Cabana Club TODOTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Restaurants Cabana Club Date: Jan 17, 2025 201 SE Main St Minneapolis, MN 55414 Phone: (612-315-3614 www.cabanaclubmpls.com

Cabana Club
Service options: Serves happy hour food · Serves great cocktails · Serves vegan dishes

The latest new restaurant in the Twin cities by chef Charlie Gibbs is the Cabana Club on St Anthony Main across the river from downtown Minneapolis. In St Anthony Main looking down the 3rd Ave/Central/65 bridge to a beautiful view over St Anthony Falls to downtown is the new Cabana Club. The location was Vic’s before the Cabana Club and I believe in 2018 it was Fisherman’s Wharf’s.

When we were leaving North Loop Wine & Spirits for our Friday night tasting Julie asked what restaurant we were reviewing tonight. We told her some place new on St Anthony Main. She said you mean The Cabana Club? It sounded right, E makes the reservations, and I said Yes, we are, and we hope to see Barry Manilow! She looked puzzled (a 70s reference to a major Night Club & song from NYC) she said I heard it’s very good.

So, we went across the Central bridge from downtown to St Anthony Main. We parked in the big parking lot across the street. It’s a nice ramp that takes you inside to the river and the restaurants in the area. The ramp is no longer pay as you enter. There is a QR Code on the wall and you pay for parking with your phone. The gate is always open upon leaving. We paid about $6. 

The Cabana Club is the hot new spot that just opened along old Main street in the milling district where Minneapolis started.

We normally don’t go to brand new restaurants to avoid the starting sputters some restaurants go through. Julian promptly seated for our 7PM reservations at a nice new restaurant. But something was missing. When I heard, we were going to the Cabana Club I was thinking Cuban and big band era of the 40-50s what the Cobana Clubs of NYC and Cuba were known for. The Cobana Club was just a nice new Minneapolis restaurant.

They have a good size wine list. Though we wish a few of the bottle’s options were glasses. Interestingly the wine list is split between the regular menu and a drink list. I ordered a Syrah on the menu then realized they had four wine flights of three wines, two ounces wines each which was interestingly good for $19. E had a 6-ounce Outerbound Cab Sav for $18 which was VERY GOOD.

We promptly ordered fries for $6 and looked over the menu. The wines and fries came within five minutes. Then we ordered the rest of our meal.

 At 8PM on a Friday night and hour after the fries came the rest of our meal came. I hate to say this place is not ready for prime time but clearly waiting an hour for a course is not acceptable.

At 8:06 our salad and two additional courses came out all at once. They looked great. But what happened to timing food. The salad could easily have arrived 30 minutes ago.

We looked around and four other tables that got there before and after us got their main entrees at the same time. Clearly the Cabana Club has some order traffic issues in the kitchen.

Next time you wait in line to be at the hottest new restaurant in town realize things like this are common. Let the new restaurant work out some of the kinks so you will have a more enjoyable experience.

We absolutely NEVER let a restaurant know we will be reviewing them to get a reservation early or better service. We want you to know what an otherwise normal person gets for service. Plus, you will rarely see mine or E’s pictures to avoid better or worse service. Just telling you how we saw it at that time.

We ordered a nice big fresh Red Sea salad which both of us shared and had extra for $15. Then a plate of Brisket Steak Bites with shredded cheese on it. E thought it was much better than I did. I thought it tasted like roast beef.

Then we had a Piri Piri Shrimp for $25. We were warned by Julian how hot it is. I normally take a four on a five-point hot scale, so I was fine. If you are a Midwesterner that believe catchup is a spice don’t order it. I was FINE… well after four glasses of water. It was fresh and good.

Our bill was $101 about right for that type of restaurant.

I have this weird obsession about restrooms. The Cabana has an interesting restroom. First it is down two flights of open stairs. Something that at the end of a Happy Hour might be a challenge. Second as with a growing trend with restrooms, it is in two pieces: one to wash your hands in a common area and the restroom itself. The beauty is those that need to spend five or ten minutes working on things do not slow the rest of us. Let’s just call the whole ordeal fun & interesting.

Will we go back to the Cabana Club? I guess there is nothing unique about it to cause us to return. We are in the area every Friday night, but not worth returning.

Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com