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Sidebar Restaurant & Wine Bar at Surdyks
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Sidebar Restaurant & Wine Bar at Surdyks
Date: March 29, 2024
303 E Hennepin Ave #2
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Phone: (612) 379-3232
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Sidebar Restaurant & Wine Bar at Surdyks
303 E Hennepin Ave #2, Minneapolis, MN 55414
(612) 379-3232
https://surdyks.com/
We normally are six weeks out for reservations. But with Easter, that slid a little. So, we had a rare Friday night that we had no reservations. At the 6:30 wine tasting at North Loop we asked some friends where could we go close without reservations on Friday Prime time that was good. Surdyks wine bar/restaurant came out of someone. We buy a LOT of cheese there about $100 a time, we know of the wine bar, we had just never gone there… so why not.
We showed up at 7 PM on a Friday night with no reservations. If there is a more prime time I know not. I met the hostess at the entrance on the restaurant as it leaves the cheese shop. I told the hostess we had no reservations, could we get in? She said we seat people at the entrance kitty corner from where we were. So, E&I walked to the front entrance as asked and who do you think we met? The same lady we had talked to 30 seconds earlier. Seemed kinda like an Abbott & Costello movie…:" Who's on First!" But she was fine, that is where her seating computer was.
She asked if the bar was OK and it's rare, we don't accept that unless we have reservations. And since we were leaning against two open bar chairs, we went with it. We were there about an hour and though the place was full we saw no one waiting or turned away. It's a good go to place for last minute. And if you come early enough, they usually have tastings in the main store to get you through your first drink for FREE!
Surdyks, built a nice romantic wine bar. But it kind of amazed me the wine selection was not larger. I'm reminded of going to Domacin wine bar of Stillwater who also have a bottle shop connected. Their wine list has about 100 options. They simply walk a few steps and pull a bottle off the shelf; we expected the same here. Not that they were lacking options they had six sparkling, seven whites, three Rose' & Orange and nine red options. I guess we were expecting more. E had a South African Cab Sav and I had a Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. The pours were good but neither wine, though good, were outstanding. Something we would expect from Surdyks.
We initially went to Surdyks because of a discussion while talking wine of the great Charcuterie boards in town. Someone said Surdyks had an amazing board. And we not only forgot to order one, no one else in the place had one to look at. I have failed you!
Anyway, we went for Fried Cheese Curds with Hot Honey. OMG they were possibly the best cheese curds I have ever had and I'm a cheesehead. The honey dip was in a word incredible. They cheese wasn't bad either.
We usually share entrees for price & waistband but we each had our own entrée. I had steak bites and E had a Cheeseburger and fries. The best part of each was E's fries they were small, thin and delicious just like 5 guys fries. But neither my steak bites or her cheeseburger were great, they were good but NOT great as we expected out of Surdyks.
The bill we thought at $100 was a little bit pricey for a burger type of meal but things are going up everywhere, so I guess this is to expected.
We were in a word, less than impressed. We had hoped this might become a go to place. But with the amazing All Saints restaurant across the street, I don't see us returning. The people were very nice, the wine & food were just OK. But give it a try and order that charcuterie board as we should have and tell us how it was! On to next week!
Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com