Park Tavern — Restaurant in Saint Louis Park

I am not usually from this area, but my family won a bowling party at this place from an auction. I was excited to bowl here, but was unfortunately dissapointed. On arrival, we were told that they were not prepared for our reservation because they told us the wrong time for our reservation. Furthermore, we had a handicapped person in our group. We warned them ahead of time, but they did not prepare to help. To their credit, they allowed us to bowl even after giving us the wrong time. I was terrified when they warned us that I shouldn't bowl on lanes 11 and 12 because it would damage my personal bowling ball. I noticed that my ball was getting damaged at a fast rate reguardless, which made me decide to stop using my ball there altogether and only use the house balls. One of the most upsetting parts was that our ticket for the party allowed us to have 4 lanes for 24 people. We had 20 people in our party, but they forced us to go on 3 lanes unless we had 6 people playing in each lane. This is absurd! With small children, handicapped people, and 6 people in a lane, playing games would take forever! (and our reservation should have had 4 lanes) There was even an open lane next to us (which they said that they would provide, but didn't) for the entire 2 hours that we were there. The oil on the lanes was okay. We found that the lanes had very little oil in the center and heavier oil on the sides, so that if you threw down the middle with any curve it would go to the gutter. I found it was best to roll the ball with curve fast down the edge of the lane. So while the oil was okay, the fear of getting your ball damaged and the string pin setup isn't worth it. Speaking of the string pins, there was at least 3 times throughout the games that the bowling lane would incorrectly register a throw, even when no ball would be thrown. Overall, the food was fine, but the bowling isn't worth it. It's a better idea to take it...

The main reason for visiting Park Tavern was as a meeting site for our club. Our usual meeting site was unavailable on our meeting night so I searched for alternative venues online and found Park Tavern to have a workable meeting room. The terms were incredible: no deposit, fees, or food/beverage minimums so I booked the room. I visited the place before the meeting and asked questions about room use (can we rearrange the tables?, can each person order off the menu and pay separately?, etc.). Yes to all questions. The service was efficient and very friendly and most everyone was pleased with the food. I may have been the lone exception. I ordered the fish and chips (which I do for every new place I visit that serves it) and would rate it a 4 out of 5. It was very tasty and the fish was cooked perfectly (not overcooked), the chips (fries) were excellent (thin, crisp, and salted just right), and the tartar sauce was OK. My gripes are minor: The cole slaw was skimpy (OK since it was mediocre), malt vinegar was not available (I was told that they purged all their condiments when COVID-19 hit for safety reasons and haven't replenished their little requested ones which is disappointing but commendable and understandable, and the light batter was not uniformly crispy (there were some soggy spots that, combined with the nice flaky filets, allowed the pieces of fish to fall apart when lifting. The 4 rating is so close to a 5 because the good flavor and generous portions nearly overcome the deficiency of the uneven batter and would lead me to order this again (of course after I try most of their other menu items). The great service and flexibility of the Park Tavern staff made the meeting experience as a whole 5...

I fully recognize this post is a bit of a “he said , she said” and coming from my perspective however as a loyal Park Tavern customer my party and I had one of the worst experiences here last night.

I was a part of a group celebrating two 30th birthdays. We arranged a party bus and specifically planned to have it drop us off at 11:00 at Park Tavern. This has always been one of our favorite places and we were excited to end our night at this historically fun spot.

Once we were dropped off a few of us headed into the bar to grab a table where we were immediately greeted by a man who I am assuming was the manager. Without so much as a hello he proceeded to demand that we leave stating that he cannot serve groups who did not start their night boarding a party bus at Park Tavern. When we politely questioned his logic he switched his story stating he was responsible for how we got home and he could not serve us (keep in mind over half of us in the group at this time were sober and driving others home after the stop, we were NOT a wild or out of control group at all )

It was abundantly clear to me that he didn’t want our group coming in an hour before closing and was trying to come up with any way to turn us away. He forced us to leave and followed us the entire way outside as if we had done something wrong… He ended with a lovely goodbye stating “Your group should go to Bunny’s if you want a drink, they will serve ANYBODY”

Being treated like our business didn’t matter was a terrible feeling so I will absolutely give my money to Bunny’s in the future as the manager so kindly suggested. Unfortunately the Park just lost about 20 loyal...