Flora Room — Restaurant in Minneapolis

Back bars, cocktail rooms, speakeasy style cocktail places....there has been an exponential growth in the Twin Cities of places to get craft cocktails. Flora Room is one of the newest. It occupies the space that used to house Marvel Bar, one of the first of the back alley cocktail hangouts. You go down the back steps, through two doors, and you are in the Flora Room. It is part of the Daniel del Prado empire, and is underneath his newest restaurant Porzana.

The ambience is definitely hip, dimly lit with a long bar and a good number of tables. We sat at the bar, which we always do if we can. However, we did not get much advice on the cocktails. That is quite surprising in an upscale cocktail bar.

They have a list of riffs on classic cocktails, but the "main event" is the list of their eleven original craft cocktails. The menu is composed of drawings and a list of the ingredients. I started with the Southie, made from genever, shizo, yuzu, lemon, and saline. It has an interesting flavor profile, rather sour and salty but in a good way. My husband had the Valentina, which was a riff on a negroni, a vodka based drink, with campari, pomegranate liquor, and vermouth. It was fine but a bit on the sweet side. It had an interesting swath of a flavored powder on the side. We also tried their riff on a Sazerac, called the Old Fox. My husband loved it. It had the surprising ingredient, grappa. I highly recommend it. A number of the others were described as rather sweet by the couples next to us.

They have a number of food items. We tried two of the hand rolls. Both have an interesting kick of spice. I highly recommend the tuna poke. However, they are each about 3 bites in size. At $7 to $9 each, they will not make a meal. They also have chicken sandwiches and hamburgers. The drink prices range from $16 to $20.

We got there when it opened. It is 'first come, first served", and it filled up very quickly. And I do mean quickly.

The cocktails on the menu are interesting, with lots of unusual ingredients. You are not going to make these at home. They clearly have been carefully designed and executed, with ingredients prebatched. One disappointment was the narrow background in cocktails by our particular bartender. It was surprising considering the kind of cocktail bar it is. So if you go, you are safest ordering off their menu.

They are located at 200 North 1rst Street, down the stairs...

Flora room

This place has a tonnn of potential. But there are a lot of things that could be improved and need attention. The cons took away from the positive aspects. The crowds made the atmosphere hard to appreciate.

Pros: Cool atmosphere- moody lighting, plants and candles were a nice vibe. Definitely worth checking out if you can get there early enough, around 5 or 6

Cons: No reservations. Too many people standing over tables, it was a bit chaotic and uncomfortable having people stand over us and stare waiting to grab our table. The space was too tight to have people standing around and if there was a fire (candles everywhere) it would be complete chaos and a major hazard, since there is only 1 small exit. Back area behind the glass wall had no music and no hooks for bags and coats on the high tables. We had to pile our coats on our laps since the seats were high stools without a backrest. Music in the main area didn't match the atmosphere, it was dive bar/club music Menu was a bit chaotic. There were too many pages, it didn't have to include the wine and spirits. Cocktail drawings are a very cool concept but they could be improved. They didn't look like they were drawn by an artist. They looked rushed and didn't level up to the atmosphere and price of the drinks. The lettering describing the ingredients was also too tiny to read. They make their cocktails in batches, not fresh. We returned a drink because we tasted dish soap and the waitress gave us a new one from a different "batch". It tasted better but knowing it wasn't made fresh made us question whether it was worth the price. Servers were nice but we received our drinks at different times. I finished mine before my date even got theirs. This is probably due to the crowds 1 dessert option.

Overall, the atmosphere and price of everything on the menu did not match the experience. We expected a classy speakeasy but it felt more like a dive bar. There is a lot of room for improvement. I think starting with reservations and improving the menu would make a huge difference, not only for customers but also for servers and bartenders who have to push through the crowds just to...

Fantastic place for cocktails & conversation! I was a big fan of Marvel Bar when it was in the space and I'm really glad they kept the basic layout and fixtures because it makes for a comfortable atmosphere with options to suit most groups. Bar seating is comfortable and there's a reasonable amount of it, booths are great for groups of 4-5 with 6 in a pinch, and all the small tables in the middle can be used for 2 people or adjusted slightly for 4-6 if you get the right spot. I LOVE that there's no overly loud music blaring at all hours and though it obviously gets louder when full, it's not overbearing.

The food is a great bar menu - the burger is simple but extremely well executed which is perfect for me vs places that try to get too fancy with all the toppings and flavors. The chicken sandwich is fantastic in taste and texture and might be my favorite in the city! Though I'm not a big fan of sushi in general, the rolls seem to be a hit with anyone I've been there with who has tried them.

The star is obviously the craft cocktail menu which has great variety depending on whether you want something on the lighter side like the Southie (my favorite to start the evening) or something with more body - they've done a great job mixing just about any key flavor you prefer and can definitely help point you in the right direction. For me, their rum selection might be the best I've found in the entire metro area so far, so it's worth your time to go through the list of spirits as well to see if something catches your eye.

Big shoutout to Emma (table) and Edgar (bar), I hope I spelled their names correctly, because they absolutely rock! We've been fortunate to visit with them quite a few times now. While I have my go-to beverages, my wife tends to go more outside the box and both Emma and Edgar have taken a few of her inputs and come up with brilliant custom concoctions.

Well done to the...