Restaurants in Saint Michael

At Vnam Restaurant, chefs have mastered a range of traditional Vietnamese dishes, from the fresh, herbaceous flavors of pho soup to the bold interplay of sweetness and spice in authentic curries and stir-fries. Their extensive menu spotlights standard and gluten-free entrees peppered with succulent morsels of seafood, pork, chicken, and beef, as well as inventive vegetarian interpretations that incorporate tofu and mock duck. Servers shuttle these mouthwatering masterpieces to a spacious, no-frills dining room, where the air brims with strains of live music on Thursday–Sunday and oxygen molecules on Monday–Wednesday.

A sports fan’s paradise, The Hole Sports Lounge is filled with opportunities to enjoy classic American bar fare in the light of flat-screen TVs. There’s a barbecue pulled-pork pizza—topped with piquillo peppers, banana peppers, jalapeños, and pineapple—over at a corner booth, sizing up the clientele, looking for the right person to share a slice with. A cheeseburger’s hunkered down at the bar, mumbling something about black Angus beef. It’s surrounded by 20 different draft beers from breweries such as Brau Brothers and Flying Dog, more than 20 bottled domestic and imported brews, and a few cocktails. If you find the chicken wings and offer them some mango-honey mustard, they might tell you about how happy hour happens every day from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. It crams one hour of happiness into two, slowing time as patrons head down Golden Gopher Avenue to catch the latest game, rack up balls on the pool table, toss around darts, or remove errant darts from a nearby video-game machine.

A crown-topped crest hangs before the entrance of The Imperial Room, bejeweled with globe lights and illuminated with swirls of neon script. Inside, a party vibe effuses from leather chairs, murals of swinging jazz-club scenes, and a dress code barring bandannas, sideways ball caps, and barrister's wigs. Bartenders pull bottles from a wooden liquor cabinet and pour champagne cocktails and martinis, priming each sip to complement a menu of small plates, burgers, and ribs.

Since 1986, Champps Americana's kitchen has sizzled with burgers and classic American dishes, satiating sports fans and families with a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere. Amid the sunlit dining room, diners at wooden tabletops have views of 25 TVs broadcasting sports games, competing with a cluster of arcade games for eyes' attention. Chefs cater to taste buds by plumping up pastas with chicken, shrimp, and vegetables and piling rolls with beef patties, barbecued pulled pork, and spicy buffalo chicken. Behind the bar, bartenders whip up specialty cocktails and margaritas and fill goblets with an expansive selection of draft beers and wine. The bar and grill draws guests with regular specials and events throughout the week, including daily happy hours, Thursday-night trivia, and Sunday brunch. Every Tuesday, the restaurant serves up free meals to children, as a magician saunters table to table, entertaining kids with tricks and balloon art, crafting replacement siblings on request.

Hopkins Tavern gives customers plenty of reasons to stop in, offering 32 local, regional, and craft beers on tap and pub fare ranging from wings to cheese curds. But the staff knows how to keep patrons entertained as well as satiated. Along with daily happy hours, the tavern hosts team trivia and bar bingo nights. Wild fans can look forward to watching each game live on the bar’s TVs along with cheap domestic brews and shots to celebrate every Wild goal.

Described as an “unlikely savior” of a “decades-old bar,” by the Star Tribune, retired research analyst Bob Rick took over when the former Bullwinkle’s shuttered its doors in early 2011. After myriad updates to the kitchen and bar, Bullwinkle’s reopened as Bullwinkle Saloon, a neighborhood pub that serves Coney Dogs alongside wings and full glasses of beer. A lineup of daily specials ranges from 33-cent wings to 400-cent buckets of Lucky IPAs.