The Loring Pasta Bar

Ambiance is amazing. One of the coolest restaurant I’ve been to. Food was great. Service was ok. Would definitely come back

Great atmosphere. Menu had some enticing inclusions. Staff making errors at every turn and insincere apologies followed by more mistakes. Salmon savagely over cooked. A memorably bad experience. I would not trust this establishment with a special occasion.

I came to see the band that was playing that night. I ordered wings and a salad since the other reviewers weren’t too keen on the pasta. The food and house red were just… meh. Service was good though. I went to school at the U several moons ago and frequented this place on occasion. I was never really impressed. That being said, I think it’s a cool spot to see music and dance. Bae tried Little Ears and really liked it! Maybe I just keep ordering the wrong things.

Get your sexy on… CAMPUS?! I have no friggin’ clue how this place has such a low rating. First of all, the interior is more the result of historic restoration, timing, age, art, and technology which is pretty much what makes a lot of Minneapolis sexy. The person below that talked about being a first date spot was pretty on point especially if you are a student with their student discount. Pretty quiet during the evening (gets hella rowdy at salsa night or on the weekend nights but me likes that… so to each their own.) to have those important conversations with. The lighting here makes anyone look like Queen Bee Beyonce, what I mean is that it’s not too dark and not too light, so even if you are having a «just had a final or midterm all nighter» type of day you can still look (or try) seductive.
The FOOD: Never been disappointed in a dish here EXCEPT the steak, dont get that. The pasta dishes are awesome. If you are looking for perfect pasta like aldente and you want to start quibbling about little picky things, pick a place like Rinata, Broders, Pazzaluna, etc and complain to them cause you GO THERE for the food. I understand this is a restaurant but its great food with great ambiance in a location that it serves well, what more could you ask for? They used to have this salmon pasta dish that was absolute BONKERS good but that is gone, maybe seasonal. Like I said, I am a reviewer that looks at things for what they should be, a pasta bar that looks this nice should NOT be on a college campus, but it is and that is a part of it’s mystique and genuine sexiness (how many times can I use sexy in a review?).
The music is always pretty solid, the salsa nights (which you may see me at) are fun and I’ve never had a bad experience here. I am a low maintenance type of fellow though that tries to find the happy and generally if I go out to eat, its with company I don’t mind waiting with. Worth a try definitely, go and in the mighty words of a combination of JT and Stephen Colbert «get your sexy on,» Unilocal Nation.

The service and atmosphere are bar none! We split the spaghetti carbonara. It was rich and wonderful. The waiter split the meal and even the salad for us! Salsa dancing on Friday and Saturday nights from 10 – 2. Live music is from 6 – 9.

I used to love Loring Pasta Bar — great ambience, incredible decorations/​plants, awesome live music, and centrally located to the Varsity Theatre and University of Minnesota (Minneapolis campus). That said, I just recently visited before a concert at the Varsity and was a bit disappointed with my pasta — they used to be spot on, so not sure if anything change. Also, the decaf coffee was served watery and lukewarm.
That said, worth going for the live music and ambience, but I might just skip the meal next time.

You can’t help but love the appearance of the scenery. So eclectic and original. Unfortunately, this was the high point. The ‘tortilla’ pizza was tasty enough to bend my ‘not again’ return decision to ‘possibly maybe.’ But we’ll get to that in a bit.
I mentioned the appearance of the scenery, no? The sounds – unfortunately – were far less appealing. This photo was taken before The Self-​Important City Pricks were seated next to us. Who weren’t the only seated guests Trying Too Hard to impress others by Speaking Too Loudly.
But pretentious behavior at Loring Pasta Bar makes you ‘important’ and gets you service. When we asked about the available drinks, it took the waiter ten minutes to find us a menu. It looked a bit careworn; its accompanying Happy Hour menu looked like a reincarnated napkin. The Same guy found the City Pricks a menu before they’d sat down. We ‘little people’ ordered apps; the staff served ours to their table.
Had we chosen to Speak Loudly and Pretentiously? Oh. We’d have drowned them out. But that’s not who we are. In fact, my wife and I may or may not have been discussing the merits of an Amsterdam-​to-​Budapest European river cruise versus taking a larger boat thru the Panama Canal and points in South America. But that would have been a conversation amongst ourselves. Not one To Be Overhead Discussing. I don’t feel compelled to impress anyone.
Honestly, after a couple weeks in Italy? It’s almost unfair to review a local Italian restaurant. As a man who rolls his own pasta and prepares his own sauces, I have rather sharpened opinions and preferences. But good still tastes good and feh is feh.
The ‘Seafood Spaghetti’ is Twenty-​two Bucks of Boring. I can forgive the plate’s smaller size. The two, maybe three scallops were prepared with care. I’m willing to overlook the mussel’s subpar quality to oh, a inexpensive lunch buffet? Perhaps the shells were decorative. I’ll even overlook one good bite of grit.
However, even if I let all of that slide? It’s boring. It’s bland. The flavors aren’t there. Saffron what? Crab? Crab where? Find something better to eat.
The ‘Short rib risotto’ featured overcooked meat. And that’s what my wife said. A woman who prefers her meat well-​done. We’ve disagreed on short ribs in the past. What I’ve called ‘over,’ she’s called fine. So if she calls it overdone??? Exactly.
Notice there aren’t any apps on our table when the entrees arrived. The waiter never apologized for favoring our neighbors. In fact, he wouldn’t even come near our table after it happened. I had to specifically and pointedly ask ‘Where’s our apps?’
Needless to say, we didn’t bother with dessert.
If you’d like a pretty place for something cold on tap – which they can’t screw up too badly – and you’re already nearby, this might be your spot. If you’d prefer good food, try somewhere with a moderately competent waitstaff and a much better kitchen.

We had Sunday brunch before the Vikings game 20 September 2015, and I would be embarrassed to take any of their food home to my animals. I have no problem paying $ 20 for brunch if it’s fresh and flavorful, neither of which I can say for Loring Pasta. On the positive side, at least no one in our party ate enough to get sick.

We had a very nice experience at Loring Pasta Bar tonight. In terms of ambiance, the place is stunning. High ceilings, exposed beams, kind of retro-​industrial, but soft. It is a very unique room.
Dinner tonight was with my wife and my daughter, a U of M student. All of the food was delicious. My daughter, a vegetarian, had the «Little Ears» pasta and liked it very much. My wife had the lamb and was as equally pleased. I had the NY strip and it was very good… brandy demi-​glacé was wonderful and the garlic fries were to die for.
Our server, Olivia, was appropriately attentive, but not intrusive. Just right. She did a nice job.
Our only complaint, and this is a huge pet peeve of mine, was that the bus person took away dinner plates while others at the table still were eating. I find that rude. But, maybe that’s just me.
Bottom line: we travel a lot, grew up in Chicago, have been to many nice restaurants… not our first time to the rodeo. With that said, we’d go back to Loring in a heartbeat. We had good food and a very nice experience.

Loring Pasta Bar is more about experience than it is about food. It’s beautiful, has fun, thematically appropriate music, and the staff is perfectly competent. They brought our food, brought our drinks, and didn’t kick any children. Aces.
But how to explain the food? Well… if you position yourself in the right direction, you can look longingly at the Five Guys down the street. The food is pretty okay. The mac & cheese tastes like mesquite BBQ, which was concerning to say the least; the «little ears» was tasty, but not much more elaborate than what can be made at home with some gumption and a decent wifi connection.
Beautiful space, good music, fun atmosphere. All good things. But if you’re looking for top-​tier Italian food, maybe the place that says «DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS» out front should be a second or third choice.

Attn: Loring Pasta Bar management!
90% of your staff are in the wrong industry. You’re supposed to at least, moderately like humans in this field. Are you not reading the reviews on any of these sites? Almost all the mediocre to bad reviews are due to your hipster staff that are over life and apparently a paycheck. If the staff issue could be corrected, I think you would get even more business. Or maybe you don’t want more business… who knows.
Why the crap review: My friend rented Loring Pasta Bar for her wedding. The staff were so blah and or treated us like we were in their way… merely by existing. The wedding was pretty small (est: 60 – 70), no one was making unreasonable requests nor were we a crazy bunch. The wedding started at 3:30…most left by 6(see no time for drama). First, the bartender downstairs told my cousin the bar was closed. When my cousin asked why (very politely asked and only wanted a coke) bartender rolled his eyes and sucked on his teeth (unless he just had popcorn… kinda uncalled for dramatic response) this seeming stroke the bartender had was brought on by what I thought was a valid question. When his body was done having fits, he told us cause the wedding was starting in 5 mins. Fine and fair… we moved on laughing at the dramatics a coke can bring on.
Reception: upstairs bartender was so over life, we joked one of us better watch him constantly in case he jumped. He wasn’t as saucy as the downstairs bartender, but never once smiled, greeted us… nothing. He seemed flustered and a little sad, when 2 people were in line. This again was an on going joke thru out the guests… we shall name him Eeyore. «Wait to get your drink. Eeyore already has a long line at 2. Don’t want him to snap.“The blonde girl that was cutting thru the venu with our food (buffet style) was the best of the night. Not only did this little hipster UofM princess tell us by her lack of smile and general not giving a he** who was standing where (cause she’d try to body check you) that she didn’t need this stinking job. She told us her daddy can afford a lawyer by the way she was literally placing her hands on people… moving them out of the way to grab an empty plate off a table. She did this several times to our table. No warning (which I’d understand if we did not heed), excuse me, can I grab that… NOTHING! She did this so many times, I and several others left early just to avoid telling the newlyweds, ruining their night or telling princess WWE she need to back off.
Again, the wedding was very small, nobody was crazy, very chill and mature group. So, no need for the servers to be rude from jump or act like we were inconvenience to them. I feel bad my friends spent so much money at this place to have their guests treated that poorly. I can also honestly say, I am not the «customer is always right» type. Though, we gave no reason to be treated poorly.
The 2 stars are because this place is absolutely beautiful! If the staff were not such jerks, I’d have our staff meetings here, recommend to everyone I meet and have my engagement/​weddings here every time (I marry people and organization their parties). The place is unquestionably a feast for the eyes. The food… so-​so. Though, still gave a star for the food. Some was great and other things… not.
Ending of my review: This was my 3^rd time here and sadly my last. Loring pasta bar goal is to hire people to either keep money away or to bring in people who are a glutton for punishment. Hey, maybe that can be their new theme, at least that would explain the gross service.

We went there over the weekend. Good food, but the service was bad. Waited for at lease 15 minutes after sitting down for the waitress to bring us water. And did not even give us bread until we asked for it. Will not go there for dinner anymore, maybe for brunch buffet

I think the restaurant could be a hit or miss depending on what you get.
I had the Fettuccini Carbonara. I thought it was ok. Luckily the amount was good enough for lunch, but if I came for dinner I would of wanted a bigger portion. It was warm but not hot. The sauce and bacon was good!
My friend got the Raman Noodles and she was disappointed by it. She thought it was going to be more creative and made differently then the package kind you can get at stores but she was wrong. Also the dumplings were from costco because she had the same kind at her house so she knew.
My other friend got the Bacon Cheeseburger and be he liked it. To me it looked good also! He said no tomatoes, but they were on it. He just toke it out and still are it.
The service was decent. Luckily our group was in no rush or else that could of been a problem. Toke awhile to get our bread, but or food came shortly right after it. The wait of it wasn’t awful. Only our bread was because we were hungry. The server was nice to us, and made sure our food was good. I liked we got 30%off our food for being students! The décor and atmosphere is awesome at the place! I liked it a lot!

@FancyDinnerClub on why service matters:
A few weeks ago, I attended the Decemberists concert at the University of Minnesota’s Northrop Auditorium. My fellow attendees and I decided to eat dinner before the show at Loring Pasta Bar, the «upscale date night restaurant» for U of M students that weren’t yet comfortable enough with their date to tell them that they’d really be just fine eating at the Potbelly across the street.
I didn’t have many opportunities to «bring dates» places while at the U, so this was one of my first times at Loring Pasta Bar. Judging by the look of the crowd at the restaurant, many of them were there for a pre-​concert appertif, too.
I got to the restaurant promptly at 6:00 to be sure to see opening act Alvvays when they started at 7:30. Several of my friends had already arrived and had secured a table and some drinks. Once the waitress showed up, I ordered a drink and proceeded to peruse the menu for my meal. We all ordered our entrees when the waitress came back sans drinks (I attempted to order the steak, but the server suggested the short ribs instead — very helpful!)
Now, dear reader, is where things start to get… weird. We had previously mentioned to our waitress that we were on a tight schedule and needed to leave by a certain time, but the service was anything but prompt. 45 minutes after ordering, we had neither food nor drinks, our water glasses had not been refilled, and though the tables around us were chowing down on bunly goodness we had not been served any pre-​meal bread.
Loyal readers know how seriously we take pre-​meal bread here at Fancy Dinner Club, so this development really soured my mood.
Our entrees came approximately an hour after ordering, around 7:15. At this point, all of us are starving and very thirsty, given our water had not been refilled AND WE STILL HAD NOT YET GOTTEN OUR DRINKS. You heard that right, the entrees came before the drinks did. Once the drinks finally did come, it was a jumble of cocktails assigned to the incorrect person. I drank Joe’s Nordeaster, which was a great drink, just not the one I ordered.
It’s not often that you have an awful experience at a restaurant where the food was amazing, but this was one of them. My short ribs were amazing, drenched in a beef sauce with shiitake mushrooms and mashed potatoes on the side. My fiancée Teresa ordered the Cuban sandwich which was a huge ciabatta bun piled high with pork and pastrami and garnished with pineapple relish. Others around the table enjoyed the seafood pasta, which I did not get to taste but was told was very good.
Even though the food was great, the experience was terrible thanks to the service. We pulled aside the manager after the meal explaining our disappointment at the experience — he told us he was sorry in a half-​genuine tone and gave us a round of drinks off our bill, one of which we never actually ordered in the first place.
In the end, we were sated, but we missed the opening band after getting to the auditorium at 8:00. All in all, good food marred by a terrible dining experience. It really makes me appreciate the service we’ve been given at our other great FDC haunts like Spoon and Stable, Lyn65, and Taco Bell.

I was quite excited to try their brunch after a few friends raved about this place. I’ll have to get to the food in a bit. First, why the hell are there so many entrances to this place?
Okay, there might have only been two. Of course I walk in through the one at the start of the buffet line, not the hostess stand. So I get a few annoyed stares, but what the heck, it wasn’t me that didn’t put a sign up that says «entrance on the other side.»
I could have jumped in line I suppose and just grabbed a plate, but we had a group of 20, so I thought I’d find them before I helped myself. When I found them, only 5 of the 20 people were there. Asian people run on a different clock. Should have just jumped in line.
The place seems massive, pretty cool atmosphere. Looks like lots of exposed rusty architectural elements, but it’s more like random art. I can’t really describe it, it’s cool. Plus, I think I saw porno on the walls disguised as art.
The brunch buffet had a lot of variety. Fruits, salads, soup, eggs, bacon, pasta, sushi, stews, omelettes, eggs Benedict, sweet and sour chicken (kinda random on this one), prime rib, the usual suspects at brunch. Nice dessert spread.
My all time favorite brunch item is prime rib. It’s never the best prime rib I’ve ever had, but I’ve always had decent prime rib at brunches that offer them. Loring Pasta’s was so over cooked, that piece of meat was gray, dry, and just plan busted. Super disappointed. Oh, and I had some soup that was also horrendous. Maybe a chicken wild rice or mushroom, I couldn’t even tell but I had one spoon full that I wanted to spit out.
Highlights — the beignets, sausage links, chocolate covered strawberries, and the Bloody Mary. The bathroom was cool too. That’s it.

Sunday Funday at the Loring Pasta Bar! The six of us went to celebrate and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the live music and watching the Tango dancers! It was dinner and entertainment rolled into one. Cody was a phenomenal server and made our visit extra special. By the end of our dinner, we all wanted to be his friend! It would have been nicer to have a few more menu options, but their atmosphere was worth the price.
Note: There is a 20% gratuity added to all tables of 6+, which made extra tipping a bit confusing.
I recommend the Mushroom Penne (add in chicken) and Molten Chocolate Soufflé, but above all… the artichoke dip. It’s a MUST.

Terrible customer service! If you are in a big group 5+ find a different restaurant. You’re better off heading downtown.
The Mac and cheese was basically cheese soup with pasta in it. Not worth the cost and hassle of trying to find parking in Dinkytown.

2 Stars for the regular menu
4 Stars for the brunch buffet on Sunday mornings
Regular menu:
I went here for a friend’s birthday dinner and had pretty high expectations, but portions were small, and the pasta was mostly bland. It was not worth the price tag for tasting like something I can most likely make at home myself.
Brunch menu:
Make sure you get a reservation as the line can get pretty long right at brunch peak hours. They have many, many options on the brunch buffet: mussels, eggs benedicts, teddy bear pancakes, a make-​your-​omelettle bar, waffles, fresh fruit, salads, french toasts, and etc. My favorite part was the desserts! They had crème brûlée in small ramekins :)
If I ever come back, it would be for the brunch. I probably won’t waste time trying the regular menu out given how bland the food tasted the first one I was there.

Brunch fat pants. My first time coming here for brunch and it was delicious.
We made a reservation, since we had a party of 6 and I heard it was the spot for brunch. The bloody mary had just the right amount of spice and flavor, and was decked out enough for me to be happy (shrimp, pickle, olive, celery). The brunch was all you can eat, but the line was looooong.
I tried a little bit of everything! They had lots of variety, including sushi, mini cheeseburgers, salads, fruit, eggs, waffles, eggs benedict, teddy bear pancakes, french toast, lots of veggie and pasta dishes, pizza, roast beef, mussels, an omelette bar, and an incredible dessert spread.
The roast beef wasn’t that great, the sushi was mediocre, the grilled cheese was not great. Smoked salmon was bland. Everything else was pretty amazing, especially the eggs benedict, the zucchini/​pepper dish, the black bean ravioli, the loaded hash browns, the crème brûlée, the goat cheese pizza, and the mussels. I didn’t even try the omelette bar because there was so much other deliciousness going on.
Service was slooooooow which is weird, because they only have to bring drinks and clear plates. It took forever for him to bring our bills, and then he messed up a lot of them with the drink orders, and then took forever to run our cards again, so our meters were expired by the time we left. Overall a good experience and a delicious brunch.
Bonus: They have a guy playing music the entire time and the bathrooms are like Alice in Wonderland. Cute atmosphere.

The ambiance was great, the décor was even nicer and my dessert & martini were tasty. Good experience overall however I am giving this place 3 stars as our waitress could have been a little bit happier and less uptight.
Make sure to request a table on the upper level and enjoy the view.