Jakeeno's Pizza & Pasta - 3555 Chicago Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55407
Jakeeno's Pizza & Pasta Website
Oh my goodness, has it been nearly three months since we posted a review on here? Indeed it has. Well, we think the long wait is worth it.
Crissy and I went to Minnesota with our friend George because, due to health reasons, I needed to get away from my job for a while (I've now permanently parted ways with them, hence the sparsity of posts on here), we wanted to see a few new states we had never visited (Crissy got one new state in, I got three), and we were invited to the high school graduation party of our friend Jake. We used Jake's party as our excuse to make the trip, but packed so much more into it (like seeing the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, as posted on our Facebook Page).
When we got to our hotel in Minneapolis, we decided we would to try at least one local restaurant while in the area. I asked Crissy and George what kind of food they were interested in for dinner, and Crissy mentioned that she was in the mood for some Italian food and wondered if there were any restaurants I could get stuffed shells at for myself (since that is what I love the most at Italian restaurants). As I browsed the list, I came across the name Jakeeno's, so I checked out their menu online and saw that they do, in fact, have stuffed shells.
So, in a very "I Love Lucy"fashion, I declared, "fellow hunters, we're going to Jakeeno's!" and off we went (jokingly commenting that if the food wasn't good, it was all our friend Jake's fault).
The restaurant was incredibly easy to find. Surprisingly, there was plenty of street parking available around the restaurant, too! When we went in, the place was rather full, so a number of the patrons must live nearby enough to walk. That makes me jealous. I would love to have a place this good within walking distance.
We step inside and are warmly greeted by the staff, as well as this neat sign I spotted on the wall:
We were seated quickly and given menus to browse over:
I had been looking at the menu at the hotel, so I already knew what I would be getting.
When the drink orders were given, I had a sneaky suspicion there weren't free refills on the sodas so instead of getting one glass, I got a pitcher of the 1919 Draft Root Beer. That gave about 4 glasses worth for the $5 price, much better than $1.95 per single glass..
Crissy got the "Minnesoda" brand cola, and I think George did the same. Because I got the pitcher of root beer, I got a mug for a glass instead of their usual "Minnesoda" glass for their drinks by that brand.
In the above picture is the Minnesoda glass, the root beer mug, and hiding behind is the pitcher of root beer. Here's a closer look at both sides of the Minnesoda glass:
Crissy and George really enjoyed their colas, but the 1919 draft root beer was one of the best root beers I've ever had. I would come back just to load up on this stuff, but thankfully it's available in other restaurants, but I haven't found it anywhere close to home, yet (and I probably won't).
For our meal, Crissy decided she wanted to do a soup and salad after seeing tomato basil soup on the menu. Her salad was the half order of the tossed salad:
So Crissy, after having her first spoonful of the soup, says to me, "you need to try this!" and so I did. It was incredible! This is coming from a guy who does not like tomatoes or tomato soup of any kind. I kept going back for more of Crissy's soup and wished I had gotten it for myself, too.
Soon, my stuffed shells were brought to the table:
Now, these are not the biggest shells in the world (nor are they the smallest), so I was a little shocked to see the smaller size of the portion (for $10.25, I was hoping for at least 4 shells). What it lacked in size, it more than made up for in taste. These were, hands down, the tastiest stuffed shells I've ever encountered (rivaled only by the stuffed shells at Grampa's in Dania Beach, Florida). The waitress said that they were baking the bread and she would bring a basket of bread to our table, but by the time we finished eating and left, that never happened (which is okay, the meal didn't need it anyway).
At the same time, they brought George's spaghetti:
I thought his spaghetti looked very good (the pictures really don't do the food here justice), and George said it tasted very good, one of the best spaghettis he'd ever eaten. He didn't go into much detail, however, and I didn't taste it for myself, so I guess that gives us an excuse to have to go back again,
Last came the 10" pepperoni pizza we ordered to split between the three of us to go with our respective meals:
At first glance, I didn't notice any pepperoni and was about to question it with the waitress, and then I spied one pepperoni sticking out from under the cheese that had been put on top of the toppings (awesome way to do the pizza). I'm not wild about thin crust pizza, but this was perfect in every way. The toppings were not too heavy for the crust, which was crunchy and never got soggy, and the taste was marvelous. Luckily, being a thin crust pizza, having a few squares of it (which is how they cut it) was not going to fill me up after having my shells.
On the way out, I spied some homemade chocolate chip cookies so I bought some:
Crissy and I decided we would buy some milk to have with them later, and ended up splitting them with George to snack on later in the night. They were a wonderful ending to a fantastic meal and went well with a small bottle of milk.
While the total cost of the meal was about $65 after the tip for the three of us, the overall experience, atmosphere and taste of the meal was fantastic and well worth the price. We absolutely will be back the next time we are in town. Given that it was my first time in the area, I certainly want to go back again soon, specifically so I can come back to Jakeeno's.
As a side note, it seems that this place is frequented by police officers. We saw some come in and eat while we were here, and I'd seen similar comments regarding this restaurant online elsewhere. At least it's good to know you're safe here.
Jakeeno's has a second location called Jakeeno's Trattoria off of E. Lake Street, however the original restaurant, at the corner of Chicago Ave. and E. 36th Street, is very likely the best, having been here for 40 years. I certainly hope they're still doing everything the same a century from now.
It's time for us to hit the road. We hope you've enjoyed this post. If you have something to say about this restaurant, leave us a comment. If there's a restaurant that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by messaging us on our Facebook Page. If you have your own pictures or reviews to add to our blog, drop us a line because we would love to add further reviews for this and other restaurants to our site.
Until the next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.
For Diehls On The Road, this is Tom Diehl, signing off....
