The School II Bistro & Wine Bar

My wife and I stopped by for a light lunch on a Saturday. The place was pretty empty but we got good friendly service. The lunch combo was a nice way to try a few things. Everything tasted great and price was nice for lunch. They had some local beers on tap as well.

Came during happy hour — excellent drink deals and the flatbread was delicious. Service was prompt and engaged. Wonderful atmosphere for a suburban spot!

This place has so much potential but suffers from inconsistency. You can get a 5 star experience one night or 3 star the next. The menu has a good selection but sometimes the dishes lack the flavor you’d expect given the ingredients. Service is variable as well, from excellent to fair. A new chef (dec ’14) is another opportunity to get on track. The consistent inconsistency makes me wonder about managements role in their issues rather than the individual staff members.
They do have a good variety of wines and don’t just serve all the typical labels. Although pricing seems to vary from good deal (2x retail) to poor (3.5x). For a ‘wine bar’ they frequently are missing the finer points of wine service (eg you NEVER pour a wine into a glass that had a different wine in it, even if it was the same style).
This area will reward consistent experiences (even if not 5 star) with high return traffic. Unfortunately School II is plagued with inconsistency and thus isn’t packed (even at 6pm on a Friday night in the winter when most other places in the area have 30min+ waits). I do recommend trying it, but keep expectations low so you may come away pleasantly surprised.

The portions of food were small for the money and the service was terrible. Food came out cold and ordered coffee which was lukewarm. The staff did not seem to care about serving the customers. They would walk by and not look at anyone at the tables.

Did a business lunch here. Better than expected. They make some nice fresh sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch. Can’t speak to the pizzas. Took a gamble on their Cuban sandwich and was better than anticipated. Great bread, excellent meats with perfect cheese ratio and melt, but needs to lose the sautéed onions. Nice idea, but detracts from such a classic sandwich. Love the fresh and refreshing side pickle and quality chips. Quality iced tea too. People who appreciate iced tea will understand. Interested in checking out their dinner menu. Feels more like a café than a wine bar during lunch.

OK — I had the most awesome experience here 2 months ago. We were pre-​gaming before going to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, and we stopped in for some espresso and treats. They were obviously between shifts, and no other customers were around. A bartender seated us and we got into an hour-​long conversation about movies and doppelgangers. He pours our drinks and comes back often to see if there is anything we need. He gave us recommendations for things to do nearby and by far this was some of the best customer-​service I have ever had! The atmosphere was very ‘European-​pub’ and the drinks were delicious.

Great place to eat, drink, socialize, listen to good music, sit, stand, walk, anything really. Can’t say enough about it, definitely a favorite spot of mine!

My wife and I stopped in to get a glass of wine and a snack before heading next door to catch a movie. It wasn’t clear if we should seat ourselves, so I stood at the bar trying to catch the attention of one of the three people behind it. After about two minutes, one looked up and said we could sit anywhere. We placed an order for 2 glasses of wine, and then our waitress disappeared for about 15 minutes. When she finally reappeared, she commented that our wine would be right up. The bar was busy but not slammed, so we were pretty sure she had just forgotten. My wife’s glass of Riesling was only a bit cooler than room temperature, and tasted like it came from a bottle that had been open for at least a day. Not undrinkable, but for a place that calls itself a «wine bar», it was definitely subpar.
We split a chicken bacon sandwich that was edible, but entirely unremarkable. I think that it was a completely unseasoned chicken breast. We couldn’t even detect any salt or pepper. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve had similar sandwiches from grab-​and-​go spots in an airport.
This place has potential, but they absolutely need to try harder. The staff was nice, but came off as disorganized. Ambience can only take you so far — we won’t be back.

Food was fine, definitely nothing to write home about though.
Service was definitely sub-​par, first time I haven’t left a 20% tip in years! Our waiter was kind of awkward, when he did acknowledge we were there that is… food took a long time to get to our table even though we were one of only 4 couples eating. Soup was luke warm. Waiter never stopped by to ask how everything was, had to flag him down for our check.
Place seems quite disorganized and chaotic for no apparent reason.
We aren’t planning to go back and wouldn’t recommend this place.

We attempted to use a travelzoo voucher we had purchased for this place. The place had music starting soon and the coupon offered the cover charge, wine and appetizer. The staff person who seated us was really nice. I noticed the tables said reservations so I asked about it and she said sometimes it is really crowded when certain bands play, but there was plenty of seating so we didn’t need them that night. We told her we had he coupon and she commented about what a great deal it was and said our waitress would be there shortly. A couple of seconds later a hostess ran to our table and said travlezoo requires we call for a reservation so we could not use it. (It does say that on the coupon, but so do all of the groupons, etc, so guess I figured if there was an opening. .. And we had said someone to the woman seating us) We left and I called for a reservation. It was the same hostess. She said they had plenty of reservations open, but not if we had travelzoo coupon. We tried to make a reservation for the next weekend and were told they were too busy we would have to call back Monday. They have lost our business and our referrals.

My husband and I went here this past Friday night with another couple, we had a Groupon special, for a couple of drinks and appetizers. The service was great, the ambience was wonderful, we sat in very comfy «elegant-​like living room furniture», and listened to a nice live jazz ensemble and singer. The food was tasty too. We would definitely come back again! We left right after the happy hour/​jazz music as they had a very twangy, country band come in that sounded too «hickish» for us :)

I live in the area but have only been here a couple of times. The service was better than average. Atmosphere was nice. I like the place. I am surprised by some of the negative reviews. The steak bites are so yummy.

Weak wine list for a wine bar, and served warm. Food cold and not good. Ambience — none! Service poor. Sorry folks, but just don’t waste your time or money.

I am a local Chan resident and have tried really hard to like this place since it opened. Each time I leave disappointed and frustrated by the horrible service and mediocre food. May be great for a drink at the bar, but beyond that not worth it. Their sister location in Victoria is a much better experience.

Not bad at all! With all the groupon-​type deals I have seen for this place, I had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be any good. After a recent Saturday spa morning at the Chan Spalon (located one floor above the restaurant), my friend and I had a light lunch at The School II. It was dead except for one couple in the corner. Not the best first impression, but we were already there and it was cold outside… so we stayed, and I’m happy we did!
Ambience: well, mildly haphazard is the first thing that comes to mind. It’s a dimly lit space (not intentional? Hard to tell) that has small café tables throughout the main seating area. We sat down at one table and the chairs rocked unevenly, so we moved to a second table at which the chairs were only slightly more stable.
We each had a glass of the house red (decent, I don’t typically discriminate against house wine) then ordered grilled paninis for lunch. I had the turkey bacon avocado panini, and it was super tasty — but how can you go wrong with those ingredients? Not sure it was better than what I could make at home on my old Foreman, but it was really a great sandwich. My friend had the grilled cheese with tomato soup and felt similarly.
The waitress was attentive (as we were essentially her only customers) and friendly. Prices were reasonable for the portion. We didn’t get to experience the live entertainment given the time of day we visited, but I would definitely check this place out again in the evening for one of their advertised shows. Overall, solid lunch destination in Chan — with extra points for being close to my stomping ground.

This place has fantastic food and drinks. They’re more than happy to make you a special cocktail at the bar or your favorite coffee drink as well. There is a lot of seating and plenty of comfy couches and chairs. Fun on the weekends if you’re in to live music and dancing. You’ll leave having enjoyed your time at this place.

If you are in to ‘atmosphere’ then this is your place. Had the lunch special and it was an adequate sandwich served with potato chips. With tax & tip it was more than $ 10 (no beverage). Seriously, if I spend $ 10+ at lunch I expect more than something adequate with chips.

I do REALLY like this place and since I hadn’t been here for dinner I decided to go on a weekend night. They have live music playing on Saturday nights and the band plays on stage in the dining room. (There is a small charge ($ 7) after 8pm if you sit in the dining area to help defray the cost for the band). We made a reservation in advance for a high top table in the bar. You can hear the music just fine from the bar area. In fact I prefer it if you go with some friends and want to carry on some «small talk».
My experience was a little different than the last time I was here during the week for happy hour. «Busy and short staffed» is what I called it. However our bartender (John) was overly gracious and seemed to make up for all their shortcomings.
Dinner seemed to take longer than it should but what we had was good. My only caution is the starters. They are «small» portions so keep that in mind if you expect this to qualify as your «main entrée». One issue we had was that our waiter mistakenly placed the wrong food order for my girlfriend. When he brought out the food he immediately apologized (and took the charges off our bill and gave us some extra wine). He placed a new order for «short ribs» and all in all it was an «OK» experience (despite the mix up with the food).
This is a still a great find in the burbs. Live music and fun bar area to just have a cocktail or have a bite to eat. Not sure I’ve ever heard of a place having happy hour on Saturday night? Yes they do… from 3 to 6pm at The School ll.

Food was delicious. Service was good. My latte wasn’t that great…
I had the penne and cream of cauliflower soup at lunch and both were great!

Wow, it is a café, a restaurant, a music scene. and what a wine collection… Surly on Tap…
and what could of been better than music by Tina Schileske?
(Nothing really… she rocks!)
Totally hidden gem… not too bad of a drive from Mpls…
It’s everything, and so well done. Great service, nice selection of drinks, I wish I had not eaten first. And I will have to go check out the original School of the Wise! What a great concept. maybe they should spread to Mpls for a School III!
Super awesome venue!