Jeezo Beezo! If you want to order one their salads, get the Beet Salad. Do not think about. Don't put it to a vote, Don't ask the waiter. Don't flip a coin. Don't look to Yelp....well yes you should. Just order the Beet Salad.
Overall this is a wonderful establishment. The menu has many of the standards you'd expect at an Italian restaurant. To me what really seperates the men from the boys in an Italian restaurant is if the establishment can make Carbonara. My experience with Carbonara has been  a bit of a crap shoot. The egg is either completely scrambled, or they are using some weird alfredo type sauce. It's not unlike asking for a medium rare hamburger; it's not that hard, but you rarely get what you expect.
Scusi produced a wonderful plate of Carbonara. The bacon was scrispy and well balanced in amount, And the sauce was not curdled! Overall very good. I think they should add peas instead of spinach, but that is just my opinion.
We finished off our meal with an order of Zeppoles which were very good especially with the sweetned ricotta.
Overall I would have given this place five stars, but I hate sitting at those mini euro-tables...
Every time I've been to Scusi, I've found their food delicious and their staff friendly and fun. The atmosphere is what I would call Casual Nice, where you feel like you can pop in like it's a neighborhood joint, but it's still got a touch of class. The wine selection is good, so it's a cool place to kick back with friends or to have a nice date.
I was last at Scusi in May, celebrating a huuuge milestone. When the waitress found out, she brought glasses of champagne on the house. It's a little thing, but it made the night really special. Scusi will definitely be a regular spot of mine when I get moved up to St. Paul.
A couple months ago, Sara and I happened upon the place and decided to stop in for Happy Hour. We had never heard of Scusi and were pleasantly surprised by the experience. No wonder,  then, that my wife suggested  we try it again last week when we were out running a few weeknight errands.
When we arrived we thought about grabbing a table in the dinning room, but you know we love to sit at the bar so we opted for that instead.
Correction: I love to sit at the bar, and Sara lets me have my way. Usually.
As we saddled up to the bar we were greeted by a couple of waters and a very nice bartender. The two times we have been to Scusi, I have been very impressed by the service. Friendly, fast, and knowledgeable. What more could you want?
During Happy Hour, Scusi offers all their pizzas at half price and has specials on some red and white wines. Having a pizza was definitely going to happen, but we needed to pick some wine first. All wines at Scusi are served a little differently than I'm used to.
Rather than having the choice of a bottle or a glass, they have three different size carafes: Quartino, Mezzo, and Bottiglia. A quartino is about 8 ounces-so about a glass and a half. A mezzo seemed to be about twice that size, and the bottiglia was a little bigger than a bottle (if you didn't figure that out by the name).
Sara chose  a quartino of Chianti, and I went with Pinot Nior. Then it was time to make some decisions on food. While we perused the menu, our bartender brought out some rosemary crackers and a delicious white bean spread. Just the thing to rouse a diner's appetite.
Per usual, my lady decided on the Sausage pizza (fennel sausage, San Marzano sauce, provolone, mozzarella). I really wanted the Duck pizza (duck, apple, Gorgonzola, rosemary, honey, Alfredo) but decided to go with something a little different and ordered the Salumeria assortment of three.
Salumeria is a fancy word for salami shop. Traditionally, Salumeria just sold cured meats, but recently have been know to sell cheese and other types of antipasti as well. You know I love antipasti, and with the assortment I got to pick one salami, one cheese, and one type of olive. Three of my favorite things on one plate! I went with the Sopressata, the Fontina, and Mediteranian Mix of olives.
The pizza was terrific. High quality cheese, light crisp crust, and tasty sausage. My plate was really good too, and I was especially impressed with the size of the portions. I'm often leery of ordering cheese or antipasti at restaurants because you never know how much you're going to get. I got 8 nice slices of meat, two huge hunks of cheese, at least a cup of olives, compote, and warm bread. Pretty good deal for $14!
One of these days, Sara and I will have to try a full- on dinner at Scusi. The great experiences we've had at Happy Hour justify that. Or maybe we'll head over for Sunday Brunch? That menu looks amazing!
So the next time you're looking for a little Italian in your life, skip watching My Cousin Vinny, and head over to Scusi!
I really wanted to love this place. Â I didn't. Â Would I go back? Â Probably. Â Is it on my list of places to revisit on a regular basis? Â Nope.
Quick Review: Food was just ok. Service was great. Atmosphere was good (I agree with others that the TV needs to go).
Full Review: We had a 7 pm reservation on a weeknight. They had our table ready and waiting and even were able to seat us early. Our server did a great job explaining their menu, making suggestions, etc. Our little brown bag of crackers brought us a friendly little ant... Â
We split a Caesar Salad to start. Â It was excellent and probably my favorite part of the meal. Â We then split the Lobster Fettuccine and Scallops with Butternut Squash Ravioli (both recommended by our server and items we were already considering). Â Both dishes were cold. Â The ravioli was actually cold enough I could feel my mouth warming it up! Â The scallops were cooked well but lacking in flavor. Â The ravioli was very good in flavor but it was oddly cold. Â The lobster fettuccine was...boring. Â Lacking flavor of any sort and also cold. Â We actually compared it to some $3 frozen dinners we've had. Â I could easily create a better tasting lobster fettuccine than what we had at Scusi. Â Highly disappointing. Â We ended with doughnut holes covered in chocolate, with some whipped cream and dried cherries or maybe raisins; I'm not sure. Â The dessert was as unimpressive as the rest of the meal.
I can spend the same amount of money at I Nonni and receive five star food, service and atmosphere. Scusi was three star and not worth the $50 (each) bill we racked up.
I would eat that salad again!
Enjoyed Scusi for the first time during restaurant week. Â We were not sure what to expect were pleasantly pleased when we arrived.
Has the feeling of a comfortable, neighborhood restaurant. Â Lots of people enjoying themselves, lots of laughter, and lots of wonderful smells.
They had two menu options as part of the week, so we each ordered a different one and shared - everything was delish and I loved that the chef came out during the dinner to chat with us.
I can't wait for our next trip to enjoy wine and pizza.
My only suggestion would be to take out 1 table - it seemed like we were really close to the party of 10 seated next to us. Â (Tough to slip in and out of the table, and a bit loud at times)
A great night with wonderful food
We love Scusi for date night. Â They have great food, great wine, and great happy hour specials. Â We love the atmosphere at the bar. Â The four cheese pizza is pretty amazing, as is the beet salad. Â Their Facebook page is a great place to keep up with specials and deals. Â We're heading here again tonight for dinner and my mouth is already watering!
Review Source:Review of wine bar only.
Nice wine selection and $2 off per glass 8-10pm during week. Â Nice, big map of Italy on the wall behind the bar is fun to peruse and see which regions produce which wines. Â I'm lucky to be able to walk a block down the street to get a nice glass of wine. Â This stuff gets 3 stars.
However, walking in later one recent evening felt discomforting. Â Many of the patrons already there turned to look at us. Â Since the space is relatively small and well lit, when people turn to look at who's coming in, it's a palpable, slightly negative vibe. Â I never experienced this feeling when I entered this space when it was Heartland.
Next, the bartender. Â Upon arriving at 9:45, we acknowledged from the sign out front that the place closed at 10pm and voiced our understanding of this when we sat down at the bar. Â That's why we ordered only one glass of wine to split between us. Â We would have no problem enjoying a half-glass of wine and then being out of there within 15-20 minutes. Â Several minutes after serving us our half-glasses, the bartender told us "last call". Â So we ordered one more glass split between us. Â From the time we sat down until our last interaction over paying the bill, we felt as if we were a bother to the bartender and even unwelcomed by him. Â It seemed he had no interest whatsoever in making us feel welcome or even interacting with us at all.
The vibe of the place = 2 stars: Â meh, I've experienced better. Â So much better.
For a future late evening glass of wine "out", close by, Â this place will do. Â But in general, it won't be someplace I'd often seek out or recommend to others.
My first time here was on a Saturday late afternoon, we sat at the bar. Â Marc gave us the best service we've had in a LONG time. Â Great happy hour prices on wine and food. Â The pizza we got was amazing!
If you need to make reservations you can do it on their website.
If you're looking for a nice wine bar without all the hype check this place out!
I truly enjoyed this experience! Â
First of all the atmosphere: It has a cute little restaurant which had outdoor seating as an option, and cute indoor tables. Â I would recommend a possible reservation. Â The waitress was such a great help and shared with us the plates can possibly turn into 'tapas'... ITALIAN TAPAS! Â Yes Please!
We tried the beef appetizer (debated against that and risotto) and it was delicious! Had a great blend of aolio and beef!
For dinner we had the Short Ribs (MUST TRY) which we got the Large plate and had left overs, tried the gnocci (very delicious made with spicy Italian sausage) and homemade noodles and lamb pasta. Â
Everything was delicious! Â I would COMPLETELY go back to visit - so cute and very delicious!
Scusi is a fun Italian place near the Macalaster campus. The food is served in a shared, small plates style. We really had good luck with everything we tried, but the best was the duck confit--totally awesome. The wine choices are pretty good--my better half had "The Choir" and loved it, and I was able to get some excellent Chateau Montelena. The restaurant does have one odd feature--there is a TV mounted high on the wall in one corner, and they were playing a Fellini DVD while we were there. While I love Fellini's 8-1/2 as much as the next person, it was really a distraction and needs to come down.
It should also be noted that the tables are VERY close together--I could hear EVERYTHING being discussed at all of the tables around me, and because the noise level went up exponentially as the room filled, people were bordering on shouting at each other to carry on conversations. So, don't come here if you want a quiet conversation or if you need to discuss anything personal... everyone will hear you.
I like Blue Plate restaurants & love Italian food, so Scusi was an easy pick for Tuesday dinner with my sister.
First off, easy parking situation. Nice outdoor seating as well, but since it was hot we opted to sit inside. I liked their wine choices - we split a 'quartino' of white wine which was 2 medium glasses of wine for only $8. For a starter we ordered the arugula prosciutto salad. The small was more than enough for 2 people. They updated their menu recently, so for pastas we tried the veal bolognaise gnocchi & some new sweet corn risotto dish. Both were FABULOUS. The risotto dish tasted like Thanksgiving.
Love the mismatching plates as well; truly felt 'family style' at Scusi.
Great place for a date!
It's a rare thing for my family to go out for Italian. It was my mom's birthday and she wanted Italian, so Scusi it was.
I love that they have large orders. The large orders aren't enormous but it was nice for us to be able to split a few large orders versus each of us ordering something different.
For starters, we went with the Beet Rataffia. I pretty much love any salad that includes beets and this was wonderful....perfectly dressed. Our group of 7 split 2 large orders, and it was a great amount.
For our entrees, we split 2 orders of the seafood ravioli and tortellini. I absolutely loved the ravioli. The tortellini was good too but I'd probably go with something different next time.
For dessert, we had the mini donuts...served with ice cream. Soooo good. I could have eaten the whole serving. And I have to thank them for throwing in an extra donut. The serving is only supposed to have 6. But they threw in an extra for our group of 7.
I do wish they served bread with the meals rather than the crackers. Good bread could have made it a 5 star experience.
I will probably be a little bias about this review because Scusi is a block or to from our house but, it is the gem of the neighborhood!! Â Another successful concept from Blue Plate Restuarant Co! Â The staff are great and very welcoming. Â You feel like you are eating in someone's home. Â The food is amazing and served family style with great wine to boot! Â The bar area is a great separate area that is a hidden gem for neighborhoodies looking for a great bite to eat. Â We once went with our family and because my sister-in-law writes desert reviews for the examiner, the staff brought out every desert (I think 8 total) for all of us to eat. Â I think I went into diabetic shock that evening... Â
Great time had by all! Â As I mentioned earlier, the staff is amazing!!
Have eaten here a couple of times now and am the biggest fan of eating in the bar, mostly because of the ambiance. Â The tables are smaller and it is quieter. Â It reminds me of its own little bistro, off the bigger, busier and less interesting dining room. Â Had a fun time chatting up the bartenders, who made some special recommendations of the extensive, approachable wine list. Â
In the bar area, you'll have fun staring up at the almost-lifesize poster of Italy. Who wouldn't daydream of the day you'll get to taste the wines in the very region they are actually made? Underneath the map, is a massive wine-bottle-fridge that enables the restaurant to offer so many delicious wines by the "quartino." Â My friend and I enjoyed sharing our arugula, roasted red pepper and truffle-oil pizza on the mix-matched plates and he liked the novelty of the veal pizza, too. Â Best of all, they were half-price after 9pm even on a Saturday night! Â And carb-lovers everywhere will delight in their flat bread and white bean dip. Â
Looking forward to the desserts next time I go. Â And there will be a next time.
We went here Friday night, with a reservation as suggested by other yelpers. We purchased a Crowd Cut and wanted to use it before it expired. I would say this is the best Crowd Cut/Groupon purchase we've made to date!
This is another one of those places where I dream about the food. And the wine. And the concept. As other reviewers have said, you order your food and it comes out when it comes out. It's all sharing style, so make sure you go here with someone you like or with someone who you can share with. I think this place is best for couples or close friends/families.
We ordered:
-Margherita pizza which was great. Â
-Sicilian Herb Mount Athos olives- salty and delicious. A LOT in the portion.
-Orecchiette- phenomenal
-Roasted Button Mushrooms- so good I haven't stopped thinking about them.
-There were a few chocolate truffles sitting on the kitchen's window, and while we were leaving the chef told us to try them...delicious.
The place is very casual, we were dressed up and while we didn't feel out of place, it just wasn't necessary. It is busy, and the tables are a little cramped, but the food is worth it.
I will never go back here again! The service was poor (extremely slow from beginning to end), our waitress was rude and the food was bland and overpriced. Once my friend and I told the waitress we would not be ordering any alcoholic beverages, the service went from average to completely lousy! Â I would rather go to Perkins and eat their sad mock-up of what they consider Italian Food, than eat at Scusi again. Â
Quick Tip: Don't order the Polenta Fires! They taste like a mix of leftover greasy French fries form the State Fair with a juiced up - canned tomato dipping sauce found in your Grandmothers Y2K panic room!
I ordered the linguini with clams. For $14.00, the portion was small and the garlic was over powering (this is coming from someone that loves garlic). There were not many clams in the dish, let alone some of the clams didn't even open up. When I pointed this out to the waitress she said "oh that happens sometimes". If you aren't going to give me many clams - in my clam linguini, at least give me a few extra clams that are edible!!!
I was extremely excited to try the new-ish Blue Plate restaurant in St. Paul because I'm borderline obsessed with every other place they've opened. We had no trouble getting a reservation, but when we got there I was surprised by the feel of the dining room. It's basically a big room with tables packed in, ie: not very romantic/private. Almost kind of cafeteria-y.
We ordered an appetizer, pizza, lasagna, and a side of mashed potatoes to share with four people. Here's where things got weird... we got our side of mashed potatoes first. Then our pizza. Then our appetizer. Then the lasagna. WTF? The waitress said it was kind of their "thing" to bring your food out as soon as it's ready and not to wait for everything to come out in the correct stages or together. I understand that might be a "modern twist on the conventional dining experience" but to me it seems like lazy restaurant-ing. Getting everything perfectly timed is hard, that's why we go out to eat, so YOU can worry about it, not me. Why would I want to eat a side of mashed potatoes with my glass of wine? Just sayin'.
Despite my obvious reservations about the style of their service, our waitress was nice and the food was good.
Scusi is an interesting place. I've been there a number of times, but have only eaten in the bar. Without reservations, it is almost impossible to get a table in the dining room.
I have to say that I think Scusi is a awful name for a restaurant. Why would make the name your restaurant an apology?
The food is very good. We always get the cheese and meat assortment. and have never been disappointed. Â I've tried the following dishes have found them very good: Lamb Pappardelle, Veal Bolognaise Gnocchi, Short Ribs, Osso Buco.
I've found the staff to be overly impressed with themselves. It's a little restaurant in Highland Park, for heaven's sake. The "too cool for school" attitude is ridiculous. I speak passable Italian. To have my pronunciation of a dish corrected by someone who obviously doesn't have a clue is really irritating. You work in an Italian restaurant. Learn how to pronounce Gnocchi. But even if a customer doesn't pronounce a dish correctly, it is the height of arrogance to correct them.
Bottom line, the food is good.
I purchased a Crowd Cut deal from Scusi back in May and by chance happen to take a look the other day at my account and realize that is was expiring in a couple days. Â After dining at Scusi, I'm glad I did. Â The meal was fantastic.
We made a reservation on their website for 7:30 and were seated immediately upon arrival. Â The space is quaint with a semi open kitchen and a small dining area split off from the bar which was down a different hallway. Â
The tables are all seated fairly close to each other and they are quite small for a two person table so managing the space for dining was a bit challenging. Â We also had the pleasure of sitting next to a obvious blind date. Â Due to their proximity, we were able to enjoy most of their conversation and thought it was going well till the gal paid the check before they left. Â That man has no chance at getting any ass.
The food is served small plate style and comes out as it is ready as opposed to all at once so we decided to place our orders piecemeal. Â We started with an order of the veal meatballs and a Scusi salad. Â The salad was nothing to write home about but the meatballs were very tasty. Â Baby cows are delicious.
Next we tried the shrimp ravioli and the short ribs both based on previous reviews I've read here on Yelp. Â Both were piss your pants amazing and I wish I could have triple orders of all three. Â We made quick work of those two dishes.
For our encore we chose Salsiccia pizza that had chicken sausage, smoked mozzarella, goat cheese, peppers, san marzano tomatoes, and apple on it. Â Holy mother of pearl that was the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Â The crust was crispy and seasoned with sea salt and all the toppings were spot on. Â I seriously had dirty dream about that pizza that night while I slept. Â
The entire meal before the Crowd Cut deal was about 70 bucks and that included a glass of wine for my dining companion. Â For the amount of food we both got to try I think it was a pretty good deal. Â Definitely want go back but will have a hard time straying from the dishes we tried that night.
We came back to Scusi last night to use two Crowd Cut coupons, and once again, everyone was very happy with the food. I love the atmosphere at Scusi, it is so warm and cozy and the perfect place to go with family for a Sunday dinner.
We ordered everything family style and shared, so we each got to try a variety of dishes. Once again, my favorite was the lasagna. It is so hearty and delicious. I don't even like eggplant, but I still loved this lasagna. Other excellent dishes were the shrimp ravioli, squash risotto and margherita pizza.
I didn't particularly care for the orechiette pasta, it was a little too garlicky for my taste. One other complaint was that we didn't receive a bread basket until midway through the meal and we had to ask twice, but then we received ample bread.
I was really excited to try this - we tried to go a few weeks ago on a friday night and the place was PACKED.
Anyways - reservation, thursday eve - better.
So get seated in the dining room - very small table made much smaller by the pizza stand with the plates underneath.
The tables are way too close together as well - definitely could take a few out to make the dining experience feel less cramped (cramped table space, cramped tables)
The bring you a white bag of rosemary crackers and some white bean dip - both were good, i found the white bag to be strange, lazy, and well wasteful. Â
We got some wine from a keg - cab, zin, syrah mix i think - very good.
As far as the food goes - the beef carpaccio was good, they put the dishes on top of the pizza holder deal - which i found strange i guess .. . then the Caesar came out - also tasty - grilled romaine heads w a little dressing, a hunk of grilled parm on top and an ample supply of the anchovies. Â
Got a sausage and pepper dish as well as the duck risotto.
The sausage and pepper dish tasted fine - hard to screw up? Â The sausage was pretty tough, i got one piece that was tender and nice, but the rest of it - I was hoping was tender and delicious, but no dice.
When the sausage dish came out - a dirty plate was clearly sitting in front of my boy and the guy serving just dumped the dish off and didn't bother clearing the plate. Â We put it on small plates and placed the serving dish on the empty table next to us, that finally prompted him to take away the dirty dish - such dirty, menial work. Â
The risotto was really tasty with the fig and the duck balancing nicely.
The menu looks good - I might go back to sit at the bar sometime and check out the wine selection, but to be honest, the service wasn't awesome, the food was good, but not amazing (well maybe the risotto was) but definitely left feeling like it could have been soo much better. . .
Scusi, like a lot of restaurants these days, is built on the small plates concept. Â I love this idea because it means you can order a few different dishes to share with others, allowing you to taste more without going broke.
Unfortunately, this concept didn't come to life as well as it could have. Â When we dined on a Sunday they were out of several items, including those my dining companions had raved about having last time. Â I could understand if it was late or at the end of service, but we ate on the early side (6:00) so the fact they were out of so many things was surprising to me.
What we had was good, but my guests kept saying the whole time that what they had the last time (the polenta fries in particular) was better. Â We ordered the panzanella, cheese plate, pizza, and short ribs. Â All were good, but nothing blew my socks off. Â I will say we ordered a mezzo portion of wine and it was an extremely generous amount for the price, but even that was the last bottle of that particular wine and we almost didn't get to have it.
All in all, it was good. Â I think that had they had our first choice of dishes it would have been an exceptional experience, but sadly they did not and do know that I will be back to try again.
Need reservations.. open table really doesnt help here. But if you go early, the wine bar has plenty of nice seating. From the outside, this place looks like Satrialis on Sopranos, including the area.. and there is no parking, roads are dug up.. its pretty much a dump.
From the inside, it feels really nice. I think my bad review is because of the pizza i ordered, wet and full of salt.. maybe a bad choice but that was what i ordered. My wife has the meatballs and a salad, the balsamic was phenomenon.
Its not off grand avenue or anything else, i would have gone again to try the risotto which looked fantastic.
Inconsistent? Disappointed :( Â This visit gets two stars. Â On the plus, this time the service was much better. Â
The cioppino I so highly recommended in my last review, this time did not have the depth of flavor, Â we picked out a half dozen small splintered pieces of the mussel shells, the fennel almost overpowered the entire dish and there was very little broth. Â I don't think I'll be gambling with my $19 on which version I'll get in the future. Â
Our server suggested an apple spice cake, subsitituted with salt caramel ice cream instead of vanilla...yowza! Â And the espresso was outstanding. Â Thanks for saving the evening with that delicious end.
I always share food with my families, my bf and my friends pretty much everywhere we go out to eat, so the concept of Scusi that food is meant to be shared is perfect for us. I particularly like it when the server notified us that the food would be brought out as soon as it was done so not all the dishes would come out at the same time. I found it kind of ridiculous when people complaint about all their dishes not being brought out at the same time. The server notified this to you upfront, so why the complaints?
I almost never have to encounter slow service or wait for the food for a long time, because I always eat out before or after rush times, whether it be early lunch, late lunch or early dinner. Well, it was not the case when we were here.
We got here just a little bit after the place had been opened so the place was practically empty. We ordered Caesar salad, San Marzano with veal meatballs, Margherita Pizza and Lasagna. The salad came out pretty fast. It was and interesting take on the salad because the halves of romaine heads were slightly grilled before serving. The romaine was nice and crisp and the grilling kind of added something nice to it. I liked this salad though my bf called it the lazy salad because we had to cut everything ourselves.
Here came the problem .. We were done with the salad for maybe 5 min and then we heard a ding. We didnt really pay attention at first cos we were talking. Then a few minutes later, we heard another ding. At that point, we were wondering if those two dings meant our two dishes were already done? We looked at the kitchen and saw two dishes already sitting and waiting to be served on the counter. Our server was nowhere in sight, and two-three other servers were standing by the kitchen area talking. Although they saw us looking their way, they simply glanced at our two dishes getting cold on the counter and walked away.
Turned out those two dishes on the counter were the pizza and lasagna. We liked the lasagna ok, but it was on the counter for a while, the edge of lasagna noodle started to dry out. The pizza was bland and chewy. We didnt really care for it that much. The last dish was the San Marzano with veal meatballs. The sauce was kind of nice with the meatball, but there wasnt enough sauce for the noodle so the whole dish was kind of bland. The meatball itself was also bland though there was a kick from the red chili flakes.
I guess we set our expectation too high after having read most of the rave reviews on here. Or maybe we ordered all the wrong dishes? We were disappointed.
I came here on a Thursday night with 5 other friends, and good thing we came when we did. The place was busy and a table for 6 just cleared up.
Service was really good; our server was prompt with refilling our water glasses with the pitchers left on the table, and made good wine and food suggestions.
Food was really tasty too! However portions are fairly small because you are supposed to eat family style. Maybe my family just likes to eat a lot, but the family style I know is having HUGE portions so everybody can have everything, not little portions so everybody could have a bite. So the "family size" portions Scusi had were subpar in my opinion. I got the Vegetable Linguine and added mushrooms and shrimp (my favorites) for a small charge and it was deeeeeeeeeeelish!! One of my friends got the Caesar salad which was served with three halves of romaine hearts, which were grilled and had the dressing drizzled over it, which looked weird, but she said it was delicious and easy to eat with a knife.
Scusi has a really cute homey setting, but be sure to make a reservation if you want to go! It's small and fills up quickly.
Went here for Brunch over the past weekend. Â Got a sausage pizza and some bacon. Â Bacon was pretty delicious. Â Thick cut, not too greasy, not overly crispy but not soggy either. Â Definitely one of the better places for plain old bacon. Â The sausage pizza was meh. Â There were surprise pockets of salt baked in. Â It would seem that they salted the crust before the sauce, cheese, and sausage was added to the pizza but it wasn't very evenly spread out. Â Every so often, a bite of the pizza would result in an overload of saltiness. Â So unless you enjoy overly salty pizza, I would say skip the pizza.
So with mediocre pizza and good bacon, how did this place warrant 4 stars? Â Well, it would be the Zeppole and the bottomless mimosas. Â The Zeppole is like a denser donut hole covered with Chocolate Syrup, whipped cream, cherries and other deliciousness. Â And bottomless mimosas for $8! Â Strong ones at that! Â I would say if you were there for the brunch, zeppole and the mimosas is really all you need!
Service was friendly and attentive. Â Prices were extremely reasonable. Â The food seems to be hit or miss. Â Some stuff is delicious while some stuff is run of the mill. Â If you find the right items on the menu, it's a great place for a nice relaxed meal.
This place is loud, overpriced, and the chef has an unseamly obsession with garlic. The "shtick" of "not coursing your food" comes across as obnoxious laziness and lack of organizational prowess on the part of the restaurateurs. There is also clear emphasis from the management on selling people more food than they need -- were told to order about 8 - 10 dishes for 6 of us, which would have been a ridiculous amount of food.
I miss the Heartland.
My husband and I ventured over the river to try out Scusi last week during Restaurant Week. A few things to consider before going there:
- You will want to make a reservation. It was very busy but with ours, we only had to wait a few minutes before being seated.
- This place is like a true Italian restaurant in that it is packed. Like sardines. It looked like they are easily able to accommodate groups of 6 or less but anymore than that would be a challenge (or a long wait).
- Service was very friendly but lean. Our server had so many tables it was difficult to grab her attention when needed.
- The food comes as small plates and is meant to be shared. Also, they bring out items as they're ready vs. when your whole table's food is ready.
All in all, the food was good although the menu isn't as much pasta and pizza as we had expected. Â More meats and cheeses and a pretty big wine list. Â Great atmosphere and a fun new spot.
I was pleasantly surprised when visiting Scusi (although part of my pleasant feeling may have come from escaping the blizzard outside), since I generally have lower hopes from Italian restaurants.
The atmosphere was nice - open kitchen, not too loud. I did notice the wine spills on the menus, which I definitely could have done without but which isn't a deal-breaker to me. Decor was slightly kitschy-Italian-American, but it didn't feel contrived or obnoxious like some "Italian" restaurants' decor can feel.
Our server was prompt, knowledgable, and friendly. The wine list was good - number of options by the glass and bottle in red and white categories. I described what I was hoping for in a glass of red, and the server's choice fit my description perfectly.
As for the food... the rosemary flatbread and white bean dip they bring out right away is yummy, and a nice departure from the boring old bread basket. I thought the appetizers were delicious. The eggplant/goat cheese roll is something that I'm going to try to replicate, since I liked it so much, and I don't think I've ever had calamari that was as good. I had the lamb ragu pappardelle as a main dish, and that was just "ehh". It was good, but I expect a certain tender texture from homemade pasta and this felt more like dried. Everything else was very good, though. The sizes of the dishes didn't seem like family-style or tapas to me at all. An appetizer and entree would feed one person with a moderate appetite well, but not more than that.
I would definitely go back. It's a bit pricey, but was a very nice experience overall, and the food was (generally) worth the cost.
A recent wine bar visit offered menus stained with food and wine spills, and staff sporting uniforms spattered with grease and other residue. Â Is "Scusi" now properly pronunced "Scuzzy?"
The place was jammed when we were there. Â I clearly do not get this phenomenon. Â Meanwhile, the ghost of the Heartland wine bar spins in its grave.
In a pinch and desperate for pasta, Scusi isn't bad. If you understand you're eating at Highland Grill with Italien food in a room that takes it's decor queues from Salut, you won't be surprised or disappointed.
I could have done without the paper bag that accompanied the rosemary crackers as we sat down. We received three small slices of baguette for four people and three cheese choices; didn't work. The Risotto Milanese was quite tasty. I did enjoy very much, wading past the whipped cream, their zeppole.
Service was friendly and slightly absentminded.
Scusi is the best new Italian in the Twin Cities!
Lovely food terrific service and great prices, what more need to be said?
Manager Meg stoppped by our table and told us they opened in Novemeber 2010. Our waiter Wes was friendly and very knowlegeable about the menu and the many wines they have by the glass.
We all loved the food, Â the size of the portions is exactly right.
The ambiance is real Italy, showing The Bicycle Theives in B&W with Japanese subtitles for  Saint Paul's frequent Japanese tourists.
I have been to Scusi exactly twice now, and perhaps simply telling you what we ate would be a good start on reviewing this place.
First visit with wife and child (2 years old)
(Election night discount and grand opening week drew us in!)
-Veal Meat Balls
-Lamb Pappardelle
-Short Ribs
-Dessert was impossible due to child being childish.
Thoughts: Oh my god, this is awesome! Meat balls were phenomenal and the hand-made pappardelle noodles were delicious. If our kid was even a little bit hungry, we would have had to order more food. But she wasn't so we didn't have to. Service was crazy good and ridiculously friendly. I know it's opening week, but MAN they smile a lot here!
Second visit with more extended family (6 adults, 1 child, and 1 infant)
-Veal Meat Balls
-Arugula Prosciutto
-Fire Roasted Vegetable
-Duck Risotto
-San Marzano
-Shrimp Ravioli
-Lamb Pappardelle
-Veal Bolognaise Gnocchi
-Sausage pizza
-Dessert was raised apple-cinnamon doughnut balls (3) and Apple cake.
Thoughts: What a delicious meal! I decided to bring my parents and brothers family here to show it to them and they were very happy with it. The pappardelle noodles were still great, although the meat balls failed to impress. Oh well. More for me! The arugula salad was a big hit, as was the gnocchi. Some of us hated the shrimp ravioli, but I liked it. Come to think of it, I liked everything.
2 positives that are worth noting:
1. the service was still phenomenal even though we were there in December and it was definitely no longer opening week. The servers were all extremely friendly and quick to deliver any little request we had.
2. I am not a dessert person. Really. But, oh my god. 3 baseball-sized apple-cinnamon doughnut balls, drizzled with chocolate and served with a scoop of ice cream for $5? Yeah. Coming back just for that!
The ONLY mild complaint I have about Scusi is their portions. They're not small tapas, but they're not really big entrees. It's family style, but it was sometimes difficult to make sure everyone got a little bit of everything.
Quick review on a fairly quick lunch. The space has been redone from the old Heartland days and wow it is so bright! We ate at the wine bar and had great service from our bartender. We weren't in the mood for wine so had bottled beers instead (no beer taps here, but a very nice bottle selection - Belgian heavy). Though if you are there for wine, they have an extensive selection by the glass since they have one of those fancy things that keeps your bottles fresh so they can just pour a glass or some other measure.
Food - we had the roasted vegetable insalatta, which was heavenly! It had so many vegetables which were roasted to perfection. It was a very large portion which made it great for sharing. The oil on the greens was perfect and light...no overdressing here. We also shared a pepperoni pizza which hit the spot, the San Marzano tomato sauce really did make a difference on a fairly standard pizza.
I peeked at the dinner menu and am excited to try everything. I love that they have many salumi options and cheese so you can mix and match.
One observation is that a bunch of people kept coming in for a late lunch but they closed at 2pm. All the guests were accommodated but I could see this being a problem for the establishment. Hope they decide to keep the bar open or close at 3 instead of 2.
Whew! I can breathe a sigh of relief that another good restaurant moved in after Heartland relocated! We've been to Scusi twice now, and loved each meal. Â Blue Plate (the restaurant group behind Highland Grill, Longfellow Grill, etc.) has really stepped up their game with their new place. Â I was definitely expecting Highland Grill quality and atmosphere (which isn't a bad thing) and was pleasantly surprised to see that they'd gone in another direction.
Here are the specifics:
- Food is meant to be shared and comes out when it's ready. Â This means that one dish isn't sitting around on the expediting station waiting for the other dishes to get done. Â You get it when it's fresh!
- Prices are really really reasonable. Â The first time I went with my parents, our bill came out to right around $100 dollars and we ordered a lot of food (enough to take some leftovers home!)
- Service is prompt and helpful but not pushy. Â If you ask them if you're ordering enough food they'll be honest with you, and they'll also give you their recommendations. Â My dad even really enjoyed our waitress both times we've eaten there - this is big for my dad. Â Sorry if you're reading this, dad.
As for the food, I'd recommend just about anything I've tried. Â Here are some favorites:
- Lamb ragu on homemade pappardelle noodles
- Arugula salad with prosciutto
- Milanese risotto
- Veal meatballs
- Pizza that is clearly on a homemade crust. Â We had the pizza with veal meatballs, red onions, provolone and mozzarella and it was awesome!
- Apple spice cake with vanilla ice cream (Izzy's of course) and caramel sauce. Â This was a recommendation from our waitress and we were SO glad she steered us in the direction of warm apple cake, caramel and delicious izzy's ice cream!
-Flatbread and white bean spread that come with the meal. Â If you are disappointed because it's not bread and butter (as I was the first time we went) fear not! It is so delicious you'll be begging for another bag!
Some have been hit or miss:
- Duck confit with mission figs. Â Wish I had know this wasn't hot or warm. Â The confit is served cold and I feel like if you're going to cook something in it's own fat it's so much better warm! Â Also, the crostini were a little sad and cold.
- Calamari. Â I know I'm a picky seafood eater anyways but I love fried calamari. Â This was not fried. Â I'm pretty sure it was pan-sauteed, which I would love to have noted on the menu.
- Zeppoles. Â Delicious, but they served them on this huge mound of whipped cream so by the time it got to us the whipped cream had kind of soaked into the warm zeppoles and melted off some of the delicious cinnamon sugar on the outside (which of course is one of the best parts!)
It's great to have a neighborhood restaurant that is slightly more accessible (and much more affordable) than Heartland moving in! This is a place where I can easily see myself going and hanging out every week or two without it severely damaging my pocketbook (my waistline, however, may suffer the consequences.)
We live in the neighborhood and were excited to visit this new restaurant. Â Being from the same group that gave us Groveland Tap gave me lots of hope. Â But like the Tap lately this place was okay, but not awesome. Â I'll forgive a lot being it has only been open a couple of weeks as I write this, but I was hoping for more.
The food was good. Â We had a pasta, a pizza, a salad and a salami board with goat cheese. Â With the exception of the pizza the food was great. Â The pizza was okay. Â You get three pieces of baguette bread with the board, and when I asked for more I was informed I had to pay $2 more, which seemed picky to me as I only wanted a couple more slices, but okay. Â They probably had to risk their baguette supply to help us out, so $2 is a small price to pay I guess.
It was my wife's birthday, and I told the server, but I don't think she cared. Â No special attention was given. Â And when we were done, the server didn't even offer us to look at the desert menu...she just gave us our bill with the clear vibe to get gone. Â (We got gone and went to Izzy's for desert.) Â When I got the bill I saw I was charged for more than I ordered, which the server quickly corrected, but come on. Â That's the basics. Â
If I was scoring on food alone I would give this place 4 stars. Â If I was scoring based on the fact that I think they cared about me as a customer, I would give them two. Â So, three stars it is.
(Oh, and I called to ask if they take reservations and they said yes. Â I asked for a table at 6:30 and they said they don't take reservations between 6pm and 7:30. Â Wha!? Â And they say they are "kid friendly" but other than having a high chair, that was a about as "friendly" as it got - no kid's menu.)