Cedar + Stone, Urban Table

Staying at the hotel with my family, we ate here for dinner and then breakfast the next morning. Dinner was good and the service great. They were very busy but worked as a team for good service.
For context, I’m a total foodie and eat at great restaurants often. I had high expectations given the reviews. Am writing this for those who are not so easily taken by overly rich food. If this is your preference you will love this. The braised pork belly was very good but overly rich, the country vegetables good, but too strong with vinegar. My wife had salmon also good but overly rich. Without getting into all the details of the food overall it is «over the top» rich food. Too much butter, oil, salt, sugar whatever the dish.
Bottom line — my whole family found the food much too expensive for the food quality. We all left disappointed by the over the top richness of virtually everything we ate here. Only made worse when we got the bills. While an excellent atmosphere and great service, I would not seek out eating here again. There is much better out there for much less!

So much yes!
The JW did not disappoint. We were staying across the mall at the Radisson Blu. It was just a quick walk through the amusement park to get the JW. We called ahead get directions. The manager stopped by our table because he spoke to me on the phone.
We got the spicy cheese curds. It was an excellent choice. I got the walleye for dinner. It felt very Minnesota to me. It was delicious. I ate the whole thing. We skipped dessert.
I was glad we made this choice.

Nice dinner in Mall of America. I visit this maker for business, always looking for a new dinner spot, this was solid! I shared the mussel appetizer with my company, which were good. They had Tasso ham and beer reduction, fresh herbs etc. I then ordered the nightly special, which was seared scallops with pork belly served on a black lentil risotto style base topped with fresh popped corn. It was very good!
I will go back next time I’m in town. It’s also easy access from the street; not hidden in the heart of the mall.

Viewed the Unilocal reviews at lunch, and was back at the mall to replace electronics anyway… Was taken by the descriptions of the desserts, so I came in for a lovely dinner — the braised short rib on Wisconsin cheddar grits. I want one of those little Vicks inhalers, but be able to whiff the aroma of the braised sauce — just a lovely amount of ‘char’- roma! I also like that the trust here is local ingredients, and I like that the cheddar on the grits is more shredded than grated, so it keeps its flavor a a little more distinct in the dish.
The short rib/​cheddar grits dish is a full meal, but I must go my duty and try the Dark Chocolate Crème Brulee (w/​sea salt, three of my favorite flavors — wait, CRÈME FRAÎCHE– make that four!
A nice, elegant setting just off the lobby of the very contemporary JW Marriott (I love how the dark grey concrete of the driveway ties into/​contrasts either the slate/​steel façade!), with a really sharp, enthusiastic and attentive staff!
Will definitely lobby to come here for future business lunches/​dinners!

If you can find a cayenne pepper plant in MN then you can blacken my walleye with it! For all your focus on local sourcing you missed the mark with the blackened walleye sandwich. In a Thai restaurant it would earn a «4» of five HOT SPICE score. (I generally order 3) So I ate my sandwich but did not enjoy the surprise. Kudos for a tasty gluten free bun. Service was prompt and featured a significant local smattering of «you betchas» and MN nice.

This restaurant has top notch customer service and amazing cocktails. The atmosphere is very comfortable and classy. Fantastic choice to enjoy a pleasurable experience! The bartender this evening was so friendly and made my cocktail with much love and was truly an experienced mixologist! Thank you for a great experience!

The drinks were ok and the appetizers were good. Service was good. They’re really nice. A little on the high side for what you receive including during happy hour. Very limited selection for happy hour.

Truly excellent restaurant. I am not typically a fan of «hotel restaurants» but Cedar + Stone is a true restaurant that happens to be in a hotel (and the Mall of America). The food was first rate, including halibut, short ribs, Brussels sprouts, soup and the Gouda Mac and cheese. Well prepared and presented and yet surprisingly reasonable. The service was excellent as well.

Really enjoyed eating here and ended up her twice on my trip. Really fresh and high quality ingredients. Good vibe in the bar. Tried the short ribs and cheddar grits the first night which was amazing… recommended by the waiter. Came back for lunch and had the farmer salad with chicken. Very fresh and yummy! Service was really good. Definitely will be back to try more things!

Surprisingly great for a restaurant in a hotel (JW Marriott) AND connected to the Mall of America. But we were very impressed with the food and cocktails and I’m always a fan of farm to table concepts.
We ordered:
— the charcuterie board — excellent duck pâté, prosciutto, and marmalade
— the pork belly and scallops — good size portion and i was too full to eat the mac and cheese side, which never happens…
— brussels and pancetta were good combo of crunchy and tasty
— the old fashioned was good
Service was really attentive.

We ate here for dinner, breakfast, and dessert. All were very good. The fresh catch and the crème brûlée are hands down the best. The crème brûlée is the best we have ever had. Chad our waiter was excellent. The restaurant supervisor Zackery made sure we were very well taken care of at every turn. When we travel back this will be a sure stop for us again.

Phenomenal service and amazing food and drink. I wasn’t super hungry, but I wanted something filling. I ordered the oven roasted farm vegetables (which were heirloom carrots, but the cooks threw in some green beans for me too!) and the torn kale salad. I also became very quickly hooked on the Green Mountain Dynamite because I love Urban Moonshine’s Digestive Bitters and was excited to see it put into a drink. I describe this drink as the healthy version of a lemon drop martini. The server checked on me frequently and was very attentive to making sure I was happy.
I am staying at the Marriott at the Mall of America so I could have chose any other restaurant at MOA, but I was interested in Minnesota’s version of the Farm to Table movement. It did not disappoint! When I visit the MOA again when I stay near MSP, I will be sure to stop in again.

I’ve come to some sort of a conclusion on Unilocal restaurant reviews. There are going to be mixed reviews for almost every restaurant. Staff and management are under constant change behind the scenes of the brand. I looked at a few reviews for this place prior to posting and was surprised at all the positive responses. Should I really be all that surprised though? No. I have seen the opposite where other restaurants in the twin cities get mixed to poor reviews and I have had numerous positive experiences.
Our assessment of this restaurant on one particularly evening.
Food was far over cooked. Ordered medium rare and got between a medium well and well done piece of leather. This stuff happens and isn’t the end of the world. The service was very poor. Very unusual questions and conversation. This was two of their servers very first job waiting tables and it was as if they hadn’t been shown a thing. I wondered if they were really even servers. Took around 45 minutes to get our food and we saw the waiter twice during that time.
We were there on a Saturday night at around 7:30 — 9:30. Probably 10 people in the restaurant
Wouldn’t go back to this place if the food were free

We ended up here after a long day and saw that the reviews on Unilocal were stellar. The atmosphere is very chic and modern. We had a reservation through Open Table and were seated right away. It was the tail end of restaurant week and we ordered off their specialty menu which had choices of an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. All of the food was quite good, however the service was incredibly slow. There was 20 – 30 minutes between courses and we even had to ask at one point from our waitress (who was nice, just not very communicative until the end) where our food was. The manager was kind enough to write our off drinks due to the delay in our food. We appreciated that, but it would have been nice if he would have come over and apologized. The restaurant was not incredibly busy when we were there and we could spot him by the hostess table talking away the entire time we were there. So yes, the food was good, but the service could have been much better.

Food is spectacular; farm to table. Superb staff. All and all, great brunch experience.

Innovative, luxurious, definitely a must do when at the Mall of America. Exquisite local fare with a new aged twist. I had the walleye hash and it was filling and flavorful. Looking forward to more next time!

Excellent service and excellent food. The Farmers Salad, Cheese Curds and Short Ribs were amazing. The short ribs were just about the most tender I have ever had and barely a trace of fat. I may eat here again for dinner tomorrow!

Went here for restaurant week. When we first arrived the place was dead which scared us a little.
Kale salad– Just okay, lacked flavor. It had apples in it but the dressing was so bland. I thought if they added apple juice to the dressing might help. I also wish the Marcona almonds were cut in half they were kind of big.
Lobster Mac & Cheese Bites– also okay– portion is small and the flavor was a little off we couldn’t pin point what it was that we didn’t like.
Dusted Walleye– Amazing, so plump and great flavor. Didn’t taste fishy at all.
Broccolini– Very Good, great size portion. Great Flavor.
Dark Chocolate Crème Brulee– Super Good. Loved the crispy wafer on top.
We went during happy hour time so we got a little discount off our drinks but I thought it was crazy that their cheapest glass of red wine was $ 11! Did it taste worth $ 11 a glass– No.
Their prices for everything is on the high side. So we will probably will only be coming here for special occasions.

Minnesota farm to table meets France.
Fine dining that ranges from a ‘reasonable’ price to high dollar. If you pick carefully you can have a wonderful meal for a deal.
I had the Wood Fire Grilled Prime Steak with king trumpet mushrooms, charred onion vinaigrette. Oh wow this was good! The steak was large and cooked perfectly rare with more than I could eat shrooms and onions. It’s worth the money. This is one of the higher end items.
My GF had the Croque Monsieur with nitrate-​free ham, gruyère cheese, artisan bread. She’s a grilled cheese fanatic and she’s had this dish in Paris many times. According to her this was pretty close to the real deal. Her only critique would be that the ham is a tad salty.
I think we’ll be back here for a lunch or brunch for sure.
Parking: If you are coming here just for dinner park under the Marriott Hotel. They have self park or valet. The valet is just $ 10 and makes parking very easy.

The Prime Steak is the best thing I’ve ever had. The sides are generous servings and everything was perfect. The chef and the manager both stopped by our table to check on us. The cream brule’ was amazing and if you leave without trying it then you’ve made a big mistake. Top to bottom it was a great experience!

My hubby and I went here for Valentine’s Day and had a VIP experience. From start to finish, we had outstanding service and the food was A-​MAZ-​ING!!!
First, to address the parking situation. Don’t park in the mall, unless you’re shopping first. The hotel is on the IKEA side and they have a parking garage. It’s a little confusing, but there’s office parking, hotel parking and valet. Follow the hotel parking signs and find a spot. You get 2 hours free parking and if you ask the hostess, she will give you an additional hour. So, stop stressing about the parking.
We started in the bar and ordered a pre-​dinner drink to share because we knew we would be ordering a bottle of bubbly with our meal. There are 2 bars flanking the restaurant. The hotel lobby bar is on one side and the restaurant bar is on the other. We opted for the restaurant bar as it was a bit more mellow. We ordered a fancy drink but had to wait a while for it… about 15 minutes. We ended up having a few sips and bringing it to our table, so I guess that was the low point of the evening. The hostess let us know when our table was ready and offered to take our coats, which was a nice touch. From there, the service continued to be impeccable.
They have a sommelier on staff, which helps if you don’t know which wine to order. We opted for bubbles because select bottles were 50% off for the holiday. Score! $ 40 Taittinger! The presentation was excellent and I love that they kept the bottle on ice. Both the waiter and the sommelier were totally on top of refills… we never touched the bottle.
We started with the green beans instead of a salad and the Minnesota cornbread. Yum and yum!!! The cornbread was served in a skillet, which was large for 2 of us and we ended up bringing home half of it. Served with maple butter it was absolutely awesome. Just as awesome heated up in the oven day 2, by the way.
I ordered the halibut and my husband opted for the scallops with pork belly. Everything was perfectly cooked and delicious.
For dessert, Must. Get. Chocolate Crème Brule!!! We were full but managed to find room. This is an awesome dessert. Not too sweet, not too heavy. Almost like a chocolate mousse but so much better!
The manager checked in with us, not once, but twice to make sure everything was to our liking. We honestly felt like VIP’s there. If that’s what they’re going for, mission accomplished.
We were given a 20% off food coupon for our next visit, which will be very soon. Go and check it out. You won’t believe you’re in a restaurant hotel attached to a mall. It’s very chic and modern. Enjoy!

We had their Valentine’s Day special dinner. The scallops were the best I’ve ever had, salad was great, and the steak and lobster was incredible! The staff was extremely friendly and accomidating! Seriously, I felt like I could have asked for the most bizarre of requests, and they would have jumped on it. Great place to bring a significant other. Had a fun time!

Parking: part of the mall, so expect to walk a little
Reservation: easy via OpenTable and no wait seating us even on Saturday night
Menu: a little disappointing when it comes to the selections. Just not many.
Service: new young guy. Very helpful and apologetic (see later)
Food: well, it was good even very good /​but the steak and lobster came cold.
The positive, we did not had to pay for any entrée and the waitress was very apologetic and we saw him talk to the manager. Hopefully it will get better.
The dessert was the best — see pictures.
Black chocolate crème brûlée with sea salt. The best.

Had an extremely poor first impression! It took more than 10 minutes before anyone even greeted us or got us water, and there were only four tables in the entire bar area! Also, the atmosphere was extremely boring and loud. I would go to Fire Lake at Radisson Blu a million times over before giving them another chance.

We had a great experience! What a great addition to the restaurants at MOA. I’ll be quick about this: We had the charcuterie board of local cheeses, etc., this was delicious, particularly the fig preserve; then we had the short rib, croque monsieur, and dark chocolate crème brûlée, all were delicious. We will definitely be back! The chef was walking around from time to time to make sure people were enjoying their meals, which I really appreciated as you do not see this happening very often anymore. Would absolutely recommend!

Brittah is an awesome bartender! Phenomenal cocktails and great atmosphere. Not only a must stop if you’re at the mall, but a destination lunch and dinner spot! The Wild Rice Soup and the BLT Pizza will not disappoint.

Slow, food looks okay but that’s it… Taste is just bad and very expensive for what you get … Twin city grill way better

This was very disappointing! Went there for lunch. I got the chicken which tasted like boiled chicken with pepper… absolutely flavorless. My husband ordered the hanger steak and it was very chewy and did not taste good at all. We left very disappointed. Definitely won’t be coming back

Ate at mall of America location because of the 5star rating. I am being very generous giving 3 stars. Our waitress was great. She recommended the cornbread to share and it was delicious. I also appreciate being able to sample the wines and beers before purchasing a glass. Everyone in my party ordered the prime steak. It was very tough and certainly not worth the money they chaege

The food here exceeded my expectations. I stayed at the hotel 5 nights and ate here everyday at least once. Service is great too, but it’s the food that brought me back again and again. Tried almost everything on the menu. I’m heading back to the JW hotel again in a couple weeks just so I can eat here again! Ambience is upscale casual. It’s not very busy because it’s in an area of the mall that doesn’t have stores yet. But once word gets out, I’m sure business will pick up. I’m looking forward to many more meals here.

Cedar + Stone Cold Believer
Everyone knows that I speak my mind, I don’t hold back, it’s just how I am, I lay it on the line… When it comes to food, let’s face it, that’s how it should be! Our next exceptional restaurant made me a, «Stone Cold Believer» and I think the fellas of 38 Special would agree. They even sang about it!
The newest addition to the Twin Cities food scene is indeed exceptional and providing a fine dining experience like none other. Cedar + Stone Urban Table, located inside the all new J.W. Marriott at the Mall of America is priding themselves in providing the very best to its consumers. That means that all the ingredients come from local farms right here in Minnesota and the hand crafted dishes are «inspired by Minnesota’s natural roots & local culture.»
My wife and I joined neighbors of ours for a New Year’s dinner, away from the kiddos and just enjoyed each-​others company and some wonderful food and adult beverages. This place is so new that a website doesn’t even exist yet to provide you with a menu or the names of our dishes. Do not fear the Food Gnawledge master is here to help! Our dishes consisted of the following and I will, of course, break them down for you; Fresh Scallops and Pork Belly, Halibut Steak, Braised Short Rib and Skirt Steak.
For once, I’ll start with my meal. I went with the Scallops and Pork Belly. Four large and perfectly prepared scallops served with some very tender pork belly and served over a delicious cappers and couscous medley, fresh corn and lemon grass. These scallops were seriously cooked perfectly and the entire dish together was something I’ve really never experienced, but very delicious and worth a consideration.
My wife decided to go with the Halibut Steak and I’m glad she did. A large halibut steak served over a fresh sweet cabbage, fresh spinach, carrot purée and olive oil. After just one bite, I wanted to trade dishes! While I have seen a bit larger halibut steaks on some of my other favorite restaurants, theirs was still cooked to perfection and very delicious. What made this dish so amazing was actually the carrot purée. Whatever they did to doctor this up should never be changed and will most likely never be duplicated. The sight of spinach and cabbage makes me gag (not completely), but this was something «Special». See what I did there?
We didn’t get a chance to try our neighbor’s plates and why would we? It’s their food! While they’re very open to trying new things, they had plenty of questions for us on the menu. Being as Gnawledgable as my wife and I are about food, it was easy to assist and it was great to see the excitement in trying a new place. The conversation even helped with the re-​branding of the Gnaw Blog and forming Food Gnawledge. Thanks Dave!
Ok, back to the good stuff… Our neighbor Dave decided to go with the Braised Short Rib served atop mashed Yukon Gold Fingerlings and Au Jus. Slow cooked for 12 hours, sounds like the type of meat I want to enjoy! Again, while we didn’t have an opportunity to test out the plate ourselves, there wasn’t a morsel left on his plate and he had nothing but positive things to say about it. I’d say he made the right decision.
His wife Jennifer made a very smart decision and going with the Skirt Steak. Most butchers my wife and I have chatted with, say they serve this cut of meat for their own families and secret in the industry. It’s rarely found at restaurants and it’s one of the most tender and delicious cuts off the animal. It came served with the same delicious mashed Yukon Gold Fingerlings and some leafy greens. The only thing I would say Jennifer did wrong with this dish… Ordering it well done! So we all gave her a little razzing, but again, nothing was left on her plate. Yet another, great choice!
Wait, wait, wait, wait… «Didn’t you get any appetizers?» Why yes, yes we did! In fact, we have a first for this foodie. I absolutely refuse to eat Brussels sprouts and no matter how they’re prepared, they always taste like cardboard. However, I would have to agree with Jennifer when she said, «I would come here for lunch while shopping, just for these!» Yes, they were that damn good! Prepared with an enjoyable amount of pancetta chunks and a sweet glaze, I would indeed go back for these in a heartbeat!
If you wanna climb that ladder, you wanna make it to the top and become a Cedar + Stone Cold Believer like myself, it takes just one thing according to 38 Special… «Gotta give it all y’ got!» Executive Chef, Everton Clarke and his staff are doing just that and I applaud them.

We were invited in for a tour while walking by. Did not even know this restaurant was here. We stayed for dinner, great staff, great food!

I normally don’t give a review on my first visit by this place was off the hook!
Okay, that may not sound cool from an old guy but this was truly a nice surprise on how affordable the place was and the food quality was superb! They are only four weeks old but it seems there are no kinks or they’ve worked it out pretty quickly. Casual dress is okay, straight from mall shopping is okay, or you can dress up and they will place you in a nice section of the place — it’s big enough!
Their wine selection is great! From regular selections to a superb Opus One!
The meat dishes that we tried were all cooked very well and the sides were amazing! — specially for the fillet! I normally don’t finish my sides but the spinach and potatoes were very good!
Really worth a try and definitely worth coming back!