Dock & Paddle in Como Lakeside Pavilion — Restaurant in Saint Paul

One week after opening, we had a great first experience at Spring Cafe!

First, logistics: Order from the counter. Take your number but pick up your drinks from the counter before finding a table - drinks come out fast. Also grab your own napkins/plasticware/condiments/water from the counter if needed. Sit anywhere with your number - inside (upstairs or downstairs) or outside. Wait for your food to arrive, and when you're done, leave your baskets on the table.

This place is exactly what the Lake needed - it's uncomplicated and efficient, and the food is delicious! One particularly good idea is that they have an ordering station just for drinks, so you don't have to wait in the full line for just a drink. The grab-and-go menu is perfect for a quick bite if you're in a rush, but even our regular food came out in about 10 minutes despite the place being packed on a warm Saturday evening. You can also order most drinks to go if you want to take them on your walk around the lake. The seating areas haven't really changed at all since the transition from Dockside, which isn't a problem. Waitstaff was friendly, well-trained, and helpful.

We ordered the chicken tinga nachos, the wild rice brat, and the elote hot dog. Nachos and especially the elote dog were excellent, and we'll definitely get them again! The wild rice brat was good but we'll probably try something else next time. The default side is kettle chips, but you can substitute the house-fried tortilla chips if you prefer. It would be great to see more side options (maybe even a side salad?) in the future, although you can also get a basket of fries for just $4. For drinks, we had a gin & tonic and the naughty pine - both were good and surprisingly strong! Like some other restaurants by this owner (Matty), most of the drinks are premixed so they are served up very quickly.

In talking to one of the waitresses, it sounds like the cook (JD) has some future plans, including adding a grill to the not-yet-operational outside bar area by the grandstand. We are looking forward to making this a regular visit and can't wait to see what the...

I should start by saying that I would really love to see the Spring Cafe succeed where so many other attempts have fallen flat. The Como Lake Pavilion is a beautiful location, and it would really be a boon for St Paul to have a consistent, quality lakeside restaurant for casual dining on nice summer/early fall days.

My visit to Spring Cafe occurred on one such occasion; it was a moderate, late-summer afternoon and the family was trying to think of a nice restaurant with outdoor seating to enjoy the weather for a meal. After some discussion, we decided to give Spring Cafe a try.

The restaurant itself is welcoming and well-kept. The design hasn't changed much, with a bar-centric layout and ample seating, with full downstairs and upstairs seating areas.

Staff were friendly, and the menu was fairly straightforward.

I ordered the fish tacos, while the rest of my family decided on the BBQ pork sandwich.

We chose a seat in the pavilion; the availability of seating in the pavilion is definitely the biggest strength of the restaurant, with lovely views of the lake and warm breezes bringing a natural, open air to the experience.

The food was served in a reasonable amount of time, delivered to our table by a server. Presentation was simple, but that is to be expected and almost preferable.

The portions were a bit small, given the price, with no sides for the entree and a somewhat meager portion of chips for the sandwich orders. The tacos were flavorful and well-prepared, but the corn shells were saturated from the contents and fell apart quickly (as is common with such dishes, to be fair).

I would come here again, though mostly for the location and not particularly for the food itself. I think that this is both the curse and the blessing of the pavilion; there is a natural pull for the setting, but it is relatively distant from any other nearby attraction. To attract visitors as a standalone restaurant and build any sort of brand awareness/loyalty, there needs to be something that sets it apart (price, quality, uniqueness, etc...) and that is currently something that I...

two years ago, when Spring Cafe opened, we had such high hopes for this place - it was supposed to become something similar to Sea Salt, a top spot Eatery located by another Twin Cities attraction, Minnehaha Falls. and I gotta tell you, during its first year in business it surpassed our expectations - delicious food, a lot of options for people with allergies, great wine and beer selection.. regretfully, all that drastically changed one year ago, with the change of management. it just became somewhat an overpriced fast food joint with greasy overcooked dishes so we decided to stop going there. since it reopened after covid-19, we decided to support one of those few eating establishments we have in our neighborhood and give the place another chance. I ordered their special, Dock's Fish and Chips. I ended up getting two small fish sticks which looked and tasted like those frozen fillet ones you'd get from a supermarket, and coleslaw which was tasting pretty bitterly and did not seem to be very fresh, and with deep fried chipped pickles on the side - pretty odd selection for chips if you ask me, but ok, some people like creative approaches, I'd guess. this was one of those very few times in my life when I did not finish my food. among my other Fish and Chips experiences in many bars and pubs in England, Scotland, Europe and USA it was definitely the worst. To sum up, I do not...