I first heard of Giuseppe’s on cityofeagan.org and added it to the list of local places that we had to get around to. After arriving at home tonight and really not feeling like cooking (my allergies are killing me) especially with the gloomy and chilly weather outside, we headed over to Giuseppe’s for some dinner. I brought my camera but left my SD card in the reader at home so you’ll have to deal with the hiptop photos.
We walked in before 6 PM tonight and found only one other couple in the restaurant. We were seated along the wall overlooking the entire place. We were given the simple two page menu, with all of its misspellings, and began to look it over. They have four appetizers and two soups along with some salads. Their appetizers calarmari, gamberetti, cappicola, and a Mediterranean pita are priced between $5.95 and $6.95. The rest of the menu is pasta only and the prices are fairly reasonable ranging in price from $7.95 to 10.95 and have items like cheese ravioli and shrimp napoli.
Kim asked if I wanted an appetizer and while I was certainly in agreement, I didn’t feel like choosing. We asked for the waiter’s recommendation between the calamari and the cappicola. He smiled and said the calamari so we went with that. It comes sauteed in olive oil, garlic pesto and lemon sauce for $6.95. Our waiter delivered some warm bread right off and took our appetizer order while I looked over the menu some more. I was offered some spicy olive oil to eat with the salt and spice crusted bread it was a nice treat. Our calamari was out in short order alongside another serving of bread. Even though there was only one other couple inside this small restaurant, I was fairly impressed with the attentiveness of our waiter. When he wasn’t busy doting on his two tables he was working in the back with the cook wiping down plates or prepping other table items.
When I was finally finished with my menu perusing, we placed our orders. Overall, the menu was very limited, which is fine but Kim said, “they better do what they have here very well.” Their offerings reminded me very much of what I available for lunch specials at Donatelli Bros in White Bear Lake but a few dollars more expensive. When it was all said and done, Kim went with the Capellini Pomodoro which is angel hair pasta with fresh tomato, mushroom, pine nuts, parsley and in garlic olive oil topped with feta for $7.95. I went with the Chicken Artichoke which was described as sauteed chicken breast, artichoke, pearl onion, sun dried tomato tossed with bowtie pasta and garlic cream sauce for $8.95.
While we were waiting for our meals I spent some time looking carefully at the eclectic items on display in the restaurant. The decor is something straight out of a secondhand store’s $1 rack or a 1971 garage sale. There are two Egyptian paintings near the front door, a gold mirror, a sailboat painting, and then a red propeller with silver squiggly lines hanging on the wall right before you enter the bathroom hallway bordello complete with red fluorescent lighting. On our side of the restaurant, another mirror and two more paintings which were possibly paint by number. There were several Romanesque items on a railing in the middle of the restaurant including busts, vases and an unrelated set of brass dolphins. The walls were painted a dark burgundy with careless gold sponge marks. The back walls were layered with fake brick bordered at the top with black and white tiles. A simple red and white checkered tablecloth hangs over a small window sized opening and counter covers a spot that would have offered a peek into the kitchen. The ceiling tiles are bordered in brass and glow brazenly down at you while loud Italian music plays out of three speakers overhead.
We thought that this place really needed a pizza or two on the menu as, at least for me, it made me think a lot of Piccolo’s Pizza in Eagan. When I asked the chef (owner?) if he planned on adding any, he said that if you are going to serve pizza you should do it right and only serve good pizza made from scratch. He was adamant that you shouldn’t use frozen dough. I couldn’t disagree with his logic that’s for sure but I still think that it would be a nice addition and one we would return for — especially if he made it up to the standards he obviously believes in so heavily.
Our entrees came out and Kim’s looked like any simple pasta dish I would make at home when I had a bunch of leftover veggies, cheese and pasta. Mine looked like a saucy, cheese soaked mess — perfect Italian food! The portion sizes were absolutely fucking huge. We both knew we’d be taking some of it home but Kim later admitted that she ate far more than she thought she would at first glance. My dish had an ample amount of chicken that was flavorful under all that mess of extras but was a bit on the dry side. The artichokes were flavorful but obviously canned. I enjoyed mine enough to box it up for lunch tomorrow. I’d eat it again but there are some other options on the menu I’d try first.
Overall this place is a ton of fun but it’s not a place to be celebrating an anniversary or 50th birthday. It’s the kind of place you go for takeout (one person picked up while we were here and another came in for a menu for later use) or when you are looking for simple dishes made with buttery and heavy sauces when you don’t feeling like cooking. The service and the decor were awesome — it reminded me of something out of a movie and I felt oddly at home here. The food, aside from the bread and calamari, was just all right. While I will certainly return this isn’t a place that I will find myself craving during the middle of the night but I really liked the fact that it gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling all over. Think Grandma’s kitchen on any Thursday night and her wanting to make you eat more because you look too thin.
So, if you are in the mood for some pasta and good service in a really different environment, Giuseppe’s Restaurant in Burnsville is for you. Have you been to Giuseppe’s or if you do go, let us know what you think.
Address:
Giuseppe’s Restaurant
14600 10th Ave S
Burnsville, MN 55337
Phone:
952-431-9955
See all the pictures from today on Flickr here (mobile).
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May 20th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Post’s picture changed per Kim’s request.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:12 am
I’ve been passing that place every day and keep thinking, “we need to get in there”. The problem is, we never eat out anymore. Of course, thanks to the wonderful public service you preform here, we can now safely give it a try.
BTW, on the new eating plan thick creamy hearty sauces are off the table, hopefully they have some other fare..
Also, we’re heading back to Panino Bros. The owner (?) was nice enough to reach out on the blog and in my ongoing efforts to support local businesses, I think we’ll try’r again.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Sank, they had other options available and some were not quite as fatting as mine. There’s always the option of immediately boxing half of your entree up and taking it home — that’s a good habit to get into when you are looking to stay fit.
As far as PB goes, I am glad that Josh posted. He does care about the restaurant and especially repeat business. I really do hope you have a better experience next time.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:54 am
I love Italian fare so this place goes on the list but the wife has an aversion to seemingly hole in the wall places even though they are often hidden gems. If only we had more restaurants like this out in my neck of the woods.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I’m not trying to say that it’s worth the drive out from BFE where you are located, sornie, but if you happen to be around Burnsville Center then it might be a better option than say Olive Garden.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Your experience was very similar to ours except it was packed when we went (weekend or other high-traffic time).
It falls squarely in the “alternative to cooking” night. Nothing will blow you away or expand your culinary horizons there.
And I completely agree — pizza should be added.
May 20th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
My husband and I went on a Saturday night a couple of weeks ago, and were seated at the table in your photo. It’s hard to tell from the pic, but it’s unusually looooooong, and we found it uncomfortable to talk loudly enough to hear each other, because that was loudly enough for everyone around us to hear. It was almost full that night, and the service was really pretty inattentive. A bottle of spray cleaner decorated the ledge next to our table, and the food was boring. Oh! And no freshly grated Parmesan cheese, but a jar of the cheap stuff on each table instead. We decided we’d go back again after they’ve been open long enough to work out the bugs, but certainly not in the winter. The door opens immediately into the dining room. How are they going to make that work when January rolls around?
May 20th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Suzi,
As I was looking at that table I was thinking the same thing. I’m sure over the loud Italian music it didn’t make it any easier.
As far as the fresh Parmesan cheese vs jarred garbage, well, as I said — this isn’t the place you go if you’re looking for something special but it is decent to go there for takeout or a quick replacement meal on the cheap.
Thanks for the comment!
May 30th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
My wife and I went by for lunch today, and I dont know if they were reading your blog, but we did have fresh Parm on both of our meals……
A mine review/recap. We went in around noon, however we were not sure they were open, as the open sign was not turned on. We went in anyway, and I am glad we did. There was one other table with people, and a person waiting for a to go order. We were seated quickly, and brought some of the most incredible bread I have ever had. And the sorta spicy oil to dip it in was really yummy.
A note on the bread/service. When the waitress brought out our bread, she also brought out two slices on a plate for the lady waiting for her to go order. I thought that was very nice. The place is small, like really small, and I thought comfortable and cozy (we were at a corner table by the window). It might feel crowded if its busy, I dont know, but I can tell you that on a quiet Friday afternoon, it was a nice comfortable place to spend an hour.
I had the Chicken and Sausage pasta, and my wife had the chicken and artichoke pasta, I believe what Bill had. The lunch portions were huge, we both brought half of ours home (although we did have ALOT of bread). The food was quite good. I cant say it was the best ever, but it was tasty and seemed fresh. I would put it several notches above Olive Garden, and light years ahead of my last experience at Stephanos. Its hearty Italian Comfort food I guess.
We finished up with the Ice Cream desert, which was also very good. Probably not much different than you get anywhere, but it was a great topper to our food. When the waitress boxed up our left overs, she brought out about a 1/3 of a loaf of bread for each of us to take home. As a matter of fact, I just ate it for dinner, and the leftovers were great. Another nice touch on the service side.
All in all, it was fairly inexpensive (I think 7.95 or 8.95 for each meal, and they were huge, with a ton of bread), the meal was good, the service, bread and ice cream were all great. I dont know if the waitress was one of the owners, although it seemed that she might be Italian, English was not her first language, but my wife and I both felt like she really wanted us to be happy with out lunch.
I hope people will give this place a chance. I think it could really be a little neighborhood gem that locals can keep full without having to draw people from other parts of the city.
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
We heard this place had some affiliation to Stephano’s. Turns out the owner and Stephano are brothers.
We’ve eaten there twice.
Once for lunch, not real busy. Waitress must have been straight from Italy because she didn’t speak much English. Had the caesar salad w/ tons of freshly grated parmesan cheese and a homemade dressing that was very good. I ordered Chicken Artichoke and my spouse had something else (can’t remember). Very good.
Second trip was dinner, and was busy. We split the an italian salad (calmatta olives, onions, cukes, etc) between the 3 of us and it was plentiful. I ordered a chicken dish with sun dried tomatoes, pesto, etc. was awesome. Spouse ordered baked ziti (very good as well) and my daughter ordered ravioli (I don’t recommend — too rich and not very good).
We love the prices, the food and the cozy atmosphere!
June 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Jackie,
I thought our server looked really familiar and I guess the link back to Stephano’s is the reason. While it was quite some time ago, I’m fairly certain that we were served by a guy I saw working at Stephano’s on our miserable visit there a few months back.
Bill
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Today I learned that Ali had opened Giuseppi’s just down the road from our office, so all four of us hopped in the car to greet Ali and to have a great lunch. We were not disappointed.
Ali and Stephano are great community citizens and truly care about their customers. The food and service were excellent and we plan to add this to our list of frequent places for lunch. Most likely we will order salads on some of those visits and share a meal.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Kim and I went again last night and while I kept away from the creamy sauces and instead stuck with a traditional tomato based sauce with meatballs, it was still damn good. The meatballs were big and plentiful (there were at least 4 but probably 5). The fresh cheese was definitely nice and I noticed that where the random window to the kitchen was is now loaded with wine (I assume from Blue Max heh).
As far as Stephano caring about his customers, he certainly didn’t the last time we were there and I won’t be going back. The prices at Giuseppe’s are spot on for what you get but Stephano’s (at least when we went) was overpriced and pretty boring.
We will continue to go back to Giuseppe’s (especially for the bread) but I won’t ever step foot in Stephano’s again after how we were treated that night.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
My wife and I made it to Giuseppe’s on Saturday night. Only a few tables were seated when we arrived, but it was at least 75% full when we left.
The service was great, the bread was effing fantastic, good salads, good food, good price. All around a very pleasurable experience, we will return.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Dave, I love their bread — yum.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
LOVED everything about Giuseppe’s! The minute I walked in I new we were staying and about to enjoy a wonderful Italian/Mediterranean meal and atmosphere. It was a random Tuesday night about 7pm and it was full. One table left in the place just for us. The bread is to die for! The house salad was fresh and amazing! I loved every bite of my main entree that was paired with a wonderful red wine… compliments of the owner. (as a friendly welcome/feel as family gesture) Completely unnecceasary because I had already fallen in love with it, but very thoughtful. Needless to say the owner was very welcoming , and our waitress was busy but attentive. An A+ for everyone! I asked many questions about his history and he ended up pulling up a chair to chat and explain, by the end of the night we had a tour of the kitchen and a fresh loaf of bread in our hand to-go! I loved my experience and will be back! Obviously not expecting royal treatment everytime! But what an amazing first impression- menu, decor, service, food and beverage!
July 31st, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Finally made it over there tonight. This is one of the best locally owned places in the south metro. The food was excellent. We had the calamari, rather than being fried it came in a pesto/garlic/chardonnay sauce that was delicious. For entree’s Mrs S had the “special” artichoke hearts, chicken, cream sauces over bowtie pasta. I had the scampi which came with in a lemony oil/wine sauce. The flavors were excellent. My only complaint, the scallops were tiny little things, not sure where from.. My daughter had the cheese raviolloi, it was OK. The tomato sauce tasted a bit canned.
tirimisu was fantastic and prices are excellent. Service was out of this world. The place was pretty empty when we got there, (Thursday 6:00) but within 10 minutes they were waiting outside.
All in all, highly reccomended.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Sank, excellent review. Thanks for sharing.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:41 am
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