Last week on Friday, my wife suggested we take advantage of the gorgeous October afternoon and find a restaurant which served wings, burgers, and offered a patio. After a bit of searching I came up with Jake’s City Grille in Eagan which one Urbanspoon reviewer noted:
Jake’s has good outdoor seating for this area, featuring a man-made pond in the back with a few gas fire pits.
[...]
The only negative I have is that their buffalo sauce is way too hot to be enjoyable.
Being that they had nice outdoor seating and someone in Minnesota felt their wings were too hot, which translated to, “they are spot on”, meant that my wife and I needed to head over there for dinner.
We arrived just before 5 PM with the happy hour crowd in full swing. The only tables remaining outside were in the corner overlooking BW3′s entrance and patio and were high top. While not exactly perfect while toting a baby it ended up working out ok. The Urbanspoon reviewer was right about the patio: it was nice and spacious, overlooked a man made pond with a fountain, and included a gas fire pit with a rack of fake undersized stone “logs”. The only downside to sitting outside were the smokers–something which I completely forgot existed in Minnesota. Honestly I wish they’d ban them from the patios too.
The menu is full of your typical sports bar restaurant fare and includes overpriced burgers, salads, pizzas, sandwiches, appetizers, and dinner entrees. Aside from their “Nuclear” wings, nothing really caught my eye as impressive but I ended up ordering a beef brisket sandwich which came with fries and coleslaw for just under $10. My wife picked up a Black Angus Burger with cheddar for about the same except her’s came only with fries. We placed an order for wings, which during happy hour were a reasonable $5.95 but normally they run an inexcusably astronomical $10 and require an additional .75 for ‘Nuclear’. We split ours half ‘Nuclear’ and half Buffalo after a warning from the waitress that it all depended on how busy they were back in the kitchen.
Service was unbearably slow for 5 PM on a Friday and very few people inside the restaurant. Our server was purposefully avoiding the two happy-hour loving grossly flirtatious businessmen seated next to us so we rarely saw her unless she was delivering food. Eventually our wings came out and I dug in. They were nicely sized and appropriately spiced but unfortunately came out only warm due to the inattentiveness of our waitress. The ‘Nuclear’ was hot but certainly not close to being, “too hot to be enjoyable,” even by Minnesota standards. My wife commented that the Buffalo sauce was good. The bleu cheese dressing was chunky but basically tasteless. Clearly one of those, “let’s add feta cheese to our ranch and call it bleu cheese,” type dressings–probably from Sysco as I see this all too often around town. The happy hour price for these wings made them stellar and we would definitely return to eat them again.
Eventually our entrees came out and all excitement about Jake’s City Grille ceased. My wife’s burger was an overdone, tasteless, hockey puck. 1/2 of the burger clearly sat on the ‘grille’ too long as it was charcoal on one side. The cheese made no noticeable dent compared to the poor grilling and the bun was disgusting. My wife, a breastfeeding mother who needs tons of calories and will eat anything, left 1/8th of the burger and said it wasn’t worth eating any more.
My beef brisket was absolutely and utterly tasteless. My bun was also absolutely disgusting and so soggy that it fell apart even as I attempted to cut it with a knife. The meat had no distinctive BBQ or smoke flavor and might as well have been filler. The BBQ sauce provided was ok, provided the smoke flavor, and made the meat edible but was certainly nothing that I’d ever order again nor recommend anyone else order. The coleslaw was tasteless, like everything else, and I passed it along to my wife who ate it and said it was ok.
After it was all said and done it took about 90 minutes to arrive, be seated, order, eat, and leave and we were out by 6 PM when it was just starting to get busy inside with people either unaware of the generally horrid food awaiting them or totally clueless as to what good food is and how much they should be willing to pay for it.
Jake’s City Grille was such an utter disappointment, aside from the wings, that we will never return except to take advantage of their, “way too hot to be enjoyable,” wings at happy hour. The prices were about $2.00/item too high, their service was so unbearably slow that I would have guessed the servers were doubling as the cooks, and the food was so below mediocre that I’d probably rather eat a Burger King Quarterpounder with cheese than what Jake’s served my wife.
Overall one word: blah.
Have you ever eaten at any of Jake’s City Grille’s numerous locations around the metro? If so what did you think? What did you order when you were there? If you had the wings did you believe them to be hot? Whatever you have to say about Jake’s City Grille in Eagan go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Address:
Jake’s City Grille
1288 Promenade Place
Eagan, MN 55121
Phone:
651-287-8784
See all the photos from Jake’s City Grille in Eagan on Flickr here.
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October 13th, 2010 at 8:19 am
We (my office) eat frequently at the Jake’s in Eden Prairie across the street from our office; it’s the first-choice for mgmt to “take the group to lunch or happy hour”…perhaps because of the convenience, but also because the food tends to be better than what you experienced in Eagan. It’s not stellar, but it’s generally been better than the sampling you got.
October 13th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Oh my gosh, I dislike Jake’s almost as much as I dislike Majors. At my old job, it was THE spot we went to for our regular happy hours. I begged to go elsewhere and got my way a few times. The food, the service and the prices are not impressive and it’s an overall blah restaurant. I need to click away from your page because my blood pressure is rising ;)
October 13th, 2010 at 9:03 am
I used to go there for lunch pretty often when I worked in Eagan, thought the food was decent for what it is. Sounds like it’s gone downhill.
October 13th, 2010 at 9:27 am
People in the suburbs are lemmings for restaurants like Jake’s City Grille.
I for one am glad to have places like Jake’s in Eagan. The lesser the taste, the more popular the spot is. It makes it a lot easier to drive down the road to I Nonni or The Highland Grill (each about 5-7 minutes from Jake’s) to get some well thought out quality food that is worth the price.
Show me a place in either downtown that could get away with the crap that places like Jake’s/Enjoy/Applebees/you name it serve. There are none.
As well, show me one place in the suburbs like Solera/D’Amico Kitchen/The Modern/Faces etc. There are none.
You have listed a great amount of decent places to eat in the suburbs in your blog, but where should I eat if I want to drop $150 on an experience with my wife?
It is a conundrum to confound the ages.
October 13th, 2010 at 9:52 am
I’m going to politely disagree with this one. The downtowns, especially if you include fringe areas like Grand Avenue, Uptown, etc. have plenty of crappy restaurants.
Also, have you taken Bill’s advice and gotten over to Perron’s Sul Lago in Prior Lake? You should give it a try.
October 13th, 2010 at 9:57 am
I think the restaurant map color coding speaks for itself: http://www.lazylightning.org/lazy-lightning-restaurant-review-map
October 13th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Enjoy is under new management. Has anyone been there recently, and have they changed? They were truly terrible the last two times that I was dragged there.
October 13th, 2010 at 10:51 am
I too have had poor experiences at Enjoy! in the past but recently we enjoyed, a little too much, their Mother’s Day brunch. I’d eat there after following that experience.
October 13th, 2010 at 11:08 am
I always think of South Park whenever I see a restaurant with “city” in its name. :)
And to echo what MPSD said, it’s not like the chain or otherwise bad restaurants stop at the Minneapolis and St. Paul borders. A place like Applebee’s downtown? Uh, how about an actual Applebee’s in Block E, right smack in downtown?
October 13th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Jake’s is a happy hour ‘must’ with the girlfriends, mainly because of the Jake Wings (which would be nowhere near spicy enough for you, lol). We order a mess of appetizers, maybe a beer/wine or two (most of us tend to get soda or lemonade, though), and dig in. All of us think the happy hour price is a good value for the eats, but would not order them outside of happy hour.
I agree with the assessment of the rest of the menu, though. (I’ve never had one of their burgers–when I go there for lunch with the bf, he gets one well done and it does look like a hockey puck! I order one of the overpriced but yummy salads.)
October 13th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Speaking of ‘way too hot to be enjoyable’, did you get an invite from Girvan’s Grille for their contest? I did their original challenge (10 wings in 15 minutes) last year, but this one (most in 10 minutes) could cause some serious injury to me. I think I’ll pass.
October 13th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
It seems that outside of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the only suburbs that offer multiple non-chain restaurants are the older suburbs with some historical significance (ex. Stillwater).
Places like Jake’s are fine for beer and appetizers while watching sports, but not for a nice dinner for two. There are dozens of restaurants in Mpls and St. Paul where you could spend less and enjoy a much better meal.
But hey, at least Jakes doesn’t charge an extra $2 for fries to go along with your $9 sandwich like many places are doing now. I hate that trend.
October 13th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Terrible food
Mediocre service
Great patio
I really don’t like the place.
October 13th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
I’m a little surprised by your map that you haven’t reviewed Pardon My French yet in Eagan. My husband and I just went again today and enjoyed it. I’d be interested to know what you think.
October 13th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
The map only goes back to 2009 and we went to PMF in 2008 a few days after it opened. We found it to be terrible.
October 13th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
You mean a Whopper with cheese. But you made me laugh thinking of the “Royale with Chesse” scene in Pulp Fiction. Snicker.
October 13th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I think they have a decent happy hour. I’ve had good and bad service at the Eagan location. If I order an entree I usually stick with the Jake burger or walleye sandwich. The burgers have always been good. I love their fries and almost ALWAYS get te banana cream pie dessert. All the goodness of pie w/o the crust. And I usually hate whipped cream but theirs is delicious.
October 13th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Really? We both really like it. I like the French onion soup, and my husband was very happy with his roast beef sandwich. And he loves to pick up a baguette there, to make garlic bread later.
Restaurants are always an iffy proposition when they first start out. It’s like the color television we didn’t get until I was 16. “Let them perfect it,” my dad always said. My husband is the same about restaurants. And jewelry, come to think about it. Hm. : )
October 13th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Michele,
I have always said that there are many things which I can forgive a new restaurant for and there is one thing I cannot: the food. If the food is bad from the get-go, it’s probably always going to be bad.
But, while I expected it to close within 6 months it has continued on and has made many people happy. Unfortunately not only did they disappoint me with their food, they disappointed me with their use of my photography w/o my permission and not even an apology after I brought it to their attention.
Even if the food had been phenomenal I would not return just because of that alone.
October 13th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Ah, there I have to disagree. I agree with you that food SHOULD be good from the get-go, because they are charging people for that food. But a kitchen takes time to get the process right, and it would be lovely if they can keep practicing until they do, but they need income to make it go.
A restaurant kitchen is an extraordinary thing. It’s like no other place. You have people who have trained their whole lives to do what they are doing, and you have people who are practically living in their cars, either for the income or for the chance to start in a kitchen.
My husband was a restaurant manager for many years — chain manager, not the really good kind of restaurant — and I’ve come to respect the sweat work and planning that makes a restaurant go. I can’t even imagine what it takes to make an independent restaurant run.
But you’re right, Bill, and I agree with you. They shouldn’t have used your photography without your permission. That was terribly wrong, and I may have to rethink going back. Darn it! I HATE having morals! : )
October 14th, 2010 at 12:26 am
Cravings > Morals
Why do you think some people smoke in front of their children?
JK BTW…
October 14th, 2010 at 4:25 am
[...] and Highland Grills, Groveland Tap, and Three Squares); G. Sheaves shares a few Italian wine picks, Bill gives Jake’s City Grill in Eagan a resounding “blah,” Rachel gripes about gri.pe (with good reason), plans for Kim Bartman’s new gastropub [...]
October 14th, 2010 at 9:02 am
I went there this week and was warned off the brisket by the server. Their pulled pork sandwich wasn’t bad. Wasn’t fantastic, but I wasn’t disappointed in my order.
October 14th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
“Also, have you taken Bill’s advice and gotten over to Perron’s Sul Lago in Prior Lake? You should give it a try.”
Thank you for the tip. I have not heard of that place and since I live in Eagan, downtown St. Paul is actually a closer destination for us.
But their website has not been renewed. Is the place shut down?
Given my opinion that good restaurants don’t last in the suburbs, that would not surprise me.
October 14th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Well, to each his own, I actually enjoy Jake’s. I’ve been there a few times for dinner and a couple of times for Sunday brunch. Never had a problem with the food or service. I think it’s a little overpriced, otherwise no complaints from me.
October 15th, 2010 at 8:55 am
I don’t think you’re alone P-Funk, the place is usually pretty busy from what I can tell.
October 15th, 2010 at 8:57 am
Yup, as I stated in the review there were plenty of people packed in as we were leaving at 6. Same can be said for Applebee’s.
October 15th, 2010 at 9:19 am
lefty, I don’t know re: Perron’s Web site. They’ve been around for several years and it would be a shame if things didn’t work out for them. The last time I was there — in May I think — the food was really outstanding. It’s not going to compete with the top-tier downtown places (not really what they’re trying to do), but it would stand up well against places like Grand Cafe for example.
October 15th, 2010 at 11:49 am
My wife and I ate at Perron’s two weeks ago, still open and very good. But they need to look after that site — you’re right in that the domain registration has expired.
October 15th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I work near Jake’s and we’ve frequented a few times. The only thing on the menu I like is the bruschetta. They make it interesting with fresh mozzarella and goat cheese. Everything else is definitely forgettable.