Jax Cafe — Restaurant in Minneapolis

My family and I have been coming to Jax Cafe for over 20 years every year for Mother's Day. The food is always excellent. The building is absolutely beautiful, especially the back garden. Like always, we went to celebrate Mother's Day and had brunch at Jax Cafe today. As mentioned, the food is excellent and the server that was cutting the meat today was very friendly and gave kids smaller portions! Also, the gentleman behind the bar gave our kids cheeries as we waited for our table. Both were excellent! My only complaint was that our reservation was at 1:30, we arrived at 1:15 and told the host that we had arrived and that we would be at the bar until our table was available. At 2pm, we went and checked how much longer our wait would be since we did have reservations at 1:30. He said "As soon as others leave, your table will be ready" and walked away. Whch we were fine waiting, but just wanted to make sure we were not skipped. We were seated at 215 and was told that the table we were supposed to be at, the customers wouldn't leave. We had a total of 3 waiters and waitresses. At the beginning, they were great, but then we started to notice that we were being watched and if you put your fork down, they'd be over to ask if you are done. Remind you, we had 8 people with our group and 3 of them were kids. We felt that we had waited an hour for our table and when your paying $60 PER PERSON, you should be able to eat at your own pace, but around 3pm, it was getting even worse, they started peeking around the corner to see if everyone was done. I also witness them getting another table ready for a party of 7 and the waitress asked the host if he was joking and then rolled her eyes. We finally paid at 315pm and they started clearing the table before we even entered the bar area. I understand that it's busy and it's extremely crowded, but when guests are paying that much, let them eat in peace and don't rush them...

I was looking forward to brunch here because of the beautiful patio. The patio exceeded expectations, truly a beautiful haven in the middle of NE Minneapolis. The service was fine, no issues there. However, the food was terrible. We had the popovers, breakfast pot pie, Polish, and eggs benedict. The popovers were good but nothing special. The breakfast pot pie was a large scoop of salty gravy over a pre-made puff pastry circle. It looked like a large scoop of premade eggs from a tray were put on top instead of eggs made to order, I have never seen eggs look like that, and there were unmelted visible shreds of pre-shredded cheese on top (you could see the white powder that is added to prevent clumping, as if it had come straight from the bag). The flavor was very medium, not bad but not great, and the presentation and obvious lack of care to even try to make it look not like a combination of pre-made ingredients was a definite detractor. The Polish came with 4 coins of polish sausage, more scooped eggs, and over-baked (not steamed or fried) pierogi which I'm pretty sure were bought frozen and baked. We ordered avocado added to the eggs benedict and what was added was very hard, underripe sliced avocado. The ham on the eggs benedict was thick and overpowered the rest of the elements of the meal - she ended up taking the ham off and cutting small pieces to go with each bite. I got a few glimpses of dishes at other tables and they did not look appetizing, similar themes or meals put together with no thought for presentation and looking like a lot of pre-made ingredients. Overall, I was disappointed and felt bad for bringing out of town guests here as the food did not fairly represent Minneapolis's...

First time going was in September for my birthday. Firstly, when you enter, you KNOW your walking into a place with history. It has the feel of a building that has many story's to tell! The atmosphere inside is great, they have a beautiful stained glass mural of snow white and the seven graves, a love lobster tank and old, authentic phone booths (Which don't work, but wo uses them nowadays anyway? Just adds a bit of old-world charm to the place! The bar was shiney and felt inviting, although admittedly I did not go to the bar, but to the patio.

The patrio is AMAZING! It's floored with old red bricks, with on overhead to keep out of the rain (Although it was a sunny day when I went, still nice to sit in the shade!) They have a small stream that runs around the patio, running with fresh water and live fish! Not goldfish but what I believe to be trout, though I could be wrong. The service was impeccable , very friendly and attentive staff who were more then willing to make suggestionsfor some newcomers. Also, on the way out,one of the managers ( I forget his name) noticed us taking some pictures of the interior and offered to take a picture of all of us! Staff was truly amazing!

Now, as for the food, I went with the breakfast pot pie, which was absolutely delicious! The crust was flakey and buttery, the gravey well seasoned, and overall an exceptionaly enjoyable dish. Also got a pop-over with some of their house butter, nothing better to complement the breakfast that I ordered.

All in all, it is an amazing restaurant, and well worth the trip if you in the area, will be going back there...