Saffron Restaurant & Lounge

We had a wonderful time here on a double date with our friends.  The service was A++, and the food was great.  Both couples enjoy trying new things, and none of us had had an entire meal consisting of middle eastern foods, so this was a bit of an adventure.  
  As a group we have a habit of ordering way too much food, especially when there are new things to try.  We just want to try everything!
  This is where the service really showed it's quality.  After diligently writing down the 3 items we Each ordered, our Server kindly suggested that it would be WAY too much food for us to eat, and we might not be able to enjoy the dishes we loved while trying to make room for all the curiosity induced orders.  NEVER, have I had a server tell me to order less, and he was so right.  We asked for his input on which items to keep and which to skip.  Following his recommendations, cutting 50% of our order, we ended up still having way too much food, but having all amazing dishes.  

  Can't recommend this place enough.

Came with colleagues for dinner- great atmosphere with eclectic decor and space was inviting.

Their service was meticulous, explaining each food and making sure we never ran out of water. To be fair, it was a Monday night.

Had Turkish hummus for app which had real smooth texture with right blend of paprika. Then had their seafood Tagine (earthen bowl stew) for main, which had very fresh seafood and great broth and aroma. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and left very satisfied!

We ate at Saffron about ten years ago after it initially opened.  I remembered the restaurant fondly.  Since then, Saffron has become a critics fav, often being included in lists of Minneapolis best restaurants.
We returned tonight to the updated room in the warehouse district with great anticipation.  Our high expectations let us down, and Saffron provided a mediocre middle eastern dining experience.

The menu was so intriguing, with updated classic descriptions of North African and Levantine cooking.  Perhaps we have been spoiled by past experiences eating middle eastern food in Paris, Istanbul, New York, and Nashville. (Yes, Nashville has a great middle eastern restaurant) However, Saffron's food tasted bland, missing the explosion of spice infused flavors reminiscent of the Levantine exotica.

The best dish was the Kafta meatballs.  Our Moroccan lamb Tangine was very bland, so uncharacteristic of this dish.  Other then the large Tangine, servings were small and expensive.  I actually left hungry.

Service was lovely however, and the wine list simply excellent with interesting offerings from all over the world.

I may return to Saffron for a happy hour and appetizers, but our meal tonight let us down.  I cannot count Saffron amongst Minneapolis great restaurants.

Saffron's staying power over the years probably says more about it than I probably ever could. It's been a staple in the Twin CIties for awhile and is still worthy of praise.

My visits over the years have ranged from dinner to more casual noshes and Saffron fits the bill well for either. The ambiance has been made slightly more casual (though not overly so) over the years, which appears to be where the industry is trending. The bar and small lounge are a cozy place to grab a drink and the restaurant is cozy with friendly and professional service.

The menu runs the gamut from small plates, to entrees to shareable tagines. Whether it be the more simple things like hummus, baba ganoush, fried halloumi, to the lamb bacon BLT or any of the definitely recommended for sharing tagines, I haven't come across anything that hasn't been enjoyable.

Saffron has seemingly been around forever in dining terms - here's to hoping that never changes.

Wow.

Duck meatballs for the win.

I had some lamb, it was okay. Then the duck meatballs came out and blew this experience out of the water.

Great flavor. The sauce was spectacular. We dipped so much bread into the sauce!

I was unsure of this place because the curb appeal is a bit lacking. I walked into a wide open dining concept. Almost too wide open, it felt a bit empty with the layout, but that's probably a good thing when this place fills up.

The service was good.

I can't gush enough about the duck meatballs though, try them!

There's a ton of well written reviews for Saffron Restaurant & Lounge, so I'm going to leave you with this...

I went here on a first date and I was majorly impressed. The interior of Saffron is BEAU-TI-FUL and perfect for a date and or special occasion. The staff is professional, knowledgeable and friendly (not overly friendly where you get annoyed and want them to go away).

What I need you to know about Saffron Restaurant and Lounge is how good their food is. Everything is cooked to 100 percent perfection and every bite is a flavor bomb in your mouth! I ordered the Grilled New York Strip and everything about it was done by the book. The meat is high quality, the steak was cooked perfectly and the seasoning was on point.  

I also ordered the Crispy Brussel Sprouts with pomegranate, tahini, and jalapeno. These Brussel Sprouts are god's gift to your big bad food shoveling mouth. So good, that I had to remind myself to eat them slowly and "lady like" since I was on a first date. Also, I needed to talk to the dude so I couldn't keep my mouth full of food the entire time...bummer, I know. The amazing flavor combo of sprouts with pomegrante, tahini and jalepeno is magical. These babies are so dang good that my hungry behind ate my leftover brussel sprouts with my bare hands on my drive home. By the time I got home, I had no leftovers and I felt a sudden sense of loss and hopelessness.

One may ask: "Is this safe?", No. Do I regret getting grease all of over my steering wheel? Absolutely not. Would I do it again? 100 percent!

I will come back here again and next time I plan to get multiple orders of the brussel sprouts so that I'll actually have a decent amount of leftovers (at least that's the goal...). I highly recommend Saffron Restaurant and Lounge and I plan to make Saffron one of my regular spots.

Craaaazy good! I am a nerd level foodie & Saffron did it for me. We did it up family style-2 couples and we ate like royalty for just over $100. I'm still dreaming of the coriander potatoes & fried cauliflower with feta fondue. The tango mock tail was definitely something to write home about. We even fished around for the ingredients & bought the ingredients for it today, so we can try to recreate it at home. The gnocchi was unique, light, & delicious & the desserts were big enough to share, & unforgettable. We got the coconut chocolate cake with passion fruit sorbet, & the farafi which was probably the most mysteriously interesting & fabulous dessert I've ever had.
Not to mention, the place has great ambiance without feeling pretentious & the service was superb.
Thank you Saffron. We Love you!

Anticipating Saffron might be the reason that I was a bit disappointed overall.

The cocktails were the highlight of the night. Both the Heart Beets cocktail (containing beet juice and absinthe) and Saffron Rose (champagne rose) we're very good.

For the entrees, the Pork chops were very flavorful, but limited with meat and physically had to gnaw on the bone. Chicken with eggplant overall was good, chicken was perfectly cooked.

For the bad, both the green beans and Brussel sprouts came highly recommended. The sprouts were terrible, half cooked at best and hard. Green beans were ok but should have been served warm in my opinion.

Came early on a Wednesday which might have been the issues I saw, or the kitchen was off. Either way, Saffron is one of the top rated restaurants in the city and will certainly venture here again with a different menu selection.

Saffron has been on my list of places to go since I moved to the North Loop earlier this year.  Unfortunately, I wanted to like Saffron more than I did.  

When we arrived, our server came order to introduce herself and take our drink order.  We decided on cocktails (I chose the Saffron Rose) and also ordered the turk hummus to start.  The hummus came out fairly quickly (probably between 5-8 minutes), but the cocktails took about another 10 minutes after that.  Although I understand cocktails can take time to make, this seemed strange since only 3 people in my group ordered cocktails.  Once the drinks came, they were good.  The Saffron rose was sweet, but not overly so.  I also liked that it came with the extra drink from the shaker in a small beaker (almost like a cocktail and a half!).

Besides the hummus, my group of 5 ordered a few more small plates to share:

-Turk Hummus - Very tasty! Would order again.
-Slow Cooked Green Beans - These were a little mushy and sweet for my taste.  
-Grilled Haloumi Cheese - Honestly, i felt like this tasted like a good, grilled string cheese.  I liked it, but I don't know if I would order again because it was really small.
-Middle Eastern Sausage - Looked like breakfast sausages, but very flavorful.  The sausages came in a lemony sauce that was delicious when mixed with the sausage and pita.
-Green Salad - Good, but unremarkable.  The smoked paprika bread crumbs added a nice crunch.

For my entree, I split the seafood tagine.  It had 3 types of seafood (sadly, I can only remember the mussels) in a tomato-y broth with chick peas.  i had heard this was wonderful, but I only thought it was okay, so maybe it is just not my type of dish.

Although the food was good (probably closer to 4 stars), the service was closer to 2 stars.  Our waitress seemed aloof and condescending.  She didn't come to check on the food or ask if we needed something after we received the dishes.  

I'm thinking I will try Happy Hour, but I doubt I go back for dinner.

I was very excited to go here having been to Spain. It exceeded my expectations! The food was so flavourful, unique and delicious! 4 of us got a bunch of dishes to share then shared a tangine, highly recommend getting a tangine on top of smaller plates. The croquettes were awesome! The middle eastern sausages were fantastic! The shredded phyllo and sweet cheese pie from the desert menu was truly unique and delicious! If you've been trying a lot of different restaurants around Minneapolis like my husband and I have one thing you'll notice is that the service isn't quite up to par at Saffron. It was interesting. But the food shined so much it wasn't a big hindrance. Highly recommend!