Stock & Bond MN — Restaurant in Minneapolis

I walked in, and didn’t know that I would be walking out a changed man.

After dinner, my wife asked me, “you have a newfound pep in your step and joy, what’s the reason for this” and I responded with “When you know that stock and bond dinner rolls exist, life gains a whole new outlook”.

I’m a bread guy, huge bread guy, and I judge restaurants by the caliber of their bread service & the bread I was presented made me want to shove the rolls (cast iron & all) into my wife’s purse to see how many I could fit in there before they would realize that I was robbing them of all their dinner rolls & stop them coming.

The steak, delicious. The sides, delicious. The drinks, delicious. The chocolate cake, heavenly (especially when paired with a scoop of that vanilla bean ice cream). But those dinner rolls? I’m actually angry that I’ve lived life this long and never tasted their salty buttery goodness. Do they have bread in their vault? They might.

I’m about to take up residency in the Westin so I can call the front desk and ask for BREAD. Just bread. I’m going to go over to the Westin hotel’s google page and give them 5 stars for being located in Stock & Bond, because it’s certainly not the other way around.

In all seriousness, my group and I LOVE to try new restaurants in MSP, and go to a different one every month. We have been doing it for over 5 years. Stock & Bond blew me away, and is one of the top of the list.

My wife loves to make bread, and her bread is amazing. But if she ever asked me to compare her bread against Stock & Bond, I would immediately start persperating and turning flush, knowing that she may have finally met her match. What is a guy supposed to do in this scenario? Stock & bond might ruin my marriage, but at least I’ll live knowing that every day for dinner, those rolls are an option.

*many skillets of dinner rolls harmed in the making of...

A beautiful setting for an elegant dinner. But spending $400+ on dinner for 2 means delicious food & Impeccable service. Neither were served well. Very slow night in the restaurant, 5 bartenders, but it took us 15 minutes to get our initial cocktails and another 15 for our second drink. Our waiter was sweet, but obviously didn’t know about steak service. I discussed with him medium vs medium well and went with medium. Told me it would be pink center. But his explanation was very elementary. It came well done. I also ordered it as Crab Oscar which was ok but quite over-sauced. Also not sure what the steak was spiced with, but it was not great. A good of steak doesn’t need much. Cesar salad before dinner was excellent as were the mashed potatoes and asparagus, but I would have liked to been informed of the size & sharability of the portions. Very generous and could have shared as everything is ala cart. We also ordered a bottle of Chardonnay with dinner but never got a wine caddy. It was just left on the table. We did talk a bit to the managing staff walking around and he was pleasant and glad we had a concern, but only talked to him about the drinks. Background music was loud and coming from another nearby party, I believe as there were people wandering in off the street from the 2 pro games in the area, one of which we attended. These people were not there to eat but walked to the back into another area. This could be a great upscale experience with some attention to detail. Again, beautiful venue but not...

As I walked away from Stock & Bond, the top-down rating I had in mind was 3/10, which I suppose generously translates to a 2/5.

The venue itself is truly gorgeous and is a must-see for out-of-town visitors (and I’d even encourage locals to stop in). The seating and furniture was also comfortable and luxurious. All that said, the gilded ambience was somewhat tarnished by louder than necessary music. If you’re going for an upscale spot to have a cocktail and watch sports or be revelrous with coworkers, it’s great.

While the menu was exactly the fare you’d expect, the execution was not great. After waiting about 20 min for cocktails/wine, we tried the salmon crispy rice and beef tartare apps, which were fine yet unmemorable. Then came the Parker rolls with a beer-like aftertaste. For mains, we had a flank steak with shrimp and the chicken entree. The steak’s temp was good but its main flavor was char; the shrimp were 5-10 min overcooked and not buttered or seasoned. The chicken was adequate. Lastly the whipped potatoes were great, offset by some not great asparagus (sauce tasted a few days old).

The service was hit and miss. Our waiter was friendly but missed a few details (e.g., # of shrimp included as a side, didn’t bring the $5 extra sauce until much later into service). Nobody asked how our food was during our visit.

For a group of 5, our bill was a bit over $625 after tip. Unfortunately, the price/quality balance doesn’t inspire me to recommend...