Linda’s Take

One of the new restaurants at the West End Shops in St. Louis Park is The Loop. I’ve driven past it a few time; the outside of the place didn’t look too appealing to me, but Jason really wanted to try the place so we had lunch there.

When I walked in, the staff was really inviting and kind. The place looks really different on the inside. Warm wood tones and big booths along the wall. Kinda country and kinda new age. Different, but nice.

They have a separate & smaller lunch menu from the dinner menu, I like that. Less time searching for what you want.

We ordered a meat platter with toasted flat bread and sauces. High quality meats, pretty tasty. I also ordered a hummus platter, which I’ve never seen on a menu before. This I really liked! It was served with cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, and artichokes all mixed with a Mediterranean style sauce and warm pita bread. Only bummer about this dish was wanting more bread.

I had an apple and cherry salad for the main course. This was really fresh and crisp. I loved all of the different greens in the salad. You can add meat for an additional cost, but I loved it just the way it was.

Jason had a Juicy Loopy, their version of the Juicy Lucy. He said it was good but he liked the Juicy Lucy better.

Oh, my hummus platter came out a little late so the manager came over and gave it to us for free. I thought that was really nice. We never even complained about it at all.
I did like this place, a little pricey, but not by much.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

There’s one restaurant slot at the West End that just doesn’t have any luck.  Every year or two, there’s a new restaurant in there.  The current restaurant is The Loop.

We’re on a quest to review all of the restaurants at the West End, so this one had to go on the list, though honestly, judging a book by its cover and being absolutely non-politically correct, I thought it was a gay bar at first glance.  If you can ignorantly stereotype what the outside of a gay bar in a nice neighborhood looks like.

Inside, it’s a nice place.   The woods are nice, and the bar has phone charging stations every 6 feet, which is pretty sweet.

The staff was nice, but I’m pretty sure our waiter was either new, or will be a former waiter soon.  He wasn’t great and the manager knew he wasn’t.  She came over to check and make sure that he’d been over to help us.

So, food:

No booze.  This was lunch on a work day, so we didn’t drink.

For appetizers, we got the charcuterie board and the hummus plate.   The pile of olives and marinated vegetables made the hummus plate totally worth the $11.   Good olives.  Good hummus.  The charcuterie board had some sweet choices, like liver, some fancy bologna-like stuff, and bacon jam.   It works well.

Linda has rabbit-food for the main course.  I was going to get the Pork Banh Mi sandwich, but they were out of both the chicken liver and the pork pate, so I got the Juicy Loopy instead.  That’s a juicy lucy stuffed with bacon, onions, and cheddar.  It was good, but the 5-8 Club does juicy lucy’s better.  The fries were awesome.   More accurately, the garlic and parsley aioli that is served with the fries was phenomenal.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score

3.5 out of 5 Pants Off