Nighthawks — Restaurant in Minneapolis

First and foremost, I have never written a review because I never feel it necessary and it’s generally a waste of time. If a place is crap, I don’t go back and that’s the end of that. However, this incident struck a chord that I couldn't let go.

TLDR: We were served raw chicken, given a discount of 6 dollars and no apology.

Heard good reviews about this place so we decided to go. The place looked nice--I was praising the atmosphere and how nice it was. We ordered a hotdog and decided to wait 20 minutes for happy hour to order a sandwich and beer combo. The hotdog was fine, but the chips that came with the hot dog looked like they were from the bottom of the chip bag. We also ordered fries. When the fries came, they tasted bitter as if using old frying oil. Notably, the fries were bagged frozen fries, nothing like hand-cut fries (other reviews will affirm to that). I had 4 fries stuck together that were super soggy, which also confirms their frozen origins.

Here’s where it gets bad. When the chicken sandwich came, it looked amazing. One thing I noticed, but didn't really cross my mind immediately was that the chicken was a bit lopsided in size (See pic). I split the sandwich in half as best I could. I proceeded to hammer down the fries first because, although the fries were terrible, I hate wasting food. This would also have allowed me to finish my meal with what I thought would have been the better part of my meal, the sandwich. My girlfriend had finished her sandwich part first. When I grabbed my sandwich after having already bit two big chunks, she pointed out that my chicken looked raw. I dropped it and looked and was shocked that it was indeed raw. We waited a bit then waved the waitress down. In my mind I was going to be very courteous and let them redeem themselves with their consequential response and actions.

I told her, “I think it’s raw.” She looks for a second and my girlfriend chimes in and says, “it’s raw.” I was taken aback when her first response was, “the cook always puts a thermometer in the chicken. I watch them put it in.” She continues to stare at it. To help her case I said, “the chicken was really lopsided so that might have been why it was not cooked evenly.” However, my reason for mentioning that was to see how she responded. She didn't offer an apology and really showed no true acceptance of their faults. The whole time I’m being cordial to see if she responds how I hope any establishment would if something this appalling happened. Hardly an apology was given. She retreats with the dish to determine what sort of “discount” we would get. She returns with the bill with everything full price. I thought, “seriously” but she returns again to give the “discounted” bill. I looked and saw an “employee” discount of 6 dollars. The happy hour meal was 12 dollars for a sandwich and a beer. The beer, if purchased alone would have been 7 dollars. Essentially, we paid 6 dollars for the beer and a potential bout with food poisoning. As we left, there was not a single utterance of an apology. They clearly don’t understand the severity of the consequences of food poisoning. The waitress herself was very soft spoken and standoffish and seemingly lacked the skills as a waitress at a seemingly well-to-do establishment. Total bill was 22.90 with the 6 dollar discount.

I think it was just shocking that no apology was given nor was there any other staff that came to apologize for their mistake. This place was promising until this happened....

Night in the city, a brave band of foodies set out to conquer their hunger, Nick becomes - Food Gnawledge.... What!? You haven't seen PJ Masks with your kids?

I thoroughly enjoy getting a chance to meet new and serious foodies who take the industry seriously with quality reviews and opinions. Best part, it's an opportunity to see how your likes and dislikes compare to others and if you jive with each other at all. And that's what my visit was all about.

Nighthawks was a new place for me and I really like the small quaint setting and its location. Open kitchen to watch dishes being made is always a plus when you're a "home chef" for the family and learn a thing or two.

The menu for the evening was delicious! The slider samples were excellent and surprisingly, I really enjoyed the chicken burger sliders over the cheeseburger sliders. I'm not a huge rabbit fan and typically stay away from salads, but Nighthawks salad was delish. Didn't get a chance to try the chili, but heard it was a tad spicy for some. I love spicy, I wish I would have tried it. The hot dog was really good - you can never go wrong with an all beef skin on dog with some bold flavors. Another surprise was the buffalo deep fried cauliflower. Nope, not something I would typically order, but it was actually really good. And, finally, the drinks. I'm a fan of Utepils Brewing, even have some in my fridge at home.

On a side note, I took the time to observe the culinary team closely. They definitely wore their emotions on their sleeves and expressed some dismay for us being there. Few f-bombs flying around and plenty of grumbling. Sure the place was packed, but if we all sat down at tables throughout the entire restaurant, you have a typical busy restaurant. How would you respond then? The same way? But, I just tried to encourage them and tell them they were doing a solid job.

On top of that, lots of cross contamination taking place with bare hands, wiping on their clothes, touching food, grabbing utensils, etc and no hand washing. At one point, the young lady took a spoon out of a cup of water, wiped it off with the towel she used to wipe her prep board off with, sampled the spaghetti dish she was making and put it back in the cup of water. Seconds later, she grabbed a larger spoon from that very cup, again wiped it with the towel and spooned a mac n' cheese dish into a to-go container. Is this common practice throughout the restaurant industry? Am i just ignorant to the practices I witnessed? Either way, it didn't sit well with...

Food was great. Service was amazing! Oh, the extra charges, what? Why? Huh? Who does that? Should be a 5-star review. I am tempted to give a 2-star review. See below!

Wow! Incredible. Amazing! Our waitress, with the pink hair ('usually impossible to pull off, but she can do it, and do it well.' -my lovely wife) was completely awesome. She was very attentive and knew her menu perfectly to guide vegetarians, without being one (probably not veg)!

The food was awesome. Amazing! The veggie Mushroom and Swiss Burger with Beyond Burger patty, AMAZING! The Tomato and Peanut soup!!! My wife had the soup which I tried, OMGoodness! Beyond Amazing!!! The cooks I have to compliment in the HIGHEST!

The ambience is awesome. I love the atmosphere. I love the old booths. It is so cool inside. So cool! We will be back for sure, even with what I am about to write.

Would be a 5-star review for sure, UNTIL...... Until the bill came. Wait, WHAT? You are going to charge me $3.00 EXTRA for the Beyond Burger patty? I am sure that is not dictated by the market. So, what is that based on? Hmmm

AND Wait, you are going to charge me $3.00 for using a credit card? A CREDIT CARD CHARGE? Isn't that the cost of doing business. Why am I paying for the restaurant taking my money, and then more money for taking my money? And not the $0.15 or $0.20 the credit card company charges the restaurant. WHAT? I should give two stars for this review.

P.S. We will be back, even though at the end of the meal we were shocked. And I would definitely recommend, as service, food, and interior are all awesome. Just please don't have customers pay your bills. I know that many restaurants are doing this, but I am just as incensed when it happens at other places, many of which I won't return to. This place I...