Crooked Pint Ale House — Restaurant in Minnesota

TL;DR: I recently had my worst experience here, and it went great.

There are a lot of factors to consider when reviewing a restaurant: quality of food, quality of service, location, atmosphere, etc. One of the factors that is difficult to review on just one visit, however, is how a restaurant handles itself when things don't go exactly as planned. Providing good service when nothing unexpected happens is easy, doing the same when a wrench is thrown in is more of a challenge.

I've been to this location of the Crooked Pint a number of times and have always had better experiences than other Crooked Pints I've been to in other cities so it's become a more common destination for me in the St. Cloud area. I gravitate toward burgers so that's been my experience at this location and to that end I've always left happy.

This Particular Experience: Recently I joined a couple friends here and got Crooked Pint's take on the Classic Juicy Lucy; having been very happy with the choice in the past. This time around, however, the cheese in the middle had leaked out leaving me cheeseless (a first for me here). Now, I've got lots of experiences with a wide range of Juicy's, and missing cheese is not uncommon as the burgers can be challenging to keep together if not pattied perfectly. I flagged down our waitress and explained the situation and simply asked for a slice of cheese. How the issue was handled I feel reflects on the larger picture of how the restaurant is run.

The waitress immediately apologized for the inconvenience offered me the option of remaking my burger, which, being about 1/3rd of the way through I wasn't interested in as I didn't want to waste food. She was very friendly through the whole whole experience and immediately got me a slice of cheese to throw on top of my burger. Very shortly after, the manager stopped by to let me know they'd be giving me a discount on my food because of the inconvenience. The burger was still really good, so I really just wanted a slice of cheese, but the staff went above and beyond what I would expect of them and overall, I was really impressed.

So the above situation really speaks to the service here; which for me has always been very good. Even when they are really busy, which seems to be most of the time, service is prompt and friendly.

Food is another consistent win; I've tried a few burgers and always been happy with how they were prepared and their flavor. Their cheese curds are breaded and, while I prefer battered, are still very good and you get a decent amount for the price. I really should try other items on the menu, but their burgers are so consistently good I've not had the motivation to do so. Price I feel is appropriate for what you get and I've always felt I've gotten my money's worth. Overall, I've always left happy and full.

The atmosphere is very nice; I had visited the restaurant which previously occupied this space and always found it to be a bit drab, so I was quite happy to see what Crooked Pint had done with the space. It'a still got a sports-bar atmosphere to it but it's well lit and has a warmer feel to it. Overall a vast improvement over the previous tenants.

The Crooked Pint is a big win for the area in my book, especially when it comes to their burgers. All the other pluses they have to offer are just icing...

You know, dare I say that I remember a time when this place was at its absolute peak. The drinks: Immaculate, the food: some of the best I’ve ever had, and the vibes: at an all time high. Well it’s sad to say, but I believe that those days are now behind us. I don’t know what went wrong with this place or when but it’s just not the same and it has changed for the worst. I used to vouch for this place to the ends of the earth saying “you gotta try there Lucy’s, no one makes them like these guys”. Of course, that was until today. Me and my brothers visited this place after a while of not being there and we ordered some old fashioned’s as drinks, the French dip appetizer and the Lucy’s as our meal. They get us our old fashioned and it damn near looked clear. Watered down, ice at an all time high, and the syrup to alcohol ratio was 10:1 respectively. That was bad enough, and then they came with the French onion dip. From the very first bite, I knew it tasted familiar. Yup, no mistake. My grandma used to make this same exact dip at her house out of a little $1 French onion packet that you could get at the local Aldi. By then, I was ready to leave this desolate wasteland behind but I forgot that I hardly touched my piping hot juicy Lucy. The appearance of the Lucy looked the same, the smell was reminiscent, and the aura was very comforting. Surely there’s no way they could mess up there pride and joy. Welp, I guess what they say when you shouldn’t meet your heroes is true because I met the Lucy and I was extremely disappointed to say the least. The server however was the very little light in such a dark tunnel. I guess all good things really do come to an end and the crooked pint is...

Fantastic Lucy's and fries with awesome service!! My family stopped on Father's Day as we were passing through town and looking for burgers and a good beer. We were totally floored with the awesome selection of both food and beer options. A bunch of solid looking sandwiches and bowls were on the menu but the star was clearly the Juicy Lucy's and burgers.

We started with a basket of wings with house rub. They were a hit and came out as 7 meaty, well seasoned and fried wings. Highly recommend. My wife and I got the classic Lucy with water melon side salad. I went with the prime rib Lucy au jus and a side of garlic parmesan fries. My girls both got burgers, one with a pretzel bun, one with a gluten free bun. The Lucy's were pure perfection. With awesome oozy cheese. I have no idea if there was prime rib sliced on top or not because I absolutely destroyed the burger without a second thought (it was that awesome). Kids burgers and buns were also super good (I might have stolen bites). My wife's watermelon salad was really nice and refreshing. Great mix with the burger. I think the only downside to my plate was that I wished there was some sort of sauce for my fries. They were pretty good but just needed some extra punch considering how flavorful the Lucy was.

My wife and I wished we could have remembered our servers name so I could recognize her up on this post. She was so sweet and good to all 4 of us and would have loved to give a shout out to her.

We all walked out saying we'd make a point and gonour go out of our way to stop here again. I...