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Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge, Minneapolis, MN (restaurant) |
martian-tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 19, 2009
Posts: 398 |  Posted: 2010-11-05 11:00 pm Permalink
Some of the photos I took on 9-09-2010 around 9PM to document how Psycho Suzie's Motor Lounge looked at their original location before it moves to the new one.
It was a cold cloudy night and most of the customers had the sense to be inside. I also heard some people thought the camera flashes were lightning. The natural gas torches do provide some heat.
[ This Message was edited by: martian-tiki 2010-11-05 23:06 ]
[ This Message was edited by: martian-tiki 2010-11-06 09:15 ]
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Quince_at_Dannys
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 29, 2004
Posts: 165
From: Command Records International HQ
| Posted: 2010-11-29 10:04 pm Permalink
Psycho Suzi's
1900 Marshall Avenue NE (several blocks south of their old spot.)
Minneapolis, MN
Psycho Suzi's has moved to a new, bigger location. I got to check it out on Saturday, and I thought I'd post my initial impressions.
Atmosphere: MUCH bigger space; maybe 5 times bigger than the old one. They are in the former Gabby's, which is an interesting building to start with. The downstairs is the family-friendly dining area with a somewhat expanded menu and cocktail menu much like the old one, with the addition of a few new drinks. Upstairs, the former dance floor has been turned into a stage for the house band(!). Limited food menu in the upstairs area, but there are 3 themed bars each with it's own arsenal of specialty cocktails. Overall, very high "TiPSY" factor and great lighting. Outside, they are building a HUGE patio which overlooks the Mississippi River. It's gonna be amazing when spring hits.
House Band: GREAT house band. Basically they do a bunch of faithful Martin Denny covers and they do a nice job with unique instrumentation. One of the guys has a theramin which they use to their advantage on their version of the Star Trek theme. The theramin guy also switches over to harmonica for a nice Tommy Morgan style exotica sound. Overall, it really creates a nice, relaxing mood.
Cocktails: This was the weak point of Suzi's in the past, and one of my biggest criticisms. But brother, they have addressed this in a big big way. The downstairs dining area now offers an excellent classic daiquiri made with Mount Gay rum and real lime juice. The Mai Tai is the standard Vic's recipe with the addition of a little pineapple juice and a nice float of dark rum. A little sweet, but not gross sweet—they are now using fresh citrus and homemade sugar syrup. Upstairs, one of the bars offers tiki shots (I didn't go there). The bar that really got my attention was the "Ports of Pleasure." One of the drinks I tried had fresh lime juice, cinnamon and orgeat. Another had dark Jamaican rum, lime and Maraschino liqueur; yet another one was based on lemon and pineapple with a little orgeat for flavoring. Best of all, they were all unique and complex in flavor, had fresh citrus, weren't overly sweet, and utilized good quality rum. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the ingredients and the adventurousness of the recipes. Even the drinks that weren't my favorite, I couldn't fault with being low-quality in terms of ingredients. I don't think it's a stretch to say the best drinks here are as good or better than any I've had at ANY of the tiki establshments of Boston or Chicago. And if you know me, that's saying a lot
Food: Similar fare to what they had before: excellent pizza (which has always been Suzi's strong suit), hearty appetizers and sandwiches, and burgers which are new to the menu. I almost wish they would add some asian fare—fried rice and egg roll.
Service: As always, friendly servers with as much personality as tattoo ink. Sometimes you would have to wait for awhile at the old location, and I think when it's busy the new place can have the same problem. The dreaded bill split-up at the end of the evening is a lot more painless nowadays--the best cocktails can now be ordered sans mug, eliminating the confounding mug deposit that you normally would have to subtract out when dividing up a large tab.
Kudos to owner Leslie Bock on creating a genuine Twin Cities desination—if you're in the area don't miss it! I'll check back in with some pictures soon
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I, Zombie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 14, 2003
Posts: 539
From: the Les Baxter Grotto (Minneapolis)
| Posted: 2010-12-06 8:49 pm Permalink
I agree with Quince-at-Danny's. Vastly improved drinks and the House Band is a tremendous addition. I've gone twice. The second time, we did have one horrible cocktail that was very reminiscent of the old Psychos - totally undrinkable AND YET it came in a hand-carved out pineapple which was terrific. I would have loved to order the old school Daiquiri and had it in the pineapple!
I encourage people to go - especially now, while it's still good. Yeah, that's right: I fear it will go down hill (drink wise), but maybe not. Maybe if enough people encourage them to stick with the fresh juices and the top shelf booze for at least a handful of core cocktails.
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MNZombie
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Nov 14, 2007
Posts: 52
From: Lakeville, MN
| Posted: 2011-01-19 3:43 pm Permalink
I haven't been to the new location yet but judging by the video they went all out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS55Cr3hAq8
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croe67
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 05, 2003
Posts: 1088
From: Texas Tikiland
| Posted: 2011-01-19 3:49 pm Permalink
& they've got 3 cool new swizzles, too, I hear - created just for them.
Can't wait to see the new digs!!
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Bora Boris
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2603
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2011-01-19 4:35 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2011-01-19 15:49, croe67 wrote:
& they've got 3 cool new swizzles, too, I hear - created just for them.
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Ooooh Very Nice!! 
Could someone please cough up a picture?
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ted tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 11, 2004
Posts: 195
From: minneapolis
| Posted: 2011-01-20 08:47 am Permalink
A buddy of mine was in charge of the new drink menu and did his job well. The place isn't just a bar-it is an event if you go on a weekend night. The downstairs main bar/restaurant lost some of its cozy appeal with the massive expansion, but you have to try really hard to find a reason not to like going to Suzies.
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croe67
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 05, 2003
Posts: 1088
From: Texas Tikiland
| Posted: 2011-01-20 09:40 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2011-01-19 16:35, Bora Boris wrote:
Quote:
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On 2011-01-19 15:49, croe67 wrote:
& they've got 3 cool new swizzles, too, I hear - created just for them.
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Ooooh Very Nice!!
Could someone please cough up a picture?
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What?
Like this?
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jpmartdog
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 27, 2005
Posts: 650
From: Amesbury, Mass
| Posted: 2011-01-20 1:54 pm Permalink
looks great in the video-
swizzles are red hot!
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Bora Boris
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2603
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2011-01-21 10:02 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2011-01-20 09:40, croe67 wrote:
What?
Like this?
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Very Cool, Thank you Caroline!
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I, Zombie
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 14, 2003
Posts: 539
From: the Les Baxter Grotto (Minneapolis)
| Posted: 2012-05-24 1:29 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-12-06 20:49, I, Zombie wrote:
I encourage people to go - especially now, while it's still good. Yeah, that's right: I fear it will go down hill (drink wise), but maybe not. Maybe if enough people encourage them to stick with the fresh juices and the top shelf booze for at least a handful of core cocktails.
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Well that didn't last long.
Go for the GREAT band (Exotik-a-GoGo) and the terrific tiki vibe. Ignore the more than occasional bad staff attitude and stick to beer.
[ This Message was edited by: I, Zombie 2012-05-24 15:52 ]
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bamalamalu
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 20, 2006
Posts: 612 | Posted: 2013-06-08 7:41 pm Permalink
We were in Minneapolis about a week or so ago so went to check out the new location. We'd been to the old location about 3 years ago and, while it was fun, we do remember not being overly impressed with the drinks. This time we thought they were definitely improved. The new location is huge and clearly popular. We ended up going three times during our trip and it was crowded every time. The first time we went on a Sunday evening and managed to get a table in the bar area. We went back a few days later with some relatives and sat in the dining room. Then, of course, we wanted to see what the upstairs was like, so went back again early on a Saturday night when that was open.
The drinks downstairs were fine; not the greatest, but certainly drinkable. There is a noticeable difference in the drinks upstairs - lots of fresh citrus, etc. My main complaint would actually be that there was SO much fresh lime in most of the drinks we sampled that they ended up tasting similar. On our first round, it actually took several sips to confirm which drink was which. The Mai Tai, oddly enough, tasted rather orange. But nothing that'd keep us from returning.
The upstairs was really pretty impressive. We were at a small table right near the band and it was amazing to sit in a fully decked-out room with live exotica that was jammed full of people at 6pm. The three different bars do have different menus, but your waitress takes your order and fetches your drink from wherever necessary. You can also order off the full food menu if you want. It was rainy on our visits, so we didn't sit outside at all, but there's lots of outdoor seating right on the river.
Despite some negative things I'd heard, the three different waitresses we had were all good. No complaints on the service at all (we'd normally have sat right at a bar at least once, but they were always full.) We were also struck by the diversity of the crowd. There was quite a mix of people each time - older/younger, tattooed/not, etc, so we didn't really experience that 'annoying hipster' feel I kept reading about.
Overall, while it's not exactly 'authentic,' we enjoyed all of our visits. If we lived there, the main thing that'd keep us away would probably be the crowds/parking. When you go often, things get annoying, but it's certainly worth a stop if you're visiting. I'd probably recommend going right at 5 on a Friday or Saturday when the upstairs opens. Decent drinks and the experience in the room with a live band is pretty cool. Plus, it's just fun downing rum drinks in a church!
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Ragbag Comics
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 24, 2009
Posts: 142
From: Chicago
| Posted: 2013-07-24 9:27 pm Permalink
Bamalamalu hit the nail on the head, I'd say;
We never made it to the old Suzi's, but were up in Minneapolis this past weekend and we LOVED the new joint!
Based on what I'd read here and seen from Critiki and poking around the internet, I wasn't too sure what to expect; I figured we'd either go once and check it out or be back every day we were there.
Whulp... we loved it and went three times in three days! The second we walked in the front door and
saw the giant story-tall waterfall behind the hostess stand, we figured we'd be coming back.
We went on a Friday just before the upstairs bar opened, had a couple of solid cocktails (the Tiki-Tini, while nothing complicated, was excellent and comes in a cool martini glass-inspired Tiki mug), and a really good steak sandwich. When the bars upstairs opened, we went up and found a spot in the Ports of Pleasure bar and saw the band equipment in the center of the (giant) room- the live music was news to me, but yowza! Can't beat live Exotica, and Exotic-A-Go-Go were fantastic (now, if only Tonga Room would take a hint from these guys and get a decent band to play on the raft in the lagoon...)
We tried the Ports of Pleasure and Shrunken Head signature cocktails (in exclusive mugs) and both were very tasty. We also had an "Aged Rum Mai Tai" made with 12yr Appleton that was quite good, and an "Exotica" which was a Cachaca-based cocktail that I really liked.
The crowd was a total mix of normal, non-pretentious folks, and everyone was having a great time.
And it was JAM PACKED! The patio, the upstairs, the downstairs... we were afraid to leave our table because there'd be nowhere for us to go if we came back.
Next day we sat out on the patio; I grew up near the Mississippi further downstream from Minneapolis, so it was a great experience drinking a giant flaming bowl of rum under thatch umbrellas on the river. The patio is immense; I seriously wonder what the capacity of the whole building is? There has to be room for 700-800 people in this place between the two patios, the restaurant, the bar downstairs, and the three upstairs bars.
In terms of service, of our three waitresses (plus the hostess and the bartender we talked with for awhile) everybody was extremely friendly- Minnesota Nice all the way. Coming from Chicago which is quickly becoming the Land of Pretentious Hipsters in a lot of places, I can say I didn't get even the slightest whiff of hipster-y 'tude from these folks. They were all quick to offer suggestions from the menu, and were more than happy to replace a couple of the mugs we'd bought when they came to us chipped or cracked.
The ONLY con I would point out is that it is BUSY (though, to be fair, we were there over a weekend.)
Oh, and the parking lot is an absolute nightmare- the first night we were there there were cars parked everywhere (they have a valet service) and things were seriously jammed up in spots with cars parked in the thruway. If the weather is nice, I'd recommend parking a few blocks away and walking, or taking a cab.
They have at least five exclusive mugs now, a very awesome volcano bowl, and another super-sized mug they serve a drink for 2-4 out of (we didn't try that one, but certainly will next we're up that way.)
This thread seems awful light on pictures- I took a bunch and will upload a few of 'em shortly.
--Pete
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[ This Message was edited by: Ragbag Comics 2013-07-24 21:33 ]
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Ragbag Comics
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 24, 2009
Posts: 142
From: Chicago
| Posted: 2013-07-24 10:14 pm Permalink
Ok... here's a quick tour of the new digs at Suzi's to give all of ya hold outs
more reason to head up to Minneapolis...
Down an otherwise mostly industrial stretch, you'll spot this cool lookin' mid-century rambling
building tucked away a bit (and with a TON of cars in front of it...)
Some big Tikis that look like huge CoCoJoe's pieces are lurking in the parking lot...
Carvings line the front of the entryway...
Welcome to Paradise? I dunno, but it ain't far off!
Inside the door, a huge waterfall (that Sailor Jerry statue is
nearly human-sized; you can spot the hostess stand on the left
side of the frame, for scale purposes...)
Inside, it's a split-level; downstairs is the main dining room...
Some major coolness in here! Tiki mugs on the walls, hip light fixtures,
vintage chairs, wood-plank carpeting, some big Tiki carvings, and even some
Witco sprinkled around for good measure; like any good Tiki bar, every bare
surface is covered...
We had the good sense to take these pictures early on in our visit before things got totally jam packed; the patio, however, was already filled up!
I'll dig out more pictures of the upstairs bar and the mugs and what-not shortly;
I think the TC Image Uploader has had enough of a work out for one night...
--Pete
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 11326
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2013-07-25 07:23 am Permalink
Wow, that almost looks like the old Islands restaurant in San Diego (well...almost). I'm impressed, somebody really likes and knows Tiki there.
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