Three words define Crave, as can be seen on any of their advertisements: Fresh, Vibrant, and American. The restaurant definitely lives up to all three, and the successfully executed combination makes for an overall great dining experience.
As before, the overall ratings will fall into five categories:
1) Server Attentiveness
2) Server Helpfulness
3) Overall/Average Service
4) Food Quality
5) Catering to Dietary Needs
Server Attentiveness
This is a category in which the servers performed decently overall, but is sadly not quite up to par in some respects. On our most recent visit, our server was energetic and checked with us on a relatively regular basis. He was around the area quite often, and would always stop to answer questions or address issues without making us wait with the old "I'll be right with you" line.
The server on a previous visit was fairly attentive, but there was a period of time where we felt as if we had been forgotten. There was an extremely long gap between getting my appetizer of Leek & Potato Soup (more on that to follow) and being informed that there is a delay in the preparation of our food, let alone actually getting the food. Personally, I believe that this particular server simply forgot to put in our order at first. I could be wrong, though even if she did I am not above recognizing that mistakes are made from time to time. However, this is still a detriment to the dining experience as a customer.
Finally, the server for our first visit was definitely the weakest of the three. While not a bad server, she didn't make much of an effort to check on us regularly beyond taking our orders and getting the food. Plus after being informed that a gluten-free menu was available, she disappeared for at least five minutes before she brought it to us. Admittedly the restaurant was crowded at the time, but I saw her walking toward us and grab the menu off a table not ten feet away after she disappeared and left us waiting.
Synopsis: Despite the most recent server's attentiveness easily deserving a 9/10, the average is brought down significantly by the others.
RATING: 6 / 10
Server Helpfulness
In regards to helpfulness the servers performed well overall, but were not particularly outstanding. The first server informed us of the gluten-free menu, but otherwise was not very helpful on account of the fact that she seldom stayed around long enough for questions to be asked if we had any. The second server was overall quite average, though she was quite knowledgeable of ingredients for certain meals we had questions about. The third and most recent server was by far the strongest in this area, based on how questions about the food were handled and especially one particular event. My fiancée ordered the Mango & Prawns, which was on the gluten-free menu, but we did not think to ask whether there was any dairy in the meal. In this case, butter. The moment we informed our server the dish was taken to be completely re-prepared and a free soup or salad was offered for her to eat during that time. Whether or not this is standard practice at Crave I don't know, but it definitely impressed us at how everything was handled. This individual's service I would easily rank 10/10.
Synopsis: All of the servers were helpful, though most of them did not exceed that of your average service at any restaurant.
RATING: 8 / 10
Overall/Average Service
Despite excellent service on our most recent visit, the overall service at Crave appears to be on par with your average sit down restaurant.
RATING: 7 / 10
Food Quality
Of the various foods I have tried at Crave, I have not had a single item that I didn't enjoy.
The appetizers I have ordered are: the Artisan Bread Basket and the Leek & Potato Soup. The bread basket includes three different breads and two house made spreads. The breads include a roll sliced into 5 pieces, bread sticks, and slices of loaf bread. The loaf slices are my personal favorite because of their texture in addition to the taste, though the other breads are delicious as well. The two spreads that came with the basket were a honey walnut butter, and a chipotle "butter". I include the quotations because I consider this to be more of a cheese spread than butter. The honey walnut spread was by far the favorite at our table, with its taste complementing the taste and texture of every bread type wonderfully. It may be a little too sweet for some, but I have a sweet tooth so it was perfect for me. The chipotle spread was good, but falls short due to personal taste. The cheese used is a very sharp cheddar, which I am not a fan of. There was a nice touch of heat that finishes off every bite with the spread, but a more subtle cheese flavor would have complemented the heat in a more pleasing manner in my opinion.
The leek & potato soup tasted good, but was overall underwhelming. The texture wasn't very pleasing for me, very grainy with no actual substance. To me a potato soup needs to have chunks of potato, which this is very much lacking. Luckily the taste does make up for the unfavorable texture, so I recommend giving it a try since texture preferences vary for everyone.
I've tried a few different entrées here, including sushi and the Turkey Burger. I have tasted my fiancée's dishes as well, though I don't feel comfortable reviewing them at this time.
I've had sushi on two different occasions, and on both it was prepared excellently. The fish was always fresh, rolls made perfectly tight, and the pieces never fall apart, which is a problem with more restaurants serving sushi than you might think. The first time I had the Unagi and Minnesota rolls; both of which were delicious, though I did learn that Unagi rolls are inferior to Unagi nigiri (on a bed of rice). The second time I got the Sushi Bento Box which includes 12 pieces of tuna, salmon, eel, and cucumber rolls (3 pieces each), vegetable tempura, spring mix salad, and fresh fruits. The sushi was all basic: seaweed wrap, sticky rice, and tuna/salmon/etc. While not outstanding, each piece showcased the individual ingredient wonderfully. The vegetable tempura reminded me of the "Bloomin' Onion" from Outback Steakhouse, but without all the heavy grease, and the addition of other vegetables including carrots. Probably my favorite part of the entire dish. I wasn't a fan of the salad, though I have a preference of romaine lettuce or spinach leaves. These were darker greens with what I am guessing was a sesame dressing (or perhaps a peanut dressing?) and it just wasn't to my liking. The fresh fruits were exactly that: fresh fruits.
The Turkey Burger was my favorite by far. The ground turkey was nice and juicy, definitely not overcooked. It is topped with avocado, chipotle mayo, bacon, and pepperjack cheese. The avocado and bacon contrast each other perfectly, with the crunchy saltiness of the bacon melding with the cool creamy texture of the avocado. Then the chipotle mayo and pepperjack cheese add a wonderful amount of spice to the burger without being overwhelming to the palate. To be completely blunt, this was the best turkey burger I have ever had. No exaggeration in the least. Try it and see for yourself if you don't believe me.
Synopsis: Though I found the potato soup to be a bit lackluster, the food here is absolutely delicious overall.
RATING: 9 / 10
Catering to Dietary Needs
I have to say that Crave does a very good job of handling the dietary needs of its customers, at least from our experience. Their gluten-free menu contains over 22 listed items, plus a note that any of the sandwiches can be served without the bread and/or wrapped in lettuce. By far the largest menu of this type I have seen thus far. In addition to this, the servers would not hesitate to find out whether a particular dish contained dairy or not, and would inform us if said ingredients could be removed. A great example of this is the most recent event regarding the butter on the mango & prawns.
Synopsis: The combination of a very helpful staff and a relatively large specialty menu takes Crave above and beyond the majority of restaurants in its class in this category. I can't vouch for the safety of persons with Celiac Disease due to contamination, I believe they would take the extra care to ensure the safety of their customers.
RATING: 10 / 10
Although some of Crave's servers could use some improvement in regards to their attentiveness, the helpfulness, delicious food, and expansive gluten-free menu take this restaurant into the upper ranks of excellence. Especially when you consider that it falls into the category of American Food, which tends to be saturated with restaurants of much lower quality (e.g., Applebee's, T.G.I. Friday's, Chili's).
*** OVERALL RATING: 9 / 10
CRAVE (Mall of America)
368 South Avenue
Bloomington, MN 55425
(952) 854-5000
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