Lindey's Prime Steak House — Restaurant in Arden Hills

Last night, in Shoreview, Minnesota, we rolled the dice on a place called Lindsey’s, just a stone’s throw from the luxurious Best Western (you know, the one with the lingering eau de urinal in the air). Seriously, what’s the deal with this part of the Twin Cities? Every place smells like Toto’s underpants after a bad roadie binge.

Lindsey’s itself? Tiny, quaint even—probably served the same locals for generations. It’s got that “hole-in-the-wall but charming” thing going for it, and I’m sure Guy Fieri's been here at some point, slathering on his patented Flavortown nonsense. I didn’t dig too deep, though—there’s only so much mystery meat a guy can handle in one night.

The service? Straight out of Fargo, I swear. Every waitress could’ve been Frances McDormand’s stunt double. Friendly as hell, but after hearing “Oh yeah, sure, you betcha!” about ten times, I wondered if they were all part of some Minnesotan Stepford experiment.

Now, let’s talk about that menu. Four items, folks. That’s it. Two steak options that both involve a cow that could probably crush your car. And then they throw in a platter of family-style potatoes that could feed the whole damn state. I’m convinced this is where heart attacks are invented.

The steak? Oh man, undercooked doesn’t even cover it. I swear, I’ve had cold sushi that was warmer. It was like chewing on cold leather mixed with seabass, but worse—because this slab of beef stuck in my throat like a block of ice, refusing to thaw out. Medium-rare, my ass; I was practically begging for fire.

But the potatoes? Pure salvation. Well, except for a few weird spice bombs that exploded out of nowhere, sending my tastebuds on an unwanted detour through a chili pepper field.

And then the moment of truth—when we asked Frances #3, in all her Minnesotan glory, for a couple of shrimp to go with the cow-sized steak. Her response was as expected:

"Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, sir, but no. We don’t do substitutions here, don’t cha know? But you can get the whole shrimp order! Real sorry about that, sir, real sorry!"

And that’s Lindsey’s in a nutshell: massive, undercooked steaks, peculiar rules, and the friendliest waitresses this side of the Mississippi. An experience? Hell yes. But I’m still waiting for that steak to...

I ate here with my husband last night and I thought it was incredibly over-rated! We had been reading reviews for a few weeks and decided we wanted to try it. Perhaps it was the hype and all the good reviews that caused our expectations to be so high.

The menu is very small which is not necessarily a bad thing. They serve top sirloin and shrimp, family style. Which means it comes with hash browns, salad bowls and bread. We also got the broiled mushrooms to go along with sirloin.

So top sirloin, certainly not my steak, but Lindy's is known for their top sirloin... That's all they have! I was expecting the best top sirloin I've ever had in my life. It was cooked perfectly for what I ordered, which was medium rare. I guess it was tender for top sirloin. But it had very little flavor, I couldn't put enough salt on it and it was still incredibly chewy. It wasn't served with any steak sauce nor was that given an option. I also didn't see any sauce on anyone else's table. I mean, it was a decent amount of steak, about 13 oz, but not for $36!

We also got the shrimp and for $34 we were expecting more than seven pieces of jumbo shrimp. It tasted good. It was cooked in garlic butter and served with a cup of melted butter to dip in. I almost thought I should dip the steak in the butter to make it taste better.

And the mushrooms.... It looked like a 16 oz package of button mushrooms, so there was a lot of them, but they were really bland. No butter or seasoning or anything!

We also got individual salads. Little bowls full of iceberg lettuce with one cherry tomato on it and their special house dressing, which tasted like a cross between Thousand Island and maybe creamy Italian mixed together.

My husband and I are gluten intolerant and therefore skip to the garlic bread.

All in all, the prices do not reflect the food that is being served. We sat next to a couple who had been eating there for 36 years!! I can't imagine anyone wanting to eat there and bring friends other than for nostalgic purposes. Speaking of sitting next to someone it was packed and crazy loud. We had to shout at each other.

My advice to you if you want a good steak skip this place! You can get a better one...

Lindey’s is an excellent family restaurant with delicious food and wonderful waitstaff. It’s worth trying if you’ve never been. I’ve never seen servers cut the steak right in front of you, that was fun!

It’s a very simple menu with few offerings. If I could change one thing about it, I’d add prime rib to it. The steak (the Lindey special) was very good and cooked to perfection (medium rare). I like to cook leftovers up a little more so it’s nice having that warm red interior. The garlic bread was yummy and crispy! Keep it around and dip it in some ajou for a real treat. I also quite liked the house dressing on my salad. As for the potatoes, well I didn’t mind them but they’re not my favorite flavor. My mother of course considered them spicy due to the mere presence of black pepper. For my palate, however, they were bland of spice but over seasoned with a flavor I couldn’t quite place. I chose not to bring those home.

In chatting with family about this spot, one cousin of my mom’s said she used to go to Lindey’s all the time but had to stop due to the portion sizes being too big! I think if Lindey’s offers a few modern adjustments to their menu, it can be like restoring a great home to its heyday glory. Instead of the few menu items, branch out with a bit more variety like prime rib and allow for queen and king sizes. Family style serving is excellent and something I wish more restaurants offered but I wonder if it’s possible to create a date night special with smaller portion sizes?

As for the atmosphere, it was very homey and welcoming. I could see the addition of a few sound dampeners really improving the experience. Large groups of people can make it difficult for older generations to hear anyone clearly and just reduces the enjoyment a bit for everyone else.

I would go to Lindey’s again and would recommend it to others for what it is. That said, what I think they may be spending on marketing and advertising, they could be making instead in word of mouth with a few 21st century improvements. I hope this review finds management well and also helps out some...