three out of four walleyes

My Burger has basically everything you would expect from a tiny burger joint.  Burgers, fries, soda, and milkshakes.  And that’s it!  Okay, that’s not entirely true — they do have a veggie burger and a fish burger on the menu, but the way they’re listed as such a minor afterthought doesn’t make it seem like something they expect many people to order.  No, people come here for the burgers.  They aren’t huge, and they aren’t fancy (you have to ask for it “California-style,” a new burger-vocabulary term I learned here in the midwest, just to get lettuce and tomato).  But they’re definitely a cut above a fast food restaurant, and not too much more expensive.  My favorite part of my dining experience at My Burger was their adorable packaging.  If you’re tired of the large, unwieldly, and very environmentally-unfriendly styrofoam that most Skyway take-out comes in, this is a really nice change.  The burgers come in adorable little cardboard burger boxes.  Easy to carry, and much more biodegradable.  Kudos to you, My Burger!

Price: Pretty cheap.  All burgers are $4.95 and come with fries.  For 50 cents more you can add cheese, sodas are $1.25, and shakes are $2.25.

Speed: Fairly fast – maybe just 30 seconds longer than your typical McDonalds

Seating: There’s a few small, high tables here which never seem to be very busy, but it’s not good for groups.  Plus the tables are right by the ordering/waiting area, so it’s also not very private.

Check ‘em out:   http://www.myburgerusa.com

• 6 Quebec Skyway, Marquette Ave. & 6th
• Tel: 612-240-6887

two out of four walleyes

Falafel King is a tiny little counter with just the smallest nook of a seating area, yet they manage to quickly pump out quite a lot of very hearty food.  The menu isn’t very extensive: there’s pretty much just different lunch combinations involving either falafel or gyro meat (in a pita or not, with fries or not, with rice or not, etc.).  But if that’s what you’re craving, then you really can’t beat Falafel King for reasonably priced, substantially filled, greasy pitas full of Middle Eastern high-caloric goodness.  There’s not much available beyond that.  The seating area is tiny and noisy and often a bit messy.  There aren’t many beverage options, and when I was here the ice dispenser of the soda fountain wasn’t even working, leaving me with semi-flat, warmish Coke.  But the staff is eager and friendly, and they clearly have a loyal lunchtime following, so I wish them well.  Falafel King has a parent restaurant on W. Lake Street, which I’ve never tried, but have heard is great. 

Price: Very reasonable

Speed: Very fast, although sometimes a long queue develops

Seating:  Just a tiny little nook in the back with 4 tables, seating around 8 people

Check ‘em out: http://www.falafelking.com/

121 South 8th St. (TCF Tower), (612) 339-5560

Hours: 9 AM – 3 PM

One out of four walleyes

If I had titles for my reviews, this one would be called “Beyond Expensive,” or some other such play on words that would portray my extreme sense of sticker shock at Beyond Juice.  The concept of this restaurant is interesting; if you get a large smoothie, you apparently get all the nutrients you need in a meal right there in that one cup.  So if you’re really health conscious or in so much of a hurry that you need to drink your lunch, this might be a nice place to stop.  But I like real food, so I ordered a turkey cranberry sandwich and a small “Skinny Dip” smoothie.  Though they had four people behind the counter, they weren’t very well organized (or very polite), and I had to remind them a couple of times what I had ordered.  After a fair amount of waiting, I got my food and had a seat.  The small smoothie comes in a 12 oz cup that was only about 2/3 full, making it the smallest drink I have ever encountered in any American restaurant.  I was also shocked at my sandwich, which was a mere half sandwich, not the larger, 2 slices of bread sandwiches that are pictured on their board.  A colleague of mine told me later that a half sandwich and small smoothie is one of their “lunch specials,” so perhaps they thought that was what I wanted.  But it wasn’t, and it wasn’t what I ordered.  While the smoothie was tasty and the sandwich highly original (it had raisins and sunflower seeds in it!), that just isn’t enough to redeem this place for me.  I paid almost nine dollars for food that, while healthy, wasn’t entirely filling and was outrageously overpriced.

Price: Ack!!!

Speed: Surprisingly slow.  My friend got in the Jimmy John’s line at the same time I entered Beyond Juice.  Even though there were 8 people in front of her and only 2 in front of me, she still had her food before I did.

Seating:  Not much.  A smattering of chairs around 5 small tables, but nevertheless there always seems to be free places to sit.

Check ‘em out: http://www.beyondjuice.com/

625 Marquette St., (612) 343-8096

three out of four walleyes

If you’re from Minneapolis, and you’ve been to Au Bon Pain, you probably went to one in the Skyway, since all three of the branches located in Minnesota are right in the Skyway!  Though its faux-French pastries may no longer be exotic to the American palate, it’s still a nice staple to have, and I’ve never encountered service in any branch of an Au Bon Pain that wasn’t friendly and snappy.  I often go to the 6th St. branch for breakfast, and the service there is friendly and snappy.  The morning crew knows that businesspeople are cranky at 8 am and need things to move along quickly.  If you want a pastry or bagel, you can just grab it yourselves from the shelf.  Breakfast sandwices are made to order, and while they have some weird, fancy breakfast concoctions (like portobello mushroom and egg on ciabatta), the standard egg & cheese on a bagel is pretty darn good.  There’s always several excellent coffees available, though I was very disappointed in their iced coffee.  Au Bon Pain also makes a pretty tasty lunch sandwich or wrap, with some interesting exotic flavors, like the Thai peanut chicken wrap or Mayan chicken hot wrap.  The ingredients they use are fresh and tasty, although maybe a little bit on the dry side.  The Baker Center location focuses on take-away items for those in a hurry, although they also have a small counter where they’ll make sandwiches to order.

Price: Reasonable

Speed: Fairly fast.  The Baker Center location has a large selection of pre-prepared food so that you can just grab and go.

Seating:  The 225 S. 6th location has gobs of seating.  Less in the Baker Center location, but still more than enough for the demand.

Check ‘em out: http://www.aubonpain.com/

two out of four walleyes

Salad de Fusion is a cute idea.  It’s very, very simple.  Just a guy and a small salad bar, where they’ll make a salad or a wrap to your specifications.  And that’s it!  There aren’t a huge number of options for your salad, but the ingredients are all fresh and high quality.  If you’re the type of person who knows exactly what you want on a salad and you want a person to make it for you, Salad de Fusion is perfect.  If you’re not so sure, there are also some pre-made salads that you can use as a “base” and then add ingredients to, and it doesn’t change the flat rate that you pay for any and all salads.  I enjoyed my salad very much, but I guess this just isn’t my kind of place.  If I’m making my own salad, I would rather put it together myself — then I can choose exactly how much of each ingredient I want.  And paying a flat rate makes you feel like you’re not getting your money’s worth if you don’t pile on the meat, so it’s bad value for vegetarians.  There’s almost no drink options — just a few bottles of water, flavored water, and Coke in the corner of the cooler.  And there’s also basically no place to sit except a tiny bright green cubby with weird inspirational words written across the walls.  But in spite of its shortcomings, I wish Salad de Fusion well.  It’s a cute place with an eager friendly staff, and I hope they can make a go of it!

Price: So So.  All salads are a flat rate of $5.45, which I guess is a good deal if you have a bunch marinated steak placed on top, or a bunch of other expensive ingredients.

Speed: Very fast.  This place never seems busy, so they’ll make your salad lickity split!  There’s also a grab & go option if you want it yet faster.

Seating:  Barely any at all.  There’s a couple stools in the front and a tiny closet in the side with five stools, though it is sort of cute

Check ‘em out:  733 Marquette Av. (Baker Center, skyway level)

two out of four walleyes

Sure, it’s just Taco Bell, so the food is pretty much what you’d expect.  Plenty of deals to be had on fairly so-so Tex Mex cuisine.  I had a chipotle steak taco salad, which wasn’t bad, but had disappointingly little lettuce and seemed a smidge overpriced at $5.20.  However, I was quite pleased with my strawberry frutista freeze.  A very silly name for a slushi with pieces of strawberry on top.  But tasty and excellent value at $2.  The dining area is slightly awkwardly set apart from the area where you order, but at least there’s plenty of seating.  There’s a TV in the corner, which is unusual in the skyway, and could be a plus or a minus, depending on whether you’re looking for a quiet chat or a place to dine alone with a little technicolor distraction.

Price: Pretty cheap, since it’s Taco Bell after all. 

Speed: Very fast.  There’s a huge area allotted for queueing, but I’ve never seen it very crowded, and the large staff ensure that everything clips right along.

Seating:  Lots and lots, though not a very pleasant or atmospheric room

Check ‘em out: http://www.tacobell.com/

three out of four walleyes

Cousins is essentially a Subway that also serves french fries.  And it has perhaps a few more of the “greasy spoon”-type sub sandwiches than you’d find at some other sandwich places (like gyros and a Philly cheese steak).  The staff is fairly friendly and extremely efficient — I’m sure they know that with so many other sandwich-places around as competition, speed of service is probably a main draw for customers.  I’ve never seen this place as crowded as, say, the slightly more expensive Jimmy John’s, and Cousins does a good job with managing lunchtime crowds by splitting the line between two registers and having ample staff to get those sandwiches out quickly.  My tuna sub was good but fairly ordinary.  Nothing that I would specifically seek out, nor would I turn one down if you handed one to me.

Price: subs start at $4.50, add a drink for $1.30

Speed: The ordering line clips right along, though then I had to wait about 5 minutes for my sandwich to be prepared.

Seating: Maybe 30 seats or so – bunches of littles tables that could seat small groups (up to 5)

Check ‘em out: http://www.cousinssubs.com/

109 S 7th St, (612) 339-1588

two out of four walleyes

Cheetah Pizza is located in a rather sterile and noisy, unpleasant food court, but at least it’s mostly enclosed and you can get some slightly quieter respite here.  The staff is very friendly and eager to serve, and the pizza lunch combo is very reasonably priced ($5).  They even have an interesting selection of pre-made pizzas, including a bacon cheeseburger pizza or a chicken bbq pizza.  But beyond that, this is a pretty standard, greasy pizza joint.  I enjoyed my slices, warm with gloopy cheese falling off the sides.  It could have used more sauce, and to be honest, I felt a little sick after eating them.  But if you have a stronger stomach than I, this is a convenient place for a quick slice.  If you want a whole pie, check out their website for a $3 off coupon.

Price: $3 a slice, or $5 for a lunch combo (two slices & a drink)

Speed: The pizza’s already made, so it takes just seconds to get it to you.

Seating: Ample seating — spaces for around 30, and plenty more seats in the food court area.

Large groups? You could get 5 people or so on a table, but no more than that.

Check ‘em out: http://www.cheetahpizza.com/

110 S 7th St, (612) 659-0848

three out of four walleyes

The employees at Sushi Do are incredible.  So much so, that I feel uncomfortable just stopping in to take a look at the food, since I’ll invariably be approached by one of the sweet, fresh-faced ladies working there, who will immediately offer me a sample of something tasty and tell me how much I will enjoy one of their excellent sushi sets.  So eventually I was persuaded to buy a dragon roll, which I was told would “melt in my mouth.”  And it was indeed some fantastic sushi.  Very well made and and packaged.  I especially liked that it came with a little dish to put my soy sauce in.  A nice touch.  If only this place weren’t so expensive!  I paid $7 for my eight pieces of sushi and was still a bit hungry afterwards.  It’s also not a place where I’d ever want to stay in and eat.  There’s only counter seating, and the store is so small and crowded at rush hour, you’d always have other customers milling about right next to your back.

Price: A little on the high side.  Most sushi boxes are around $7 and a side salad (seaweed or squid) is $3.

Speed: Very fast, since most of their food is pre-prepared.  You just grab and pay.

Seating: Just 10 counter benches squished around the front of the store.

Large groups? No, there’s barely enough space for you to even come with a single buddy.

Check ‘em out: 733 Marquette Ave. (at 7th & Marquette), (612) 338-5191