Cat Man Do

The coconut shrimp was pretty good, and how can a mango lassi be bad. What I really liked was the light, care-​free, nicely appointed space, and a small leafy patio.
And I found it quite generous that even with the $ 20 groupon I presented, the server suggested that since I was alone, I could stuff myself on the lunch buffet and order an entrée to go. I love a good deal, but I felt that this would be taking advantage of them. Or maybe the server was trying to sabotage the business.

If your cold and you need some warmth, the Dahl soup is really savory and comforting. For the main course, I ordered a dish called mapp (asparagus, mushrooms, potatoes), which was a mix of fresh yummy veggies in a yellow curry sauce, spiced just right.
I’m excited to come back and try other dishes.

Horrible experience — I got food poisoning here!
We went here on a Friday night at 6:30 and had originally planned on going to Shish but when we walked in to find that Shish had a 30 min wait, we decided to try a new place and wandered over to Cat Man Do, which was dead — apparently that should have been my sign.
First, as stated in most of the other comments, the service here is horrible. We stood awkwardly in the doorway for two minutes before the two servers chatting in the back decided to come seat us. Then it took 15 minutes before the waitress came back to take our order even though there was only one other table and they had finished their meal and were just having drinks. When I ordered my soup, I asked about the spice level and the waitress laughed at me. Thanks. Finally we get our food and everything was ok. Not great, but not bad either. But do you want to know the real kicker here? Food Poisoning!
Seriously, I should have known better considering how rude the waitress was and how long the food took. They probably mopped the floor with my noodles for all I know.
ps. If you still decide to eat here, wear a parka because the place is freezing!

This food tasted great, and the prices were reasonable. I highly recommend going on a Groupon or some other internet deal (made it very cheap).
Got a fruit curry dish (forgot what it was called) and it had the texture of meat. Very filling. The veggie dumplings were really good, so was the fried veggie appetizer and samosa chat. Their sauces are great too.
We sat outside and it was really nice. Service is fine. Didn’t have any problems. The inside looked a little more romantic.

I’ve had quite a few meals at Cat-​man-​Do during my undergraduate career, and I’ve never really had any problems with it. The place has a deceptively great, slick website. The actual locale is not quite as exciting. It’s rather dark, and it all kind of works, but it feels a bit iffy. I cannot explain it. But it’s not too bad. They have a beautiful patio, with really comfy chairs and nice vegetation around it, so you don’t have to stare at the Patagonia parking lot next to it.
The food’s always good, but it’s got a rather limited selection. After a while, it all gets to be the same. It is great for students, though, cause their daily buffet for only $ 8 is quite great usually, so that’s definitely a good thing.
As I said, it’s an ok/​good place, but the ambiance is not quite on par with the food. Also, the selection is limited, which will make it repetitive/​boring after a while. Nonetheless, worth the visit for sure!

My husband and I went here for a date night using a groupon. Great food, good experience overall.
We decided to come back a different time. They were closed during their normal hours… at 2pm. Ok, not a big deal. Some sort of emergency maybe.
We give them another shot today. We were greeted after 2 – 3 mins of waiting awkwardly by the door (the restaurant was nearly empty). When we are seated, the waiter pours our glasses of water. Oh, lemon in the water? No, the dishwasher is new and didn’t get the soap off! We ordered the chowchow, a favorite from our first visit and stir fry. What came out to our table was stir fry and curry chicken… we told the waiter the mix up and he went to correct the order. Meanwhile, we dove in to the stir fry. it was inedible, way too salty! Sent it back and requested another order of chowchow. With two orders of bland chowchow we gave up and went home.
Cat man don’t

My husband and I tried this on an early Saturday evening for dinner. Just us and a few college age kids were there (it’s next to Macalaster). Small and dark inside, casual atmosphere. A small patio is available for seating as well. We ordered Samosas, Chicken Momo (steamed dumplings with excellent «signature sauce» on side), and Chicken Tikka Masala. The food was hot, fresh, and tasty. Good amount of spice if you want it. Service is casual — the waiter didn’t hover, which I like, but might be a small issue if you want the beer to flow.
We saw a customer walk in and order takeout, so it’s good to know that’s available. We used a
coupon ($ 2 for $ 10 worth of food — $ 20 minimum purchase), but the menu items we ate were worthy of paying full price. Cool place for a casual date night in the Mac-​Groveland area. I’ll be back.

Was cravin for some curry so decided to try out some new spots. Unilocaled it!.. this place was nearby and had good reviews so decided to check it out.
Got a coupon for this place from
I belive. (great deal)
Atmosphere–
It’s cozy, small, dim lit, tight, but I like this type of environment. We were seated at a small 2 person table. I laughed inside because I knew were were going to fill this table up with a bunch of food haha; Indeed we did.
Service–
Good service, our waitress was friendly. She asked if we needed extra plates after the apps but we were fine using the same plates; because the table was full!
Sometimes it seemed like she was slow though. We asked for a tea and it took her a while to come back to say that they ran out of ingredients for that particular drink.
Food–
This is where this place shines. We asked for very spicy because i’m asian and I can handle my heat mwahahaha. okok. Anyways yeah i was really surprised that they brought the heat.
Started off with some momo’s which were gone in an instant then ordered the Shrimp with coconut and Chicken Curry. Food was delicous and spicy. I think im starting to like the type of rice they serve. (Indian, correct me if im wrong) The rice was not as sticky as other rice and goes really well with the curry. Next time I come, i’m going to ask for some extra ingredients in the curry because i devoured it too quickly. Don’t get me wrong, I was still stuffin my face with the leftover curry sauce with the rice though! yuuum.
Overall–
For sure going to come back for some more spice. I did notice the group next to us order some stir fry… :/​…yeah I’m comming back for the curry!

This is a college hot spot– clearly evident by the fact that only 2 tables were drinking something other than water when we arrived Saturday night. I had a free groupon and decided to make the trek across the river for some tasty Nepalese food. (Ok, so the water thing may have had to do with the deal seeking groupon users, but it still had a college no-​frills feel to it.)
The staff was friendly, but seemed a bit overwhelmed with every table full and some people waiting. The food was slow to arrive. My boyfriend’s 2 plates of momos were hot and tasty! But unfortunately my curry & naan were barely luke warm and lacked the spice I was expecting.
The co-​ed bathroom was a big turn off for me. Not that I despise all co-​ed bathrooms – just this one. Be warned: the light switch is very close to the urinal. I came way too close to putting my hand in the urinal as I felt around for the light switch.

This restaurant is wonderful: Cat Man Do’s quaint, quiet, and personal atmosphere, together with attentive, friendly servers, and delicious, affordable food (that was portioned generously) made my dining experience absolutely enjoyable. Like some other reviewers, I never would have stepped foot into this place if it hadn’t been for a coupon I had (
, though, it looks as if there are Groupon deals as well). However, I wouldn’t hesitate at all to give this place a positive review.
I went on a Thursday night for dinner, and one notable aspect of this place was that the service was very efficient yet the «feel» of the place was demure. My party of 2 was served our full meal within 10 minutes of ordering, yet I never heard loud noises from the kitchen (or from tables being bused) nor did I see our one server (who also ran the checks and the cash register) feeling the need to rush from table to table. At the same time, I never felt that we weren’t being serviced-​to enough.
The prices were certainly fair for what we were given, ranging from $ 9 – 15 per entrée. Be sure to try some naan — best $ 2.50 spent here — and/​or the lassi or mango lassi drink.

There might not be many options for Nepali food in St. Paul, but there are two great ones when focusing solely on the food — Cat-​Man-​Do and Everest on Grand (which I suppose shouldn’t be surprising, since the prior was opened by former sous chefs of the latter).
The food, as stated, is quite good at Cat-​Man-​Do. After trying a good portion of the menu over the years, I can’t say anything negative about the food (though the lamb choyla, curry and goat momos are personal favorites). They also have a lunch buffet during the day, but I have no experience to speak of with their lunch offerings.
Alas, nothing is perfect, and unfortunately the service and ambiance at Cat-​Man-​Do aren’t doing the business any favors. The building and dining areas are actually pretty unique, but have become somewhat dilapidated over the years. The service also seems to be somewhat of an afterthought, as it’s generally slow and not terribly attentive.
At the end of the day this is a great place for takeout and to a lesser extent casual dining, just as long as you’re not in a rush or irked by fairly ho-​hum service.

Small buffet, large flavor!
I saw a ROTD recently for this place and thought to myself, «how many times have I driven by and never saw it?» So, I gathered my adventurous eating coworkers and headed to the buffet for our first time.
We found close street parking and walked in. There were 2 other groups sitting in the place but we couldn’t find the hostess/​server. We waited and looked around and she came over. We were seated right near the front door and able to see food come out of the kitchen to be placed on the buffet. This table was not ideal and kind of cramped.
The buffet that day had 2 different kinds of rice, the daal soup, a cauliflower and tofu dish with peas, a goat dish, a chicken dish, naan and some deep fried veggies.
The soup had a nice buttery and rich and kind of sweet flavor to it. The naan was kind of cold, but we could see when more came out so we did get fresh pieces, which were toasty and delicious when dipped in the soup. I liked the chicken with onions, tomatoes and spices. This was probably my favorite item on the buffet. I was skeptical, so I took a tiny bite of goat, but got freaked out, so I didn’t care for the goat. The deep fried veggies were good, but nothing special.
I would go back to see what else the buffet has to offer, but more than likely would order off the menu since I now know what I like.
As others have mentioned, the service can be spotty. We had to ask for something to drink other than water and she never came back, except for to deliver the check, so we had dirty dishes on our table the whole time we were eating.
I have no experience eating Nepalese or Himalayan food, so I can’t compare it to anything else, but I liked it, I would go back, and order off the menu.

This is the 2^nd time we have came here. The first time after 10 min of standing inside where a waitress looked at us but never came to seat us, and there was no one in the place, we left.
We bought a crowd cut coupon so this time after getting the same horrible service I approached the waitress and started to ask if we were to seat ourselves, however, I was rudely cut off an told to wait.
It then took forever for her to take our order. They were then out of Pinot Noir, which when you only have about 5 different red wines to pick from I don’t think you should be out. We also ordered an appetizer, which NEVER came!
When my boyfriend asked her the difference between 2 entrees, her response was «do you want noodles or rice», his asked «is that the only difference?» she then replied «oh, no they are completely different!» WHAT if they are completely different why not say that and explain in the 1^st place.
When the food finally came the server set our plates out, and my boyfriend’s plate had a bugging running around on it. I know bugs are everywhere, but to have it on your plate is another thing. Our Naan bread didn’t come out till our meal was pretty much done.
We do not plan on coming back, the food was decent but with such horrible service we will take our business elsewhere.

I really had a great first impression of this place, but it’s sort of fallen steadily since. After last night, I decided it was time to dock some stars.
The main reason? The service. In fairness, yesterday our server seemed like a nice guy (when we saw him), but he was such a slowpoke. I have never seen a server move with so little spring in his step.
After we flagged him down to order, my boyfriend said «as hot as you can make everything,» but then I sorta tempered that down to just «regular hot» since we were sharing and I prefer my spicy food not to be so overwhelming. The server offered to bring some extra chili sauce to the table for my boyfriend so he could add it if it wasn’t hot enough.
It seemed as if that whole exchange was kind of lost on the way back to the kitchen, because our food came out blistering hot. I could barely eat it and I grew up eating curry for breakfast (literally). No extra chili sauce for the BF either.
After about 10 minutes, our server checked in with water, but then only filled my glass and never returned for the BF’s. I was finally able to order some raita to cool down the curry, but it didn’t come for another 10 minutes. We downed our single shared glass of water quickly and refills were hard to come by again. Lack of water is something that can really make a pleasant meal unpleasant at an Indian restaurant. People need water.
As for the food, it was OK this time, but the portions and flavor didn’t quite match up to my first visit a year ago. We ordered the chicken tikka masala and shrimp curry, neither of which are a great value at over $ 10 each and fairly small for an Indian restaurant. We had single samosa chaat and a ½ order of chicken momos, which weren’t as good as the veggie ones but the sauce is still phenomz.
I still think three stars is solid, but I’m not in any rush to come back.

Samosas and Momos galore!
I love Cat Man Do.
This time round got some samosas and momos — the goat kind — for apps. Both were delicious.
I got the jackfruit curry — I think its great — although the texture of the jackfruit is kinda different if you aren’t okay with that I would recommend it. But its a different thang anyways.
My boy got one of the lamb dishes — i forget which one — i think the tandoor over one — and that. was. amazing.
No joke. The garbanzo bean curry also came with the lamb — and I wanted to trade — mine was great — but that one knocked it out of the park!
Next time i go — def getting the garbanzo bean curry.

Couldn’t pay me to go back!
Well not sure where to even start. We decided to try this last night as we live in the area and love all our little resturants. The food was ok at best, but what good qualities it did have were overshadowed by the worst service I have ever experienced in St Paul… including Taste of Thailand (you know what i mean if you live in the area)
— Were never asked if we wanted to order something to drink
— Ordered an app that took 55 minutes to arrive and was cold
— food ordered at the same time took another 20 minutes
— Ordered it HOT (spicy) not even a hit of spice
— Never checked back in once food hit table
— So rude I felt like I was in NY
Having worked as a server for years this is the first time I ever felt like stiffing someone… didn’t but I should have!
We will never step foot in this place again and we eat out three to four times a week in the neigborhood… I’ll hit Everest when I want this cuisine where they at least pretend to want the business.
I would say just order to go — but I watched a to go order take well over an hour… oh well won’t have to think about it because they will be gone shortly.

Good place for a lunch buffet. The quality of ingredients and cooking were impressive. The buffet is not extensive if you go by the number of dishes but nothing was greasy and drenched in spices; it was like home cooking. Ordered the veggie momos that turned out to be flavorful, especially with the dipping sauce. Also got a roti (made with wheat flour rather than white flour like the buffet naan is) and with the ‘kwati’ — mixed beans dal — it made for a very satisfying combination.
I liked the décor of exposed bricks and rich red-​gold wall color, and the friendly waitperson.

We spotted this place last week from across the street at Shish. My wife thought it looked like a dump, but I thought it needed another look, so I popped inside. Can-​Man-​Do looked pretty inviting, actually, and the waitress gave me a menu to take home. And then these great Unilocal reviews nudged us into give this place a try. We stopped in for dinner tonight.
It IS a wonderful place. I have to tell you I agree with all the other reviews’ high ratings. We had the vegetarian momos (steamed Nepalese dumplings), naan, the daal soup and the tandoori chicken sekuwa. I uploaded some pictures of the food we ate.
The daal soup was light but satisfying. It was laced with perfectly toasted cumin seeds. The momos came hot and moist with a little spicy heat in the green sauce. We had a half portion (six pieces). They brought out a freshly made onion naan. The onions were bright and nearly sweet. And the chicken was served on a bed of buttery rice with golden raisins, carrots and brilliant green peas. Cat-​Man-​Do says their menu is a Nepalese-​Indian fusion.
Décor is simple but attractive. On the quiet side with soft music in the background which suits me just fine. There is a lovely little quiet patio next to the building, off the main street. If it was warmer we would have eaten there. The staff is friendly and attentive, but maybe a little slow. There’s parking on the street and the lot next door.
Other Pluses:
1. They have black napkins
2. When they heard we like onion naan which wasn’t on the menu, they offered to make us some.
And two drawbacks:
1. My green tea, while flavorful and scented, was barely warm. I drank it anyway.
2. I saw a rat run across the patio from our window. This is the only reason I can’t give it five stars.
Regardless, I intend to back back there again and often, rodents or otherwise. The lunch buffet sounds pretty good.
One last tip. They offer a discount for people with MPR membership cards. Of course, I left mine at home. Bring yours!

Cat-​Man-​Do is the fourth, and newest, Nepalese restaurant in the Twin Cities. It’s a nicely decorated space with an outdoor patio as well.
I tested out some standard dishes here so I could compare Cat-​Man-​Do to the other Nepalese restaurants in town. I started out with an order of samosas ($ 4.50) which were flavorful and well-​done, though not the best I’ve had in the Twin Cities (the best are at Delights of India in Minneapolis). Next I had a jackfruit curry ($ 8.95) which was also well-​prepared; jackfruit is a delicacy in South Asia and looks like a cross between tofu and chicken and serves as a good «meat» for any dish. The portion size was large, and the price for the dish was two dollars less than what Everest on Grand or The Himalayan charge for their jackfruit dishes. It also had some nice distinguishing touches, such as roasted onion and red chilis.
My biggest issue with Cat-​Man-​Do was the slow service. I was the only customer in the restaurant initially, but the server didn’t seem to care to take my order and so I waited at least ten minutes to actually place it. More customers started piling in and the place got half-​full and now the solitary server was bogged down; my food took another ten minutes to arrive and I waited at least twenty minutes to get my bill, get my card swiped, and receive a to-​go box for my leftovers. The service was friendly, just extremely slow and inattentive.
Also, I was given only a 10% discount for being an Minnesota Public Radio member, though the site says I should receive 15%. Given how slow the service was, I didn’t want to stay to ask questions, but it’s frustrating nevertheless. It’s also not the first time I’ve been jipped on my MPR member discount by a Nepalese restaurant in St. Paul (see my review of Everest on Grand for more info).
Ultimately, Cat-​Man-​Do is a decent place with good food at cheaper prices than The Himalayan, Everest on Grand, or Namaste Café. Its food is nearly identical to the food you get at The Himalayan or Everest on Grand, but Cat-​Man-​Do is the better value for your money. Namaste Café is the odd-​man-​out; most of its food is not as good as the other restaurants, but it serves killer chai and some delectable appetizers and desserts, which the other three don’t.

My wife and I had a $ 25 Groupon for Cat Man Do and we had tried coming over here a week ago, the day after Thanksgiving, to no avail. The were closed. Uncool, we wasted all that gas and they decided not to be open. Bad Taste: Mouth. We went to Cecil’s instead, a great deli, about a mile away.
So our Groupon was expiring in a few days, so we took another trip to St. Paul yesterday. The parking was horrendous, but we did find a spot.
We entered the Himalayan themed restaurant and I looked over the buffet. It looked pretty average, so we decided to order off the menu. My wife ordered an order of garlic naan and plain naan, with a side of raita. The Indian, yogurt dressing, she said it was the worst of all the ones we have had in the cities. She said it was bland and had a weird texture. Not good. She did have the naan though, and said it was great I tried the garlic naan, and it was great. The tandoori oven put a fantastic crust on the non-​levened bread.
I ordered the lamb tandoori dish. It was $ 15, I would never order this without a coupon, but I decided, «Let’s roll like a player!» (On a side note, you know you are cheap, when a $ 15 entrée is the most you have spent on an entrée in about 10 years)
So our waitress, who was very nice and cool, it was weird seeing their 2 kids all running around the joint, but you have to do what you have to do. She brought out my dish, which was on a platter with about a handful of lettuce on it, a couple handfuls of rice with 2 pieces of lamb on top and some potato curry on the side. For $ 15, Dear Lord. I expected twice the amount, if not 6 – 8 total pieces. The lamb was super crispy, like everything here, nothing had flavor, it was all super bland. Even the dressing for the salad was super non-​tasty. The lamb was nice and chewy, but other than the texture, nothing did it for me.
The potato curry was like potatoes with a flour based yellow sauce. No flavor at all. Just an overall boring dining experience. I almost would like a jug of Frank’s Hot Sauce to kick it up.
The service was great though, but the place across the street looks cool though, I might try that next time I am down in St. Paul. It was Mediterranean as well. And they had some cool signs! :-)