Sea Salt Eatery

4801 Minnehaha Ave
Minneapolis, MN
612-721-8990
http://www.seasalteatery.com/

Category: Seafood

Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 6
Service: N/A (counter service only)
Ambience: 8

Recommendation: Good. We had mixed feelings about our visit – a great location in a picturesque setting by Minnehaha Falls, but the food isn’t spectacular, even by casual eatery standards.

Sea Salt is literally a stone’s throw away from the beautiful Minnehaha Falls. The place is little more than a concession stand and gives you the feeling that you’re in San Francisco’s Fisherman Wharf instead of Minneapolis’ Minnehaha Falls. If you’re in the area, it’s a good place to grab a bite to eat, along with a cold beer while enjoying music in the nearby bandshell or just lazing in the park...the only thing the experience is missing is a beach! Plenty of outdoor seating is available and a few seats are also available inside the eatery. Sea Salt redefines summer picnics in the park…gone are the burgers and hot dogs; in are oysters, fish tacos, calamari, and Po’Boys. They also serve wine and beer. Sea Salt serves a handful of flavors of Sebastian Joe’s ice-cream, a perfect companion on a warm summer day.

The lines are terrible on weekends so we visited on a weekday night and didn’t have to wait at all. Unfortunately, they were out of the oysters, which we were really looking forward to trying – the guys at Sea Salt are ex Coastal Seafoods (an excellent local fish market) employees so they really know their seafood. We got the Grilled Marlin Fish Taco ($7), Crab Cake Platter ($10), and a Crawfish Po’boy ($10). While the experience was great (where else can you eat seafood sitting right by the waterfalls?), the food didn’t quite wow us. The Fish Taco came with two corn tortillas, grilled marlin, and red salsa topped with onions, cilantro, and a side of lime. We have to give this place points for serving an authentic taco…there was no shredded cheese or sour cream in sight. The flavors were ok…the fish was pretty bland overall and the salsa was watery and didn’t have a kick to it. Some shredded cabbage and white sauce would have done the trick. The one Crab Cake the platter came with was good…although the word “platter” was misleading. Apparently a small slice of honeydew and a little plastic container with bland dry coleslaw made this dish a “platter.” We would have been just as happy to have paid a little less ($10 for one crab cake?) and got just the crab cake. The Po’Boy was also ok. It came in a soft bun with fried crawfish along with creamy tartar sauce (no sign of the hot sauce that was supposed to come with the dish). Overall, we thought the meal was good for a summer day in the park but not if you are looking for great seafood. Yes, we know it’s a casual eatery (and we given them points for fresh tasting seafood), but they could benefit from a couple of tweaks to take the food to the next level. If you’re looking for seafood, we’d recommend Stella’s Fish Café or Oceanaire over Sea Salt.

$$. We paid $38 for 3 dishes and a drink. Open April-October from 11-7 Sun-Mon and 11-8 Tues-Sat. Paid parking lot close to eatery. Light Rail access.