Off the Rails — Restaurant in Minneapolis

I recently visited Off the Rails in Minneapolis, MN, with some modicum of hope for a pleasant evening. Alas, what transpired was a disappointing sequence of events that left a sour taste in my mouth, far beyond that of the poorly mixed Paloma that I reluctantly ingested.

Upon entering, I was struck by the stark absence of any form of warm reception or acknowledgment. In most hospitality establishments, it's common practice to welcome guests, but at Off the Rails, this basic courtesy seemed entirely forgotten. My party and I navigated to a table without so much as a nod in our direction from the staff.

Not to be deterred, I approached the bar with the intent of placing our drink orders. To my surprise, the bartender regarded me with an expression that fell somewhere between annoyance and disdain, hardly the welcoming attitude one would expect when spending their hard-earned money. Nonetheless, I requested a Paloma, a simple enough cocktail that any self-respecting bar should be able to produce.

The drink, when it arrived, was a lackluster facsimile of the classic Paloma. The effort put into its creation was seemingly as minimal as the effort put into customer service at this establishment. I would have been less disappointed had they simply informed me they couldn't make it.

Most striking was the complete absence of customer interaction during our entire stay. We were virtually invisible to the staff. It became abundantly clear that we were not alone in our sentiments when another customer walked in, experienced the same level of disregard, and declared, "I hate this place," before promptly exiting.

In conclusion, Off the Rails in Minneapolis is a clear example of how not to run a hospitality business. Its stark lack of customer service, questionable drink preparation, and overall indifferent atmosphere make it a place I would strongly advise against visiting. There are many other establishments in the city where your patronage would be far more appreciated...

I do not give 1 or 2 star reviews to restaurants I have only one experience and they are under 90 days past open, unless it resulted in something truly awful. Let's say, generously, 2.51 stars so closer to 3.. First, the beer.. why the plastic kegger cups? And, PLEASE print or post the beer list somehow, if your servers are not going to be educated about the 15 or so beers you have on tap - our server did not know whether or not they had any Pilsners or Lagers - for reference they did not, lots of IPAs and a few others. Also, this is not a carefully considered or diverse beer list. Food: since we ordered our food about 6:05, and finally had to cancel it at 7:20, being advised it would be another 20 minutes or more at that point, I cannot speak to the quality The menu as you can see is very generic, looking at the kitchen would guess mostly supplier product - but might be good. Service: was iffy, the table next to us was not cleared, from 6pm until at least until 7:20, along with others - and I think they could have at least mentioned the situation with the kitchen. Atmosphere is fine, patio overlooks the park, kind of industrial. Restrooms were out of towels by 6:30 and 2/3 of the Dial soap containers, the backup to the actual soap dispensers, were empty - plus it was all kind of messy. ** They DO have Bubble Hockey, so I plan to return at least 2-3 months from now, or another Armory show, or Bank Event, etc. - and perhaps revise...

Service was poor and food quality was very poor. When we entered this place, our waitress told us that it will be about an hour to get our food. We were fine with that because we were not in a hurry and understood that it was somewhat busy during the dinner rush hour. However, we did not get our food until two hours later. My burger was cooked to just shy of a hockey puck. My fries were barely warm. My wife’s steak sandwich came with mushrooms when she requested none. Her fries was barely warm as well. Our friend had a BBQ rice bowl and we could see the bowl sitting under the warmers for at least 20 minutes by itself and she said the rice was dried out and crunchy. I am sure if the staff went to a restaurant themselves and had this type of poor food and service, they would not be happy either. Leaving this review in hopes that the management reads this and realizes they have some major improvements needing to happen. Also saw the people at table next to us not happy either. So know it was...