CRAVE Food & Drink Eden Prairie — Restaurant in Eden Prairie

First off, service is excellent. Very well trained staff, great dining experience. For my family of five, We ordered a few sushi rolls as an appetizer. While a bit over-priced, I can’t complain about the sushi. Main course on the other hand, was not impressive. My wife’s Wagyu burger looked good but was a fairly tasteless affair covered in cheese and mushrooms. Really, no complaint though. My kids did really enjoy their two standard cheese burgers (tasted them and the standard burger is definitely better than the Wagyu burger) and the Mac and cheese with grilled chicken breast was really excellent. With that said, Whatever you do, don’t order the ‘steak and frites’. It’s about 4 ounces of thinly cut leftover steak that had clearly been cooked much earlier so it could be quickly placed under the warming lamp in the hopes it would exceed room temperature before arriving at the table. Think chicken McNuggets sitting in a warmer waiting to be scooped up and served. Plus, it’s tasteless. Oh, that’s because they forgot to add the bernaise sauce with which it’s supposed to be served. Unfortunately, after requesting the sauce, I found the bernaise sauce to be tasteless and unexciting as well. I could easily get over the pathetic portion size if there had been any care whatsoever put into the plate. Between the asparagus (excellent and very well cooked asparagus, definitely the high point of the meal), fries and 4 ounces of steak (maybe), the restaurant probably has 3-4 dollars of actual food cost in this meal and they charge $25! I feel like a complete sucker for having ordered it ~ I’d be surprised if it’s not one of the highest plate cost to charge margin meals on the menu. A money maker. I could seriously go to my kitchen right now and whip up several sauces and or seasoning options that would make this meal more worthwhile. As it stands, the steak and frites should not be on the menu and suggest you...

Almost comical conflicting signs at the entrance should have been all the indication we needed to eat somewhere else, but it had been years since we dined here and decided to give it another chance.

There were three people at the host stand, none of whom acknowledged me for an uncomfortably long time, because one was ostensibly new and needed to have something explained. I was told in a fairly patronizing tone that they "weren't seating" my reservation time yet and to step aside.

We were shown to our table, and when we arrived I noticed there was water spilled on my bench. I asked for a towel, and the host acted irritated that I needed something. He found a server who brought a towel, but she was confused at the request because it hadn't been communicated clearly. This shouldn't have been a big deal, but I've now been made to feel like I'm a bother, twice, and I haven't even sat down to eat yet.

Our server was kind but inattentive, looking at us and making eye contact three separate times before returning to take our order. The poke bowl was great, and the sushi was delicious also. The "CRAVE" logo carved into the ice in my old fashioned was a nice touch, but belonged at a restaurant where the level of service matches the performance of the bar and kitchen.

And, sadly, that is not the case here. The entire service staff seemed young and inexperienced, and it was painfully obvious. There are lots of great restaurants around with really good food and menus and service to match. Great service is the cost of entry now, it's expected the way safety is expected in the healthcare industry. Crave fell flat on its face in this regard, confirming why it's been off our radar for years.

UPDATE: someone from the restaurant management company responded to my review asking me to email her. I did. It's been three weeks, and there has been...

Honest opinion, I very rarely post poor reviews. I just had to share my experience tonight. We were in the mall and saw a sign that kids eat free Sundays. We decided to give it a try. I've had good experiences at their downtown and MOA locations. It was around 5pm, so we were able to get a table quick and the server got our drink orders quick. The wine was really good. Our daughter got the kids chicken and veggies. The chicken was low quality and was barely seasoned. The veggies not good either. We tried the lettuce wraps which had good flavor but nothing even close to as good as PF Changs/Pei Wei. Then we got the lemon pepper chicken. It came with uncooked veggies (by design?) and the chicken was not seasoned at all. The mash potatoes were the only thing we could eat. The manager noticed we weren't eating much and offered to give us a free Flatbread. We were ready to leave so we asked for a desert to go instead. 5 minutes later he came back with a desert menu (we already had one on our table). 10 minutes later he came back and asked which one we wanted. I said whatever is the fastest. He comes back quickly with the chocolate cake on a plate. I asked if we could get it go again. He apologized and then brought it back in a container. All of that is nice, but we ended up getting charged for everything, including the kids meal which was supposed to be free. I asked him about that and he quickly apologized and brought a new receipt with the kids meal taken off. However, he forgot a pen so I had to sign the receipt and enter a tip with a purple crayon. For a disappointing meal, it was still over $50. I do not think we will be coming back. At this price level, I prefer Redstone, Tavern 4&5...