Duplex

I had such a weird experience here.
A few friends and I decided to eat at Duplex one evening while roaming Uptown. We walked in and got a nice leettle table on the upper level. Pretty sweet atmosphere: slick paintings on the walls which were for sale, and I definitely would’ve bought one if I had the money /​a living room to put it in. Candles too! I ordered the burger, SO DELICIOUS. If I could, I would have eaten that same burger for dinner every night for the rest of that week. The prices were kind of steep though.
Our waitress was really candid with us (this was right before Duplex closed), and told us how her checks were bouncing and how mad she was with the restaurant. She had just quit like an hour before serving us, so she really didn’t give two cares. Obviously she knew she could act like that around us because we’re college students, not like any of the other middle-​aged couples that were dining there that night. It was kind of weird, but kind of awesome. When she boxed up my friend’s food, she wrote «fuck Duplex» on the styrofoam container. My friend had this pinned on her wall for the rest of the school year.

They got me in the door with their 2 for 1 lunch coupon, but I was a bit shocked by the prices so never returned. However, my pasta dish was very tasty, and I appreciated the presentation and freshness of ingredients.
It is special that the restaurant is housed in a building that was, well, once a house. I ate lunch on the front patio, as if this was my home, and I was being served a classy meal by my servants. «Jenny, we’ll be taking lunch today on the front patio. No, not the porch you insufferable wench, down below on the P-​A-​T-​I-​O. It’s such a lovely day, I’d like to fraternize with the neighbors as they pass by.» One can dream.
Money Saved — $ 15 with an Uptown circular 2 for 1 coupon

*ATTENTION fans of DUPLEX*
I live very near by and just saw a sign on the door saying «We’re closed and thank you for 6 wonderful years». Unfortunately I just bought a Crowd Cut coupon from them on Dec. 3^rd — hoping to get a credit for that. Where will I get my Poutine now?

Groupon had a special for the Duplex — an appetizer, two entrees and two glasses of wine at roughly half price. We’ve used Groupon to try out restaurants before with mixed results. This one was a total success!
We shared the spinach salad with vinaigrette dressing, bacon and roasted apples. While a simple dish, the execution was good as all the flavors were well balanced. A good start to a good meal.
My wife had the Dirty Rice and I ordered the Duck on Pappardelle. Both were nicely done and we’d order either again … or recommend them to friends.
The wines were fine but we were surprised there wasn’t a broader selection by the glass.
The Duplex has a bar and I’d ordered a Hendricks martini. That turned out a little pricey given the menu prices so be forewarned (or ask if you’re price sensitive).
Service was good with the right balance of attention without being intrusive.
We’ll be back. The Groupon strategy worked: we tried; we liked; we shall be back.

I’ve always had decent luck at Duplex. I have no horror stories like some of the other reviewers. They did give us grief for not making a reservation for our Groupon. Hmm… kay… It’s pretty slow and it’s a week night???
The food was super tasty, the homemade Fettuccine and Gnocchi are solid meals and the Scallops were cooked perfectly. The specialty drinks on the menu are worth taking a look at as well.
Except for the surly fellow handling our seating arrangements, I’ve had good experiences at Duplex. A while back we visited to eat the Poutine, only to find that they were out of gravy (heavens no!!), our server was able to talk the cooks into making a new batch flavored with Sriracha. My boyfriend will forever sing the praises of Duplex for that.

Don’t bother with this restaurant! There are so many wonderful places to eat in Mpls and the service at this place is awful. They’ve been popping up with Crowd Cuts and Groupons, but good luck using one! They’ll give you one excuse after another for why they can’t honor your certificate. Come in on a Sunday afternoon for brunch without a reservation? Sorry, they won’t honor your certificate without a reservation despite the fact that the restaurant is empty!
Their crowd cut expires today, but no one can use it because they’re considering Halloween a holiday! What restaurant considers Halloween a formal holiday? They’re rude on the phone, rude in person and dismissive to their customers. It’s extremely unfortunate.

My experiences have been up and down at the Duplex over the years, but thought my last experience there deserved an upgrade to four stars. So much so that I actually said out loud to my boyfriend as we were leaving, «That was great! I need to write a new review.»
I think we may have finally figured out the most enjoyable formula for Duplex AND we happened to have great service last time. Win-​win.
The new rules:
1. Don’t order dinner. Stick with salads, soups and the bar menu food. The poutine is a winner. The burger is yummy. The seasonal soups and salads are solid. With entrees I have been both pleased and disappointed after ordering the exact same dish (the rabbit pasta) and haven’t been blown away by the others I’ve tried either. Why risk it when I could be consistently happy as a Canadian clam with a pile of gravy-​logged, curd-​covered fries?
2. Drinks! Get some. They serve their whiskey-​ginger with the good and cloudy ale that I love. Their happy hour is great too. Nothing earth-​shattering in terms of mixology, but good bevvies nonetheless.
3. Hope you get one of the good servers. This is a difficult one because many of my service experiences here over the years have been frustrating. A glimmer of hope came from the last visit though. I wish I could remember his name, but our waiter was personable and genuine. He was a little MIA when we wanted our check, but he was clearly busy and apologized when he did finally bring it over. I used to be a server and good servers can keep their customers happy even when they aren’t actually serving them as well as they want to… if that makes any sense. Whoever this gent is, I think he should be in charge of training new staff on tableside manners.
4. Enjoy the atmosphere. The Duplex has the kind of ambiance that is magnetic all year round. In the summer, the porch or the patio is the perfect perch for people watching. In the winter, the rich red interior of the house makes it cozy and even a little romantic.

The Mister and I went to Duplex with another couple on a recent Friday night. We sat outside and enjoyed the weather. After the Mister’s first chair kept sinking into some very soft ‘asphalt,’ our waitress was super chill about us moving tables, which I appreciated.
The menu was alright. I wasn’t bowled over. It seemed a bit small, despite the fact that it really wasn’t. The daily specials were so tempting that I ordered the soup. I wanted to get the steak sandwich, but it was a full two times the price of the pimped-​out bacon cheeseburger and I just couldn’t justify it.
Our table had a great variation between plates and most of it was pretty tasty. The homemade pasta was a hit, as were the sweet potato fries. Less exciting was the slightly overcooked hamburger and the rather novice quality of the Bolognaise sauce on the great pasta. Loved the local hard cider and soup of the day (tomato parm). I can’t speak to the inside of the restaurant, but the outside was nice, if a bit cozy and noise from Hennepin absolutely impacted our conversation levels.
Waitstaff was attentive and responsive without that overbearing feeling — no pushing more drinks, dessert orders, etc. A good, solid and enjoyable place, but nothing spectacular.

Wonk wonnnnnnnnnk. That pretty much sums up my experience at Duplex. Actually it’s probably more of a Ehhh. It just looked so much better on paper. Or the interwebs, in my case, because I have looked at their online menu multiple times in the last two years before finally just trying out this place. I gotta say, for the price you pay, I’d have expected a more flavorful chicken ragu; or I dunno, more compelling mixed drinks. Alas, the ragu was good, but not knock my socks off, four stars good. The chicken was tender and all, but the ragu itself lacked the depth I was looking for. The gnocchi was tender, but not pillowy tender.
I gotta say, doing a 100 or so reviews is starting to make me a li’l more harsh. And my palette’s not even that sophisticated; hell, Snooki’s more sophisticated… ok, never mind, I take that back.

Man. There are quite a few haters here. Wifey and I have gone here at least 4 times in the past year. It is one of our favorite places for good pasta and gnocchi. Both dishes were consistently good. I even ordered the duplex burger once. It was a bit pricey for a burger, but at least it included house fries (unlike the overpriced burgers at Burger Jones). That dish was cooked just right. The sweet potato fries with aoli can feed 3 people. BTW. Heavenly fries! But I’d order this dish if you are having drinks only. It makes a poor appetizer because it’s too filling!
The drinks are mixed well. I had ginger beer with Jameson. A twist on the Local’s «Big Ginger.» Yummy. Wifey liked her Manhattan.
I think the house, converted into a restaurant, is quite charming. The staff has been consistently professional, prompt and cheerful to us. We always get seated upstairs and our server is the woman with dread locks. She’s knowledgeable, cheerful and attentive. We normally get a reservation to avoid the wait.
Now I’ve never used Groupon with this place before, so I can’t comment on that experience.
Outdoor seating for those interested. (Never done that)

First stop along my road trip from Wisconsin to California. Came with a friend and the boyfriend.
We got sweet potato fries to share. Huge amount of fries — and very good. Definitely recommend. I got the house-​made pappardelle with rabbit sauce. The boyfriend got gnocchi. The friend got dirty rice. Overall, my impression of the food was good, not amazing. Home-​made noodles were nice and thick. The gnocchi was somewhat unexpected — we thought there would be sauce and there was not. Dirty rice — the shrimp was unexciting but the sausage apparently was the winning part of that dish. They do some nice drinks — my friend got a gin martini and the gin they use is pretty awesome.
Environment: a little bit funky. It feels like a house. Not very large, but there’s also outdoor seating, which is nice.
Service: fitting. Not overly formal, friendly, and they give you enough time to have a chill meal.

Oh Duplex, your food was so yummie!
We started with seared sea scallops, which were nicely done on the outside and deliciously tender and flavorful on the inside. The fettuccine was, indeed, a freaky carnival of flavors. It was wonderfully textured pasta with tomatoes and shrimp that was done to perfection, with an interesting chipotle heat.
And, my husband really dug his spicy bison sammich. The real star was the KETCHUP — no lie — I could live the rest of my life on french fries and that ketchup — basil, garlic, shallots + tomatoes = delicious!
The 25^th and Hennepin was not all that, but the Surly was pretty awesome.
BE WARNED, THOUGH = they require a reservation for the crowd cut. Groupon deals — which I didn’t know and was not announced when I purchased the deal that could require you to come back in TWO hours. Who can do that if you are starving? Our waiter made an exception for us, but I have to admit, I would have been ticked if he hadn’t…

Food: 5 Stars
Service: 4 Stars
General experience: 4.5 Stars
Visiting my true hometown from my new hometown of Los Angeles, I’ve got a long list of restaurants and dives to patronize during my stay. During my entire time living in Minneapolis, I never actually visited Duplex. Call me a jerk, I just never got around to it.
So I’m spending the day with my bestie, who happens to live on Hennepin Avenue. She lists off the places she’d like to get lunch, and mentions that she’s never been to Duplex but has been meaning to try it. She finds a coupon in her Uptown quarterly, and we head out. We aren’t normally coupon users, but I figure that businesses use them to draw in new business– and we were doing just that. So, anyway.
My friend ordered the potato gnocci, and I the butternut squash soup and roasted beet salad. Nipping off of each other’s plates, we realize everything on the table is delicious. I’ve had beet salads before, and was sadly let down, but I wanted to give them another try… this was the experience I was looking for. Amazing. The squash soup was better than any I’ve ever had of its kind previously, and the gnocci was the perfect texture and flavor.
I’m going to try and duplicate my salad at home in LA. I will probably fail, but it left such an impact on me, it’s worth a shot.
In any case, I’m a little shocked that some of these reviews are so personal. I can’t believe that anyone would ever want a business to ‘tank,’ for instance. People rely on this business to provide them with paychecks that pay their bills and their rent, and we rely on it to further enrich Hennepin Avenue with one of the steadily decreasing number of independent businesses. Unilocal is a great resource for keeping businesses and industry professionals in check, while also helping prospective patrons and clients in deciding to whom they’ll give their business. If those who would use Unilocal have nothing really specific or constructive, or anything of any value to contribute to a review, maybe they shouldn’t leave one. I give some of these poor reviews zero stars. So there.

In the middle of another snowstorm, I frequently find myself reminiscing about some of my summer spots. One of them? Duplex.
Why? Because any place that enables me to sit on a porch with a plate of macaroni and cheese and a side of sweet potato fries is A-​OK (or «Yay! I’m a fan» in Unilocal terms) in my book –and yes, sometimes I have the diet of a 6 year-​old, but mama likes her comfort food every now and then!
I often wondered whether Duplex and Namaste have to worry about competing for customers since they’re literally right next door, but both of the menus are so different that I’m sure it works out nicely. Plus, if one of the places is overbooked, you can eat at the other one, right?
If you like comfort food and a casual, non-​chain atmosphere, Duplex is your spot!

Very rarely am I so disappointed in service that I feel the need to write such a scathing review online. The only experience I’ve had like this in years was at Duplex this past winter
My friend and I went on a late Saturday morning for some lunch. The place was pretty empty, and we had a Groupon to use up. We promptly ordered food — enough to cover the value of the Groupon ($ 40) The poutine was good, the food in general was good, but the service left me a gasp.
Our food would take super long to show up. Our server wouldn’t come by to fill our drinks, but the kicker was at the end. When it came time to settle the tab, we told our server that we had a Groupon. He looked at me and said in that sort of know-​it-​all-​voice… «you need a reservation to use that. It says so in the fine print».
Sure enough, I look at the fine print and it says «make a reservation». Now, I understand Groupon and how it works. Sometimes places get super overwhelmed. Making reservations is a good idea. That said, this place was EMPTY! I said to our server «so sorry — must have missed that one. Is there anything we can do?»
His response (which is really what got me)
«Ummm…no, you need a reservation to use it (points at the fine print on my iphone) and even if you didn’t, you would have needed to tell me this before you ordered so I wouldn’t have accidentally given you happy hour prices»
WTF!!! So — not only are you pointing out that I’m apparently an idiot for not reading the small print on my Groupon, but you’re also telling me how the magic rules of Groupon work in the event that you don’t follow the rules? HUH?
We were upset. I was upset that we didn’t notice the small print, but even more upset that our server could clearly care less. There was really no good LOGICAL reason we couldn’t have used our Groupon, especially since we spent WAY more than we would normally have.
We paid in full — for the first time in ages, left 0 tip… and I will not be going back. Even to make a reservation to use the Groupon.

Contrary to some of the other reviews, I really enjoyed my dinner at Duplex. I thought the food was great, and there were definitely a lot of options that sounded tasty.
The wine and beer list has a lot of affordable options by the glass, and they had my favorite bottle, the Gazela Vinho Verde. For dinner, I ended up choosing their Chicken Ragu that is served with homemade gnocchi. I thought the gnocchi were excellent. The were good sized and had a really nice crunch from the pan searing. The texture was great too, they were perfectly soft pillows of pasta. The chicken ragu was full bodied with lots of flavor from the tender, braised chicken and slow-​roasted tomatoes.
My hubby ordered the bison chili on the recommendation of our server. He loved the chili. It definitely had a kick to it. The chili had plenty of fresh bison and was served over white rice.
For dessert, it was definitely a tough choice. They had a lot of tasty options including carrot cake, apple cobbler and flourless chocolate cake. My husband is a chocoholic and I knew he was dying to try the chocolate cake, so I succumbed to his cravings. The cake was very dense and fudgey with a chocolate graham cracker crust. I didn’t care for the crust, and thought it was a little dry and not sweet enough. The cake itself was good, with a dark chocolate flavor that had a slight taste of hot fudge. The cake was served with a piling of mint whipped cream that looked like a glacier sliding down the cake. I think they might have gone a little overboard on the whipped cream, and I prefer plain whipped cream to this one that was flavored with fresh mint. But, all in all, it was a fabulous meal and I will definitely be back!

I went to this restaurant for the first time last night with my girl friend. Looking around, I noticed that there were lots of intimate conversations going on at tables around me. It’s that kind of place where people can feel comfortable, cozy and actually hear each other without needing to yell.
I started off with the vegetable tart, which was delicious. I followed with the gnocchi, which was also very good. The portions were also decent, which was a nice touch. I liked the wine list too. All in all, a very pleasant experience – good menu, good service, good atmosphere and reasonable prices. I’ll be back!

Food was excellent. We had the black bean curry soup for an appetizer which had just enough spiciness and smoothness from the curry. Our entrees were the homemade potato gnocchi and the bison chili. The gnocchi were like pillows of goodness, but i would have like to have seen more tomatoes and mushrooms in it. The bison chili had great flavor and a nice topping of crème frache. It had a good kick to it as well.
Good wine and beer selection. Ambiance was modern and relaxing.

Bar none the worst service I have EVER experienced…
food is average, nowhere near as remarkable as the sub-​par service.

Food: 4.5 — Service: 1
I’ve gone to Duplex several times over the years. The food is consistently super-​delicious, the hh specials are great, the outdoor seating is pretty fun and now it finally has full booze.
However, the service is consistently slightly less than good to ridiculously, WTF bad. Had a brunch last week that should have taken 30 minutes less than it did — or had one more round of bloody marys.
I want to love you Duplex, but you keep not showing up when you’re supposed to.