Smalley’s 87 Club

I actually felt sorry for the people working here!
Now this was a Friday night, about 8pm and I remember this place as Champs, not smalleys. I know there is no basketball games going on, much much to cold for baseball and being 5 degrees outside, really not much of a reason for people to be downtown. Now that said, it seemed all the places within a block or so were fairly busy. This place on the other hand had a few people tossed around the room at a table here and there. Not much going on and really not much of a reason to come in. I love the building that this place is in, very cool. It used to be filled with some great restaurants and a fun nightlife. That seems to have passed!
We glanced at the menu and thought about ordering a bite to eat but the menu, no real surprise, was filled with the usual boring crap. Wings, nachos, flat bread pizza, burgers… really! Reason to stay or come back? They need to move to the suburbs, they’d blend right in!
Odd observation added last minute — on the bottom of the screen there is a selection of questions Unilocal adds for the review. One is «Takes Reservations», they need a box that says «not needed».
KT

Why am I being served beer in a plastic cup inside.

I had a great time here before a Twins game. The alley outside is a fun, cozy spot to have beers before a game.

This place is a joke.
We were in Thu ⁸⁄₁₁. walked in off the street into the alley side. There were about 3 people at the bar, and two of the high-​tops were occupied. Inside the restaurant was DEAD.
Our server just «yepped» or «noped» when we asked about beer selection. I ordered Honeyweiss and received Shandy. Waters never arrived.
When we asked if they served food, the response was, «yep.» Could we see a menu? «Umm yeah… let me find one for you.» She passed our table and tossed the two menus on it without slowing. Are you having happy hour specials? «Yeah, but it’s just food.» nice hospitality.
Food was non descript. They went to Costco and bought a frozen bag of fries, wings, chicken strips, etc, and marked it up to $ 8 – 10 and resold it.
Won’t be returning.

The lunch menu was well priced but I was here a week ago and couldn’t tell you what I ate.
There are way better places with the same Sports Bar menu and atmosphere.

My buddy and and I had a $ 25 gift certificate that they would not take before the game, (Who cares when we use it?) So we went after the game and ordered some nachos, which consisted of like 15 chips with cheese on them. Half of their beers were drained by the time the game was over, so we were pretty pissed.
The server was nice enough, but the lack of beer selection made us wonder, «You are a Twins bar right?» How do you not have beers that we want?
Dear lord, I would probably hit this place on a non game day, but the way they treat Twins customers is way below par.

Stopped into Smalley’s with a friend last night — we just walked into the Alley seating area.
The alley was maybe 35% full — plenty of room — although when we walked in no one seemed to notice us — we actually had to walk all the way past the bar to find two servers sitting and chatting and asked them if we could sit anywhere — to which they said «yes, sit anywhere» (good effort). Our actual server was nice — the food was ok and served hot.
Can’t say I had any really good or really bad things to say — was just ok to get a quick bite to eat. MIght visit again — but there are many other options in downtown Minneapolis to consider first.

Stopped in after a Twins game because their staff was hawking half-​price appetizers … sports bar atmosphere; lots of tvs; food was good. Nice place to stop, quaff a few & let the traffic disperse before heading home.

There is a reason why Kieran’s is packed every game night and Smalley’s is not. Worst sports bar experience ever. Horrible service. Cannot say if the food was good or not since we never actually got our order. Left me embarrassed that I brought two out-​of-​towners here (only because all the previous bars we attempted to find a seat at were packed to the seams with folks).
Oh, wait, what was that you asked? What made it such a bad experience? Well, let me explain in a nutshell (okay, fine, I will get out of my nutshell and explain… it can be hard to write when in a nutshell): The waitress did not know what beers they had on tap and made no apparent effort to find out, so I had to walk up to the bar to check out the taps. What? What server makes their customer go to the bar to find out the taps?! Then our appetizers never came. We had to cancel them so that we would make it to the game in time. Then she never took the apps off our bill. Took another 15 minutes (no joke, I timed it) for her to return with the new tab only to have her disappear again for an unreasonable amount of time. We walked out and stared enviously at the people packed on the Kieran’s patio.
I wish I could expand more on the experience, but I, um, have to clip my cat’s toe nails.
cheers.
Beth
P. S. Every place deserves a second chance, yes? I will return. Stay tuned:)

Excellent food. The steak appetizer is a delicious meal.
Great place to watch Soccer or other sporting events. Outdoor seating.

Went here for happy hour only to find out they don’t have HH on game days. I may have put my finger on the reason they were fairly empty… Our first server was good and just transferred our check when she was done with her shift. I wish she had made us tab out. I’d much rather she got the tip instead of the girl wh took over. She did pretty much nothing and took forever to come back for the tab after she gave it to us. Big pet peeve.
And I would assume the sports radio station that was there is funded with public money because no one would pay to advertize on a station with people as uninteresting as those guys.
Not good times, really…

Don’t bother. I was really hoping that this sports bar wouldbe a great Twins-​game destination but it was really disappointing. My friends and I were there for lunch last Friday. Our waiter was ok but somewhat distracted. I had a soup and half sandwich, which also came with fries. The soup was a southwestern chipotle and almost flavorless. The half sandwich was a tuna salad, which unfortunately came grilled. I might have missed the grilled part on the menu. It was a large portion but rather greasy. The fries were really bad. They were cold, limp and most of them were those little dry fries that are at the bottom of the fryer.
I do have to say that Roy Smalley came to our table and was extremely pleasant. Maybe there will be a few tweaks made and this place will see some improvement in the food. The location is great and there is a lot of space. I’d stop by for a beer but don’t think I’ll eat there again anytime
soon.

Great Place to go after a night game at Target Field. I really liked the Nachos!

Good place to stop in for a drink after a Twins game. I was in the outdoor patio after the game last night. It was elbow to elbow Twins fans. They sell cans of cheap beer, Premium, Mich Golden, PBR and some taps too. It doesn’t look much different than when it was Champs, only there were people here.