Tavern On Grand

Being a Northern Wisconsin transplant, the first time I tried The Tavern on Grand, I felt instantly «at home». The delicious fresh walleye, and great service were an added plus! And you can’t beat Trivia Thursday! The Tavern on Grand is all around a great experience!

What a great find! I googled where to find the best walleye and Tavern on Grand came up. We had the awesome dragon bites, walleye tacos, grilled walleye with wild rice, fried walleye on mac and cheese. We were all taking bites from each other’s plates because all of it was too good not to share! We finished with the apple crumble! So good!

How this place has a 3.5 rating is beyond me. I’d also like to say that the only reason we went to this place was because La Cucaracha (5 stars) was closed. I live in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood and also work in the service industry in that same neighborhood. I walk in and sit at the bar with a friend of mine, order a beer, ask for a menu and began to watch the sports that were on and BS with me friend. Some regular that knows my friend comes over and says hello and I was introduced to him. My friend and I are both military veterans as was this man. Next thing I know this dummy is grilling me about my military experience (Infantry, team leader, two Iraq tours), when I was there, what unit I was with, where I was etc, as if he didn’t believe me. Then his drunk self launches into a tirade about Vietnam, Iraq and George Bush for some reason as if I’d asked him to share. Then some other drunk guy starts hassling my friend loud as hell so that the 3 other people in there could hear it. This was my first time in there, as a man who’s lived in St. Paul all of his life, minus army time, I guess it’s probably because no one ever told me how awesome it was and that’s for a reason. Please don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a complaint about the service, because the bartender was great, the food was good and the beer was cold. However, upon learning that these two frequent the place, management needs to police up their idiot regulars. This shit doesn’t happen where I work. Promise you that. I’ll never be back there. And I promise you that this review isn’t the only way this experience will be told. And again, this isn’t a complaint about the service. However, if these are the regulars then no wonder there was hardly anyone in there.

Excellent service. Dangerously delicious walleye tacos. Dragon puffs. Very dragony & very puffy. Check it out

They are known for their walleye specials. You can try walleye 5 different ways including a sampler. The beer selection is decent and the atmosphere is quite. The bartender was helpful in figuring out beer pairings and the staff was friendly. Definitely come here if you want to try the walleye.

Walleye bites and the chicken and wild rice soup. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Whenever I have a visitor from another state or country I bring them to the Tavern for lunch. The food is simple and Minnesotan. The décor has a North Woods/​Cabin bar feel. It is simple and tastes great.

The boyfriend has been raving about this place and I have not been so we stopped in for a late dinner.
We sat at the nearly empty bar and it took the bartender nearly 5 minutes to even acknowledge us. Seemed as if we where bothersome for even being there. I’m a bartender myself and have been in the industry for 13 years so I’m quick to pick up on these things.
The food–
After reading reviews, the walleye seemed liked the way to go. Nope.
Walleye was luke warm and the bun was not toasted. No flavor what’s so ever. The fries were cold. I asked nicely for some fresh ones and he came back with fries that were just a little bit warmer. Ick!
If this is what Minnesotans calls the best walleye in town, I need to move. Not impressed and won’t be returning.

Always pleases. Got the blackened walleye dinner. Very good portion — enough to split the meal. Extremely fresh veggies– very nice.
Beer selection good. Got here late– bar was pretty cozy, had a nice mix of hip music playing. Staff was very friendly and accommodating.

I have had Tavern on Grand on my Unilocal list for quite a while to try and finally made my way in this last weekend not really knowing what to expect at all.
It has a cabin «up north» local kind of atmosphere feel and décor, it’s comfortable. It really wasn’t all that busy for a weekend afternoon, and the service was a bit slow but the waitress was still friendly.
The food was better than I had expected, although I did not try the walleye so might have to come back for that. They also have great Bloody Mary’s.
On street parking but also I hear there is a small parking lot in the back too. I will for sure come back some day again.

I am in Walleye heaven. So many delicious options, it’s hard to decide on what to choose. So I guess I’ll just have to come back again and again until I try everything. I decided to go with the walleye sampler platter as a stater and it was yummy start to my meal. I then decided to get the famous walleye dinner, which was on the early bird special for $ 13.95. The dinner came with a good sizd single fillet, choice of starch, vegetables, and a side salad. To be honest, I didn’t even try the sides, I was only there for the walleye and I was very pleased. I’ll be going to bed with a full tummy and happy walleye dreams.

The food is consistently excellent. The staff are friendly and anticipate your needs without being pushy. We usually have one of the walleye entrees, but other items on the menu are tasty as well… it is hard to make a bad choice. We like the casual quality that this provides day in, day out.

The walleye filet was good, but the side dishes were not. A salad of iceberg lettuce that was slightly brown. A slice of hard tomato that in August should have been fresh grown. A roll clearly taken from a package. Green beans that were almost raw, and tucked underneath them, some discolored beans. Mushy potatoes. The establishment is sub-​par. Not for the discerning diner.

Walleye? Check. Grill it fry it blacken it. How do you like it? Make it healthy with veggies. Get a side of chicken wild rice soup. Free pop overs. Your trip to Minnesota is complete.
Decent service, parking lot in the back or street, walk down and get dessert 10 mins away afterwards.

Food was good. Service was very slow and they were not busy. Salads arrived and then dinner after only a few bites. More expensive then it should have been in my eyes.

We (5 adults + 1 toddler) went in to catch the Wild game… what a great experience! We were seated in a small private dining room with a big screen TV and fireplace… huge windows facing Grand Ave! Our server was unbelievable! She took such great care of us! And our food… ahhh, our food! Walleye tacos, walleye wraps, walleye BLT… all served with perfectly done fries… delicious! My daughter had a glass of (house) rhubarb moscato that was to die for, lots of imported beers to choose from for the guys, and my capt/​coke was very good! We will definitely return!

My Better Half brought me to this little bar/​restaurant the night of our 6^th wedding anniversary… we both wanted to do something different, fun; we didn’t want a typical, put-​on-​your-​best-​clothes anniversary dinner.
Not gonna lie, folks. I grew up in the heart of the Brainerd Lakes Area — on a lake, no less (okay, two lakes actually) — so I know walleye.
And, if you want a fantastic walleye dinner: go to Tavern on Grand. I opted for the fried version (duh) and it was oh-​so-​delectable. Light, flaky, moist (and you KNOW it was ’cause I HATE that word), and über-​tasty.
Hubby got the surf & turf; judging by the fact he wolfed down his entire entrée I’m going to go ahead and assume it was good :)
The service was good, I love the ambience — obviously, it’s so Up North! — and we will definitely be returning, hungry for more!

Enjoyed a hot, Walleye Shore lunch. The best fish and chips I’ve had outside of London. Nicely seasoned however, a rather small fillet. The fries could have been hotter. Cole Slaw was cold, creamy and delicious. Nice «up North» lodge feel to the place.

Really quite good. Everything walleye is their motto. Unexpected at Grand and Dale in St. Paul. But then again St. Paul has so many of these gems. Walleye tacos, walleye sandwich, shore lunch or, for the larger appetite, the walleye dinner. I’ve tried it all and it simply can’t be beat. Service is great. People are nice. Just a real comfortable place to grab dinner and a beer on the way home.

I had the walleye sandwich and that was fine. I chose blackened and glad I did or it would have lacked flavor. I order jalapeño tartar sauce and either got plain or is very mild.
We came because my wife wanted to try the supposedly top notch pot pie. Not so good. It was a very thin sauce. More a creamy soup than pot pie gravy. Chunks of potato but all other veggies were very small and hard to find. At only 6.95 it still wasn’t a good value.
The tiger cake for dessert was pretty good.
Service was good.

Maybe I just did not order the right foods at the tavern but well the food was not all that great compared to others. I ordered the black and blue burger like burger. The meat was cooked correctly but the blue cheese was kinda gelatinous. Burger was ok. The burger came with a side of onion rings. If you call 3 onion rings a side then I guess I got what I ordered.
The wall eye sampler was bad. The walleye was dry and over cooked. Except for the wall eye patties they were good They were not dried out. I will give it another try and order something else next time.

What I Love:
–Location: Grand Ave
–Ambiance: Cute interior with an upscale north shore cabin feel.
–Ideal For: Groups, Date Night, Kids and a casual get together or friends looking for a quieter place to watch a game.
–Parking: private lot behind restaurant with limited availability. Street parking scattered throughout the neighborhood.
–The staff is friendly and attentive, but not above average.
The Meh:
The food was just okay. If you don’t eat fish and or like Walleye, I wouldn’t suggest dinning here. The food isn’t bad but not anything to knock you off of your feet.
–Tavern Dunkers: Burnt, salty and overly cheesy. The dunkers were pretty heavy for an appetizer.
–Walleye Taco’s: The upside, a large portion to satisfy an average Joe’s hunger. However, the taco’s weren’t that great and I personally felt that I could make this dish better at home if I had the same ingredients. This is coming from someone who relies on frozen meals & easy crock pot recipes. I added more salsa than I normally would to give the taco’s a much needed kick.
–Walleye Sandwich: The toasted ciabatta loaf/​bun was thick, hard and not super easy to chew. The walleye was okay but I would have preferred a flavor boost and for the walleye to be a little juicier. The fries that came with the sandwich were pretty average.
Summary: Tavern on Grand has a lot of potential but the menu/​food needs a major boost. I didn’t have a bad experience here but based on the quality & price of the food, I won’t be coming back here anytime soon.

Walleye, walleye, WALLEYE! It’s good and very reasonably priced. Yup it’s a bar and they serve walleye a multitude of ways.
Nothing compares to eating a fresh caught walleye on the shores of your favorite secret walleye spot in Northern MN. Nothing! But this is the best walleye (not fresh off the stringer) for the price anywhere in MN that I’ve had.

The whole trek leading to St. Paul, my boyfriend kept talking about walleye and how we needed to get some immediately as we arrived in St. Paul,…which we did. (after a couple hours of rest)
I didn’t know what to expect. I was imagining tilapia or something… which, I guess it could be compared to that but, it really did taste better and had a much more succulent texture than tilapia.
He had the grilled and blackened Walleye fish and I had the fish tacos, which came with a homemade salsa verde that was hella spicier than I imagined.
Check you out St. Paul. all hip and spicy n shit!
Also I really enjoyed their chardonnay — it was surprisingly good and they have really big pours… my kinda place :)
I really liked this place and our waitress was great! I really wish I had grabbed a t-​shirt from here so I could show the world I had been there and I had finally tried walleye!

My boyfriend and I try a new place to eat once a month for date night. We chose this place because of the menu items. Neither of us were impressed with the food (especially me). The service was a bit lacking and the atmosphere was fine. According to other reviews, if you don’t like what they are known for (walleye) then you should try some place else.
I ordered a cup of chicken wild rice soup for my appetizer, which was Ok. I then ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo for my meal — not happy with that choice at all. It came with a side salad and I opted for their homemade italian dressing. When the plate arrived, I was a little skeptical as the dressing looked like it was just the oil from the top of the container. After the first bite, I was very disappointed! The dressing tasted like oil — no Italian seasoning at all! So I didn’t eat the salad.
Then came my Alfredo… the sauce was like soup. It was awful! You try eating noodles and soup with a fork! It kept dripping down my chin and splattering everywhere. Wait for it… And then I found a hair! Immediately stopped eating and pushed it to the side.
My boyfriend’s burger was a bit dry (according to him.) but edible. He had a hard time finishing his food after he saw the hair on my plate.
We didn’t bother talking to the server or a manager because we decided we wouldn’t ever be going back and it would’ve fell on deaf ears anyways.

They are known for their walleye and that is what you should get! Had the Walleye blackened with fries and green beans. It was so good! Not sure if they still have this but must have been a special when we were there but we for Brie wrapped in a puff pastry that we spread on bread and crackers that was really good
too. Tasted great with an ice cold Crispin.
We got an order of the onion rings too which were huge and good too.
My little brother thought he would get the walleye sampler as his meal since we got a bunch of apps and sides to share as well, he was a bit disappointed since it wasn’t that much fish, so if you want a filling meal for sure get the one fillet entrée, definitely worth it