Disclaimer: As part of Smack Shack’s soft opening four of us were invited to dine for free to give the new restaurant a test before it officially opens to the public. We received comped items (everything except our alcoholic beverages) as part of this event. The total bill (including alcohol) came to about $240. Please take the following review with as much salt as you feel is required following this government mandated disclaimer.
Last night I met up with Lefty across the street from Black Sheep in The Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis to check out the latest food truck conversion to brick and mortar, Smack Shack.
Smack Shack has been one of the more popular food trucks and while I never got around to trying it while I worked downtown, I had heard great things about what they served and I was VERY excited to get a chance to try them out prior to their official opening (which is today). The space is beautiful. 8,000 square feet of modern, industrial beauty with two floors, an open kitchen showing off a two level lobster tank and gigantic kettle for lobster and shrimp boil, large bar area, and an even larger outdoor patio. Honestly, the place is impressive as soon as you walk in the door.
We were seated in the bar area and were served right away by a self-admitted nervous server who was very friendly and was trying very hard to make us happy. The menu was a typical preview night partial menu where you ordered one item from each section and were offered some shared desserts. Because there was four of us at the table and most of us ordered different items, we ended up with a pretty decent cross-section of what was available to us. For the first course we ordered Lorraine’s Lump Crab Cakes, the Smoked Pork Tacos, the Warm Smoked Duck, and Oysters (6). We went with the Newcastle Battered Perch Po Boy, Lobster Cioppino, and two orders of the Lonely Lobster Boil as our entrees and we got orders of both the baked beans and seasoned fries for our sides.
As with many preview nights, the service was spotty and disjointed. We received some of our appetizers on time and others not until much later; however, we did end up with an order of Lobster Corn Dogs to try because of the confusion. The Corn Dogs are a food truck staple and included a lemon chive aioli.
The appetizers arrived in several sessions with the oysters and the crab cakes arriving well before the duck and pork tacos. The oysters were supposed to number 6 but the pile that arrived at table were nearly double that number. Aside from literal mouthful of shell I got on my first oyster and the remaining shards that littered my mouth for the next two oysters, they were fine. The presentation was nice, the oysters were tasty, and the lemon and hot sauce (on the table already) abundant; however, the mignonette was too vinegary for my tastes and the horseradish (which we later decided may have been shredded radish) was so weak that forkfuls didn’t do anything for the three of us who tried it.
The crab cakes were extremely weak and tasted only of breading and the maque choux they sat upon. While the maque choux had some good flavor, it closely resembled a puddle of putrid green puke and it really took away from the subtle flavors of the crab which were already greatly muted by the breading. As someone who enjoys making crab cakes at home for The Wife, these were an insane disappointment for me and a definite pass for the rest of the people at the table.
Eventually the Warm Smoked Duck arrived at the table. It came with frisee, green apple, pickled cherries, goat cheese, glazed pecans and griddled milk bread. The textures were fantastic. Offsetting the crunch of the green apple and pecans were the soft and tart pickled cherries and the super creamy goat cheese. The duck, while having no smoke flavor, was tender and luscious. This dish was the smash hit of the evening with Lefty commenting that he would love to grab it to go for dinner; in fact, he boxed up what was left(y) to take home with him–the only item of last night which received such a treatment.
Much later, after some hounding, the Smoked Pork Tacos arrived at the table. There were two ($7 on the menu) and included tasteless, tough pork with no smoke flavor covered in an overpowering combination of tomatillo salsa and chili lime crema. The cilantro was wilted and looked cooked setting this one up for a visual failure. The liquid which ran out all over the plate rounded out this failure.
While some of us were eating our apps, Lefty’s Lonely Lobster Boil arrived. A sad presentation for sure, this dish was actually decent according to both of those at the table who tried it. The lobster was tender and sweet and the meat abundant. While it wasn’t something I would have ordered, especially after seeing it and tasting it, it ended up being one of the favorites of the evening–a good thing since ‘lobster’ is such a prominent part of the Smack Shack brand.
My Newcastle Battered Perch Po Boy was out next. It was a good size, especially for the price ($9.50) and included a ton of lightly battered perch. While the perch itself was lovely, the rest of the sandwich, namely the whole grain mustard tartar sauce and the cabbage slaw, really ruined everything that was good about the perch. Much like the crab cakes and tacos, the items accompanying the protein simply overpowered the dish instead of making the flavors really pop.
While we had some hits and misses so far, the biggest miss of the evening was the Lobster Cioppino. A tasteless conglomeration of great seafood, this should have been the run away favorite. Instead the tasteless broth somehow was able to overpower similarly tasteless proteins. I only had one mussel from the dish but it really had zero flavor. So very odd.
While I *REALLY* wanted to *LOVE* Smack Shack, I couldn’t bring myself to say it was worth it. While I realize it was a preview night, I would have expected some of the items to really shine but instead I’m sort of left having to say mediocre dishes were good (lobster boil). The misses were big (pork, crab cakes, cioppino, etc) and the hits were barely so. For the prices they were charging, their history as a popular truck, and the space they’re trying to fill I would expect so much more.
Have you tried Smack Shack’s restaurant in Minneapolis? If so what did you think? What did you have? What would you like to order in the future? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Address:
Smack Shack (brick and mortar)
603 Washington Ave N
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone:
612-259-7288
See all the pictures from Smack Shack’s new brick and mortar joint on Flickr here.
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February 8th, 2013 at 7:01 am
I have to apologize in advance for the photos; the color corrections were not saving/uploading to Flickr and thus they look like hell. Once I can fix them I will. Sorry about that.
February 8th, 2013 at 8:03 am
I have been to the 1029 bar to eat Smack Shack food a couple times and each time it was very enjoyable. The lobster roll and lobster mac are my favorites. Maybe they need to go back to more simple offerings?
February 8th, 2013 at 8:40 am
I think dining experiences are always worse when you really WANT them to be good and are just satisfactory versus when you have no expectations and they turn out to be just satisfactory. This happened to me at The Strip Club recently. I really wanted it to be really good, and expected it to be really good, but it just wasn’t that great. It was a huge letdown.
That said, it looks like they still can turn this around. I really love seafood, so I wish them well and will probably check them out in six months when they get their shit together, unless they have already closed by that time.
February 8th, 2013 at 8:58 am
I’d give them another chance.. there has got to be a lot of pressure trying to try to do everything right with so much anticipation..
Perhaps they will pare down the menu and focus on the things they are doing at the 1029 and then build from there.
February 8th, 2013 at 9:43 am
This will be an interesting restaurant to follow. Knowing how much time this place has been in the works, I’m surprised it wasn’t a little tighter experience. That said, I wonder if it isn’t kind of like the Brasa locations – the food there (in my opinion) is/was a little slower to reveal its best qualities and consistency, and dining there is much more of a “great experience” when the doors are all wide open, and you’re sipping a local/craft drink and relaxing with the warm summer day.
The thing about this kind of food is it’s largely about coming in from the sun, smelling the air as you eat, and a summer breeze. I’m somehow far less intrigued to eat a lobster when I’m freezing my cojones off and I have to slog through filthy slush to get it.
Side question, did you sense any synergy with the local brewing scene, especially Fulton being so close? You sort of glossed over the drinks (which would also add to the “experience” factor above).
February 8th, 2013 at 9:48 am
My disclaimer: Because of my Twitterings, I have had a chance to meet the owner and a number of other people that are invested in the success of The Smack Shack. They are all really super nice and I am rooting for this to be really successful and I am also thankful that they let me eat there last night at the preview style dinner.
I have no doubt that this is going to be a very successful venture. Given the buzz right now, it is going to be packed continuously for weeks on reputation and the amount of time people have been waiting for it to open.
While last night was quite inconsistent across the board, I think the very large positive that I take out of dinner last night is the quality of the main ingredients on the table. The lobster was sweet and tasty. The oysters were quite fresh and stood out on their own and the majority of the proteins I tried were tasty and of good quality, save for a few that Bill mentions above (especially the Cioppino, which was way overcooked).
The whole menu is quite large and pretty aggressive. The lobster boil is like nothing around here and that is where I would focus on ordering from to start. It is super cool visually, and sticking to that will allow the concerns we had about last night to work themselves out over time as the kitchen finds their groove.
The one thing that I can’t pass off as early jitters is the fries. Pretty sure they started their day in the freezer. What??
In spite of the crazy timing of the kitchen , the service was friendly and attentive. The front of the house is going to be so important in the next few weeks, and I think they will have that nailed from the start. Also, the space is simply spectacular. It’s worth going there just to see it.
Because a preview night is largely in part a way to work out some or a lot of kinks, I am not going put a lot of weight on last night’s meal. I live pretty close to there, so going back often is a given (if for nothing else but that awesome Duck item with a Fulton). If you see me, make sure to buy me a beer.
lefty
February 8th, 2013 at 9:53 am
MSPD,
We were all unilaterally disappointed with the overall beer selection, especially last evening when there was basically nothing available that didn’t suck donkey balls. However, local beer selection rotation can change quickly and I’m not terribly worried about it. However, more to your point, I saw no real indications that they were hooked up with any of the local brewers in any big way.
February 8th, 2013 at 9:58 am
In my haste to write this post I forgot to mention the baked beans were great and the douchenozzle from Rack Shack has a thing or 1000 to learn from Smack Shack there. However, as lefty noted above, the “seasoned fries” were a fucking crime against humanity and should never have been on the menu, let alone left the kitchen.
Frozen fries with so very little seasoning (including salt) that the handful I had, trying over and over again to taste what was worth serving them, just didn’t work out.
February 8th, 2013 at 10:15 am
MSPD,
I agree that the beer selection last night was minimal. I did notice both of the Fulton staples on the menu, but because I was planning on drinking wine, I didn’t really look hard what they are planning on serving. I feel like I remember Black Butte Porter which is quite tasty, though not local.
One of the cool parts of the bar is the “keg room” which is basically the long barrier between the entry way and the actual bar area. It is glass on both sides and you can see all of the kegs that are tapped (16 I think) and operational as you walk in.
February 8th, 2013 at 4:32 pm
Well, for what it’s worth, the pictures look great. I’m wiping my keyboard of drool as I type. Besides, if the fries are at least as good as Ore-Ida, I’ll be good to go.
February 11th, 2013 at 8:47 pm
I love their lobster roll from the food trucks in the summer. Hopefully the restaurant will improve.