Tria Restaurant — Restaurant in North Oaks

Updates: Tria Restaurant was kind enough to invite us back to their Mother’s Day lunch, on them. We accepted the invitation.

They had the exact same menu as the Easter Brunch when we were there last; but instead of ordering and waiting, we were treated the buffet instead.

ZERO wait time.

I’d like to point out that the chicken breasts and the braised beef were both EXTREMELY tender. The potatoes and roasted green beans were also as good as I remembered. But I think the real stars of the lunch today were the desserts.

They were fantastic.

I didn’t take many pictures mostly because I had no patience and just wanted to eat them…I don’t even remember what they’re called but there was a good variety to choose from. They were a good ending to our meal.

Unlike the last dining experience, I think the restaurant really did take people’s reviews to heart and it showed. The atmosphere was much more relaxed and our server lady was very tentative and she didn’t seem overwhelmed at all. Other families were in and out while we were there and not all seats in the room were occupied. This helped make the experience better because I didn’t feel like I need to shove the food down my throat for the next customer to come in.

A good restaurant owner admits his mistakes, and a great restaurant owner fixes them. The food on Mother’s Day was great. I understand people’s taste can be subjective; but even if you don’t agree with my view on the taste of their food, I think we can still all agree that Tria really does care, and they fix their mistakes.

That in itself is enough, and I will definitely return again next time.

Thanks again for the wonderful lunch. To sum up the experience today, Tria left quite a bit to be desired.

We found out about Tria from an online article from Mpls StPaul Magazine, listing restaurants available on Easter. The magazine described the Easter service as an “Elegant feast,” but the only elegant element was the restaurant’s decor and the surrounding countryside. Feast, on the other hand, cannot be further from the truth.

Two options were offered from Tria for the holiday dining experience: buffet or the prix fixe menu (three course meal). My wife and I didn’t feel our capacities for food warranted the buffet so we decided to reserve the prix fixe menu seating.

We both picked baked ham for the entree but selected different appetizers and desserts. Wife had the oyster and ice cream and I had the duck crisp and crepe. I enjoyed the duck crisp, mostly because I was hungry (we waited 25 minutes to be seated and another 30 minutes for the first appetizer to arrive). I thought the crepe was fine, although the sauce tasted like something I could get from a grocery store).

I have no complaints on the actual quality of the entree: baked ham, potatoes, green beans and roasted carrots. In fact, each was delicious in its own way and I thought it appropriate for the occasion. Two things can be true at once however: despite the good taste, the portion was not exactly generous. We ordered one Bellini, one hot tea with our meal, a total of $120 later, we still left the restaurant hungry.

In addition, it took us 2.5 hours to finish our meal. It was clear that our waitress was overwhelmed today. I have a lot of sympathy and gratitude for this lady for serving us, she was both the waitress and the busboy today. I truly appreciated her hard work. At the same time, I was discouraged by the amount of time we waited for our food to arrive at our table this afternoon.

Google reviews show that Tria is well-received and it offers excellent foods and services for its customers. I believe that the negative experience we had today was simply caused by the unexpected holiday crowd. I would be curious to find out what Tria has to offer on a more regular day next time I’m in the...

I made reservations for Easter Brunch. After arriving at the restaurant, my husband and I were immediately taken to our table in a smaller dining area and given Prix Fixe menus. After I told the server that we would prefer the buffet, she very loudly told me that we did not select that when our reservations were made and that she would ask if we could change, but, she is sure that the answer will be "No". I explained that I never selected a choice at all as there wasn't an option and that I simply made our reservation for the hours that offered the Easter Brunch Buffet. The hostess came and told us that the buffet was completely full and that they would try their best to accommodate our request for modifications on the Prix Fixe menu. Another server came to take our order and my husband and I wanted to substitute Creme Brulee French Toast instead of regular French Toast, as that was one of the items offered in the buffet that we really wanted to try. The server brought the general manager to our table who loudly asked, "What is the problem?' Embarrassed by the entire situation, I said, "Nothing." She then told me what the situation was and gave us an order of Creme Brulee French Toast. However, the rest of my husband's and my order was completely wrong. Because it took over an hour for us to receive our meal, we did not want to bring any further attention to our table and ate what we were served. As our initial server came to collect the dishes from our table, she unnecessarily loudly commented on how much of our meal we ate. The service was extremely slow, as we were there for two and a half hours. As we were leaving, I stopped to show the new hostess our reservation as proof that we did not select Prix Fiixe. I explained to her what we had just gone through and she immediately apologized and told us that many of their customers today had that same problem with their reservation because there is a system error on Tria's website. I appreciate her sharing this with me; but, this is horrible on Tria's part for not being up front with us in the beginning, and telling me that I chose something that I did not. This is dishonest and our dining experience was very unpleasant and embarrassing. Four different employees came to our table and the service was sub par $130.00 later. We were very excited about dining there, only to leave unsatisfied and...

I came here for restaurant week on a Wednesday with high expectations. The server was attentive, though everything seemed a bit slow waiting 5-10 minutes after finishing before the next dish, or before drinks were served. It was as if they were really busy (but they were not) it certainly didn't appear that they were understaffed as there appeared to be lots of staff.

The strawberry rhubarb margarita was too sweet, I still want salt on the rim, it is a margarita afterall. The mushroom soup was great, best part of the meal. The Walleye was ok at best. lacked seasoning or a sear, just 1 dimensional. The Brussels sprouts were good, they were cut with so many different sizes that the big ones were nearly crunchy and the small ones were mush. The peppedew peppers added another dimension to make the sprouts better than ok, but not great. The filet Oscar was ok as well, not great, the Bearnaise sauce was bland. The creme brulee was ok, it needed more vanilla as it followed the rest of the menu just lacking flavor. The apple crisp was ok as well, the topping lacked a crunch to it. I think I would have rather had gone to Perkins for a slice of apple pie and ice cream though. at least then I would have had more than mush.

On top of that there was a ~2.75% surcharge added to the bill. This was not clearly stated in the menu, but explained on the receipt. The surcharge was to help them pay for their staff, and not in lieu of gratuity. I am not certain what the purpose of this is as it is not standard in the industry to do this.

Overall, I would pass on this place, it...