seemed simple to me, 2 of us had wraps and the other a salad. Our food took at least 45min to come! We did ask at one point and she said it would be right up. Not sure if she forgot to place it or what. We ate in a hurry and asked for our bill. Waited 10 minutes and couldn’t find her. I ended up just going up to the bar to have her find our waitress for our bill.
Just seemed like our server could have cared less about us. Sad to see since we went to champs a lot before. Food wasaverage, i probably wont visit this place again.

I’d say «BUY A BROOM», but it was propped up next to us, and they simply chose not to use it. In fact, one red haired server went to move it from the table it was propped at in the middle of the dining room, and while she first looked under the table and saw what a filthy mess it was, she still removed it.
And it was this way throughout the restaurant. On my way to the bathroom, I saw countless tables needing busing, but more disgusting was the number of places where the floor under the table was littered in dropped food.
And in the bathroom, I actually did that thing we did when we were kids to cars that needed to be washed, I traced my initials in the dust on top of the paper towel holders.
So my husband finally called the manager over to tell her that this place was a filthy mess. The manager said that it was a great place, but she did see the need for the floors to be cleaned up. We stayed another 10 minutes… the floors were never cleaned up. The manager was «chatting» at the hostess station as we left.
My reuben sandwich was so greasy. My husband’s fajitas were okay. But as far as I’m concerned, the good news of the evening was… we didn’t get sick.

This place is all right. The food is your boring bar and grill type. I had a hamburger that was decent the fries were also decent. My wife’s food was also just so so. All in all the food is plain and unimaginative.
The service was also just okay. The staff was mildly friendly. They seemed like they knew their menu well. It did take awhile to get our meal.

If there was a 0 star option, that’s what I would choose!
Dirty, dumpy, disgusting and disgraceful! I will never grace the door of this establishment. It’s poorly managed, dirty and over priced.
The food is mediocre at best. The bathrooms are dirty and there is always Water on the floors which we were told by a waitress, leak into the basement where the prep kitchen is! What! Health Department needs to inspect this place!
Buyer Beware!!!

No longer Champps, but still a good spot. We stopped in today for soup & sandwiches. The French Onion is GREAT! Still a bit on the pricy side, but they have a patio and pull tabs :)

I only came for a drink and didn’t have the food, so I’ll make an update when I get to try their food. I was very disappointed by their lack of craft brews on tap. Yes, they have so many taps and only one or two dedicated to local breweries. It was all mainstream corp beer. The service was good however.

I was only at this location once when it was Champps. The interior didn’t really appear to change very much with the name change.
I went with one other guest and 2 children under 6. The kids menu had a lot of choices which was good for these sometimes picky eaters. We were greeted and seated right away. Our waitress was prompt with getting our order.
The time to get the meal was long, especially with the two kids. They were pretty restless waiting 20+ minutes. Our server was very attentive. I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Wrap. It was tasty and had the real buffalo kick to it. So many places take away the spice to be amenable to midwestern palettes. The children’s mac and cheese looked exactly like other Champps restaurants — Mac and Cheese from the blue Kraft box. The kids don’t mind, but they charge $ 4.99 for a bowl of it. I would say they are making at least a $ 4.00 profit on that one!
The place was clean. I was satisfied with my experience and would be happy to return. I will just make sure that we aren’t in a big rush!

I recently learned that this location is no longer a Champps but thought we’d try it anyway even after seeing a few not so stellar reviews. We were not disappointed. It was still the same great food and service. The outdoor seating was a huge plus! We will be going back.

What? Where did Champps go??? Apparently, the name changed about a month ago.
My daughter and I went there today. Our credentials for Champps are good: we used to come here every Saturday. But we haven’t been back since last summer. What a letdown today!
Everything at the «New Brighton» is nearly identical to «Champps» except they’ve deleted the name… same menu (except breakfast), same uniforms, same décor.
1) The place was filthy. Dust all over, dirty chairs and table bases, sticky booth with torn vinyl. Signs for «Champps» covered in paper. Tacky! It’s been a month. What’s taking so long to change this stuff? I can see signs of a slacker owner and manager all over the place.
2) My daughter ordered breakfast and I ordered a sandwich. The food took 35 minutes to come out, even though there were hardly any customers. We could hear the cooks yapping and laughing. They should spend less time talking and more time COOKING.
3) The food was a disaster. My daughter’s steak & eggs: the steak was NOT medium. In fact, it was cooked to hell – and cold. It was like a cold shoe heal. The scrambled eggs were also cooked to hell – and cold. The hash browns were undercooked and not browned at all. The only thing that was okay was the toast. My reuben sandwich and waffle fries tasted good but they were lukewarm.
I told our server (who was very nice) the truth about our bad food. The manager came over, apologized, and comped my daughter’s breakfast. I think they have some serious problems.
We won’t be going back.
–Daddy Maxx Retro