There is a reason why somethings are called “hidden gems” because they are unique and precious but somehow unknown to a whole lot of people. So is the case of St. Genevieve. Although relatively new, St. Genevieve is slowly starting to become a Minneapolis favorite. My friends have been to this place few times and love it. So I decided to take 2 masculine boys with me to this petite little French eatery to see what they thought.
First impression, all of us liked the interior. We went couple of weeks ago (probably a month ago) when the weather was relatively warm. So the front doors that separate the inside with patio were all open. So even if you were seated inside, you still had the patio vibe but a classic one. Loved it! There is also a separate bar area with high chairs. So if you are eating alone, this could be nice…or not.
Saumon d’été (Salmon Tartines)
We started off with coffee as we came here during lunch/brunch hours. It felt like ages for the coffee to arrive. Everyone around us got coffee except us. At one point, we even thought our hostess forgot about our coffee. It was a good 20 minutes before our coffee arrived. The restaurant wasn’t even busy. So a little disappointed about that. We also got some beignets to go with our coffee. The three hungry beast devoured it within minutes. All of us loved it though. Bite sized deep fried dough balls dusted with sugar, who does not like it?!
Omelette du Jour (Omelette)
The service was pretty average in my opinion. Now here is a little story why I am bringing this up. My friend had suggested ordering Egg Benedict. But to our dismay, we didn’t see in the menu. So we decide to ask our hostess if it was served only during certain time of the day. I am not sure if our hostess was having a bad day because honestly it seemed like she got put off by that question and was really really tired of answering. Well whatever it is, we will never know but we did come to know that they recently changed their menu and are not longer serving egg benedict!
Nevertheless the food was good. It was unique in itself. At times, I did feel like I needed a translator to read the menu. Thankfully one of my friends spoke French. However I decided to stick with the English names of the food and save some embarrassment.
Overall, I did like this place. I liked the food mostly. It was fresh and colorful. The presentation was delightfully done. I am hoping the service was just a small glitch. So without further ado and sounding too corny (or not) it’s a oui from me!
