Zelo — Restaurant in Minneapolis

If you’re looking for an excellent dining experience in Minneapolis, GO TO ZELO.

I got the Tortiglioni Rossa, and it blew my mind. I’m something of a skeptic about spending lots of money on pasta, but I have never been so delighted with an Italian restaurant. When noodles are freshly made, and thoughtfully prepared, it actually makes a difference. The pasta was literally perfect. The sauce was sublime. Perfect hints of each element operated in what might be described as an orchestra of flavor. The concert was music to my tastebuds.

I don’t usually drink, but as I was celebrating my friend’s recent wedding, I also got an Old Fashioned. I found their ratio to be perfect, and a small batch whiskey really drove home a rich and delicious experience.

I went all out and requested an Adffogato for dessert. While this item isn’t technically on the menu, they were happy to make it for me as it is, by default, just gelato and espresso. I make these at home, and I’ve had a number of them made professionally, and I must admit: SO FAR, I have never had a better Adffogato than the one I had tonight.

In conclusion, the food is excellent.

But food is NOT where the excellence ends.

We interacted with 3 people during our visit, and each of them brought unique elements to our experience.

Our primary server was Adriana. Adriana is a master of her craft. She represents the type of service that brings in Stars (yes, those kinds of stars). Adriana represents a template for the ideal future of human-curated dining experiences. Her attention to detail goes well beyond service, and it’s a bit difficult to describe. It’s like she could sleuth out any of our concerns and subsequently resolve them. Her vigilance and thoughtfulness made each of us feel important, and there were like a dozen of us! It would be unrealistic to hold anyone to that standard, but she made it look absolutely effortless (but I know it’s not. That’s a hard won skill if ever there was one).

We also interacted with Rubia, who helped ensure our plates were cleared and our glasses remained full. She was pleasant in every sense, and took the extra time to add another excellent dimension to the experience.

Lastly, I got to have a brief chat with Shaya, who helps manage the team. Shaya took extra time to make sure my wacky requests were possible, and she went above and beyond to personalize my dessert request.

I’m thoroughly impressed by the team’s determination to make this experience unique, and this review is the least I can do to say “Thank You” for helping make tonight unforgettable.

So to prospective guests: make a reservation. You’ll find that Zelo represents a proper fine dining experience through and through.

To the team at Zelo: The work you do is so much more important than “food service” or “hospitality” or whatever label you have. Restaurants like yours are capable of bringing incredible joy to the guests that come through and I hope you understand just how much that means to people, even if they’re not all as...

I went for Valentine's Day and was very disappointed in the service my date and I received. ALL night our server, Sarah, was leaning on our table to talk to us. You could feel the whole table move every single time. Since it was our first time dining there we had high hopes because my significant other and I both love Italian food. Unfortunately, upon greeting us, Sarah failed to tell us anything about Zelo, including the specials that were available that day for the Valentine's holiday. We actually had to change our order after finding the special card and reading it ourselves. When we ordered our wine she joked, "And you guys are of drinking age, right?" instead of actually carding us. My date and I are both 29 but if you have to question someone's age, it is more professional to just ask for an ID. We constantly had to ask for basic service such as: plates so we could eat our appetizers on, plates so we could split our entrees (upon ordering we told her we wanted to split everything), and to clear the crumbs off the table after bread service. For some reason, our server thought it was acceptable to give us their tiny little bread plates to split our entree, so I had to ask for actual dinner sized plates. She was fumbling through her shirt just trying to find her crumber. Things were falling out so she had to step away. Not very classy. She also tried to blame the dirty table on her server assistant because it apparently is his job. My personal opinion, if he missed something, it was Sarah's job to catch it, correct it, and not make a scene of the situation. The guest shouldn't have to. Very shortly after dropping desserts on the table, she dropped our check. I absolutely hate when restaurants allow their servers to do this. Let people enjoy their entire meal, and drop the check when they are completely finished, unless the guest asks for the check sooner. I very well could have ordered a digestif. She was back and forth from our table taking payment from us while we tried to eat our dessert and talk. She came to grab the book once, and my boyfriend had not done anything with it, so she said, "oh sorry I'll be back." And after running the card, she came to retrieve the signed copy of the receipt but my boyfriend hadn't signed it because we were trying to eat, so she she apologized again and said she would be back. It was incredibly intrusive and made us feel like we had to hurry up and leave. I enjoyed the food which is why I would only choose to eat in the bar if I ever returned. You definitely do not receive white table cloth service at this restaurant. Nothing TOP...

Zelo was a surprise reservation for me, and I had not had time to look at their menu. I wasn't sure what to expect, and we were open to suggestions.

Karina (sp?) was our server, and she was skillful, professional, and attentive. We ordered the mussels and the caramelized Brussels sprouts to start with. The mussels came with toasted bread, which was a tiny bit on the oily side, I am not sure if it was from olive oil or from butter. The mussels had some crunchy sand to them [This can be avoided by resting the shellfish and dumping some cornmeal into the bowl (they spit out the sand and consume the cornmeal)]. Overall, the tomato based sauce was forgettable, with not enough garlic or a brighter flavoring to hit a high note. The Brussels sprouts were ok, not as crunchy as we like them, but the flavor was alright.

Max ordered the halibut special of the night, and this was a fantastic dish with a mushroom flavored sauce atop a bed of mixed grains, veggies, and some roasted small potatoes. I kept stealing from his plate. I ordered the walleye Milanese, which found the fish well coated with panko yet unfortunately fried in so much oil that he panko was not crunchy. I was confused as to why there was little crunchiness left. The fish came crowning a rather small mound of potatoes, and they were not too heavy. No Robuchon potatoes here. Seeing as I love walleye, I ate the potatoes first. There was a nice fresh flavor to the strips of tomato, which adorned it, but I was a bit disappointed by the dish. Walleye is such a tender fish with a gentle flavor - it benefits from a crusty outside! It could have also been accompanied by a few root vegetables or even a fresh shredded salad to round out the presentation. I still enjoyed it, but if I could have gone back in time, I would order the halibut special instead.

Dessert for me was a Budino, a small lava cake with a strong dark chocolate flavor with a side of vanilla ice cream. I really enjoyed it, not too sweet, and very dark, just how I like it! I could decide to make each bite more bitter or more sweet depending on how much of each item I put on my spoon. Max decided on the lemon dessert, which was like a mini tart. It was very good, especially with the dollop of whipped cream.

Of note were the strawberry shrub I ordered and the mint drink on their non-alcoholic menu.

Upon leaving, the person that attends to the welcoming desk offered to take our photograph and did a wonderful job framing a great couple of shots. Very creative!

I would definitely come and give Zelo another try, perhaps venture for their...