The Gnome Craft Pub

Reviews

• DL

  Dan Lipa

  Aug 21, 2026
  1.0
  I really hope that whoever takes over brings this place back to the glory it had before Ingram bought it.
• SH

  Sales Super Hero

  Aug 17, 2026
  1.0
  Very nice place and great food. Downside, the owner constantly complains about crime in the neighborhood with the local newspaper. He should support Black Lives Matter and stop spewing hatred.
• HO

  Hiro Oru

  Aug 13, 2026
  2.0
  I arrived about an hour and 25 minutes before closing time on a Wednesday night. The waiter responsible for my table looked irritated when nobody ordered alcohol. After that, the check-ins with our table were so infrequent that after we finished eating dinner we sat at the table for about, 25 minutes, with all of our dishes and empty glasses stacked up in a neat pile. Having worked in restaurants, I get how sober tabs are smaller, so I'd been planning to order dessert to try and pad the check more, due to the fact we didn't drink. The dessert itself, like the food, came out efficiently and smoothly once we were allowed to submit an order, and we ate the it in about 10 minutes. After that, we waited, piled up our dishes, waited, finished our waters, waited, stacked our glasses, and waited some more. It wasn't until I overheard one of the people working at the bar tell our waiter "I think that table is ready to go" and gesture at us that they came over to let us pay and exit, which, at that point, was 9:00pm, the restaurant's closing time. Needless to say, I did not think ordering dessert would add approximately an extra 50 minutes to my stay and had intended to leave well before closing time, having first arrived just under an hour and a half before then. The food and drinks themselves were okay; we tried the "burger of the week" specialty burger, a honey Sriracha mac and cheese burger with a side of fries. The smaller sized fries were great, but the bigger ones could've used a bit more time in the oven and overall could've done with more seasoning. The burger itself was pretty good, but VERY VERY messy-- practically impossible to eat cleanly either with one's hands or with a fork and knife. Flavorwise, it felt like the hot honey was meant to do the heavy lifting in the seasoning department for the mac and cheese, as the cheese sauce on the noodles was kind of bland. The key lime pie was tasty, the crust was a real highlight. I leave the food at 3 stars, because I think without the gimmick, there may be a solid foundation I was unable to get a clear views of underneath all the layers. The tap root beer I ordered wasn't overly-carbonated, which I prefer for Lift Bridge, however my dining partner reported their soda was quite flat as well, leading me to believe the low carbonation wasn't necessarily intentional. Overall, I'm kinda bummed. I really wanted to like this place, but I kinda felt like I wasn't wanted. Right before we left, either our waiter's boss or the bartender I think came by to check in, and he was great. Complimented my shirt, made me feel like the night wasn't totally a bad idea, but by then I was just trying to go home.
• RC

  Robert Chu

  Aug 12, 2026
  1.0
  Worst dining experience I’ve had in a while. ZERO customer service. If you don’t want to serve me, at least let me get the check so I don’t waste my damn time. Food is not even good enough to give them another chance. Worst restaurant in St Paul for sure.
• BW

  Brenda Wogen

  Aug 7, 2026
  3.0
  Admittedly I miss The Happy Gnome. I still love the atmosphere in this older building with the wood floors and the fireplace as well as their patio. However, the food is hit or miss. I ordered the fish and chips. The description explains it has a smoked salt which I assumed would be a light dusting. Instead, the fish was covered in a thick layer of what appeared to be Maldon salt. I tried scraping off the copious amounts of salt without success. Such a disappointment because the walleye was actually quite good and the breading was the right amount and perfectly crisp. The chef should have known immediately that the amount of salt was too much and corrected the dish before sending it out. The crinkle cut fries were okay but not very crispy. The tartar sauce wasn’t anything special. There are better fish and chips to be found (The Local and Sea Salt Eatery spring to mind). It feels like The Gnome tries too hard, gets close, but fails to fully execute.

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