2922 Lyndale Ave SMinneapolis, MN 55408
The Herkimer Pub is located in the Lyn-Lake area of Uptown Minneapolis, basically across the street from the now closed JP's American Bistro. I had heard good things about the Herkimer and with a little luck by way of my Sister-in-Law offering to babysit, my wife and I were able to have a casual night out there. We were able to secure a last minute reservation there by way of opentable.com™.
After arriving at the pub we had to actually search out someone to seat us. All the tables had reserved on them but the sign in the front said "Seat Yourself". After a quick discussion with the bartender he pointed out the manager and said "he will seat you". Not a very good first impression. The place stunk of moldy beer which to be expected, it is a pub after all. There is a large oval bar in the middle of the restaurant and most of the seating consisted of high top tables which surrounded the bar. The kettles of beer can be seen through windows on the left hand side of the bar as you walk in. They have an outdoor patio with seating on Lyndale Ave and the view is much better now considering there is no longer road construction.
The menu has your typical pub style fare which boasts appetizers, award winning mini burgers, sandwiches, soups, salads and house specialties which appeared to be a bit more eclectic. We started out with an appetizer of citrus grilled chicken skewers serve with a host of thai peanut, honey chipolte and ranch dipping sauces. I was pleasantly surprised when these arrived. The portion size was large and the chicken was grilled perfectly. The peanut and chipolte dipping sauces were great. They also have a pub sampler appetizer on the menu that looked really good as it went by, too much for two people to eat though. For dinner we both chose to have the award winning mini burgers. I had the mini-macs, all beef, special sauce lettuce cheese (you get the idea) and my Wife had the mini veggie burgers, a black bean falafel patty, cucumber, tomato and chipolte mayo. The mini burgers were good but not exceptional. I recommend ordering them with their sweet potato fries which were amazing.
The Herkimer is obviously a brewery therefore we had to try their beers. We tried what they consider their light beer and the gold medal winning Alt. Both were really good! It would be shameful not to try one of the brews in this place.
The service was very good other than the slip up when we walked in the pub. Our waiter was very attentive always making sure we had full beers in front of us. The food came out in a timely manner an we never felt rushed.
The Herkimer Pub is a great place to go for a casual night out. You can hang out and watch the game on T.V. or play shuffleboard with your friends. They call themselves an upscale brewpub, I personally felt as if it was more of your prototypical type brewpub. I didn't see any fashonista's hanging out there. Owner Blake Richardson has a really good thing going there in a great location. I would definitely go back with friends for another casual night out.
Ratings from 1-10:
Food 7
Atmosphere 6
Service 4
Noise 4
Price: Economical
