My friend and I had an incredible time at Owamni. My compliments to the chef. Truly one of a kind experience. The food was outstanding from start to finish ( presentation, flavor profile, texture, all natural and full of character). There’s not a place that’s more unique than Owamni in Minnesota, in my opinion . I highly recommend this establishment, and I wish you prosperity and success.
Rachel Hurt Prizler
What an amazing experience start to finish. We have been wanting to try this restaurant for a long time and it happened to work this weekend. If we could’ve ordered one of everything on the menu we would have. The food was cooked to perfection and the service was excellent. Can’t wait to come back.
Kenzi Jo
Had an absolutely wonderful experience eating here! I’m Algonquian Blackfoot, so I’ve been dying to come here and check it out- my expectations were exceeded! Service was great, food was amazing, atmosphere was chill but still upscale. We had the bison rib eye, and the elk with wojapi.
Chez and Aaron Courts
Great food, very unique in today’s restaurants selections. The smoked rack of elk was cooked beautifully. If you want to try something different, try Owamni. Just be ready to spend a little more.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Game
D. Thomas Griep
Love the locally sourced food and being minimally processed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Magical Red
A friend and I ate at Owamni yesterday and overall the experience was fun! I am finding it a difficult restaurant to review, namely because the food wasn't that great, but the overall experience was great.
We had lunch reservations at 1230 pm and arrived a few minutes before the designated time (there is pay parking right outside the Owamni). The restaurant was hopping when we arrived and the view of the Mississippi was delightful. It had snowed a few days prior and so I had a view of a winter wonderland.
We were promptly seated and after a bit of chatting we ordered the Marichou, multiple corn tacos, tomato walnut soup, and a berry cobbler (the waitress told us that the blue bread in the cobbler took 20 minutes to prepare so we ordered this straight away). My friend got a turkey taco as well and later the softkee.
The waitress was a tad rigid, but this didn't detract from the experience. My word, within minutes of ordering all the dishes arrived!!! (except the softkee which was ordered later and of course the crumble which took time to prepare). This was quite quick, but I didn't feel as though we were being rushed through...it was just very quick.
The corn tacos were really, really good, the best dish by far in my opinion (so good, that I ordered a second one). My friend really enjoyed the Sofkee, but it was a tad sweet for me (though you should know that I am very sensitive to sweet). It really is like a dessert porridge. The Marichou was just ok-- it really needed something more, like butter or perhaps a sauce to give it dynamism. It's too bad, because it had tremendous potential. I did not like the tomato walnut soup at all and the berry crumble was awful in my opinion. This was disappointing. My friend did not like her turkey taco either.
As for drinks, I had a scrumptious latte (I ordered a decaf latte initially, but I was informed that they do not have decaf coffee). My friend ordered some type of cacao tea which she loved.
The bill was quite over the top for what you get in my opinion, but all in all it was a fun experience in downtown Minneapolis on a wintry day. Something to do once in my opinion.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
Lucas Capistrant
Lived up to the hype! Bean dip and sweet potatoes are a must!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sweet Potatoes, Bean Spread
Alyssa
A beautiful, unique, and delicious experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ehab Jaber
Beautiful dinning experience. As a group of 5, we ordered all 5 entrées and a few small portion items from both sides of the menu including the plant based side. Flavors were elegant. No presence of heavy spice which was not needed. Owamni does not serve pork, chicken, beef or dairy. For main entrées, we had: Rack of Elk Duck Elk meatloaf Bison steak Squash with wild rice We also indulged in something similar to a Bison carpaccio. Turkey tacos. Bison Chilli which had a perfect amount of spice to it to warm you up from the inside. Spicy sweet potatoes. A bean dip and a white fish dip. Entrées were a good size portion as you'll see from the pics. Vegetarians, and dare I say vegans, rejoice. Plenty of options for dinner. With all the food, we were full but not uncomfortable. I have a big appetite and it was very much satisfied with leftovers to take home. Don't forget about their hot teas which you can have hot or cold. Sweet or not. The atmosphere left something to be desired. I would've thought the decor would match to menu and the concept of the restaurant. But that's ok. The food, it's presentation, the flavors and the service were all above and beyond.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
A Chicken
Five stars all around!! Very good food and service. Everyone was very nice. The food was fresh and delicious, also the dessert!! Would recommend!
Great atmosphere and presentation. Very tasty all around, the sweet potato’s were my favorite. In addition to delicious food it’s very informative about the culture and has all the traditional names for dishes. Helpful staff, they checked in and answered any questions we had. I wish I had pictures but I was too busy enjoying everything.
Went here for dinner and it was a great experience. The best dish was the rack of elk. So tender and flavorful!!
Heather A Adams
This was a meaningful dining experience with delicious food! Surely one of the most unique places I’ve ever dined, and I hope to eat, decolonized indigenous food from this land again and more often.
The space itself is bright and fresh and beautiful with great views. We were able to get seated right away at a table right by the window. I’d make reservation’s (Resy). The server was helpful in deciding what to get and helping us make great choices. It was fun to watch the people cook from the open kitchen, I can imagine eating at the bar is super exciting.
sweet potatoes with maple chili crisp – this dish is one of the legacy dishes at the restaurant. It was also one of the largest dishes that we had. Big portion! While the maple chili crisp was delicious if it hadn’t been on the sweet potatoes, I’m not sure that this dish would’ve been our jam. The sweet potatoes were extra starchy and earthy, nothing like the processed over cultivated sweet potatoes we normally get. We had a lot of these left over at the end and took them home, they made the perfect compliment to eggs and bacon in the morning!
The corn taco – the corn taco was super fun and wasn’t to hard to split between two people. It was really cool to have corn in three different ways! Oh wait four!
Elk Poyha-this was like an elk meatloaf with the most gorgeous berries and sauce on top. The first bite, scrambled my brain because I’ve never had anything quite like it. It was less gamey than I thought it would be but certainly had some game taste to it and the sauce was sweet, it worked so well with the meat. Every bite I took after that got more delicious. It was nice to eat it with the starchy sweet potatoes.
Spoon bread-I think in our heads we thought this would have links to fry bread, but that doesn’t make sense because fried bread is a super colonialized food. The bread was actually like maybe a bread pudding? The delicious beef and sauce on top and that crunch element are lovely to put inside the tortilla, such lovely corn flavor on those tortillas!
Sauces- get sauces! They’re delicious and sort of complete the dishes. We loved the not hot “hot sauce” and the chili crisp aioli (nice fat element to have)
-the duck breast – THIS was the BEST DUCK OF MY ENTIRE LIFE ! I thought I did not like duck and I’ve had it so many ways from France to China, Michillen star spots and holes in the way but this was something completely different. I thought maybe it was overcooked from appearance, but no it was cooked perfectly with a crispy skin and the best flavor to it. The tamale offered a element to the savory of the duck and the sauces work so well with it all. Don’t fear that zany huitlachoche because there wasn’t much in it and it does add a really beautiful umami element to the whole thing. I would come back just for this dish and I think I’ll probably never have duck that good again.
-Berry cobbler: this is nothing like the cobbler you have in mind . There’s a berry situation that is next level and really delicious but without all that sugar and no fat it really wasn’t our favorite dish. The sweet potato sorbet wasn’t a sorbet but more of a purée. We took this home and paired it with vanilla dairy ice cream and it was so good lol
I highly recommend making reservations for this place and if you eat during the day, you can see the beautiful outside area. It looks like they have an outdoor deck which is closed in the cold winter, but must be so nice in the summer. This would be such a cool place to eat with season nine and see what shifts and changes. Eating the rainbow has never been so fun.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Alex Isaac
I came into owamni on a random winter Wednesday with high expectations. My wife and I sat down and ordered what our waiter recommended for first timers looking for the Owamni experience. We ended up with the sweet potato, an elk meatloaf with berries and a sweet berry sauce, and the Bison steak entree.
The sweet potato comes roasted and flame kissed-- successful enough; although, the accompanied chili crisp and lack of salt made the dish unexpectedly.. and a little shockingly, bland.
The elk meatloaf was disgusting. The flavor of the loaf itself was okay-- the major issue was with the texture of the meat. It was both grainy and tacky.. and hung around my teeth in any and every place possible.
The main course was a $70 bison steak. When I ordered it, I was not given a choice of doneness-- I assumed it was cooked differently to a regular steak. It was served with an extremely watery chimichurri sauce pre sliced and layered on the plate. I have not been as disappointed in a dish as I was for this bison steak. It was cooked to a well done and clearly not rested before slicing. The result was an unbelievably chewy steak that was legitimately awful.
Our waiter was kind and they took a little money off the tab, which we didn't ask for but was appreciated.
I have never had a more disproportionate gap between expectations and reality with owamni. I so wanted to enjoy this dinner... But it was both bland and a little gross.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Matt Klava
One of the Twin Cities current best culinary offerings. First Nations owned and operated, phenomenal and unique stand out dishes, rotating seasonally with locally sourced produce. My partner and I go nearly monthly, and are never disappointed. Their entire kitchen is dedicated gluten free and dairy free, so it's a cutting edge choice for anyone with dietary restrictions. Worth a visit for anyone even vaguely into food
My friend and I had an incredible time at Owamni. My compliments to the chef. Truly one of a kind experience. The food was outstanding from start to finish ( presentation, flavor profile, texture, all natural and full of character). There’s not a place that’s more unique than Owamni in Minnesota, in my opinion . I highly recommend this establishment, and I wish you prosperity and success.
What an amazing experience start to finish. We have been wanting to try this restaurant for a long time and it happened to work this weekend. If we could’ve ordered one of everything on the menu we would have. The food was cooked to perfection and the service was excellent. Can’t wait to come back.
Had an absolutely wonderful experience eating here! I’m Algonquian Blackfoot, so I’ve been dying to come here and check it out- my expectations were exceeded! Service was great, food was amazing, atmosphere was chill but still upscale. We had the bison rib eye, and the elk with wojapi.
Great food, very unique in today’s restaurants selections. The smoked rack of elk was cooked beautifully. If you want to try something different, try Owamni. Just be ready to spend a little more.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Game
Love the locally sourced food and being minimally processed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
A friend and I ate at Owamni yesterday and overall the experience was fun! I am finding it a difficult restaurant to review, namely because the food wasn't that great, but the overall experience was great.
We had lunch reservations at 1230 pm and arrived a few minutes before the designated time (there is pay parking right outside the Owamni). The restaurant was hopping when we arrived and the view of the Mississippi was delightful. It had snowed a few days prior and so I had a view of a winter wonderland.
We were promptly seated and after a bit of chatting we ordered the Marichou, multiple corn tacos, tomato walnut soup, and a berry cobbler (the waitress told us that the blue bread in the cobbler took 20 minutes to prepare so we ordered this straight away). My friend got a turkey taco as well and later the softkee.
The waitress was a tad rigid, but this didn't detract from the experience. My word, within minutes of ordering all the dishes arrived!!! (except the softkee which was ordered later and of course the crumble which took time to prepare). This was quite quick, but I didn't feel as though we were being rushed through...it was just very quick.
The corn tacos were really, really good, the best dish by far in my opinion (so good, that I ordered a second one). My friend really enjoyed the Sofkee, but it was a tad sweet for me (though you should know that I am very sensitive to sweet). It really is like a dessert porridge. The Marichou was just ok-- it really needed something more, like butter or perhaps a sauce to give it dynamism. It's too bad, because it had tremendous potential. I did not like the tomato walnut soup at all and the berry crumble was awful in my opinion. This was disappointing. My friend did not like her turkey taco either.
As for drinks, I had a scrumptious latte (I ordered a decaf latte initially, but I was informed that they do not have decaf coffee). My friend ordered some type of cacao tea which she loved.
The bill was quite over the top for what you get in my opinion, but all in all it was a fun experience in downtown Minneapolis on a wintry day. Something to do once in my opinion.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
Lived up to the hype! Bean dip and sweet potatoes are a must!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sweet Potatoes, Bean Spread
A beautiful, unique, and delicious experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Beautiful dinning experience. As a group of 5, we ordered all 5 entrées and a few small portion items from both sides of the menu including the plant based side. Flavors were elegant. No presence of heavy spice which was not needed. Owamni does not serve pork, chicken, beef or dairy. For main entrées, we had:
Rack of Elk
Duck
Elk meatloaf
Bison steak
Squash with wild rice
We also indulged in something similar to a Bison carpaccio. Turkey tacos. Bison Chilli which had a perfect amount of spice to it to warm you up from the inside. Spicy sweet potatoes. A bean dip and a white fish dip. Entrées were a good size portion as you'll see from the pics. Vegetarians, and dare I say vegans, rejoice. Plenty of options for dinner. With all the food, we were full but not uncomfortable. I have a big appetite and it was very much satisfied with leftovers to take home. Don't forget about their hot teas which you can have hot or cold. Sweet or not. The atmosphere left something to be desired. I would've thought the decor would match to menu and the concept of the restaurant. But that's ok. The food, it's presentation, the flavors and the service were all above and beyond.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Five stars all around!! Very good food and service. Everyone was very nice. The food was fresh and delicious, also the dessert!! Would recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Great atmosphere and presentation. Very tasty all around, the sweet potato’s were my favorite. In addition to delicious food it’s very informative about the culture and has all the traditional names for dishes. Helpful staff, they checked in and answered any questions we had. I wish I had pictures but I was too busy enjoying everything.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Maple, Sweet Potatoes, Bean Spread
Went here for dinner and it was a great experience. The best dish was the rack of elk. So tender and flavorful!!
This was a meaningful dining experience with delicious food! Surely one of the most unique places I’ve ever dined, and I hope to eat, decolonized indigenous food from this land again and more often.
The space itself is bright and fresh and beautiful with great views. We were able to get seated right away at a table right by the window. I’d make reservation’s (Resy). The server was helpful in deciding what to get and helping us make great choices. It was fun to watch the people cook from the open kitchen, I can imagine eating at the bar is super exciting.
sweet potatoes with maple chili crisp – this dish is one of the legacy dishes at the restaurant. It was also one of the largest dishes that we had. Big portion! While the maple chili crisp was delicious if it hadn’t been on the sweet potatoes, I’m not sure that this dish would’ve been our jam. The sweet potatoes were extra starchy and earthy, nothing like the processed over cultivated sweet potatoes we normally get. We had a lot of these left over at the end and took them home, they made the perfect compliment to eggs and bacon in the morning!
The corn taco – the corn taco was super fun and wasn’t to hard to split between two people. It was really cool to have corn in three different ways! Oh wait four!
Elk Poyha-this was like an elk meatloaf with the most gorgeous berries and sauce on top. The first bite, scrambled my brain because I’ve never had anything quite like it. It was less gamey than I thought it would be but certainly had some game taste to it and the sauce was sweet, it worked so well with the meat. Every bite I took after that got more delicious. It was nice to eat it with the starchy sweet potatoes.
Spoon bread-I think in our heads we thought this would have links to fry bread, but that doesn’t make sense because fried bread is a super colonialized food. The bread was actually like maybe a bread pudding? The delicious beef and sauce on top and that crunch element are lovely to put inside the tortilla, such lovely corn flavor on those tortillas!
Sauces- get sauces! They’re delicious and sort of complete the dishes. We loved the not hot “hot sauce” and the chili crisp aioli (nice fat element to have)
-the duck breast – THIS was the BEST DUCK OF MY ENTIRE LIFE ! I thought I did not like duck and I’ve had it so many ways from France to China, Michillen star spots and holes in the way but this was something completely different. I thought maybe it was overcooked from appearance, but no it was cooked perfectly with a crispy skin and the best flavor to it. The tamale offered a element to the savory of the duck and the sauces work so well with it all. Don’t fear that zany huitlachoche because there wasn’t much in it and it does add a really beautiful umami element to the whole thing. I would come back just for this dish and I think I’ll probably never have duck that good again.
-Berry cobbler: this is nothing like the cobbler you have in mind . There’s a berry situation that is next level and really delicious but without all that sugar and no fat it really wasn’t our favorite dish. The sweet potato sorbet wasn’t a sorbet but more of a purée. We took this home and paired it with vanilla dairy ice cream and it was so good lol
I highly recommend making reservations for this place and if you eat during the day, you can see the beautiful outside area. It looks like they have an outdoor deck which is closed in the cold winter, but must be so nice in the summer. This would be such a cool place to eat with season nine and see what shifts and changes. Eating the rainbow has never been so fun.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I came into owamni on a random winter Wednesday with high expectations. My wife and I sat down and ordered what our waiter recommended for first timers looking for the Owamni experience. We ended up with the sweet potato, an elk meatloaf with berries and a sweet berry sauce, and the Bison steak entree.
The sweet potato comes roasted and flame kissed-- successful enough; although, the accompanied chili crisp and lack of salt made the dish unexpectedly.. and a little shockingly, bland.
The elk meatloaf was disgusting. The flavor of the loaf itself was okay-- the major issue was with the texture of the meat. It was both grainy and tacky.. and hung around my teeth in any and every place possible.
The main course was a $70 bison steak. When I ordered it, I was not given a choice of doneness-- I assumed it was cooked differently to a regular steak. It was served with an extremely watery chimichurri sauce pre sliced and layered on the plate. I have not been as disappointed in a dish as I was for this bison steak. It was cooked to a well done and clearly not rested before slicing. The result was an unbelievably chewy steak that was legitimately awful.
Our waiter was kind and they took a little money off the tab, which we didn't ask for but was appreciated.
I have never had a more disproportionate gap between expectations and reality with owamni. I so wanted to enjoy this dinner... But it was both bland and a little gross.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
One of the Twin Cities current best culinary offerings. First Nations owned and operated, phenomenal and unique stand out dishes, rotating seasonally with locally sourced produce. My partner and I go nearly monthly, and are never disappointed. Their entire kitchen is dedicated gluten free and dairy free, so it's a cutting edge choice for anyone with dietary restrictions. Worth a visit for anyone even vaguely into food
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Loading...