I know what you’re thinking and no, I hadn’t been to Earl Giles before. Yes, I do agree this is odd, but my justification is that I haven’t lived in Northeast or Minneapolis for almost 10 years and my usual Northeast visits are to the loveable dives.

Food:

We intended to get pizza as well as some appetizers, but two things stopped us:

1. We didn’t realize how much food came in the appetizers we got
2. We got sat at the end of the bar, which was absolutely fine, but the bartender, even though we told him we’d like to order pizza in a bit, never came back to us. Like truly, we sat there for I’d say 40 minutes and never once came back to check on us after handing us our drinks or ask if we want anything else, etc. And this was after we had already sat at another restaurant for 10 minutes at our table (The Briar) and had the server walk by us to help multiple tables that came in after us, then tell us she’d be right back to take our order and come outside and take more new table orders, so truthfully, it was just an overall bad service night for us, but we still managed to have a great time.

Truffle Fries: Manchego, Chives, Truffle Aioli

The truffle fries were so good. I highly recommend. The perfect amount of fry crispness along with the manchego – yum.

Rick’s Pickle Dip: Topped with Crispy Bacon, Fresh Dill, (with Kettle Chips)

It is no secret I’m obsessed with pickles so when my friend suggested the pickle dip it was an immediate yes. This was definitely salty, but salty in a good way, not salty in the way where you feel like you’ll never drink enough water again.

Drinks:

Espresso Martini: Vodka, Coffee Concentrate, Cinnamon, Chipotel Cacao Bitters

Andromeda: Gin, Almond, Clove, Ginger, Lemon, Lime

My friend got the Andromeda and was excited about it. My espresso martini was really good. There was a very subtle hint of cinnamon and although I generally avoid cinnamon due to the fact that I was dumb enough in college to let some guys convince me into doing the cinnamon challenge, which truly almost killed me due to not being able to breath and gave me a killer of a sinus infection due to it coming out of my nose like a dragon, 20 years removed from it, I no longer dry heave at the smell haha.

Plus, who doesn’t love edible glitter bevs?!

Atmosphere/Service:

The space is beautiful and I LOVE that they have parking. Especially in that area of Northeast. I also love that a cocktail bar is back in town, because although I know Northeast is sort of the craft beer and cider central, it was a big loss when Tattersall Distilling left the area.

Service I sort of already covered above. The hostess was very polite and so was the bartender, he just neglected us. I wouldn’t let this stop me from going again, it just sort of ended up being the theme of our night that no one wanted to let us spend our money – well jokes on them, because we won at pull tabs at a dive bar later that night haha.

Earl Giles
1325 Quincy Street NE, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55413
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