Masa

favorite d’amico restaurant. boo it’s gone. people in MN don’t appreciate mexican cuisine as much as they should… i miss their mole the most. you gave it a good run, italians!

Whoa. Just when I find a great place downtown it shuts down?! Amazing happy hour deals and delicious vegetarian tacos. Totally bummed!

Moderately priced hipster Mexican.
The drinks were great and the food was so-​so.
Head there for happy hour to avoid outrageous prices at dinner.

Our experience started out as 5 stars, but trickled down to 3 over our 2 hour dinner — there were only two of us eating.
Our server gave us drink recommendations, which we both got (the spicy margarita), chips and salsa came out after (delicious!), and our drinks followed that. We then ordered our entrees, which came out in a timely matter.
Although my entrée order was messed up (got carnitas instead of steak tacos — didn’t make that much difference to me since I want to try the carnitas anyway), we were both satisfied with our food.
We get close to finishing our meals, and then we sit there… for about 45 minutes with no one coming to our table. We finally got our server to come over, ask to box up the rest of our dinner, order churros, and get the check as well.
The churros were either not cooked correctly or I’m just not use to the way they prepare them (what my server told me). They had a crisp outside, but the dough on the inside was still moist/​batter like. :/​
We then paid, but had to wait an additional 5 minutes to get out boxed food, which was probably taken from our table 20 minutes prior.
Food is good, but I would recommend sticking to takeout!

We had the chicken mole special and the 3 tacos. The restaurant was happening but not too busy.
Pros: good food, pleasant atmosphere, very competent staff
Cons: little bit expensive, acoustics are not great and it was sometimes hard to hear the server
I ate too many chips.

In town for business and I was glad that I found this little gem. I highly recommend the carnitas tacos and prickly pear margarita… SO good!

Review of happy hour only. Had a several tacos ($ 2.50 ea), a tamale ($ 4.50), and a couple of draft beers ($ 3 ea). Food was tasty and a good value and server was very pleasant. Limited section of draft and bottled beers but enough to choose from.
Overall very good experience. Would recommend and return myself.
Modern, minimal, relatively upscale décor. Regular meals are probably good, though a bit more than I like pay for Mexican food. I lean toward hole-​in-​the-​wall Mexican places.

One of my favorite restaurants in downtown Minneapolis. The cucumber margaritas are fabulous and I’ve never been dissappointed with what I order. I love going for their Sunday night date night special, 3 course dinner for 2 with wine for $ 50! The Camarones al Mojo de Ajo is my favorite dish a long with the Pastel de Tres Leches.

Came here with work colleagues on a Tuesday night in September. Weather was great, so we are outside on the front patio. Road construction out front made the view less than ideal. But there was no activity going on when we were there, so it was pretty quiet.
Staff was attentive but unobtrusive. My colleagues both ordered a combination of the carnitas and camarones tacos and I ordered the chicken salad (Ensalada con Pollo a la Parilla).
They raved about their meals and I can say that my salad was the bomb. The marinade for the chicken was unusual but delicious and the agave dressing on the salad was something I want to try at home! Highly recommend this place and want to return the next time I’m in Minneapolis!

This place was simply amazing… simply awesome! The best «fancy Mexican» place I’ve ever dined in. I have no way of knowing if it’s «authentic Mexican» or if it’s supposed to be… but they call themselves «contemporary Mexican». But I do know that it is definitely «delicious Mexican»! I ordered the most delectable chicken dish I think I have ever eaten anywhere (Pollito al Campestre). The beans and cilantro rice that accompanied it were perfectly flavored and textured. Not only were the tastes and flavors incomparable, but the presentation was just beautiful. The hostess and my server were just great… I felt so welcome even though I was dining alone. I ordered a side of plantains and I also the tres leches cake for dessert. The plantains were a little different than what I’m used to, but they were still good. The tres leches was phenomenal. Masa was so good that I came back another night that I was in Minneapolis. The same hostess was there and I had the same waiter, Dirk. The hostess said «Welcome back» and Dirk said the same. I was so glad they remembered me and were so welcoming again. I guess you would expect that they would remember me, but with some places, you never know.
Overall, I’d have to say this is one of my favorite restaurants in all my US travels.

Gourmet Mexican. Nice for a change. Love the light, bright & white everything.
The food is a bit of a shocker. Be prepared for when it says «spicy»…it’s gonna REALLY fry your tongue and you are gonna feel it as it moves all the way down your esophagus. Honestly, I LOVE spicy food and typically restaurants that indicate heavy spice on their menus are only saying… be careful… it’s gonna be slightly hotter than what you are used to. OKAY. No problem. So… I plunge right in there and go for the spice since I have jaded taste buds anyway and LO AND BEHOLD!!! The spice indicated in certain or MOST dishes is HOTTTTTTTT! and HOLLLAR for water or drink that cocktail ASAP as a mind numbing and body numbing defense cuz you are gonna need it… AND I’m NO chicken!!!
Hasn’t it been said… that water will not put out the fire that is presently burning in your mouth? Maybe milk instead? that is… IF they have milk.
So you’re on your own kid. Dine at your own risk. Just make sure you have your personal fire extinguisher ready in your bag.
Next time I eat at Masa, I’m going to ask them to dial the spicy hotness down a few notches.
DECOR: Miami style, up to a point… and then you look around and say to yourself… YEP… I really am in the midwest
FOOD: Excellent, different
People: Lots of tourists, some business locals

MASA for happy hour is the bomb dot com. Most everything on their menu is under $ 6 and they have a selection of tacos to choose from. The tacos are served closer to traditional Mexican style than tex-​mex and it is fabulous. Last year they added a vegetarian tacos to their menu which is the most delicious taco ever. I love seeing what places can do sans meat and MASA gets an A+ for the veggie taco. With pumpkin seeds, cooked shredded veggies and a great sauce topping I love this almost more than the asada. Almost.
For a spot downtown on Nicollet you really get a great deal for the price. $ 2 happy hour tacos and $ 5 margaritas are wonderful. You can also get chips and salsa or guac, along with churros or sandwiches. Definitely my favorite place for happy hour tacos downtown.

Very nice — good food, good service, very good espresso coffee, excellent music and ambience.

Good Mexican food. The black beans are especially good. And that’s a benchmark I keep for Mexican cuisine.
My pork tamales were good, but some of the other meals in our party were better — the Carnitas sandwich for one.
An excellent location and great portions will probably take us back there!

Food is good but don’t expect to have traditional Mexican food. It’s more a fusion restaurant.
Price is good for the food you get, especially the deal for 2 people that includes entrée, main course, desert and wine
It’s $ 50!
You can also have «a nice «al fresco» diner outside
Service was good — they made some mistakes that delayed our food bur was good, overall.

Before heading to a Lynx game, my sister and I went to Masa for happy hour. Acknowledging my passion for cultural food and a flavorful happy hour margarita, she highly recommended Masa because of its authentic Mexican vibe and the spicy margarita de diabolita.
The modern, yet authentic atmosphere immediately impressed me with the beautifully draped cream and white fabrics, complimented with the fiery orange glow of the bar and orange flower accents on the patio. Mosaic tiling lined the lower half of the walls and many of the tables, while the top half of the walls artfully displayed Mexican-​themed murals.
When it comes to margaritas, or any food for that matter, my sister is enticed by savory, sweetness while I on the other hand, want my eyes to water and my throat to burn. The margarita diabolita is the perfect margarita for the masses. There was a complexity of juicy, citrus flavors, yet with a kick.
We also ordered the queso fundito dip, which was incredibly tasty. It was not overly salty or processed, and I thought the vegetables mixed in the cheese were a nice touch. But I will add a cautionary tale: the queso was positioned closer to me, which usually, is how I like it. However, due to the elasticity of the cheese and a pool of liquid at the bottom of the bowl, it was precarious to eat. Every time I took a bite, I had work to get the cheese to stretch enough that it would break into a bite size piece, and during the process liquid cheese would fling from the bowl onto my shirt. Between my sister and I, this happened so often that we fought over who spilled more on my shirt. Don’t get me wrong, this appetizer is delicious and worth the arm work out, just make sure to put on your bib and have a good rapport with the person sitting next to you at the table!

A stylish Mexican inspired restaurant on Nicollet mall in downtown Minneapolis featuring tacos, salads, enchiladas and more made with fresh tasty ingredients that’s part of the D’amico empire which means high quality ingredients and snappy efficient service.
Four of us met here for a reunion lunch on a gray spring Friday. Like many downtown spots, arriving 15 min before 12 ensures you are seated promptly as the place wasn’t too full at that point in the day but by noon was almost totally full.
Each of us ordered tacos which come 2 to an order along with rice and a small ramekin of beans. There are 4 choices — chicken, steak, shrimp and pork and you can choose 2 of the same or mix and match. The price is around $ 12.50. I chose the chicken tinga with avocado (a bit bland) and the shrimp which had a great crunch and a nice spicy sauce. Next time I’d probably get two shrimp.
The meal also comes with chips and a smoky salsa and you can order a side of guac if you wish.
Since the restaurant is on a corner with windows along two walls, it is a bright and inviting place for lunch on a sunny day.

Masa tends to be a forgotten destination for me, hiding in plain view. That’s a damn shame because Masa is pretty great. I was a semi-​regular a while back and loved their lunch specials. Good variety and great bang for the buck. It’s a classier spot that doesn’t feel the need to prove it with inflated prices. Since then, the lunch specials have changed and gone up in price relative to costs, but hey, this isn’t 2010 anymore.
It was Cinco De Mayo, and as a proud American, I’ll flock to any holiday that embraces eating and drinking. We were seated outside on their patio and I was happy to see that the chips and salsa were still standard. Love those salty chips. I went with the torta carnitas (Spanish for carnitas torta) and the tortilla soup. The sandwich. Great. The cilantro lime rice on the side. I could bathe in it. The tortilla soup. Kinda worcestershirey terribleness. Not good.
Everyone else liked their food too. Then we got the churros. Hey, it’s a holiday. They were toasty warm and melted in your mouth. We probably made lots of sex noises for that first one. They cooled fast and were just pretty damn good after that, not food sex good.
Service and atmosphere are a good couple steps above the usual downtown lunch spot. I promise to try and not forget about you as much, Masa. Xoxo.

We came here because of the two hour wait at Barrio down the road. We walked in and were able to sit right away. We felt a bit underdressed but decided it was because of all of the Kentucky Derby themed get together going on around town.
May 2^nd to May 5^th there’s $ 3 off margaritas and sangrias to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
I started off with the Sangria Espumosa and our table ordered the guacamole. It was good. I’ve had better. The drink was great, very smooth and not bitter or overly booze-​y. Quite lovely. I actually liked the tomatillo sauce they brought out with chips the best. And the red sauce they bring out with the chips is nowhere near spicy.
I ordered another drink, the Margarita de Diabolita, also really good, had a sweet and spicy thing going for it. Not overly spicy, just a nice heat that sneaks up after you’ve taken a drink.
For dinner I ordered the Tamal con Pollo. It was actually quite tasty. The cilantro lime rice was really nice and the tamale and chicken was tasty.
My partner ordered the Tinga y Pollo tacos. He said they were pretty good, chicken was tasty and our friend ordered the Carne Asada. He was expecting tortillas to make a fajita or something but said the steak was great.
Overall, the food was good. No complaints at all except the food was more gourmet and Americanized than we were hoping for. The price was also pretty expensive for what you got as well.

I was glad to be able to visit 3 different restaurants during Restaurant Week, have great conversation and food at the same time.
+Chips and salsa — Crunchy, crisp tortilla chips were served with lime, rock salt, and two salsas (salsa verde, salsa roja). I’m a definite fan of the roja –because I like heat.
+Chicken Tortilla soup — this was prepared different than what I have had in the past, well with the exception of the garnish of tortilla strips. It was a bit tangy/​with some heat and I’m a fan of both.
+Chicken tacos with chipotle crema — it was nice a moist. The later sound of sniffles was a sign that the heat sneaks up on you –and I love dishes that give me the satisfying sniffles.
–Carnitas torta — who doesn’t love roast pork??? The only issue was I finished only half of it because it seemed quite dry, plus I was filled up.
+All this for $ 10 –what a great deal and best way to try out various restaurants.
I definitely would come back for more tacos and to try some cocktails.