18 Best Restaurants in Minnesota, USA

This ever-popular Grand Avenue haunt is three restaurants in one: a cafeteria-style deli, a pizza and wine bar, and a delectable patisserie—quite possibly the best desserts in town. Don't miss the turtle cake or one of 30 cheesecakes.

Street food from hot zones around the equator is how this restaurant describes its unique cuisine, served family-style. There's also a sushi bar and imaginative drink list, including the Chinopolitan, a cosmo garnished with dry ice. Don't forget your hearing aid, because this place is a scene all week long, especially during happy hour.

Three themed dining rooms in this 1880 inn—established in 1927 and on the National Register of Historic Places—make up this inn's restaurant, where lobster, lamb, and top cuts of beef are served in a period environment. Each table in the George Washington Room, with high-arched colonial windows, is set with English Spode china, colonial glassware, and sterling flatware, while the Garden Room has a spring-fed trout pool, stained-glass windows, and lots of greenery. Dedicated to Swiss woodcarving, the Matterhorn Room offers a fixed-price menu of Swiss fondue paired with wines on Friday and Saturday nights.

This off-the-beaten-path contemporary eatery is firmly nestled at the top of the list for best dining in the Twin Cities. Exposed ceilings still manage to feel cozy in this multilevel space. Order the three-course tasting menu that changes seasonally, or select from à la carte options.

This small, urban bistro, which serves upscale comfort food, is one of the restaurants in Minneapolis. The tres leches (three milks) cake is splendid, and the joint's open late.

This sexy restaurant in the Graves 601 Hotel has received national attention over the years, and serves contemporary fare worthy of a stopover. You may end up lingering in the trendy lounge when you're done eating.

More than a casual dockfront café, this place serves cutting-edge cuisine in a contemporary setting. It hugs the St. Croix River, providing gorgeous vistas through large windows. During the summer, diners spill out onto the landscaped brick patio. Seafood is strong on the menu, with salads, sandwiches, and entrées featuring shrimp, crab, yellowfin tuna, and Atlantic salmon. Meat lovers will enjoy dishes like shiitake-encrusted chicken or a mixed-greens salad topped with thinly sliced sirloin. Dessert options are indulgent (think key lime pie).

Eating at this restaurant, tucked into a pine forest, is like taking a mini trip to Germany's Bavaria region. It was founded in the 1960s by two immigrants hungry to bring Bavarian foods to Minnesotans, and is still in the same family. On Sunday afternoons a strolling accordian player entertains during a lavish brunch buffet, and is back again on Friday evenings. Lunch and dinner menus include six schnitzels, walleye cakes, and à la carte specialties like spatzle and kartoffelsalat (hot potato salad). Two bratwursts—from a handful of beef, veal and pork choices—come on a platter with sauerkraut and German potato salad. To close the meal, waitstaff present desserts on a tray.

Lucia's is a quaint neighborhood haunt praised for its locally grown and organic menu that changes weekly. There's also a stellar wine bar and bakery; takeout is available next door.

Tunes by Tony Bennett play over the speakers in this Chicago-theme restaurant whose walls are covered in brick and bright red paint. From your booth you have a clear view of the open pit broiler, where the juicy steaks are seared. There's live entertainment Wednesday through Saturday.

On the National Register of Historic Places, this quintessential 1930s diner is accented with lots of chrome and vinyl. Sit at the lunch counter or in one of the few tiny booths to enjoy stick-to-your-ribs fare; breakfast is the most popular meal of the day.

Across the street from Lake Superior, this café embraces the farm-to-table concept, organic wherever possible, including sourcing from herb and vegetable gardens on the property. Locals have been flocking to this cozy place, where work by local artists graces the wide-plank wooden walls, since its opening in the late 1990s. Starters like duck-confit spanikopita or curried blue mussels are perfect to share. Exotic artisanal accents drive the entrées, such as pork tenderloin served with port-fortified cherries, chorizo, and corn-bread stuffing. Down-home desserts include a grasshopper terrine.

Leatherette booths lend a clubby air to this restaurant, which has an oyster bar and individual relish trays. Crab cakes and fish stew are popular.

In-the-know locals head to this Warehouse-District destination for fresh sushi. The interior shimmers with lilac lights and flickering candles, and a sidewalk patio is open in summer.

A floor-to-ceiling mural of the face of Botticelli's Venus overlooks this artfully designed trattoria, which manages to be busy and tranquil at once. Pazzaluna stakes its reputation on innovative dishes such as the fritto misto (fried calamari and vegetable strips) but brings panache to standards like handmade fettuccine in a Bolognese meat sauce.

Dark wood and antique beer steins create an old-time pub atmosphere here. A Duluth landmark since 1914, it was founded in 1888 as a tasting bar within Fitger Brewing Company and in 2010 its new owners completed an extensive renovation. Lunch and dinner menus feature a dozen sandwich choices, plus ethnic twists like jambalaya pasta, and plenty of salmon dishes, such as roasted-pear-and-seared-salmon salad. Nearby waters are highlighted with Lake Superior smoked whitefish piccata and pan-seared Lake Superior trout. Wine lovers will rejoice at 14 by-the-glass choices. Live music fills the pub on Friday and Saturday nights.

Part supper club, part Italian eatery, Valentini's serves hearty portions in an intimate environment. After sampling from a lengthy menu, guests are encouraged to linger over coffee and dessert. Using modern culinary trends, owner-chef Carol Valentini is also inspired by family recipes in use since the 1930s—as in Nello's marinated kabobs skewered with bacon and vegetables—and the Italian-themed breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus are named after family members. Check the events calendar for news of live-music, theater, opera, and comedy performances.

In this romantic Victorian house, each dining room has a fireplace, Oriental rugs, and marble-topped tables. Country French and Mediterranean flavors predominate the cuisine. The menu changes seasonally.