Via Restaurant Review

Friday night I tried out a new eatery in the Minneapolis Area. It is called Via Cafe and Bar and is located at 6740 France Avenue in Edina. I went with my good friend Laura. She always knows where the newest places to eat are, offers great conversation, and is pretty easy on the eyes. The inside was very nice. It had a great atmosphere. We were put on the waiting list. I did not make reservations because I wanted to sit in the bar for a drink and observe clientele and the staff. The bar was cool, I thought the room was a little small but it worked. In the middle of the room was the bar, it had a beautiful granite top on it. The seating was limited tho. Around outer edge by the walls of the room were smaller bistro tables with flashy looking chars to sit on incase you decided to eat in the bar area. We got our table and the service was excellent. We asked our waitress about different item, what she would recommend and she was knowledgeable about what we asked her. This is a big plus because sometimes I will get a bite to eat at a sports bar and the servers there are huge dingbats. I would say the layout of the dining area was cozy. Cozy meaning the tables were placed too close together. If someone were sitting next to you they could mos-def listen in on your conversation. Although it was decorated nice and it did have an open kitchen in the back so you could see your food being prepared. Laura ordered the Scallops (big shocker) and the mixed vegetables. The presentation was wonderful. I tried a little bit and it taste great. I ordered the baked cedar plank salmon with the spicy broccoli. I will start off with saying that the broccoli tasted amazing. They used minced garlic and red pepper flakes for their seasoning. Although about 2 hours after dinner I was back in St. Cloud at the bar with some friends and I developed some of the worst smelling burps I have ever had in my life. The after affect was not good. The salmon was standard. It is hard to mess up salmon. I personally have a salmon recipe to die for so it is hard to stack up. The bill came and they forgot to transfer our drinks over from the bar, BONUS. The prices were nothing out of the ordinary. The bill was paid and off we went.

The food was good, atmosphere and company were great. I would go back there again but I am not in any hurry. Krave is about 30 seconds from there so I would rather hit that Restaurant up instead. I would give this place 4 Flying Monkeys out of 5