The Gnome Craft Pub — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Entering this establishment, I had high hopes as I had a reservation set weeks before the date of arrival. Upon arrival I had to make accommodations and the hostess was very accommodating to my modification. We were seated graded and were very excited to try their brunch menu that included bottomless mimosas. We had such a large group arriving at different times so a lot of of us that were there on time decided to go for the bottomless mimosas to my surprise they were premade ( which I’m not a fan of ). The reason I’m not a fan of premade mimosas is because their ratio of juice to champagne is very modified to a belt 90 percent orange juice, 10% champagne. Also to my surprise, they were not accommodating to pouring my champagne in the glass and getting a side of juice so I could add to my discretion. I have never had an issue at any other establishment doing so so that was a little letdown, knowing that that was the only option for a bottomless mimosa was the premade orange juice, and champagne. Another thing to do know is typically when there’s bottomless mimosas you will have the option of different juices to add to your champagne, which we did not…. Moving on once all of our guest arrive, we went ahead and ordered breakfast, I would say from my order as I ordered the classic gnome brunch which came with eggs, breakfast, potatoes, toast, and choice of pork, bacon or sausage…. I asked the waiter since I do not eat pork if there is any substitutions they could make or subtract it from my order. He indicated he could not. So I asked him if I could substitute the meat for a fruit cup, then he obliged… as others were ordering their brunch and our reservation was for 1230 and brunch went until 2 PM. We were ordering brunch by about 1 o’clock and many of the guests were not able to get what they desired from the menu as we were told that many items were sold out for brunch and that brunch ended at 2 o’clock, even though it was 1:15 with a half empty restaurant.

The rest of the guest of our party asked the waiter what was available and left to order and went from there . When I received my classic gnome brunch meal, I was a bit disappointed because even though the menu indicated breakfast potatoes, I was given a handful of fries on my plate without any explanation. When asked the waiter, if those were their breakfast potatoes, or if they were fries, we were told they were french fries because they ran out of breakfast potatoes, which, in my opinion should have been communicated when ordering that option off of the menu. I particularly don’t desire french fries to go with my breakfast so I would’ve either asked for another bowl of fruit or change my order altogether. Had the communication been given by the waiter. This seem to have been an ongoing issue with many of the guest on our table and their orders and not receiving what was listed on the menu in hence to what they received on their plate. To wrap it all up when it was time to pay the bill the waiter had the handheld card reader, and we were given totals to pay without being able to even see what we were being charged for and if there was already gratuity built-in. None of us complained and paid what the waiter told us, but it would have been nice to have been able to see our bills so that we knew exactly what we were paying for as some guests were charged for other people’s meals because we weren’t able to see exactly what we were paying for just given a price and expected to pay it without question.

I say all this to say, I had high expectations when arriving to the establishment, but was very letdown due to all of the inconveniences and circumstances that surrounded around...

Mixed review on this place. Went there on Easter. Called around 10 days in advance for our family. A few days later I found out 2 more could go. When I called back to ask if we could add to our party they said no they were full. Received a text message the day before Easter to confirm the reservation, but when we got there they had no reservation for our party. There were currently 2 tables in the bar area, and 3 in the main dining area that were full but most were open. Our group had been put upstairs where one other group of 6 were seated at picnic type tables. My dad uses a cane so going up the narrow staircase wasn’t ideal and there were tables we could have sat at downstairs in either area. The table we sat at could have accommodated at least 4 more people so I’m not sure why we were told we couldn’t add more people to our party. The food… they had a brunch buffet for $50 that was put out hours before and really should have been kept up for what you would expect for that price. Items were just placed on the bar area and containers of hot food on a table. No carving station no fresh desserts. We opted for the menu. Got 4 apps the pretzel-very good for large groups, the wings-just mediocre and not served with any sauces, the shrimp-which were small pieces of shrimp excessively battered and fried with a sauce, and the potato nachos. Our group ordered a Bloody Mary special which was very good and came with a charcuterie board of cheeses, meats, olives and pickles. We also had 3 order the bottomless mimosas. Which really weren’t since it was hard to get them refilled often. Since our server only had two tables (we asked her) ours and the other group of 6 upstairs (who did the buffet) we weren’t exactly sure why. We’ve ordered bottomless many places before and never had this happen. The food had mixed reviews. The chicken and waffles were good. Grandmas chicken sandwich was excellent. The salmon brunch dish was bad the fish was very low quality. The other two brunch dishes were eggs, toast, and breakfast potatoes only, very basic and nothing exceptional. Had to ask for butter for 4 of our group that ordered waffles or toast, and only received one small ramekin for everyone to share. It was an interesting place nice decor, food was good depending on what you ordered. But LOTS of disorganization in all areas from the host stand to the...

This is like the neglected sibling of this restaurant family. We had gift card money left from a purchase originally to use at the apostle. It's also good here and at Hope breakfast bar. We sat outside on this nice late season evening. The polite yet dour host sat us at a table directly by the kitchen door and drink service station on the large patio. None of this is appealing and we might as well have been sat in the parking lot near the dumpster. To point out there are at least 2 drink stations on the patio and they are an eyesore. They should be blocked from customer view along with the kitchen door to create a more appealing seating area. In the women's restroom, there is black duct tape holding together the corner of one of the stalls. The place just felt like it was being overlooked and not maintained. I don't know what to say about our server who probably doesn't know how he comes across to people, but is so defensive and "correct" about everything (even when having to tell us that several beers my husband wanted from the online menu actually weren't available). We even overheard him lecturing (berating) the young host using pointing gestures and at one point the statement, "Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you". His comments to another co-worker were similar. Very belittling and this carried over into how he talked to customer's as well. Telling one table to wait on him and only ask him about drinks before ordering. It was awkward. The food was mediocre. The burger my husband had was on a fairly cold/room temp bun. The "smashness" of the burger is not what I consider a true smash burger (hello Parlour!). The fries were good if that matters. I had the tuna cucumber salad. Good enough, but nothing truly special. The menu just seems uninspired IMO. We would not have come here except for using our gift cards (Oh, one more thing - when our server checked our gift cards for remaining balances, one was empty. He proceeded to literally chuck it onto the table as though it offended him. Again, I don't even think he knows he's like this but he doesn't create an inviting atmosphere to enjoy a night out.) Certainly not...