Bloody Mary Review: Aster

Place: Aster

Location: 125 SE Main Street, Mpls, MN 55414
Day: Friday March 16
Time: 11:19 a.m.
Temperature: 55 degrees
Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor

Aster is a nicely located little restaurant/bar along the Mississippi riverfront area with a choice of indoor or outdoor seating.  

My friend and I happened upon it just at the right moment (they open at 11:00a.m.) and grabbed up a window table inside.

The wait staff were all exceptionally friendly and our waitress was extremely knowledgeable about the menu and flavor of the food. Bring on the Bloody Mary.

If this were a revue based solely on appearance, it would not bode well for Aster’s Bloody Mary. It’s extras were limited to a single lime wedge, though it did come with an 'offered' beer chaser.  The beer chaser was just ok.  Not great, but ok. The Bloody, however, was EXCEPTIONALLY good. There was a plenty of a spicy kick to it, but the fantastic tomato flavor was the big winner.  If all Bloody Marys had flavor like this, I think a larger amount of people would be drinking them.  Not too thick.  Not too loaded down with floss-your-teeth spice chunks.  A good flavor to the salt ring.  This Bloody is truly a case where you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.  Looks are not this Bloody’s best selling point. 


The price was a bit on the higher end at $7.85, so possibly the addition of an olive, a pickle or celery might not be too much to ask, but if it means sacrificing the flavor of the drink with an addition, it’s worth leaving them out.  Perhaps they could place those items in the beer chaser to give it the little something it needed.

I totally recommend Aster to anyone looking for a quiet adventure to a venue that serves up flavor in it’s drinks as well as it’s food. And yes, the food was amazing!


End results:
Location : B
Parking: C ( Street Metered and Ramp Parking )
Bar/Restaurant Appearance: A
Staff: A+
Bloody Mary Appearance: C
Bloody Mary Extras: C
Bloody Mary Itself: A
Price: C ( $7.85 tax included )
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My friend ordered a Fulton Lonely Blonde Ale. (sadly, the revue was not recorded)

Bloody Mary Review: 8th Street Grill

Place: 8th Street Grill
Location: 800 Marquette Ave #107, Mpls, MN 55402
Day: Thursday March 15
Time: 3:27 p.m.
Temperature: 58 degrees
Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor


This was the last stop on a three bar tour before heading to the Minneapolis Auto Show. Right away as we walk in, FREE POPCORN! Love that. Not quite as good as Lyon’s Pub popcorn, but hey, it was free, count that as a win.


The place was clean, the service friendly, knowledgeable and quick. The prices reasonable, So bring on the Bloody Mary.


OK, This thing has no issues with height. Makes it’s presence known when it arrives at the table. Total plus.


The extras included two olives, a pickle skewer, a lime wedge and a whopping stick of celery. At this point I’m hoping it isn’t all for show. Right off, a demerit for no beer chaser. Non offered, non delivered. In a place that has a really good variety of beers, this was a little bit of a surprise. CRUNCH! The celery. Not sure where they get it from, but it sure was fresh and tasty. This is a good start.

Sip. TASTE!

Yup. This bloody had taste. Not too spicy, but with a genuine tomato flavor. Has a bit of a kick in the beginning, but the flavor seemed to get even better the more I drank. Odd. Rare. Pleasant.

End results:
Location : C
Parking: D ( Street Metered and Ramp Parking )
Bar/Restaurant Appearance: A
Staff: A+
Bloody Mary Appearance: A
Bloody Mary Extras: A
Bloody Mary Itself: B
Price: B ( $6 )
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My friend ordered a Fulton ‘Sweet Child of Vine’ beer.


The review: Good. Not as hoppy as the Surly Furious but smoother than most beers. ($5)

Bloody Mary Review : Lyon's Pub

Place: Lyon’s Pub

Location: 16 South 6th Street, Mpls, MN 55402

Day: Thursday March 15

Time: 2:15 p.m.

Temperature: 57 degrees

Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor

Okay, I admit that while I consider parking for The Lyon’s Pub to be horrendous—and even worse than normal on the day of this visit due to the sidewalk getting replaced—I’ve enjoyed this place since my very first visit, long, long ago. On this day, the front door was blocked off which led to a discovery of the inside, side door.

The door’s been there all along, just never had a need to know it, or use it. Now it could have been the hour of the day, or the fact that the front door was blocked, but either way, it was pretty near dead inside, The popcorn machine was active though, and they have mighty good popcorn. Time for another Bloody Mary.

The drink arrived looking pretty good for a mix. Sadly, looking good was the last “good” this Bloody Mary is going to get. The salt ring was seriously nasty giving me much thanks for the straw in the glass. The extras consisted of two olives, a lime wedge and a pickle skewer. Pretty simple on a bad tasting drink. I’m guessing the crowd they get at Lyon’s may tend to lean more towards heavy-alcohol/low-flavor watery drinks because this bloody had that in spades. On an unexpected twist though, the beer chaser was excellent. Sadly, my thoughts now are wondering whether it tasted so good by comparison to it’s counterpart or if it was actually as good as it seemed. I like to believe the latter. The bartender on duty said that the chaser was “Lyon’s Lager” by Schell’s Brewery. I’d say it’s worth giving a try to sometime without the inclusion of the nasty Bloody Mary. At $5.25, this bloody was way overpriced for what it delivered.

End results:

Location : C

Parking: D ( Street Metered and Ramp Parking )

Bar/Restaurant Appearance: A

Staff: A+

Bloody Mary Appearance: A-

Bloody Mary Extras: C

Bloody Mary Itself: D

Price: C ( $5.25 )

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For an added bonus, my friend ordered a Surly 'Furious' beer.

The quick review: Very hoppy. Good taste, but tasted more like a thick beer would. ($6)

Bloody Mary Review : The Loon Cafe

Place: The Loon Café

Location: 500 1st Avenue North, Mpls, MN 55403

Day: Thursday March 15, 2012

Time: 1:25 p.m.

Temperature: 57 degrees

Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor

The Loon Café is located in an area I’ve never been very fond of going to on an evening out, so I admit that I was apprehensive of going there mid-day on a Thursday as well. My friend and I made our way there by foot, so the displeasure of parking was eliminated. Street parking and ramp parking are your most likely options here, unless you walk or ride the light rail, both of which are far better options than trying to find a spot.

Mid-day ended up being a good time to hit this location. The place was pretty much vacant with the exception of some lunch-hour stragglers and a few others. We got seated right quick. The place was clean and the staff very polite and friendly. Bring on the Bloody Mary.

The flavor of the Bloody was spicy like crazy, not to say that it didn’t have flavor to coincide with the spice though. A beer chaser was assumed by the wait staff and delivered along with the drink, ( always a plus in my point-of-view ) though it was average in it’s flavor and didn’t seem to do much to accentuate the bloody mary. The extras were minimal, which is fine as long as the flavor of the bloody is present. Of the extras were a lime wedge, an olive and a pickle skewer. On a side note, I also ordered a cup of chili for a luncheon meal and discovered, while being unexpectedly small portioned based on it's somewhat higher price, it was pretty dang amazing in flavor. Highest recommendations for the chili.

End results:

Location : C

Parking: D ( Street Metered and Ramp Parking )

Bar/Restaurant Appearance: A

Staff: A+

Bloody Mary Appearance: A-

Bloody Mary Extras: C

Bloody Mary Itself: A

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As an added bonus, my friend ordered a Summit Maibock beer.

His review was that it was average. Good and refreshing with a lighter flavor than expected.