View Restaurant & Bar

I feel like I must have hit it on a bad day b/​c I was wholly unimpressed.
We had the Hawaiian fruit boat which was really lame — grapes, bananas, cantaloupe and one strawberry cut into quarters. WIth a name like Hawaiian fruit boat, I guess I expected more exotic fruit. Hell even mango or pineapple would have sufficed.
The calamari was really greasy, though there were lots of tentacles which is my favorite part.
The salmon burger was really not to my liking. It tasted really fishy and the ginger was overpowering. The fresh vegetables it was served with consisted of one broccoli floret which was yellowing around the edges, one cucumber slice and two carrot slices.
On the plus side, they offer free wirless access for days when you can’t bear the thought of working over another latte.
p. s. happy hour specials are not good on the patio

My first visit to View was on a rainy Saturday evening — I was a little bummed to not be able to sit outside and enjoy the scenery, but it worked out great in the end since it was very quiet inside and the view of the lake was still pretty despite the weather.
Our group shared the guacamole and the calamari to start. The calamari was very good — lightly breaded and cooked just right — and plenty to share among the five of us. The guac tasted good, but the chips tasted a little stale. One weird thing was that they left the avocado pit in the bowl with the guac — I don’t know if this was for looks or to prove the freshness of the dip. At any rate, it was a pain to dunk the chips in the bowl and have to fish around the pit, which we pulled out eventually. No big deal, but a little odd.
For dinner, I had the summery pizza special which was a cheese pizza topped with fresh tomatoes, avocado, basil and mango. Nice light, clean flavors which I really enjoyed. My mom loved the ravioli dish that was filled with butternut squash and was topped with salmon. Looked very yummy.
Service was good and love the free valet parking. I’d like to go back on a sunny day to try out the patio and the happy hour specials.

— The Room with a View, Where Beach Meets Street, Meets City Style.
When the View was new, it came out of the Gates Strong. It was the «It» Place to see and be seen. All the Pretty People were there, Business Casual, Well Suited Boys, Crisply Ironed Bermuda Shorted Boys, Cougars & Kittens on the Prowl in the same space. It was exciting & Upscale. A view of Calhoun, Sexy Décor, Inviting Patio, Sexy Valets, Cool Bathrooms. Everyone deluded enough to think of themselves as «Anyone» were there. There was a line to get in, a line to Valet, the 80’s were back with a Vengeance & a View. Everyone wanted To «Do The View».Then the W opened, and all the Fickle Pretty People took their Pretty Behinds there instead. A Sexy Décor, Locale,& Patio isn’t enough if you don’t have a Strong Menu, & they just don’t.The View has become a «No Can Do» with all the amazing Resto choices within walking distance. So sad that nothing is able to make it for long in this Beautiful but Cursed location. It had promise when it 1^st opened it’s welcoming doors, it just fizzled. That is the problem with this town, you appeal to the «In» Crowd, & they have no loyalty & drop you the moment something Prettier & Shinier opens, we only like our Restaurants, like our Teams, when they are On Top. So Sorry View, I want to give you a Stellar Review, But NO CAN DO.3 out of 5 Tiara’s

I’ve got some mixed feelings right now. We stopped by for lunch so we could sit outside and enjoy the awesome weather and views of the lake. The food was outstanding. Everyone at our table enjoyed their orders (mine was the salmon burger and it was fantastic). We were a little disappointed to find out they were out of french fries though after we already ordered (who orders a side salad with their burger?). Our service was good though, she was very attentive and empathetic with us. We were also a little disappointed when the garbage truck arrived to take their garbage away at noon. Talk about disgusting! After taking a bite of your lunch, you come up for air and take a deep breath of week old garbage. Wouldn’t you think to schedule garbage service before 11am perhaps??? Our final disappointment relates to a previous review on The View, I was overcharged for my salmon burger. The menu said one price and the check said another.
Perhaps this was a string of bad events that probably don’t happen on a regular basis, but it looks like I’m not the only review with this experience. I’d go back and try again though, I’m a fan of second chances, unlike my ex-​girlfriend.

Mixed review, Good food, Bad Service and overcharged on my credit card. Maybe I should deduct more than one star but I guess I’ll be fair.
This is a nice place over all, outdoor seating on a busy street they can’t control but the service they can. We had Horrible service outside and there were more than enough servers wandering around, they just didn’t want to seem to stop by any of the tables.
The food was very good. I’ll say the Calamari was outstanding. Very nicely done, not at all chewy and had very fresh flavor. I guess I always rate places high for things like Calamari because that is one thing that is so easy to overcook.
The real stopper was being overcharged on my credit card. Now I tipped 20% and they still added a couple extra dollars. It isn’t the amount that bothers me, it’s the fact it happened. One of those things you know was not an accident, and my god if you’re that hard up for a couple of extra dollars you really need help.
anyways, worth the trip for the food. won’t return due to the service and the hardship of someone. Better luck next time. Maybe I’ll get some post-​bike ride Calamari to go and pay with cash!
KT

HH beginning at 3pm, but only inside, not outside. Calm and open-​feeling inside. Pleasant and helpful waitress (weird how they all 3 seemed to be blonde). Met some friends here on a recent mid-​week afternoon.
Stella Artois on tap along with Stella’s special glass. Nice.
Pear-​tinis. Oddly nice.
Mini-​burger with bacon and cheddar on top, as recommended by our waitress. Delicious! And not mini after all; a medium size, I’d say. Served on a whole grain bun/​roll with a slice of tomato and a leaf of red lettuce, a side of spicy aioli and a spear of pickle. Just the right size and doneness. Remarkably nice.
Enjoyed my first experience there enough to try it again sometime.

Lunch on a Saturday. It was quiet and the clientele was mainly young families and couples. Park in the ramp, they give you a token to pay for it.
Food was good, typical american sandwiches & salads, a very nice presentation.

Pretty sure OpenTable let me book brunch at eleven… and pretty sure we looked like idiots as we stood outside after eleven unable to get in. And no, it wasn’t our inability to open the door, sorta. It was that the restaurant wasn’t opened yet.
We checked the door sign — yep, eleven. We checked our watches, blackberries, and sundials. Yep, it was past eleven.
Anyway, when we finally took at booth inside, we were greeted with a friendly server, coffee, and biscuits. I have always loved the atmosphere at the View. But this was fabulous — quaint, modern, and clean.
Our brunch consisted of what looked like delicious french toast with bacon and oh-​so-​delightful crabcake benedict. So different than the usual eggs benedict for two reasons — one, obviously it’s a crabcake instead of ham. And two — because it has an «oh-​hello-​there» kick.
BUT the highlight of brunch in two words — Farzad Freshtekhu.
Actually, maybe the actual highlight of brunch in two words? No ticket. Yep, couldn’t find the free parking, so I took a meter outside of Calhoun Beach Club. Come on, we’re right outside Calhoun; no one gets tickets there. :)

Had such a great time at the Unilocal Event — thanks Sarah, for another wonderful night out! The appetizers were delicious, especially the sliders and pizzas. I also really liked the pastas.
Servers were aplenty, friendly, and nice — which is much better behaved than I would be in a crowded situation sans tips.
Free valet as well!
It looks like the View has a great happy hour, so I think we’ll definitely be back once the weather turns to the positives (it’s presently like, –5 degrees).

Jordan and I went to View for our annual date night. Neither of us had ever been here before, so we weren’t sure what to expect. We made reservations for 6:00pm, but didn’t really need to– the place seemed pretty dead. But that only meant better service and a quieter dinner for us! Win!
We started off with the crab cakes. Thecake itself was more of a mixture of meat– didn’t have any hunks of crab. But the flavors were good, and it was served with a sweet, cool salsa that really added to it!
I ordered the Ahi Tuna. The guy told me I ordered the best thing on the menu. And I agreed with him. I got A LOT of tuna, seared rare. It was served over soba noodles that were mixed in with green beans and peppers. it was a little spicy, but a good contrast to the tuna. The tuna had a spicy rub on the outside, and was served with an AWESOME wasabi musturd It was delicous. I would defintely order this again.
Jordan got the Crab stuffed shrimp. According to him, the pasta it was served with was the best part. The shrimp was stuffed with a crab mixture which was basically the same as the crab cake meat (which we just had for an appetizer).
I very much enjoyed everything I had– I think if i went back, I’d order the exact same thing.

Excellent munchies and a great atmosphere. The «party room» in the back was a nice size, and the staff prepared some excellent small dishes for the Unilocal event. Gotta love the free valet service!
Drop in and have a drink if you’d like, but don’t forget to order some of the food! It’s all good!

Tuna Steak!!! Twas the best I’ve ever had. Usually I’m not one for seared tuna steak i like mine fully cooked but this was Awsome! it literally melted in my mouth, it was soft and juicy like buttah! and was served over sweet n tangy noodle mix, aside sweet chili sauce, horseradish sauce and wasabi. The steak itself had a pepper crust and a bright red center. Also had some nice glasses of wine and coffee after. i would order it again, it was well worth $ 20 and the portion was more than enough for 1 person but not so huge that you waste anything.
my boyfriend had regular steak with potatoes and broccoli, he really enjoyed it and tried the Scottish French Onion soup which is made with Scotch instead of wine in the base. it was hearty and had a deep flavor. Add all that to free valet and friendly service and it was a very nice night. I only wish we could have been seated in the upper dining area, the tables around the bar got a little loud and distracted from our nice dinner for 2.

I’ve been here for multiple large group events and the staff has always been fantastic. The food is pretty good (my favorite so far has been a curry chicken coconut rice dish) and their house wines are always very tasty (tasty to the point that I have never felt the need to upgrade myself).
Free Valet after 6, otherwise it’s free parking at the beach club next door if you get there earlier (they’ll give you a token to get out of the garage). Free coat check (at least on busy nights) and, as I said before, a competent and friendly staff makes this a good diversion from the usual places.

The food alone will make you want to go back. this place is not just for club members for for anyone that wanted to drive their taste buds wild. Great happy hour with appetizers that will go beyond the price of what you pay for. I was so impressed by the bartenders and the staff, I cant wait to go back this week.

I just came home from the Unilocal Event (great job Sarah P). The staff was very friendly and the food was fine. I would like to go back and try some of their other dishes. I was impressed with the short rib pasta dish they served but the tiramasu was a let down.
The restaurant itself is beautiful and a far better experience than when it was Dixies.
I would definitely come back.

I had my high school reunion here on Saturday evening.
Now, I must mention that as legend goes, our class has gone down in the record books of being one of the most memorable class in SLP history according to the teachers/​staff at the school. We were, and still are, a very rowdy group of people!
With that said, not much has changed, and rowdy, we were on Saturday night. When myself and a few of my high school girlfriends arrived, two of us decided to order a Margarita pizza to split. We were confused when we received it, as it had red sauce on it. WTF? Red sauce on a Margarita pizza. Weird. And it was NOT good.
There was probably about 75 – 100 or so at the reunion, and there were only 2 servers helping our group. It went relatively smoothly. The server I had was always pleasant and helpful, although he seemed a bit flustered at times.
Other than our group, the place was dead.
There was a wedding reception going on upstairs, and as a group of us stood outside, some of the wedding folks were leaving. We had a weird run in with one of the guests that started shouting at us and tried to fight one of the guys in our group. When we continued to try to ignore her, she threw a beer bottle at us! It was crazy! This leads me to mention that there is no kind of security or «bouncer» type any where to be found in or outside of this place.
It was ok, and it worked for our group, but I don’t think I would choose to go there on my own accord.

My wife and I had a two for one for The View and gave it a try. We entered the establishment and sat at one of the high tables near the window.
My wife ordered a specially made pizza with just sauce and basil and they were obliging and I ordered a Diet Coke and the Crab Cake sandwich.
Both were very good and the fries were nice and crispy. The view out the window was of beautiful Lake Calhoun. It was the first nice day in Minneapolis of the year so we got to watch people walking along the lake and it was quite serene.
The waitress was really pretty but a little slow, but the view made the wait very tolerable.
I loved the décor, lots of cool wood sculptures on the walls and it looked like they had a cool bar selection with some great beers on tap.
I took a look at the happy hour menu and it was also fantastic.
Overall, a cool place for a Saturday lunch.

You know how you keep reading these reviews looking for some cool insight into some hidden Minneapolis treat? But how you’re always disappointed? Well, read on!
This place looks like it should have just ok food. But they happen to have the best fish tacos in Minnesota. Not sure how many restaurants serve fish tacos in Minnesota, but it doesn’t matter. Get your butt over to this place, sit outside in a booth and watch the cars go by Lake Calhoun and try some of the best fish tacos you’ll ever have. I have no idea why this place should have great fish tacos, but just trust me on this one.

After discovering that Stella’s no longer serves brunch (and let me tell, you I am bummed I never caught the «Raging Cajun Brunch»), we moved on to the view.
It was overcast, so there wasn’t much viewing going on, and it was Memorial Day Weekend, so not a lot of people in the place. I wasn’t looking for a social scene anyway, just a high calorie breakfast.
Bloody Mary’s are 2 for 1. They were good, a nice level of spiciness, but I can’t imagine actually wanting to drink 2 Bloody Mary’s. I’m just not built that way, but apparently the father of three at the next booth was. I suppose if you have the need, you’ll get them down.
The brunch menu had quite the selection, and 4 or 5 dishes caught my eye. I ended up ordering the french toast, and my girlfriend the crab cake benedict, so we had a nice mix of diabetic inducing sugar content and heart attack inducing fat content. We got a side of cheesy grits, in case anyone survived the first assault.
The cheese grits ended up being the best of them. Everything else fell somewhere between «ok» and «good».
My bacon was a little tough,. My french toast was mediocre, and I’m not convinced the syrup was real maple syrup (at least not Grade A). The potatoes were a uniformly unappealing shade of brown, and tasted about how they looked. The crab cake benedict was good (but really how can you mess up anything buried in hollandaise sauce?), but I was still expecting something more.
Service was good, the place was good looking. The food wasn’t bad, so I can’t give the place a negative review, it just wasn’t that impressive either. Unless I lived in the building, I don’t think I would try to go there again for brunch. There doesn’t seem to be any shortage of other options in this brunch obsessed region.

I’m conflicted about The View. if Im looking for a place to go out at night, this place doesn’t make the cut (I had a really awkward 40 – 60 night there once), but if I’m looking for a solid happy hour, I can’t help but throw this place out as an idea.
Until 6:30, they offer 7 appetizers for $ 3 each, and glass wines and tap beers are also $ 3. And I’ve gotta say, for the price, they are pretty good. Now, the happy hour only applies to the INSIDE, so on a warm summer eve you’re going to have to pay full price to soak up the sun. However, parking is free in the Calhoun Beach Club lot (make sure to get it validated at the bar).