Prima Pasta Salads Panini

This place is great! Had the Fritto Misto and the Bruschetta as apps. Both great. Mediterranean salad was wonderful! Bucatini Amatriciana was delicious. This was some of the best food outside of Italy itself. Service was great. Kids enjoyed their meals (my one appreciated the chicken fingers option). The $ 25 wines Sunday-​Thursday was also a plus. And the bread baskets… well, we ate too much. The place was packed on Sunday night. We called ahead for seating, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I’ll be back next time I’m in town.

The atmosphere was lovely but the price was $$$ and on the high side of that. The beer selection was pretty poor but it is an establishment that has all the fine wines and great dishes and beer doesn’t seem to Rhein King.

Great place for Italian food. Very pleasant, old feel, has history, good service and food.
Had the the only duck with pasta dish on the menu… This was better great, I wanted to jump in and bathe myself in it, knowing that would not go over well, so I just enjoyed. The flavor’s danced in your mouth, a must have.
The appetizer with roasted garlic and cheese was very good.
If you’re in town, put it on the list however get their early or go late.

I met two friends here last night and within a span of about 4 minutes upon entering the joint, I somehow tripped at one of the tables and fell in front of everyone. Nice. Our table was sandwiched next to others and some may have said cozy, I say claustrophobic. The place reminded me of a grandmother’s living room that was decorated in very dark and dramatic maroon colors; and heavy brocade tapestries that warped you back to a different era. Think up-​scale nursing home. At least everything was clean.
We shared a bottle of wine and the fritto misto which was crispy breaded calamari, shrimp, artichokes, sweet bell peppers, red onions, and lemon-​caper aioli. I thought the appetizer was indeed crispy but tasted flat and not very well seasoned. For the main, I had an Italian chopped salad with diced salami and a crab cake on the side. The salad was fresh and tasted lovely, but nothing special. Better than Olive Garden. The crab cake was just okay. Crispy but lacking flavor and seasoning. They have salt and pepper front and center on every table. You will need both.
All in all, it’s a neighborhood family-​friendly restaurant that seems to get regulars. Our server was fine but didn’t go out of her way to offer suggestions or really do anything extraordinary. A solid 3 stars for being extremely average. Which for some is not a bad thing!

We took our university students and a few of their friends for a much appreciated meal out. Appetizers, roasted garlic and steak skewers were wonderful. All of us except one had pasta dishes. They offered a wide variety with creativity. The prices are reasonable and portion size nice. The penne con pollo alla gorgonzola was a table favorite. Atmosphere is cozy but trendy with an open kitchen. Lastly, loved the staff, friendly, professional, and knowledgeable. A little outside the main restaurant areas.

Food is absolutely delicious! Flavorful, fresh, wonderful. And even better than the food? The entire staff! I always feel so incredibly welcomed. Highly recommend!

I opted to try something new for my birthday dinner. Not my usual go to’s. How I wish I would have went to my old favorites. Borders is one of my favs and I read a couple of reviews that compared Primas to Broders so had to check it out. It doesn’t compare.
Thumbs up:
–private parking
–nice location
–decent C.S.
–the crostini appetizer was delicious minus the really harder then normal crostini
–local farm family story. I like it keep it local, fresh, and simple.
Thumbs down:
–started off with a bang with the app and slowly fizzled from there. All of our entrees left something to be desired. My butternut squash was dry and had too much sweetness, was it the brown sugar? The other dishes there wasn’t anything special to it for what it was worth.
–the ambience was eh for the price point and marketing. Was it like 90s type house décor? I don’t know.
–my cherry coke was made from the bar, normally how I like it, but this one lacked the grenadine and the cherry
–we walked in and weren’t sure where to go, lack of a flow.
Not bad, not good. I wouldn’t come here again unless something took me here. With so many good restaurants out there at this caliber you got to stick out.

After reading the reviews I had high expectations especially since I haven’t found many really good Italian restaurants in the Twin Cities. I thought the restaurant was pretty chill. Very empty for a Friday night. Very fast service, but found the food to be pretty standard Italian food. Nothing to exciting and the portions were a little small.

The warm pear salad is to die for. Nice atmosphere. Will definitely go back for dinner.

Great food, service and décor. Had a truly wonderful dinner, dessert and wine (server’s recommendation). Server and hostess were attentive without intruding. Food was served with alacrity. Will be returning and recommending to others,

I have been a loyal patron of this neighborhood gem ever since I lived across the street from it back in 2002. The food is delicious, the service is always exceptional, and the farm to table concept is truly appreciated. Prima has earned a very special place in my heart!

Great ambiance. Can go casual or a little more dressy. Love the Penne Con Pollo Alla Gorgonzola and Bolognese. The portions are good, but have gotten smaller in recent years. So much better than Broders.

I dig this place.
That’s it. That’s the review.
Just kidding. I have some words for this place: amazing, delicious, fantastic, perfect, wonderful, [insert positive adjective here].
I’ve gone past this place so many times, but I never stopped in. Clearly, I was blind and/​or insane for not stopping before. The food here is good, people. It’s really good. The layout isn’t cramped; there’s plenty of space to stretch out a little and not listen to your neighbors talk about how dramatically undramatic (but sometimes dramatically dramatic!) their lives have been lately. It’s well-​lit without making you feel like you’re in spotlights with warm, comforting décor.
The food is solid, hearty, and, well, a bit of classy homestyle Italian. The staff is super-​friendly and attentive. The entire place is a bit what I imagine it might be like to have an Italian relative. It’s not swamped with customers, so it’s easy to get in, at least on a Monday night.
I’d tell you about the food, but everything we had was fantastic and homestyle-​y. I currently find it hard to believe anything could not be delicious from this place. I mean, they gave us a pot of parmesan to put on our food, and I love, love, love parmesan in excess on my food. Self-​serve excess parmesan! What could be better?!
I want to go back and maybe live there. Would that bother them? (Probably. But I’m quiet and take up minimal space!)

Unilocaling SW Minneapolis restaurants, are we? Why haven’t you been here before?
A few reasons why you should dine at Prima tonight:
Friendly service. These folks take courtesy seriously. The waitstaff are as engaging as a church minister on a Sunday morning. By the time we were done with dinner, we were admiring photos of our waitress’ son and thinking: why haven’t we been here before?
Food has that home cooked taste that makes you wonder why anyone would ever ever go to a chain again.
The price point is reasonable enough to justify a weeknight meal, but the quality is upscale enough for a weekend celebration.
Their food is sustainably harvested and local. Though most restaurants seem to abuse or over-​market the «L» word, this restaurant owns its own farm in Waconia!
Two words for the lucky Nokomis/​SW crowd: Take-​out!
The only gripe about the whole evening was that I ordered a glass of sparkling wine and it did arrive with no sparkles. It tasted flat and sour. Though the quality was overlooked initially, they replaced it lickety-​split with apologies.

Great little neighborhood place with an upscale but not snotty atmosphere. One of my favorite places. I highly recommend the butternut squash pasta but everything I have had there has been above average.

Great neighborhood spot for all occasions — decent place to bring kids if you go early and nice place to enjoy a romantic dinner.
Love the take out platter options for when I need to cook for a crowd but don’t feel up to the task.
Chopped salad and rotini con pollo are our go to items but everything is delicious!

Great place for dinner in the neighborhood.
Seems kid friendly, but also nice enough for a date.
Can get a little packed inside, and you might have to wait. I suggest calling ahead.

This is a great little spot and my experience has been solid each time I’ve visited.
Most recently, my mom and I ate a late lunch. The place was slow, only a few other tables were seated. We were greeted and seated quickly, and generally well cared for.
I tried the Bucatini al Pesto for the first time. It was delicious and I had plenty to take home as leftovers.
The only downside is the tabletop bread, which is not great and served with cold pats of butter. Warming and serving with fresh butter would go a long way toward a diner’s first impression.
Still, prices are reasonable and the food is always dependably delicious. Not sure why this place doesn’t get the kudos of other spots in town!

I really loved this place — the service and food were both fantastic. We didn’t have a reservation, but the hostess brought us wine while we waited, which was really nice. Once we were seated, our server (Ann) came over immediately and continued to be very attentive all night — I was particularly impressed with this because the place was super busy. She was great with recommendations when we had a couple of options that we couldn’t decide between. She also recommended a really nice wine to me – I don’t know a lot about wine, but I gave her my likes and dislikes and she definitely steered me to the right glass. She also handled my somewhat difficult mother with a lot of grace (she tends to ask a lot of questions).
We started with the ricotta dumplings, which were delicious. Very rich, but delicious (I definitely recommend sharing them!). We also had the roasted garlic, which was also very good. For my main course I had the braised beef pappardelle, which I thought was great. The pasta was delicious and homemade, and the beef and sauce were delicious. For dessert we had the key lime pie — a nice tart and light (at least, compared to a decadent chocolate dessert it was light!) finish to the meal.
All in all — great food, AMAZING service (try to get Ann if you can!), highly recommended!

Great tasting Italian food in a family owned place.