Cause – Spirits and Soundbar

Every time I walk past this place dressed like a normal human being, all the hipsters sitting outside would give me judging glares. The drinks were expensive too. Not a fan. They even kicked out my friend on her birthday.

Good music. Nice atmosphere, even when empty. And some awesome hash browns!
I enjoyed a cheesecurd omelette, but everything falls short to the hash browns. Nicely seasoned, not greasy, not over cooked. It’s hard to find hash browns like this around anymore.
The beer menu is pretty epic too. Minus the box wine. Only 6 things on tap but they have cans of all kind of beers and a pretty good amount of ciders and gluten free options.
The bathrooms are super strange. They are clean and pretty but they have black curtains instead of doors on the stalls. Not sure how I feel about that.
Unfortunately they’re being forced out of their lease by the building manager so they won’t be along for much longer. I suggest grabbing a drink and some hash browns before they close!

I haven’t been here since Sauce became Cause, but this is an awesome place to check out local unknown music acts. I’ve been really impressed with a few of the artists I’ve seen play here. Like others said, the food and service are nothing amazing — go for the music. I hope to be back soon!

Based on the limited food experiences I’ve had, I can’t see going here for the food. Blah menu selections prepared in the same blah manner. The place just has an odd feel to me, whether as a restaurant or a music venue. Do appreciate them trying to bring live music to Uptown — that’s worth supporting. But with the food they are trying to pair with it, think I’ll stick to music only and eat somewhere else.

I was going to a show over at Bryant Lake and Bowl and wanted to check out a new happy hour that lasts till 7pm.
Not much of a HH. 1 $ off pints. No food specials since the menu was new.
We ordered 2 of the pizza’s. They got the order wrong, and in the end, the pizza was really bad.
The service was good however. Just HH was nothing special and the food wasn’t any good.
Next time, I’ll stick with the Lyndale Taphouse for Happy Hour.

This is hands down one of my favorite places in uptown. A great music venue, and a great place for day drinking. The patio is fabulous and if you want to start early, start with an amazing Bloody Mary made from scratch with all the fixings including a meat straw. The food is incredible, late night I love their Mac and cheese and adding mushrooms to it. Otherwise their breakfast menu is amazing as well. I also love the fact that they showcase art and have different shows every couple months. They have artist information and you can purchase the art that is showcase as well. All in all, great place.

You cannot take drinks purchased inside outside, but can order drinks outside, that may remain and be drank outside… Or you could just leave this dull and drab box (not in a good way) and forego the amateur musicians less interesting than the street lights.

i LOVE that they have a breakfast menu that is served all day! Ive been here a couple times, have had a different servers, but always great service! They’re so friendly and attentive to you! The food is also pretty decent with the prices. Haven’t had a chance to see any of their live shows but definitely want to check it out soon!

I have only been here twice and it has only been for seeing my friends play shows. But those times have been really fun.
Yes, I can walk to Cause and yes I can pregame, so I really only need to buy one drink, but can I listen to a live band anywhere in Uptown? No. Thank goodness you exist, Cause, otherwise, I would have to make my way to NE were almost every bar has a stage. but sometimes I like staying in the neighborhood.
What’s funny is I never go to the shows unless I know someone playing that night. Hmph, maybe I should expand my reproire and pay a visit to the Soundbar more often.
Really all I can say is I’ve usually got that one drink quickly. The sound is great for a little intimate venue (and one for dancing!), which the dance floor is plentiful, the cover is usually free-​$ 10, I don’t think it goes higher than that, and the bathrooms are clean. As all bars with standing should probably have, a coat check, or somewhere to stash a coat where I don’t feel like someone will take it. But I guess the joys of living here means that we either all sweat or trust our fellow Minneapolites.

Hipster hang. Good venue for seeing a local show, but not necessarily the most happening place ever. There’s little to do other than stand around or listen to the band. If you’re looking for a place to chat — great!
They have delicious & fairly priced food as well. Burgers & CBH are my favorites.

I have to say that as a performance venue, I really enjoyed this place. The free parking off to the side of the venure doesn’t hurt, either! Budgeting for parking and the event can be crummy (one less drink at the bar).
The space and seating in the area seem to be pretty well planned out. If you can’t get a drink at the bar inside the performace area, there’s another in the restaurant portion. The waiter inside the restaurant could have been more attentive.

The reason I’m handing down a solid 1 star despite a decent time at Cause is because I was angrily shouted at as I exited the restaurant, as the waiter attempted to publicly shame me for failing to give him the tip that he felt he deserved.
By nature of the incident, this review will undoubtedly invoke the hotly-​argued debate of what is an acceptable tip. As a guideline, here’s what I go by:
25% — Excellent. I give this much for service that went above and beyond expectations, such as when a server helps you to order something that isn’t on the menu, or demonstrates very genuine hospitality and care for his customers.
20% — Good. What I give to almost all waiters, all you have to do to get this amount from me is do your job.
15% — Poor. You noticeably messed a couple things up, to the point that you caused me trouble.
10% — Awful. Reserved for rude waiters and extremely slow service.
To me, this is fair. Maybe you pin your average tip at slightly more, or less, but I don’t think a ton of people would exactly call it stingy.
The number for which I was mistreated and made to feel like a miser? 15.5%.
So, why did I give him 15.5%? That isn’t very nice. 20% is normal in my opinion, and happens to be the number the waiter was screaming down the street as I left. His interspersing shouts of «that’s just etiquette!» out onto a crowded road apparently failed to trigger any sense of irony he may have had.
The reason I left 15% was because he had brought me a cold plate of food. We had spent our last 20 minutes in the restaurant asking each other where our waiter and food were. He finally appeared and brought out the tab, with my last food order (pizza) billed on the check but missing from the table. It wasn’t until someone asked him about the missing pizza that he stared off into space for a second, and said «shit…»
And he did come back immediately, with a very cold and very late plate of food. Apparently taking a minute to microwave it for me after leaving it out for 10 – 20 minutes was just too much of an inconvenience for him. A major annoyance, but one I could overlook for what I thought was a «just okay» tip.
Now, do you think I deserved the treatment that followed? As a customer, do you think it would be fair for your waiter to whoop at you like a raging baboon because you left a weak tip for weak service? As a food service worker, do you consider this a reasonable reaction that you would have when given a 15% tip? As a restaurateur, do you think this behavior is at all acceptable from your wait staff?
And will it do anything other than harm your business? To date I’ve stopped a group of ten friends from going to Cause twice because of this incident.
I have worked in the food service industry before. I know what it’s like to get a bad tip, and I know it sucks. I have felt upset about a lousy tip before, but I have never really felt much less acted on the compulsion to verbally abuse my restaurant’s customers for it. Not that I would have the chance — like most waiters who are able to properly use the word «etiquette» in a sentence, I made sure I was far away from a given customer before reading the tip line. I also know that if I tried pulling this shit at any establishment from Applebees to Per Se, I would be fired immediately. And while my bad tips were a result of a stingy customer maybe 25% up to even 50% of the time, I usually could just think back to how I could have done better when compared to those times where I got a good tip.
That’s awfully sad that the server made all of $ 2 less than he believed he deserved (it was 3 dollars on a 25 dollar tab). Still, this is the real world, not Baby Frat Boy’s First Service Job; you’re going to have to learn to take a little criticism. Show some respect for your restaurant, your customers, and, most importantly, yourself.

Came here for breakfast and was very disappointed. It’s rare that I give any 1-​star reviews, but there was nothing here to make this a good experience. Let’s start with the service. There appeared to be many people in the front-​of-​the-​house, but only 1 person cooking? We waited over an hour for our breakfast and only got our food (well, most of the food we ordered) after reminding the server/​bartender that we were there. The one pancake my friend ordered never arrived.
The food wasn’t anything to write home about. I ordered breakfast pizza that seemed thrown together and was really dry for some reason. My friend had eggs benedict that was uninspired. With such a standard breakfast offering, we could have gotten much better food at half a dozen other places within a block. The Bloody Marys we got were even boring. And, I have to say, with 100+ temperatures, water refills are mandatory.

I believe Cause is the new owners. On the one side are the 20 somethings. This is where I had breakfast. I ordered the eggs OE, corned beef hash, and a biscuit. AL, my waiter was so nice to me and never let me feel uncomfortable. He assured me everything was homemade. The hash was cooked all the way through, and it was the shredded kind that many are lazy about cooking. Eggs on a griddle, don’t look the best, usually like a bad case of acne, but were a perfect runny OE. I love homemade biscuits, and it was grilled as well. The music is blasting even for a noon brunch, and I was very involved in my book, so I could block it out. A very casual place that doesn’t rush you, and takes pretty good care of you too.
The other side is the hipster area. They have a younger bartender, and she is very friendly as well. I was at an all day music venue for the Helm and friends food drive. A barrel full was donated. I heard some great bands on the other side of the river. There’s the coolest, most comfortable L-​shaped couch, with handy tables for your drinks, and it’s great for meeting people and watching the band. I’m not into the band scene these days, but it’s a cool place for any fund raiser. I had a wonderful time.

Since Brooklyn Mike took over as head chef a few months, the food has steadily increased in quality. It’s certainly not the best food I’ve ever had, but its exactly the type of food you’d want to eat at a bar, done well.
So why five stars? Five stars for the best staff in Uptown. Five stars for booking the dopest shows in Uptown. Five stars for being host to the best times I’ve had in Minneapolis. Five stars for being my Cheers bar.
Unabashed Cause groupie.

This is the best place to sit down with a friend and have stupid bad wonderful drinks named by name-​checking Beastie Boys songs while eating mediocre chcken in good marinara till you are drunk enough to think this is the best time you could be having. It’s an adult version of a finger painting table. Love.
Can’t imagine why else I’d come here, so I have no other experiences to add to review basis. Based on numerous visits.

My only experience here are for late night drinks and music. I hear they serve food and I notice that breakfast is a big hit, but I just haven’t gotten around to it.
I love all the bands that come by and since it is just down the street, it is super convenient. Shows are generally under $ 10 so it makes it easy to do. Everyone there has been nice and I like the space. If you are not there for the show, there is a separate bar, which is a nice alternative.
And a vending machine with CD’s in it is awesome!
I think the saddest part was the name change. Why didn’t they protect that? We came from AZ where there was a Sauce chain, that apparently followed us here and was the reason for their name change. I didn’t like the old letter switch-​a-​roo. It felt uninspired and lazy — they could have taken advantage of the opportunity and come up with something cool. But then again, I don’t know the whole story, so I’m sure there was a good reason for it…

5 of us came here the morning after my birthday, as recommended by a friend. It was… god awful. I mean really really bad.
We walked in the bar entrance. The bartender barely turned his head, and turned back to what he was doing, which was nothing. Well hellllllooooo to you too. Glad to see ya. «I work in uptown, and I’m a bartender, so I don’t have to greet you. Meh». I wanted to leave right then, but we were a group of 5 and I didn’t want to start off the experience complaining. We wandered into the restaurant part, if that’s what you’d call it. Not an employee in sight. No sign that directs you «seat yourself». We grab a table and sit there. I don’t smell normal breakfst smells: pancakes, coffee, nothing. I smell stale cafeteria.
We all opt for the «buffet», which would have been more appropriate called «last night’s leftovers», reheated by a tea candle. We approach the sad, short buffet with furrowed brows. This is it? There were 2 plates left. We stood around with awkward patience waiting for some indication of life in the kitchen… hello, we need plates. And a chef with some pride.
They had just opened for (sunday) brunch, so one would think the food would be fresh. Tiny little one inch pancakes (weird). Cold. What are those, sausages? No, they were some kind of vegan chick pea contraption. Cold. Egg bake. COLD! Hey guys, the tea candle under neath the metal drawer o’food does not contain heat very well.
What’s next, after the 3 breakfast choices? A locker of cold pizza. Seriously, the cheese had formed into plastic top coat. How long has this stuff been sitting out? Is this a Tombstone pizza from the gas station? Holy Moley. Chicken wings. It’s morning, right? pizza and chicken wings? wtf? I grabbed a plastic cup of yogurt and granola and headed back to the table.
What a strange plate of food, a scoop of egg bake, one chickpea meatball, a limp strip of cold bacon, a square of plastic cheese pizza, and a yogurt cup, which was the best thing on my plate. The waitress brought us our bloody mary’s, which were actually very delicious. She looked like she’d just rolled out of bed, maybe there’s a cot in back. I get it, we’re in uptown, where it’s not cool to care about your appearance. At least take a shower honey, yuk. She looked a smidge cleaner than that guy who just made a cameo from the kitchen, wearing a dirty shirt and had a dingey towel hanging from his belt.
Eating was awkward and quiet. We spoke under our breath, whispering «what is this?». Thank god we enjoy eachother’s company, because the best part of breakfast wasn’t the greasy wings, it was the conversation. Couldn’t wait to leave. $ 12 down the toilet.
They changed the name from SAUCE to CAUSE. With a name like that, the CAUSE should be a search for new management. Sorry, I’m a hater. Will never ever return, unless I craving cold gelatinous eggs.

Sunday night at Sauce, during a vinyl raffle, drinking PBRs… now that is living. The Crostini Quartet, from the appetizer menu, is fabulous. The Olive Tapenade and the Sun Dried Tomato Pesto were to die for. I won’t let the fact that we made a major haul of cool vinyl during the raffle factor in to my review.
This place is everything Uptown to me… art on the walls, low lighting, the out of place flat panel TV playing sports, cute waitstaff, and a bar full of hipsters. PBRs were 2.50 a pop. which is a great way to end a weekend and prepare oneself for the tedium of office life on Monday. The wait staff were very attentive, and friendly. I tipped over 20%.
I’ll have to catch a show here sometime to see how different it is.

I like the vibe and cozy feel of Sauce though the food was underwhelming. I came here for brunch and had a build-​your-​own tofu scramble with tomatoes, onions and green peppers ($ 7).
The scramble was pretty bland as I feared it would be. It’s rare to find a good tofu scramble (for the record, the best tofu scramble in the Twin Cities is the one at the downtown Minneapolis Pizza Luce). To do a good tofu scramble, you need a strong base of herbs (such as basil) mixed with onions, garam masala and/​or similar Indian spices, along with turmeric for coloring. Using that a base to stir-​fry with the tofu, you could then add tomatoes and other vegetables to get a killer scramble.
Unfortunately, Sauce leaves out all the spices and instead simply stir-​frys the tofu with turmeric and then adds three vegetables of your choice. The result lacks flavor and punch.
The portion size is fairly small and you get much more hashbrowns on the plate than tofu scramble. The hashbrowns were far too salty and oily for my likes. I only took a few bites before I couldn’t take any more salt.
I also had a cup of tea ($ 2) and was disappointed that Sauce only offers generic bagged varieties rather than having loose-​leaf options.
In the end, though, I’d probably come back because Sauce has nice ambience and friendly-​service, as well as a decent happy hour. If they upped their game on their food, added more complex vegan options (why not have soy chorizo for breakfast or pastas with fake meat for lunch? how about a seitan burger?) I’d be back often.