On the first day of my new job, a couple colleagues treated me to lunch at a newer place near our office in Brooklyn Park. Located on 93rd just across I-169 in Osseo was Maple Tavern, a somewhat randomly situated bar/restaurant with ample parking and a (faux?) brick exterior. Once inside, you can tell the place is brand spankin new. The wood floors are shiny and polished, lots of new flat screen TVs tower above the bar, and the menus didn't appear to have been handled too many times as yet.
The place was nice, but seemed stark. There were lots of tables and chairs, so it didn't provide for a cozy feel that you might expect from the wooden interior. Nonetheless, it was clean and the service was attentive, although our server seemed to have been sippin' on some kind of special Kool-Aid that I'm not sure I'd want to share.
The menu was a nice size. I can't stand those places with pages and pages of crap. Burgers, sandwiches, what you'd expect. I had a side salad and the spinach artichoke wrap. Salad was nice, fresh lettuce and not the pre-packaged, stinky stuff you find at lots of places like this. The wrap was pretty good, not as delicious as I had hoped, but the spinach artichoke dip that was meant to be the sauce was pretty tasty. One of my colleagues did order her meal sans tomatoes, and that request went ignored, which is aggravating considering how light the traffic was at the time.
The happy hour menu looked pretty decent, and I'd be more inclined to stop in for a beer and an appetizer - maybe a burger even - than go back for a sit-down meal. All in all, the place was nice, clean, but could use some with the "come in and stay a while" vibe. Might just be because it's a new joint.
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