Restaurant Review- Joe's Garage Minneapolis

Joe's Garage
Minneapolis
Next to Loring Park

Katy and I finally used our gift card from her purchase of her wedding dress at David's Bridal. We got two $25 gift cards, one for Lindey's Steakhouse and one for Joe's Garage.

(Bonus to note-we won't be going to back to Lindey's anytime soon. It smelled pretty old, was definitely not the decor Katy and I like, and truly our meal wasn't very delicious to be as wordy as a restaurant critic can get.)





So, Joe's Garage specializes in burgers and their baked potato bar. Joe's Menu.





Katy and I sat outside on the roof on a beautiful evening, other than a few bugs. They also have some indoor seating and some down on the first floor on the sidewalk.





My order: Cornmeal Fried Walleye - Served on roasted garlic, mashed potatoes, with pico de gallo, chipotle cream sauce, and garlicky green beans - $18

Now, I asked about what to get before I finally decided and was told about their burgers and their potato bar. However, I wasn't into the waitress' suggestions of very odd burgers all loaded with salt, nor was I into her suggestion of the Jamaican Jerk Baby Back Ribs.

Okay, so I got the cornmeal fried walleye. The cornmeal on the fish was just fine, it gave it something to hold on to, otherwise, the fish would have completely fallen apart. It's a pretty gentle fish that seems to fall apart on its own. However, the fish alone was pretty, actually, very bland. I wasn't completely satisfied with the fish alone.

The roasted garlic mashed potatoes were pretty good, I'd say they were a very comparable item to the potato bar menu items.

What made this dish was the chipotle cream sauce and the pico de gallo. Pick one or the other or even both and grab some walleye or the green beans and it was delicious. Also, alone the chipotle cream sauce was good as well as the pico de gallo. Alone, the pico de gallo was extremely springy and fresh, giving a cleansing effect to your tastebuds.

The garlicky green beans were okay but as I'd assume most higher quality cooking were cooked less and left a little more crisp. Growing up on Grandma K's canned green beans I completely prefer a canned soft buttery green bean. It seems as if the less cooked ones don't absorb as much flavor and I definitely prefer the softer canned.

Overall, on my meal I would give an 80 out of 100. Parts were very tasty and it was generally balanced and healthy, however I can definitely picture a better meal out of this.



This was Katy's customized burger. It was a half pound of ground chuck with delicious gorgonzola cheese draped all over the top with a side of fries. I thought the burger was done pretty well, maybe left on there a minute or two long since I prefer my meat cooked medium. But the gorgonzola has such rich flavor it really rescued a little of over cooking and made the burger perfectly acceptable.

In only having a few bites and a couple of bites I would give this burger an 83 out of 100. It was pretty well done, just a little long but the accompaniment of the gorgonzola, the bun was buttery and soft and the fries were suffice. Again, I can picture better and have had better but I, ultimately, would go back for an item on their menu that was more of their specialty.