Uptown Pirates

Living in Uptown Minneapolis near the chain of Lakes, we go for a lot of walks. We may simply be lazy or uncreative in finding ways to spend time together ("Honey, what do you want to do tonight?" "Uhhh...I dunno...go for a walk?"), however, we love it and continue to stumble across new hidden treasures every time we venture out. Here are some of our few recent discoveries:

• Outdoor music @ the Lake Harriet Bandshell EVERY DAY in the summer. Monday - Saturday @ 7:30pm, Sundays @ 2:30 & 5:00pm. We followed our ears one Tuesday night and were baffled when we came across hundreds of people sitting on blanets, having picnics, playing cards, all while listening to some sweet classic rock cover band. We felt so left out that we were sompletely clueless to such a fun scene. Here is a link to the music schedule: www.minneapolisparks.org/documents/activities/concerts/Lake_Harriet.pdf
• ALL DAY Happy Hour on Sundays @ Il Gato, the new Italian restaurant that took the place of my long lost love Figlio's. However, I will say that I've been pretty impressed with their service & food, and their Happy Hour menu is amazing. Nothing beats a tall caraffe of wine & chicken pesto flatbread @ $3 each!
• A really nice patio at Sushi Tango. I had no idea it was back there!!
• Rental Bikes near Minnehaha Falls! And I'm not talking your standard one-seater; I'm talking bicycles built for two and SIX people! My girlfriends & I make a day trip out of it and had a blast, while getting a pretty good work out. We will definitely be heading back there soon! Link: http://www.wheelfunrentals.com/listlocations/50
• The Cafeteria. OK...so their food & service are just decent, but it's nice to have another rooftop patio option in Uptown. The atmosphere is cool (think modern/beachy) and it has a totally different vibe than both The Drink & Stella's. It is worth the visit for a cold drink on a hot summer day.
• An abundence of drunk, sloppy, creepers lurking on East Lake Street at night. I love the Town Talk Diner's patio...but not when some bum who smells like pee and is drunk off Listerine is trying to sit next to me!
• Horrible Service at both Cowboy Slim's & The Drink.I swear, I think Slim's has two prerequisites while hiring new employees: 1) cute girl who looks good in daisy dukes, 2) brain of fluff. I couldn't believe how many times I asked a waitress or bartender a question ("Can I have that water that I asked for 10 minutes ago?) and was met by a blank, clueless stare. Even worse is The Drink, where we weren't greeted by our imaginary server the entire time we were there. We were "helped" (only when we stopped someone) by random employees and managers, all who told us "We aren't your server, but I guess I can get that for you". That is the first time I haven't given anything for a tip, but I was pretty proud of my clever comment on the receipt, whev I circled the name of our waitress and wrote... "Who?" 

Until next time, matey.