NOLO's Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Minneapolis

Visited on a Saturday with a 12:30 reservation. We were seated right away—great! There were 4 of us there for a girl’s brunch. The restaurant was loud and bustling but the atmosphere was nice.

My friend ordered a mimosa but asked if it could be with grapefruit. The server, Grace, said “sure thing!” She came back and took our orders and then brought back an orange juice mimosa. My friend didn’t want to make a big deal but I flagged down the server and told her that the mimosa was not with grapefruit. She said she apologizes but they were out of grapefruit and forgot to tell us when she brought the ‘assumed ok’ orange juice to the table. Fine.

Our starter the Barrata came out. 4 large cuts of tomatoes with a cheese like spread, jalapeños and herbs, served with crusty bread. The menu description said “herb salsa” and I would have to disagree that it was anything near salsa. But maybe they were going for a deconstructed salsa? It was fine. Nothing to rave about. Hard pass if there’s a next time.

Our food came out fairly quick, which was awesome! A pepperoni wood fired pizza, the malted waffle, French toast, breakfast tacos, and the hot walleye sandwich. Everyone shared a little bit so we could get a taste of everything. For $10 you get ONE waffle. And for $12 you get 3 tacos with eggs, cheese, and sausage. These were probably the most disappointing items. They weren’t bad, taste wise, but for that price and what it was—I could have made that at home. No hot sauce or syrup offered for either item.

The pizza was good. Nice crust, not overly sauced, good standard woodfired pizza. The fries that came with the walleye sandwich—salt overload. I can’t speak for the sandwich since I didn’t try it, I was still sad about my one lack luster waffle. The saving dish was the French toast. Bits of cinnamon toast like cereal on soft and thick slices of toast. Sweet but not too sweet. The salted caramel butter was a good combination too. This seems to be the only dish that had some thought put into it.

The reason this review is only 2 stars is due to the service and pricing of food. We had to flag down the server at least 3x to refill our waters. As well as the mimosa mix up. The food is nothing amazing, quality for the price—big meh. I could have gone to Perkins. That is how comparable the food is. This restaurant is average rated a 4.4 so it makes me question everyone’s standards and tastebuds. We went there expecting a good brunch, but left feeling pretty disappointed. Will not...

I wanted to take a moment to shout out an amazing restuarant located in minneapolis North Loop called Nolos Kitchen & Bar! My girls and I had planned to fly out to california for my bachelorette party and winded up with a cancelled flight first thing in the morning at 4am thanks to microsoft. after we arrived to the airport and stood in line for 4 hours we were told that the next flight wasn’t available for another 24hours at 6 am the next day. We decided to go get breakfast while we figured out our next move and what we were supposed to do for the next 24 hours, especially because most places didn’t open until 4/6pm .We arrived to Nolos in pretty low spirits but that was quickly turned around when we met our waitress Cate.Not only was the food PHENOMENAL, but they went as far as to make us my favorite cocktail (which wasn’t even on the menu!) As we sat and enjoyed our breakfast we talked about where we should go/what we should do/ and about how tired we were because we were only running on a couple of hours of sleep. We were at the point of even contemplating piling back into the car to take a nap when our sweetheart of a waitress approached us and informed us that they had a basement bar that didn’t open until 5 pm that night. She proceeded to tell us that since the basement bar didn’t open till later the owner offered us their full basement as a safe haven for the day for us to get some sleep/ hang out in until we were ready for our next move. The basement had a lounge room for all my girls to pile in and get a few hours of sleep as well as whenever we wanted a drink or snack we could go right up stairs and order as needed. AS WELL as it was fully stocked with arcade games and a photo booth to keep us occupied.Ontop of everything they even covered 50% of our food and drink tabs😭 Nolo’s genuinely saved us that day- and i could never be more thankful that we walked into that restaurant that morning. We were met with nothing but kindess and generosity. If you want to go somewhere with kind people , AMAZING food, fun cocktails , and overall an amazing atmosphere I would HIGHLY reccomend Nolos Kitchen & Bar in minneapolis. I promise you won’t be dissapointed ! Thank you NOLO's Kitchen staff for going above...

UPDATE: On a return trip we discovered a few more favorites to mention. First, is the Crispy Sprouts and Cauliflower that is so flavorful it is probably my favorite thing on the menu. We also love the Deviled Egg Toast App that comes with lightly toasted bread for a delicious starter. The flatbreads continued to be a hit with the Ham and Pineapple with Jalapeños, although the table next to us to ordered the Smoked Chicken flatbread which continually wafted over to our table and filled us with longing for our next trip.

Original review: Not that we needed another reason to love the North Loop, but Nolo's Kitchen and bar gives us one. Replacing hammers and plungers in the old Gardner Hardware building with flat breads and donut holes, Nolo's brings some excellent new American cuisine to Minneapolis. What used to be a dowdy hardware store now welcomes you like a place right out of the better streets in Soho, NY. Bright lights and an open feel remind you that restaurants that survive will provide an experience not just sell food. I think Nolo's gets that. We will see. As for the food there are many things to like. We loved the Skillet dip with cheesy goodness and juicy pulled pork and the flatbreads with Punch-like dough and unique toppings. We were there for the preview night so not everything was available but all the food that walked by looked like something we wanted to order. Of course, with any new restaurant opening there were a couple things in process like the wings and the donut holes, but I'm sure they will get those to cross over into the great category. There are many things that we would want to return and order from the menu. I would go back for the Skillet dip alone. There are only two types of restaurants in Minneapolis, great ones and the ones that don't succeed. There is no room for restaurants that are merely good, i.e. the now deceased Coup D'etat. Nolo's has the makings of a great restaurant. I look forward to finding out. Certainly owners Peter Hoff, Marty Collins, and Brett Johnson will give it...