Happy Hours in the Twin Cities

★

North Loop, MinneapolisItalianEditor’s pick

Bar La Grassa

The North Loop happy hour by which all others get measured. Half-price bruschetta board, five-dollar wines by the glass, a bar room that fills exactly at 4pm for a reason. The soft egg and lobster bruschetta has earned a place on a thousand best-bites lists.

800 N Washington Ave, Minneapolis$$Mon–Fri 4–6pm, late-night Sun–Thu

02

North Loop, MinneapolisGavin Kaysen, upscale

Spoon and Stable

Gavin Kaysen’s flagship turns into the best deal in the metro from 4 to 5:30. Dollar oysters, half-priced burger, half-priced wines and beers. Fine-dining service at bar-tab prices for ninety minutes a day.

211 N 1st St, Minneapolis$$$Mon–Fri 4–5:30pm at the bar

03

Downtown MinneapolisOld-school steakhouse bar

Manny’s Steakhouse

The bar at Manny’s is the play. Half-off steakhouse classics, the legendary prime rib sandwich, and the kind of dim clubby room that is exactly what Tuesday at 5pm should feel like.

825 Marquette Ave, Minneapolis$$$$Mon–Fri 4:30–6pm at the bar

04

Northeast MinneapolisNeighborhood bar

Eli’s East

A Northeast neighborhood bar that turns out an unreasonably good happy hour menu. Buck-fifty sliders, dollar tots, half-off drafts. The room is loud, the patio fills fast, nobody is trying to impress anybody.

2201 University Ave NE, Minneapolis$$Mon–Fri 3–6pm

05

Downtown MinneapolisBritish pub + lawn bowling

Brit’s Pub

Half-priced fish and chips, draft specials, and the rooftop lawn-bowling green that is the closest the metro gets to a London pub on a Friday. Get there early or fight for a table.

1110 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis$$Mon–Fri 3–6pm

06

Warehouse District, MinneapolisEastern Mediterranean

Saffron Restaurant

Sameh Wadi’s long-running Mediterranean restaurant runs a happy hour built around the bar menu’s mezze board. Half-priced glasses of natural wine, lamb sliders, and hummus that has ruined every other hummus for you.

123 N 3rd St, Minneapolis$$$Tue–Sat 4–6pm at the bar

07

Multiple locationsBurger bar

Red Cow

Half-off select burgers, four-dollar drafts, a bar program that takes whiskey seriously. The Smokehouse burger after work is one of the small reliable rituals of the metro.

Various Twin Cities locations$$Mon–Fri 3–6pm and 9pm–close

08

Northeast MinneapolisSoutheast Asian

Hai Hai

Christina Nguyen’s tropical happy hour. Two-for-one tiki cocktails, discounted skewers and roti, and a room that turns golden hour into a small vacation. The roti canai is non-negotiable.

2121 University Ave NE, Minneapolis$$Tue–Fri 4–5:30pm

09

Armatage, MinneapolisWood-fired pizza

Pizzeria Lola

Late-night happy hour starting at 9pm, with half-off pizzas and discounted wines by the glass. A different ritual than the early-evening play, somehow even better. The Lady ZaZa at 10pm with a glass of red is its own genre of dinner.

5557 Xerxes Ave S, Minneapolis$$Sun–Thu 9pm–close

10

West Seventh, St. PaulItalian-American

Cossetta’s

The piano-bar happy hour at the upper bar is a uniquely St. Paul kind of evening. Half-price antipasti, the city’s most generous pour of red wine for the money, and a bartender who has been there longer than you have lived in town.

211 W 7th St, St. Paul$$Mon–Fri 4–6pm

11

Como, MinneapolisAlex Roberts

Restaurant Alma

Alma’s cafe-side happy hour is the move for the budget-conscious fine-diner. Cheese boards, charcuterie, wines by the glass at prices that feel like a small mistake on the restaurant’s end.

528 University Ave SE, Minneapolis$$$Tue–Sat 4–5:30pm cafe side

12

North Loop, MinneapolisHonorable mention

The Bachelor Farmer Cafe

Not a traditional happy hour, but a 3pm aperitivo at the Cafe with a sherry and a slice of cardamom cake is a small and serious pleasure. Treat it as the un-happy hour for days you need decompression instead of a party.

50 N 2nd Ave, Minneapolis$$Daily 3–5pm