Lush

First, as a previous reviewer mentioned be aware this is a gay bar, and not a straight gay bar like the 90’s. That being said, everyone was very welcoming indeed to me and my husband, and I cannot say enough good things about this place. We did dinner, drinks, and the show. Let’s start with décor and dinner:
The décor here is very post modern/​warehouse/​industrial with interesting art, high ceilings and a big airy feel. The patio area is super nice, with little cabanas for an added touch. Smoking is allowed in the outdoor seating. I am not a fan of smoke but it’s not intrusive at all. I had the french dip, my husband had the salmon. I was very impressed that both dishes were good, restaurant quality not «bar food». Service was prompt and super friendly. My tequila sunrise was not huge but was neither overly weak or too strong. Oh, and do try the bean nachos — perfect balance of beans, cheese, and seasonings.
Next there was the drag show. The Queens here are truly some of the best in town. Monica West as MC and the whole team were wonderful. The stage ans seating is cozy and intimate. You can go to the Lush website and reserve seats ahead for $ 5.00 per person. That is the best way to seat either a group or get the best seats for two. Again, really a friendly and hospitable atmosphere at the show, not snarky and mean spirited the way the 90’s shows started to feel — at least a year or so ago when we last went. I also saw no bachalorette parties at Lush at least last night and I for one was great with that. As I said, it’s a hospitable gay bar, great just as is. I actually hear good things about the 90’s show now but for us I think next time we venture out to a show it will be at Lush.

I do love Lush. The drinks, the music, the atmosphere, the people, and the food.
I do have to say the consistency of the food varies from time to time, sometimes it’s holy smokes-​blow-​your-​socks-​off and every now and again just meh.
The biscuits and gravy is one of my favorite in the city!

Came with friends for brunch and bottomless mimosas. The food is cheap, mimosas are bottomless, and hash browns are amazing. The patio is awesome, but the inside is a little bit too white/​clubby/​sensory overload for me.
Warning: if you want the eggs Benedict — they don’t know how to poach eggs. The music is a bit loud, but if you’re looking to drink and have fun, that shouldn’t be an issue. The French toast has fresh fruit!

I came here this past Sunday for a friend’s birthday brunch and had a great time! Nothing better than great food, great company, and bottomless mimosas!
Note: there is a small private lot and A LOT of free street parking around the area.
I love the atmosphere at Lush and the modern décor. I especially loved the floor to ceiling windows, which brought so much light into the restaurant — allowed for amazing picture taking! Spacing was a bit tight where we sat. It was hard to get in and out of our seats. Didn’t help that we were basically pushed against the window and there were fake plants between the window and our seats.
Service was wonderful! Our waiter Justin was so sweet — he was quick, efficient, and friendly! He even paid for shots for my friend and one for another person so she didn’t have to take her shot alone, which I thought was so nice of him :)
All the food looked and smelled so amazing! Sadly I wasn’t able to try everything but the Cinnamon Roll French Toast that I had was delicious. I was afraid that it’d be too sweet but it definitely wasn’t. The whipped cream also had a hint of alcohol in it which was a nice surprise haha.

Went for amateur drag night and had a blast.
This place is beautifully decorated with high ceilings and perfectly placed art. The warehouse style gives it a nice open feel while the dark walls and soft chandelier lighting makes it intimate. There is a gorgeous white piano next to white leather couches in the lounge area. And a spacious *HEATED* patio outside.
The bartenders were super sweet and attentive. Granted I was there on a Thursday and it wasn’t that crowded.
The drag show was super entertaining and well done! Everyone who participated was so talented! The hostess was hilarious and her use of crowd participation was spot on.
I had a blast and I have found my new favorite bar.
I will have to be back to try the food. I hear there’s bottomless mimosas on Sunday’s? My kinda brunch!

Fun place that never disappoints. We usually come here for Sunday brunch, and this is now my new favorite place for bottomless mimosas. Service was FANTASTIC, as they have no problem in leaving you the entire pitcher at your table to manage at your leisure. THANK YOU! If you have read my other reviews for crappy places for bottomless mimosas (Copper Hen and Hen House) you’ll understand why I was so happy at this place. She was extremely accommodating to our continuously expanding group (started with 4 and grew to 12). I almost never leave 20% tip, except for outstanding service, and this was definitely one of them.
The décor is very slick, modern and appealing. People are always dressed top notch and you will almost always bump into a drag queen. This past week it was a Hell-​Tranny. That was interesting to say the least. Definitely a very friendly place.
Food’s good and decently priced. Overall a great place to day drink on Sundays. Will need to come some time on a Friday /​Saturday night see what they have going on.

I’ve been going to Lush for years and generally love it. The atmosphere is unlike any of the gay bars in the cities! It’s comfortable and laid back for me and a great place to dance and party it up for my wife. The addition of the dedicated dance floor on the weekends is really welcomed and left the whole place feeling less crowded.
I’ve been in twice in the last two weeks as we were curious about how the new owner has changed things. We went on a Friday night and loved the burlesque show. They kept the awesome 3−4 – 1’s but raised the prices of drinks when not during the happy hours. The addition of the cover charge is too bad but understandable as they now have way more going on.
We stopped in last Thursday for the $ 10 burger and beer and sadly I was really disappointed. The sweet potato fries were kept and are delicious but my burger was a mess. It was obviously a frozen patty that was WAY overcooked. It literally hurt to eat this burger. It had very little flavor and I was shocked to see that I was charged $ 1 to fry the onions instead of receiving the fresh onions that came at no cost. (My wife knowingly ordered a couple of extras at $ 1 each so we expected that on the bill.)
Part of the appeal of Lush has always been the food. I was excited to see a well priced date night meal but I will not be back for this.

Went for the bottomless mimosas & was not disappointed! They were an excellent deal & made perfectly! The food & service also excellent, if I lived in the area, I’d make the mimosas a weekend ritual!

I really had a hard time getting the attention of one of the bartenders at the bar. After awkwardly standing in front of her for a solid 3 minutes, I moved over to the opposite side of the bar until the other noticed me. Their happy hour specials for drinks were limited, but I ordered a house wine and it tasted like concord grape juice. To top it off, their piano player in residence left much to be desired. I don’t plan on returning.

We made a visit on a Saturday morning. Bottomless Mimosas were a terrific plus, good was great. It was kind of chilly in there, just make sure you have a sweater or jacket. Looking forward for a return visit and play a game of BINGO.

I’ve been to Lush a billion times, but NYE was my first time revisiting since the new owners took over/​the remodel happened. With the new owners they seem to have corrected some of the issues they had before, which were: slow food service, and boring DJs.
That being said, here is what I love about lush:
–Great dancing. They have been having some really good DJs in lately (including Shannon Blowtorch on NYE), and the music is PRIME for getting your groove on.
–Good Service. I have never had an issue with rude service here. The servers/​bartenders are fun to talk to, and joke with. Our server on NYE was super attentive to our party and provided bottle service for the champagne toast.
–Bingo! They have always had Drag bingo, I think on Saturday afternoons, and I believe they still offer that. It’s a really fun time!
–Brunch with Bottomless mimosas. Sunday brunch, bottomless mimosas are $ 10, and the mimosas are strong.
–Strong drinks, in general.
–Decent bar food. They have revamped their menu a bit, so I haven’t had a chance to try everything yet, but my old favorite (which they still offer) are the sweet potato fries.

Lush is a pretty great place to go to on the weekend during the day. I have been going to place for years and have determined, at least for me and my personality, brunch and happy hour on the weekend is the best.
Service:
First, the weekend day staff is more hospitable than the night staff. At night, the bartenders tend to lack good customer service and it appears to customers that they tend to only serve their friends unless the bar isn’t busy. During the day, wait staff are welcoming and are quick on their feet which makes you feel like your not waiting 30 minutes for a someone to take a drink order from you. The service is still excellent even during busy brunch hours and bingo.
Food and Specials:
The food here is alright. For the prices they have, I would not say the food is worth the money so now a days, the only time I order food is during Bingo because a few of the appetizers are $ 5 which to me is a better price for the quality. Since new ownership, I have not tried in of the new dishes because of my past perceptions so I still have to make up my mind if I want to spend $ 20 to possibly be disappointed again.
I will say that Lush does have some of the best drink specials in the area its located in. There are bottomless mimosas for brunch priced at $ 10 a person and THEY ARE COMPLETELY WORK IT! This is one of the few places where I have felt that these are made truly how I like them: a cup of champagne and a splash of orange juice… haha LITERALLY! If you end up staying for Bingo on Saturday you will be able to buy $ 5 apps and order 2 for 1 drinks. I would definitely not drive if this is your this is your Saturday event plan.
Overall:
This place is a fun spot. I love dancing and night life but I just think this place is more enjoyable on a weekend late morning/​afternoon. You will have pretty good service because they best servers, in my opinion, are working at the time (Justin one of the managers is the best!). You can drink bottomless mimosas with a group of friends with light music in the back so you can still hear your conversations. Lastly, if you get your second wind after brunch, you can stay and listen to Christina (a drag queen) provide comedy as you are playing bingo where profits go to the Aliveness project.

I was just there with a gay mate. We were treated rude when heteo clients wanted our seat’s. Not really a gay friendly feel.

I’ve never seen a bar staff work so hard to ignore their customers. Maybe they really ARE doing incredibly important, «hold on,» Earth– changing things while they scoff at the clientele. Or maybe they’re just snobby dicks. Either way, if you expect quick, friendly service, this is not the place for you. The staff’s priority is being seen. The change in ownership has utilized the back room space better, but the awful service remains. But hey, this place remains trendy, so service is irrelevant. A positive note: Sunday brunch is good. The porn-​models turned staff are usually still drunk from the previous night, so service improves to half assed, and the food is good.

Went to Lush for the first time on Saturday to celebrate my birthday and check out #DragRevolution. So much fun!
First off, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a bar where everyone was so legitimately friendly. Everyone from the bartenders and servers to the go-​go boys and drag queens. I think the fact that the staff is so awesome just boosts the energy level and it seeps into the crowd, making it kind of not even possible to have a bad time. Random strangers in the crowd were coming up to me and wishing me happy birthday. It was rad!
And the show! #DragRevolution is everything that is good about the art of drag. It’s super diverse and really demonstrates the range that drag can cover. Nina DiAngelo doing flips to a Pink song like an Olympic gymnast. Nocturna Lee Mission bringing the sexy creepy drag (my personal favorite kind of drag) with an In This Moment tune. Monica West cracking wise as the host for the first half of the show and dancing like crazy. Victoria DeVille and her amazing voice. Every queen brought something unique and sensational. Even the new queen, Monae Fontae, who was performing because she won last weeks Wednesday amateur drag queen contest, seemed super confident and even busted out the splits. Seriously awe inspiring.
And now I guess they’re doing a drag brunch on Sundays that I need to check out soon! I seriously can’t think of anything Lush could do differently to make me love it more. Well, I guess the DJ could play more Christina Aguilera, but whatever okay.

The changes the new owner had made are fantastic and I’m delighted to see Lush doing well. Duncan, Marshall, Ben are all great.
One complaint though. For God’s sake, change the music! The same music/​video loop had been playing for days and I’m gonna hang myself if you don’t play something new!

Lush is one of my favorite spots to hit up when I visit Minneapolis. The food surprisingly good for bar food and the drinks are strong and delicious. It’s a large space for a bar and the owners have laid out the floor plan perfectly. I really like the outdoor seating section where you can chug your Mango Mojito Martini and devour your Bruch Burger while sitting outside enjoying the weather (clearly it was summer time when I was doing this).
If you give Lush a try I recommend going for their bottomless mimosas ($ 10) and trying the Brunch Burger and the Mango Mojito Martini (if they are still making them).

It seems that at 7 the staff take off their shirts, but the patrons do not (maybe later at night?).
I enjoyed the happy hour here, the ambiance, and the friendly atmosphere. For $ 5 during happy hour, the steak bites are well worth it. The nachos were ok. While they don’t have a very high quality selection of draft beers, they have others in a can, and $ 3 pints of Summit EPA during happy hour. But I’d suggest bringing out a glass with a can of beer, as it tastes better in a glass.
The servers were nice, but not real informed about the fare, prices, or services, but seems to go along with the overall casualness of the place.
My friend brought along a digital ghost detector thingy, and when he turned it on it showed the words «Akasha» and «concrete.» As there were no Akasha’s working there, but the floor was concrete, I decided that she was buried under our feet.

UPDATE: Management finally got back to me and will be reversing the charge. However, I strongly discourage use of a credit card there. A friend of mine advised it’s happened to him multiple times and now pays with cash only.
I was here on Saturday, September 5^th and closed out my $ 32 tab that night. I looked at my bank transactions on Thursday, ⁰⁹⁄₁₀ and found an additional $ 72 transaction charged to my debit card from this place! I drove down to the bar on Thursday just to be told the manager wasn’t available to address it. The server (who just happened to be my server on Saturday) took my contact information and said they’d be taking the charge off. No one got back to me. I left a voicemail today. Still no response. I will be calling my bank on Monday to address this and reporting this establishment to the Better Business Bureau!

I have been to this several times for a good night or afternoon out. When this place first opened, I would have given it a two-​star rating. I am impressed with how much this place has improved in the last year! There was a while in the beginning that I refused to go here because of the lack of quality. Last Fall, I decided to give this place another chance, and I am glad I did.
When this place first opened, I had a hard time finding the place. It has one of those unusual locations that is hard to describe. I drove past it a few times and never realized it. I had to look closely along Central Ave. in order find it. Even after finding the place, their parking lot is hard to access because of how small it is. I recommend parking on the street instead, which I do not mind doing.
I find that Lush is better during the afternoon/​early evening time than the late evening. The clientele, vibe, drinks, cleanliness, and customer service are all better during those times. Also, at night, the clientele tends to be snobbish (not Lush’s fault), which makes my visits there a little uncomfortable.
For the most part, the employees do a good job at keeping everything clean and organized. On a good day, I am able to walk around and not worry a lot about a big mess. I understand that there are a lot of drunk people in there. The employees handle those pesky situations well. They are also good at attending to any major messes and cleaning needs.
The biggest improvement I have noticed in this past year are their drinks. I noticed that Lush hired some new and improved bartenders who clearly know how to make a drink. My favorite bartender there is Justin. He’s usually too busy to socialize with patrons, but that’s okay. Most of the other bartenders are also friendly.
I have played quite a few games of Bingo on a Saturday afternoon. I always have fun. I like that the money that Bingo brings in goes to HIV, a cause that I am always happy to support. My favorite Bingo guy there is Jon. He is hilarious, and he is largely to credit for making Bingo so fun.
As long as Lush keeps improving like it has been, I will continue coming here for a good time. I am glad that I can count on this place for a good time.

I showed up at 9pm for what I expected to be a fun night but learned that all of the sudden there was a $ 10 cover. Strange because I showed up at 9pm. When your website states a cover at 10pm, don’t charge the cover at 9pm. That is false advertising. I will be reporting this to the better business bureau as the staff told me tough luck rather than honoring the website’s stated promise. Not a good way to start off under new management.

You know, I’ve actually NEVER had a good experience here. The Bartenders are rude, the clientele is snotty, and the venue is basically a gutted warehouse. The bartender was really rude and tried to tell us we couldn’t redeem a drink coupon, and then when we pointed out that it was totally valid, poured us drinks that had about a ½ ounce of liquor in a cup overflowing with ice and a splash of Sprite.
Go to the Gay 90s. Honestly. They have better entertainment, for cheaper, with way better drinks.

Do they really have food here? I saw some flatware but no food in sight. I went to dance… and boy did I.
There is just something about gay bars that is so cool. You can dance with the men without being groped and women aren’t as aggressive with their advances. They’re probably annoyed that their scene has been invaded by straights… but that’s just because it’s so fun there!
Great DJ last night. Perfect transitions, tempo and awesome sound.
Drinks are strong, a little expensive but not terrible. $ 6 cover. Awesome outdoor patio with fire pit — keeps smokers happy and non-​smokers warm!
Parking is a little hairy. There is a tiny lot that fits about 5 cars, otherwise you’re on-​street.

I went to lush for brunch with a couple friends. $ 10 for bottomless mimosas, and when they say bottomless, they mean it! Our server literally did not let our glasses go empty until brunch was over. Brunch wasn’t too busy, so the environment was nice and relaxed. They played good music and ratchet music videos on the tv screens, which I loved. Following brunch was bingo; we played a couple rounds. The host was fabulous and bought shots for people with birthdays at the time. The food was good, but slightly overpriced. But Lush is a great place overall!

Lush is one of my favorite brunches.
An obvious reason is the bottomless mimosas. And if your server knows you’re serious about the bottomless aspect, they’ll bring you your own pitcher. Don’t make plans for the rest of the day if you do the bottomless mimosas, you’re definitely going to need a nap after brunch. Their bloody mary isn’t bad either, and they have a nice list of alcoholic coffees.
A less obvious reason is the food. It’s a bar, right? So why would I rave about their food? But it’s really good food! It’s nothing too fancy, and it’s greasy enough to cure last night’s hangover, but it’s not as greasy as other bar brunches. My favorites are the Marcy Holmes hash and the quesadilla.
This place is rarely busy for brunch, so there’s no wait. It’s a modern-​industrial atmosphere, you can definitely tell it’s a nightclub. I like to imagine that they just completely hose the place down after a Friday or Saturday night to prepare for brunch. There are TVs all along the walls that play music videos of pop/​dance hits from the 80s through today, which means I do a lot of dancing in my chair, especially when you factor in the bottomless mimosas.
Now, I’ve never been here at night, but with some insane drink specials and knowing what their brunch music playlist is like, I bet it’s a fun time, especially if you like dancing.

Good food and good service.
Being a straight dude, I was a little apprehensive when a friend wanted to meet there on Sunday night. I was pleasantly surprised. The industrial-​mod décor is pretty cool. I also like the way the videos are displayed around the entire perimeter, a full 360 degrees.
I had a hot pastrami sandwich and kettle fries that were fantastic! Actually, I can’t believe they came out of that dinky little kitchen. The pastrami was generous and around a quarter inch thick. The kettle fries were made fresh and steaming hot. I’ve actually never had fresh kettle fries before. They were great.
Lush isn’t really my kind of place but I wouldn’t hesitate to stop by again for a sandwich or brunch.
–Daddy Maxx Retro