Tullibee — Restaurant in Minneapolis

I posted this review on another site. I am reposting here, because it was just so bad.

My family decided to eat out for Thanksgiving this year. Since two of the six of us are vegetarians, we looked for a restaurant that had a vegetarian option. The pre fixe menu had two choices: Traditional menu and a vegan menu.

Our visit started off with an issue with the table where we sat. The tables are on wheels, and one of the wheels was broken. Staff attempted to fix the table, but it was to no avail. They were great about it and finally moved us to a new table.

We placed drink orders, and they took longer than usual. We were in no real rush, so we didn't think too much of it. As soon as our drinks arrived, we ordered our food. It took over an hour for us to get our food, and frankly it was all a bit of a mess.

The main server for our table was great, but it really felt like no one knew what was going on with the dinners. Someone who was not serving staff brought some of the food to the table. The traditional dishes arrived except the rolls. When my sister asked about the rolls, the staff person (not our actual server) said, "Oh you want rolls? I'll get you some rolls if you want them."

The vegan menu was a bit disappointing with the offerings in terms of a lack of a real protein such as tofu, legumes, beans, etc. My husband and I received our roasted butternut squash on a plate, one of the rolls from that menu, and a plate with roasted carrots and mushrooms. I knew that there was more on the menu. I asked the woman who was assisting our server about it. I said, "We did not get all of our food." She asked me what was missing, and I said I knew that we did not have the potatoes. I also thought there was also supposed to be mushroom gravy, a rice dish, and a roasted vegetable dish. She actually told me that my squash was the roasted vegetables, and we had gotten everything. I asked to see the menu again. She brought it over and let me look for a minute. I had only pointed out the roasted vegetables when she took the menu back. I asked her if I could see it again, and she told me no. She was going to ask the kitchen about it. I said, I know that we were supposed to be served more than mushrooms, carrots, and a half of a small butternut squash.

We did end up getting the potatoes and a very small portion of the roasted vegetables and green beans that were not even on the vegan menu.

Everything was cold. We never got the second caraway roll, and frankly I wasn't going to bother asking for it at that point. Those who had the traditional menu said that all of their food was cold as well. The squash was not completely roasted and a bit challenging to eat as most of it was hard. The carrots were undercooked as were the green beans.

Toward the end of the meal, the house manager apologized for the mix ups and said it was due to the table swap. I can see how that could impact things, but do believe that it could have been remedied in a better fashion.

The star of the meal was the pumpkin sorbet that I had. That was amazing.

We did not have any alcohol, and our share of the bill was $188. I do not mind paying surcharges or preset tips. I just want to get what I have paid for.

I didn't really want to write a review, but it is not right for management to not know about our experience. No one seemed to know what they were serving. When we first sat down, we asked if we could choose dishes from either menu. The server emphatically told us that everything was premade, pre portioned, and ready to serve. I respect that on a day like Thanksgiving, but absolutely no one seemed to know what dishes went with which menu. It was a disappointing debacle, and I know that I will never get my husband to come back for...

Last night my boyfriend treated me to the vegan Thanksgiving Feast. Oh. My. Gyod. It was the best. The best!

When we were looking for plant-based restaurants, we had been so surprised and excited that Tullibee at the elegant Scandinavian Hewing hotel was offering this vegan experience because we didn't know of this place as having plant-based items in general.

When we came in, there was this gorgeous, HUGE Scandinavian Christmas tree in the cozy, woodsy fireplace lounge where we waited for our table. I loved the wood beam ceiling and earth tones; it was a perfect combination of elegant and warm*cozy earthiness!

Our service was superb. They were all very friendly and attentive. We started out with a Manhattan and an old-fashioned to drink and they were some of the best we'd ever had, perfect with the charming, amber ambience!

I had been skeptical about the meal because it wasn't a traditional Thanksgiving menu. And the vegan dessert they listed was pumpkin sorbet, which to me sounded kind of blah and a very weird combination to be honest. But oh how wrong I was!

The food came on earthenware plates. I told my boyfriend that it seemed like we were in some rustic forest lodge, or like it was a fancy hobbit holiday feast!

It was totally inspired meal - roasted vegetables, mainly, So you might think that would be overkill or boring but not at all!

The main dish was half of a small roasted butternut squash that had some maple and spices delicately whipped into it. So scrumptious!!

The side dishes were:

A delicious spinach apple salad with a very savory dressing that I couldn't for the life of me figure out. I thought maybe there were caramelized onions blended into the vinaigrette, but I'm still not sure. It was too complex to figure out even though it was such a light dressing.

Then they was a plate of two separate items: sweet purple and orange roasted carrots and the most delectable roasted mushrooms either of us had ever eaten.

Another plate of two side dishes: These very long, skinny green beans sautéed with mushrooms--also amazing--and these incredible oven roasted root vegetables and nuts, which were in competition with the roasted mushrooms for the best dish of the whole feast.

Also, two rolls for each of us, with olive oil for dipping, and herbed mashed Yukon gold potatoes, which were good too.

All of it was incredibly savory and each dish had a distinctive spice/flavor to it. We even had to take one whole dinner's worth home because the portions were so generous.

And for dessert.... the pumpkin sorbet was one of the best desserts we had ever had! Just a small dish of this pumpkin ice cream, which I'm calling ice cream because it seemed more creamy than icy like a sorbet is. But we could tell it was definitely vegan. It wasn't something you would just take big bites of like regular ice cream. It was so well spiced, almost like there were notes of chocolate, vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and then of course the pumpkin taste sparkling your tastebuds in a sequence of sorts! It was amazing! I was so happy at how surprised I was at how good it was, and how wrong I was to think it wouldn't be good just based on my assumptions.

it was such a wonderful night and we may just make this a tradition if they keep offering a plant-based feast! We hope they add more plant-based delicacies like these on their main menu too!

A huge thank you to the artists/chefs and all the people who worked there and designed the space, the menu,...

I'm going to start with the positive:

The service here is impeccable, and the food was cooked very well.

However, this restaurant seems to jump back and forth when trying to determine its identity. With pricing and service indicative of a high end experience, the atmosphere and food quality simply did not meet that expectation. The ambiance is closer to that of the typical bar/grill, with chiptole-esque nouveau-industrial aesthetics and 20-somethings clamoring through the nearby hotel lobby on their way to the rooftop bar. Nothing sketchy or upsetting, just simply not what I'm looking for if I'm dressing up for a nice dinner.

The food was well cooked but bland.

The charcuterie board was underwhelming, overly focused on the jams and mustard and severely lacking in every other aspect. For all its pomp and the 5 minute explanation on what was included, I definitely expected something better than what I'd find pre-packaged at Kowalski's. The potato rosti was impeccably cooked but otherwise tasteless, the accompanying black garlic aioli was completely lost in this bite sized dish, which is difficult to achieve with black garlic. The roast lamb, while also cooked to perfection, followed suit in an utter lack of flavor, and was completely overwhelmed by the wild rice beneath it. For dessert, the tres leches with rhubarb creme anglaise was delicious. No complaints at all.

In conclusion, this was a very underwhelming experience. I generally carry the expectation that if my bill is in excess of $100 and I've ordered three or more menu items and a drink that I won't leave the restaurant wondering how long the pizza joint across the street is open because I'm disappointed and I can already feel myself getting hungry again. But that's how it went down.

Here's hoping Tullibee can drop the pretense a little bit and put out some dishes worth getting...