Heidi’s

Came here for Brunch 10 – 13 and Sat at the Bar. Trish the Bartender was awesome and fun to talk to.
Solid food with a great understanding of flavors.
The mussel soup was exquisite. I also had the Beet and Truffle salad with and order of eggs. Again, nice flavors in the salad and adding some yolky eggs gave it a nice richness.
My Wife got the Shrimp and Grits which were equally as delicious. She let me suck on the heads. So much flavor.
We will definitely be back for Dinner before they end of the year.
Plates are on the small side so keep that in your noggin if you’re looking to feast.

My husband and I ate at Heidi’s last week for our wedding anniversary. We both had the four course menu for $ 48/​person which is a steal considering the level of food Heidi’s offers.
We had a reservation and were seated immediately. Our server took a little bit to show up, but once she did she was attentive without being overbearing and had a great personality. I had the Cock ‘n’ Bull to drink which was delicious (if you like gin) and my husband had the Old-​Fashioned which he said was too sweet to finish.
Single Bites:
Me: Chilled Langostine (good — if you’re feeling brave, suck the head)
Husband: Pickled Tongue Ravioli which was delicious and intensely flavored
Appetizers:
Me: Carmelized Onion Risotto (delicious)
Husband: Diver Scallop which wasn’t overcooked and beautifully served (also delicious, but by husband had food envy over the risotto)
Main: We both had the lamb shank. It’s a Heidi’s classic and what they’re really know for, with good reason. It’s amazing. The meat was tender and the flavors are excellent. If you don’t get it, you’re seriously missing out.
Dessert:
Me: Poached Apples (meh. I really wanted to chevre cheesecake, but we missed it by a week or so on the menu)
Husband: Chocolate Cake and Mint which was intensely chocolate-​y without being insanely sweet; an excellent dessert for real grown-​ups.
I mentioned to our server earlier in the night that it was our wedding anniversary that day (she said we should have come sooner for the chevre cheesecake and I said that day was our anniversary so we wanted to wait). Dessert was sent out with a single candle on each of our plates and a happy anniversary wish from the food runners. A few minutes later, our server stopped by with an small envelope. When I opened it, inside was a $ 20 gift certificate! It was completely unexpected and a really pleasant surprise. Litte touches like this make me think the Woodmans really care about their customers.
No question my husband and I will be back to Heidi’s, and with the prices of this place it doesn’t even have to be a special occasion. They always keep a few seats open for walk-​ins, so don’t be scared off if you don’t have a reservation. But I’m telling you… Walk, run, bike, hell, crawl if you have to. But eat the lamb shank.

My two friends and I went to Heidi’s on a Saturday night at around 9 PM and we had reservations. The host was very nice and gracious and greeted us immediately. Our waiter was attentive, but not overbearing, although we had to wait a little longer than usual to be greeted by our waiter, but it was not so long that we wondered where he was. The host and our waiter worked together to make sure our dinner experience was good, and everything went well. All in all, I would give our host and waiter an A+! At the end of our meal, we asked if they could call a cab for us and a cab was available for us to get back to our hotel right away, which ended up in a bigger tip for our waiter :)
I also loved it that you could see the kitchen, since the kitchen was behind glass windows. And that there was a chef’s table right in the kitchen!
The reason why I would only give it 3 stars is because the food was okay. As an «out of towner» Heidi’s would not be a place that I would be excited to look forward to go to again. The food was okay/​good. Here are few reasons why:
The risotto was awesome! But I feel as if they gave us too much! After I was finished eating the risotto, I felt as if I was too full and maybe could not finish my lamb shank.
The lamb shank itself was awesome also, but the sauce was a bit too sweet. I could have liked a little less sauce, or if the sauce amount stayed the same, then the rice could have been a little more.
I got the Hybiscus dessert. I’m not sure if it was because they were waiting for us to finish our main entrees (we were eating really slow because we were so full from the risotto), and it was almost 11 (closing time) or a mix of both, but when I got my dessert, the dessert was warm and the plate was cold. But the Hybiscus dessert was too dry for my taste and too sweet (because the dessert was warm?). But I guess I shouldn’t have mixed a Hybiscus cocktail with a dessert either. But I liked the cocktail!
My friends got the tongue starter and the apple orgy appetizer. My friends said that the tongue starter was too sweet and my other friend did not like the apple orgy either. She said there was a weird after taste. But the host noticed that she didn’t finish it and asked her if she wanted something else, and she got the risotto instead.
It was a new experience, new restaurant, but I wouldn’t plan on going back to Heidi’s for while.

Heidi’s is a Minneapolis fine dining restaurant that all of my foodie friends have been surprised I’ve never tried. Perhaps it was simply bad timing, perhaps it was simply a matter of effort, but somehow I had never been there until recently. Heidi’s certainly has a reputation among the foodie cognoscenti in Minneapolis as being one of the finest places to eat, so I went into it with very high expectations.
Overall, I would describe my experience as uneven. The service was impeccable yet unobtrusive, and the wine list was certainly more than functional. Some of the courses on the seven-​course tasting menu, such as the beet and goat cheese salad, were absolutely divine. I absolutely loved the salmon mousse cannoli, wrapped in a shell of an «everything» bagel slice.
That said, some of the courses were seasoned with an incredibly heavy hand. The opening course, an egg mousse, was quite salty, but that was nothing compared to the pasta course that came later. Ostensibly, the pasta included black truffles and fresh homemade pasta in a cream sauce, but the salt was so heavy, that I tasted literally nothing else. I would not have even known there were truffles in the dish if the server had not told us. It really bordered on inedible.
Even when salt was not the issue, there were other plates that also suffered from seasoning overkill. The lamb shank, one of Heidi’s signature plates, was so overwrought, so heavily braised in a very strong sauce, and so heavily seasoned, that I didn’t actually know I was eating lamb. For all I could tell, it was beef pot roast. The delicate flavor of the lamb was completely overwhelmed by everything else on the plate. My better half, a great lover of all things lamb, left most of her plate untouched she was so underwhelmed.
Perhaps I caught Heidi’s on a bad night. Perhaps my taste buds were somehow overly sensitive that night. all things considered, I would not consider Heidi’s to be among the better meals I’ve ever had, nor would I even consider it to be one of the best in the Twin Cities. While Tim McKee’s La Belle Vie may be significantly stuffier and a bit formal for Minneapolis, at least their tasting menu is consistently prepared and carefully seasoned. Doug Flicker’s Piccolo also shows a level of care, creativity, and consistency with their food that clearly overshadows Heidi’s in my mind.
I really wanted to like Heidi’s, but I find myself walking away wondering if I will give them a second chance-​my guess is that we will, but we will do so with a very critical eye.

I was really excited to go to Heidi’s (I mean, it’s my name!!) However, I think that Heidi’s has been overhyped in the Twin Cities area, particularly by the Strib. It was a solid meal but the price point was rather high for what we ordered.
In particular, the menu execution was a bit too precious (and this is coming from a girl who abbrevs it in conversation to «presh»). My friend and I are pretty adventurous eaters, and yeah, I do like experimental food (aka foam/​crystal/​powdered/​spherized elements) and was really glad that Heidi’s was doing it, but there was so many of these that it got overwhelming after a while — like these were being done just to show they were being done, rather than contributing to the dish’s taste itself. As a whole, it made my meal experience disjointed, and it made me feel like I was paying largely for technical tricks.

My mother is a food critic, so I took her here when she was in town on the Star-Trib’s recommendation. We had appetizers beforehand, so opted out of the four-​course menu. I ordered the petite filet, which was absolutely delicious. But it was also absolutely expensive, and as the name would suggest, not very big.
The ambiance felt a bit disjointed to me. The «tree» in the middle was a nice statement, but the Urban Outfitters-​esque chandeliers and graffiti-​like mural on the exposed brick seemed too casual compared to the food and the dim lighting. With these prices, they should stick with fine dining chic rather than Uptown hip.

This was a difficult review. I would say 3.5 stars.
We came for Sunday brunch before our flight back to OC, so we were in a bit of a time crunch, but not too bad. Let’s call it «time conscious». And I really wanted to try Heidi’s before we left, so I was glad they served brunch.
The gentleman who greeted us at the door was very personable, but seemed new because he was a little scattered. Fine. He sat us and took our drink order.
The mimosa took a strange amount of time, considering we were one of about 5 tables in the place. I feel like at a place like this, drinks should be quick. Especially when…
…it seemed like there was only one waitress serving the whole place/​room. We felt for her. We did. But it took her about 20 minutes to even acknowledge our presence. Not a «hey sorry guys, I will be right with you», not even a look in our direction. Eye contact would have been nice, she was deliberately avoiding us. We were seated by the door, so she had to walk by us to get to the kitchen, and she would either look away or down, when it would have been super easy to just catch an eye and smile/​gesture. And why wasn’t one of the other two people helping with orders and such?
When we finally did exist, she was very friendly and helpful, and the food came out quickly and we got our check quickly. I got the lobster and truffle tagliatelle, which is served with eggs at this hour, and that was pretty good. SO got the fried chicken and biscuits (served, btw, on opposite sides of the plate and not stacked, which I thought was smart), and when I tried his chicken, it was very moist and there was a really good flavor to the fried part. I’d order both again, but probably the chicken first. Back to the mimosa, it had a strange, unexpected flavor (it was a ginger mimosa which took a while to detect, the first taste was something I couldn’t quite place… not bad but… odd), but it was decent.
There were so many interesting things on the brunch menu, I’d love to be able to come back and try more! I’m willing to assume it was just an off-​morning, and if we weren’t «time conscious», I wouldn’t have cared as much (though a glance or acknowledgement would have been nice, it was pretty rude), but I think my SO, being somewhat impatient and a hungry guy, would still have cared.
The décor, btw, was amazing. Stunning. Love it. Might have been a 3-​star review without it. I asked SO if we could put a tree like that in our house, but I was shot down, so I will have to live vicariously through Heidi’s!

Based on other people’s reviews, I think we had an unusually bad experience at brunch this weekend.
Good things:
* Seated right away and they brought us a complimentary plate of delicious banana bread.
* Some of the food was good.
* They realized we got really bad service and comped us some drinks (I’d still rather just get good service and pay for what I order).
Bad things:
* Our server was chewing gum the whole time, which grosses me out (I’m extra sensitive about it, but still, I don’t think this is something servers should do).
* We ordered bloody marys and a few other drinks. We waited half an hour for them (at least). And I didn’t think they were great (and smaller than at most places, with less good stuff in the garnish).
* For half of us (group of 7), the food wasn’t very warm.
* We were short a place setting and never got another one after asking for it (I grabbed one from another table).
* We didn’t get checked on much after we got our food, so we had to walk back to the kitchen to get things we needed.
* To me, the menu was short and mostly food I didn’t find too appealing for brunch.
* 3 people got the ham and cheese omelets and found «no detectable ham».
This whole experience seemed really weird to me, given that there weren’t many customers there and the great reviews the place gets. Maybe they were short-​staffed.

I visited Heidi’s while in town for a business trip, so I dined alone. But the staff were friendly and efficient, and made me feel at home and had me in and out of a 4 course dinner in great time!
The 4 course dinner I had was $ 46, which is a relative bargain for the caliber of food and techniques on display here. The lamb shank entrée which apparently is their signature dish was phenomenally tender, literally falling off the bone as I poked at it. And the arugula pesto took this dish from great to amazing!
And the dessert– I opted for the mango spheres, which had flavors of mango, lychee, lemongrass, and coconut in various exploding spheres, powders, gelees, and sorbets on the plate. Normally I don’t like these types of treatments because I have no idea what I’m eating. But the flavors were so distinct, harmonious, and delicious, I didn’t even care. I recall eating a similar dessert at Alinea 7 months ago, and at nearly ¹⁄₅^th the price, this tasted way better.
Service was excellent as well!

We went her for a friends birthday and I was totally skeptical at first because I am not a foodie and I was extremely impressed with my meal.
We went for a late brunch and started off in the bar as we waited for a table. We ordered these violet colored champagne drinks that were perfect for a ladies birthday brunch. As we waited in the bar I couldn’t help but stare in at all the kitchen staff prepping everyone’s meals — I love restaurants with open kitchens.
We were seated after we finished our first drinks at a table by the windrow looking onto Lyndale. We ordered their stuffed doughnuts for for an app and they were amazing. The perfect amount of cream filling and fried dough sprinkled with a light coating of cinnamon and sugar. I had this spiced butternut squash soup (I don’t believe it’s on their menu any longer) that was beyond my expectations. My only complaint is that they didn’t put enough in my bowl. We shared the soft eggs, pasta and lobster which again was beyond my expectations as someone who was apprehensive about the idea of the three together.
I haven’t been back for dinner but am hoping to try it out soon.
Definitely worth checking out.

This is a foodie’s dream! There aren’t a lot of places that have this calibre of food and service in the Minneapolis area. In fact, there may not be really any other restaurants at this level in this city. That being said, be prepared to pull out that black Amex cause this place can get spendy.
Definitely recommend you get reservations as it is a popular place with a very small dining room. This is definitely more of a special occasion type place, unless you just have a lot of money to burn.
The food is always really great with lots of interesting menu items that you won’t find elsewhere. Gotta love a chef-​driven restaurant. My only complaint is that I feel the portions are really quite small, especially for how expensive they are; I’m never quite filled by anything here. You’ll definitely want to order several courses.

Came here last night for the pre-​curtain menu. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s a 3-​course meal for $ 34 per person. It’s a great deal given Heidi’s a la carte prices. The pre-​curtain menu is only available before 6:30pm.
For our app course, we had a choice of a salad and mussel soup. Both were good. The mussel soup was a creamy soup with raviolis stuffed with mussel. There was a foie gras app for an additional $ 7 but no one in our party tried it.
For the main course, we had a choice of braised lamb shank, corvina (a bass-​like white fish), and veal osso buco (for an additional $ 18). The star of the evening was the lamb shank. It was super tender and came with a delicious sauce. Five of the six people in our party got it and we all cleaned it to the bone. It was served over a fragrant rice, with hints of ginger and orange.
For dessert, we chose between a warm chocolate cake and caramelized pineapple. Both were delicious. The chocolate cake’s presentation was really neat — they cut a little circle out of the center, covered it with a chocolate shell, then at the table, poured over hot vanilla sauce which melted the shell and soaked into the cake. Very unique and creative!
The service was top notch. We had one primary server, but the wait staff worked as a team to bring us a new set of silver ware for each course. They were extremely polite and attentive without being intrusive in any way. Our server was knowledgeable about the menu and didn’t mind splitting the bill for us. (Side note: I hate it when servers claim it’s difficult to split a bill. It’s only difficult if you can’t remember who ordered what.)
If I had to complain about one thing — it would be that the bread wasn’t warm. I always appreciate it when restaurants serve warm/​hot bread. It makes such a big difference for very little effort. I was a bit surprised that Heidi’s didn’t do that. Having said that, the bread basket was pretty good in that it contained regular french bread as well as a raisin bread.
All in all, a great dining experience and I would highly recommend it! it would be perfect for a date night or special occasion like an anniversary or birthday.

We had a babysitter and decided to go to a place that we typically wouldn’t take our little guy. So we finally got to Heidi’s and had been on my «want to try» restaurants for a long time. I thought that my expectations would be too high with all the rave reviews and long anticipated wait (like reading an amazing book and hearing there is a movie in the works and ends up always disappointing you).
Heidi’s didn’t do that at all. We called for reservations about 45 minutes before we could get there and were pleasantly surprised that we were able to get in. We were able to catch the pre-​curtain and it was beyond fantastic! Hubs got the Dungeness Bisque, Lamb Shank and the Chocolate Mousse. I got the Foie Torchon, Arctic Char, and the Barvarian Donuts. Every dish was utterly amazing and the service was impeccable.
This restaurant is definitely fancier and more «romantic» that hubs and I are used to but really love how much thought there was to the dishes, they were tasty and didn’t feel pretentious. We thought the pre-​curtain was a great way to try several dishes without breaking the bank.
We are looking forward to going back to Heidi’s for another date night!

I enjoyed the creativity of the dishes as well as the flavor. At our table we had the scallop appetizer, the crab bisque, the lobster truffle pappardelle, and a couple of other items. All were really tasty and the service was great as well.
My one criticism is that they put lobster bits in the pasta rather than chunks. Not sure why they decided to mince the lobster (seriously, who does that?) but it made it difficult to taste the lobster at all. Fortunately the sauce, which included truffle, tasted really good despite that.

FInally made it to the new location.
We had the 3 course tasting menu for early birds (I am a HUGE fan of the «early bird» specials). Given the prices it essentially boils down to a free dessert, but that ain’t half bad.
The service was very good, they kept up with the silverware needed for each course and the food was mighty fine. Tastes were impeccable and it was a pretty great experience overall.
Would definitely recommend checking it out if you want a fancy dinner out on the town!

Finally made it to Heidi’s last night with 2 friends and we weren’t disappointed. It was a mid-​afternoon decision so the only reservations available were much later or much earlier than I usually eat. We went with early and there was only 1 other table when we arrived. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they offer a 3 course «Pre-​Curtain» menu until 6:30pm for $ 34. It has about 3 choices for each course and looked like a great deal.
But I was peer-​pressured into the 7 course tasting menu. The whole table is required to do a tasting menu if anyone does (7, 9 or 13 courses!) But luckily I could do the pescatarian version while my friends did the everything version. The courses ranged from 3-​bites to appetizer size — which was plenty considering there were 7 delicious courses. Our waiter stayed on top of water and bread refills as the restaurant filled up, and everyone’s plate came out at the same time (even though I had the fishy one.) Every course was very good– most memorable was the Beet & Truffle Sorbet. We all licked our spoons clean! It was all very good, but definitely a pricey impulse buy. It came to just under $ 100 a person with our shared bottle of «cheap» wine.
I’d love to go back & try the Pre-​Curtain menu after I balance my budget with some ramen.

My boyfriend and I tried Heidi’s because we’re into the food scene in Minneapolis and Heidi’s was next on the list.
We tried the tasting menu because it was fairly reasonable for 9 courses and it was just an easy option.
We’re glad we did. The server we had was nice, but he had a pretty easy job — by the time he got to us we already knew what we wanted because we never had an introduction and it took long enough for us to think things through (felt longer, but it was probably 10 – 12 minutes)
Heidi was floating around, and she is obviously well liked and known — definitely has that great front-​of-​house personality that every restaurant needs. She checked on us and helped bus tables and stuff.
The menu was balanced, with a seafood focus. Everything was really good, but only a couple dishes got that OH WOW feeling. I loved the fois gras the most (but that’s my absolute favorite food item in the world), and my boyfriend enjoyed the tongue. I can’t pinpoint why these dishes didn’t get the fuzzy good feeling — maybe because in most dishes there wasn’t a champion flavor — it was great all together and cooked well, but nothing was like — yes — that made the dish.
There was a couple of times we did have the dish dropped off without the right silverware, and a couple of times the dish wasn’t explained to us, just dropped off. The runner/​bus guy working was supremely awkward and is probably best put on a cold line or something so he doesn’t have to interact with customers — maybe needs some coaching?
All in all, we’d probably go back for dinner again, but we’re ok for now. We don’t mind spending (insert your guess) on dinner, but I’ve done the same at other restaurants in the city and felt the value. Here we left a little iffy on it.
If you are into tasting menus — I’d do Piccolo during Valentine’s Day or whenever they do it or wait your turn at Travail.

Disappointed. Won’t go back. And we were huge fans…
Maybe it’s the new menu. Only one salad to choose from and it was tasteless. The greens were gorgeous, but the ranch dressing was so bland all we tasted was greens. I am not a rabbit! We had the Baramundi Thai dish that was colorless and also bland. Bland Thai? That’s an oxymoron.
With only a tiny handful of dishes on the menu each one should be outstanding and both of these missed the mark.

I wanted to go over Labor Day but it was closed all weekend. Heidi’s reopened the day after with a new fall menu and it makes me scream and miss the summer menu.
Beets 2.2 is nowhere near as good as Beets 2.1. Beets 2.1 was the best Beet dish I’ve ever eaten and Beets 2.2 wasn’t even something I could finish.
Shefzilla Surprise is also no good. Please bring back the corn ravioli! Prawns + Cheese = no go.
Here’s to hoping the fall menu gets a revamp or I might have to be saddened until their next menu change.

I was looking forward to Heidi’s last spring when two things happened: 1) I broke up with my last boyfriend and 2) Heidi’s burned down. Oh well, try again. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be.
Fortunately, two things have happened since: 1) Met a cute new boy and 2) Heidi’s reopened on Lyndale. Also, my best friend made reservations last night for a double date and I was finally set to go!
The Set Up
Like any other business around Lyn-​Lake, parking is going to suck in the colder seasons. Please, suburbanites, do NOT park on the bridge on Aldrich and 29^th. Ya gonna get your ass ticketed. There is a parking lot, but even at 9pm it was kinda crowded.
The inside of the restaurant was beautiful; this minimal industrial feel that was tempered by warm red chandeliers, wood accents, and an enormous white tree composed of stripped branches.
The Food
I started with the blood orange negroni and Jared had the ginger smash. I didn’t care for the ginger smash, it was a bit bland and musty for me. The Negroni was almost perfect though, the blood orange made it a bit cloudy but added a faint fruit accent and it was nicely bitter overall, a good start to dinner. The other cocktails looked good, I might have to come back for tho others.
Between the four of us, we ordered the Shefzilla Surprise, the tofu dish, the Rabbit in Love, Seared Duck Breast, Salmon cassoulet. The Shefzilla that night was a braised oxtail ravioili with a sauce made of foie gras and lobster served with micro greens. The oxtail was tender as was the pasta itself. The sauce was outstanding, super rich and creamy with a nice flavor that enhanced the ox-​tail. I seriously wish it was a regular dish!
The house-​made tofu looked good, but it definitely made me wonder whether it was worth $ 17.
The salmon cassoulet with adzuki beans was reported to be good, it looked nice and slightly blackened on the outside. Some salmon chunks were wrapped in orange peel, which I imagine imparted a nice flavor to the fish.
The Rabbit in Love was interesting, it was a rabbit saddle (back of the rabbit) and some sort of sausage that was more like a light meatloaf in texture. It paired well with the sweet potato, but I thought it could have used more salt and have some crunch to it.
I ordered the Seared Duck Breast with coffee pecan pancake, scallion foam and lingonberry sauce. The duck is served medium, but I would go medium rare next time. It was a bit chewy. The taste was also quite gamey so definitely eat it with the lingonberry, the foam and the pancake. The pancake acted as a nice buffer, although I did not taste the coffee.
For dessert we ordered the chocolate nitro mousse, the frozen yuzu with sesame soufflé, and the yogurt-​drenched cake. The nitro mousse was very rich in taste and just sweet enough. The roasted marshmallow sauce was interestingly gooey.
I was ok with the yogurt cake, it was kind of dense and bland. The yogurt helped but it was too dry for me. It was served with crunchy halva-​like chunks which I liked. I think it would be better as a spongier cake.
I enjoyed mine, the sesame soufflé was more like a mousse; it could have had a stronger sesame taste. There was a yuzu compote on top of yuzu ice cream and wrapped with a sesame cracker that I enjoyed. This was my favorite of the three. The compote was quite tart and reminiscent of yuzu.
The Service
Service was outstanding. They check your coat and also help you put it on when you leave (if you’re a lady). Everyone was polite and seemed excited to be there.
The service combined with the décor makes this place ideal for impressing first dates.
Also, the eponymous Heidi dropped by. She was wearing chunky frame glasses, black pearls, red lipstick and a furry, curly Mongolian lamb vest that she let us touch. She genuinely seemed happy to have us and that left us with a good feeling.
Conclusion
We did notice we were the youngest in the crowd by about five years, but for a good reason. Heidi’s prices are not drop-​in friendly unless you’re a rich mofo! For two people, an appetizer, two cocktails, two main dishes, and two desserts was about $ 75.
The cocktails and appetizer were great and the service was great, but I felt the main dishes could have been more flavorful. Perhaps I’m more used to bold flavorings, but I found myself more drawn to the appetizers and amuse-​bouche than the main dishes when reading the menu.
The portions are small so if you have a dainty-​normal appetite, a shared appetizer, main course, and dessert are good enough. If you have a heartier appetite, I’d order an amouse-​bouch, an appetizer for yourself, a main course with a side, and dessert.
Overall, I’m glad I make a trek out and the next time I go, it will probably be to drink and eat appetizers at the bar.