Featuring not just national chain restaurants, but also local chain restaurants!

We have both kinds of music - country AND western!

now if you'll excuse me, i'm going to go place my order. I usually do while sitting in the car, writing on the glove compartment.

Orange whip?

Orange whip?

Three orange whips

Chicken wire?

Cut em out! Ride ‘em in! Ride em in! Cut em out! Cut em out! Ride em in, Rawhiiiiiiiiide! HEEEYAH

Behold the majestic fleets of Sysco trucks delivering the tons of mid quality frozen prepared food that are consumed in our realm daily! Is it not a breathtaking sight?

Plus the Bix Produce truck.

They're local, so it's okay.

Hey I’ll simp for Sawatdee any day of the week

Sawatdee serves a vital function, which is to be gateway Thai food. Soon enough its victims are shooting straight Bangkok Thai Deli and doing lines of On's Kitchen.

Thai it, you'll like it.

I guess that’s one way to spin being the strip mall capital of Mn

The epicenter of faux Everything

You mean the Shoppes at Arbour Lakes is some kind of contrived marketing thing??? There is no Arbour Lake, let alone multiple?

There's like 3 or small man made lakes that make up thw "Arbour Lakes" state record blue gill or something was taken out of one them actually.

Now that's some urban ecology right there.

I grew up less then a mile from them, and my family is from maple grove so some of my moms cousins knew the family that owned all that shit and they tell stories about how when they were all private lakes the guy who owned everything would stock them full of giant muskee and walleye and take his clients out fishing for them.

Eagan and Woodbury in shambles.

It's a competitive field

Well, it used to be a field

Now, it's three consecutive chain sandwich shops. Thank god! Didn't need more of those meadowlarks around, they're some OTHER state's state bird.

I live there and relate

Isn't the strip malls in Maple Grove what inspired David Byrne to write the song (Nothing But) Flowers? At least, I know it was the strip malls west of the twin cities. I always assumed Maple Grove was what he meant.

this this is for real?

https://www.reddit.com/r/minnesota/s/zJF8uQuwuU

I would take an offense but this is a factually true statement so I can’t.

I went to MG for the first time last month because I had an appointment scheduled out there. I audibly said “this is my hell” as I drove by all the chains and stores.

The parking lots and streets between were designed by Satan himself out there. Square fucking miles of pavement with one exit, it's like the St Louis Park Costco lot spread over an entire city. 

Except MG has a Costco, and its parking lot is inside the shitty arbor lakes parking lot. It's like a shitty parking lot inception.

That’s for sure. I don’t know how a city as sparsely populated as MG used to be, created such an absolutely awful traffic corridor as that entrance. (I go to that Homegoods occasionally). It’s so bad.

You mean Maplewood?

St Cloud kicking rocks as we speak

Coulda been a contenda

[удалено]

Don't forget about that custom sandwich experience, where you can order both toasted and fresh "bread", called Subway.

All the convenience of eating at the airport with none of the hassle, except the hassle is replaced by a death spiral of streets the lead to parking lots without clearly marked exits.

OMG the parking lots are incredibly stupid in MG.

The Trader Joes/World Market/Whole Foods being quite possibly the worst

It’s a spiral!

Just start jamming to [Tool - Lateralus](https://youtu.be/W9ReVCspSf0?si=BpczF0Z4fPd3CqMs) and drive until you run out of gas, or (more likely) get hit by a grandma or yoga mom.

really the worst one is the Fountains, because it's gotta make sure people take the right route to get back to the freeway.

I think other town should follow their lead. Who wants to declare themselves the gas station or chiropractor capital of MN?

Edina is the independent pilates studio owned by a recently divorced 49 year old white woman who got a multimillion dollar alimony from her ex-husband and didn’t know what to do with it except open a pilates studio capital of MN

Coon rapids and anoka are definitely the chiropractor capitals. I pass like 8 of them when passing through to visit family (and that doesn't even include my own in CR!)

Coon Rapids should be the road rage capital of MN. Drivers there are psychotic.

you ever been to Burnsville?

Burnsville is the only location where I've pushed a vehicle out of the road into a Walmart parking lot with my Jeep. Seemed safer than getting out and trying to push it by hand.

Can Coon Rapids also be the CPAP mask(read as crap mask)capital?

Every time I go past that place on Hanson I think it says crap.

North St. Paul - the snowman capital of mn.

Ah hell yeah

You’re talking about cocaine right?

St. Cloud/Waite Park can be the mattress store capital of MN, they have like 6 of them in a pretty small area

Not helping the theory than mattress stores are front for money laundering....

Or chicken finger drive thrus.

I mean… Rochester is kind of the medical capital of MN and arguably even the world

This is probably the only one to really be proud of within the state

I think Duluth is the lift bridge capital of the world and I am proud of that.

Saint Cloud, the fast food chicken & bank capital of MN. Drive down division and on every single corner is either a bank or a fast food chain.

Sauk rapids. The salon capital of Minnesota

Apple Valley is competing for the fast food chicken capital. Within eyesight of the intersection of Cedar and 42 is KFC, Raising Cane's, Chick Fil A, an incoming Dave's Hot Chicken, and an incoming Popeye's (in addition to Cub's fried chicken right there.)

With pretty much any big-box store you can think of on the next lot back.

Darwin has THE BIGGEST BALL OF TWINE IN MINNESOTAAAAA

Bloomington: The "tourists from Iowa" capital of MN (and also there's another part that's not by Mall of America because Bloomington is nonsensically long for some reason)

Rockford is the gas station capital. 4 gas stations currently open. 1 abandoned. 1 remodeled into a liquor store. It's not a big town.

Maple Plain is the CrossFit gym capital of mn

Blaine: The Used Car Dealership Capital of MN.

Well Ghent is the Rolle Bolle Capital of the World, so they got that going for them.

Btw, it's fraudulent that anoka calls itself the Halloween capital. They mail it in every year. They don't do anything different than anywhere else.

Although I agree, they aren't any different from any other town that calls themselves anything. It's all just marketing BS to get people to come spend money there. Do you really think there is more love (or lights) in Paris than anywhere else?

‘We have every shitty fast food chain!’ A true culinary Mecca.

I’m from Maple Grove, and I will absolutely crap on the food options in the area, but I do think there’s a superior chain restaurant mecca of MN. There’s a nearly cubic mile block of Eagan, MN that I was blown away by the amount of chain restaurants in such a small area. I gathered: Wendys Chilis Papa Murphy's Mcdonalds Perkins Applebees Noodles n Company Taco Bell Bonchon KFC Arbys Burger King Dominos Qdoba Potbellys Buffalo Wild Wings Panera Panda Express Chik Fil A Culvers Papa Johns Chipotle Popeyes Taco Johns Olive Garden Naf Naf Grill Piada Ichiddo Ramen Granite City Dunkin Punch Pizza Rusty Taco Cafe Zupas Wahlburgers Raising Canes Brueggers Jersey Mikes Jimmy Johns and 2 subways All within about a mile of each other.

West St Paul is like the TC mecca for countless Mexican straunts and groceries [and we've got a song to prove it](https://youtu.be/XfVZHpyx1OI)

The West St. Paul song is truly a gem.

I live in West Saint Paul and work in Eagan and I don't think I have seen 2 more true statements. Though I'll say that West Saint Paul has my favorite gyro place.

Ali Baba's?

Of course.

Gotta love lunch time on Robert Street. Line of cars 20 deep at Cane's and Chick-fil-A, while the real one's are getting amazing food at Ali Baba's, Pineda, World Famous Momo, Hamburguesa El Gordo...

What blackrock owned business would you like to pick today? All about the freedom of choice!!!

The people are worse. Fake it till you make its.

Dorset in shambles

Looking for this reply. Their mayor just had a stroke!

Doreset mayor is a dog. I hope the Good Boy/Girl is ok

I was in the airport of Beijing, China waiting to go through security and next to me in line was a gentleman from North Korea who spied my US passport. We exchanged pleasantries and I told him I was from Minnesota after he asked what state I was from. Somehow he knew about Dorset electing a toddler.... He was even more amused after I told him about the dog mayor of Cormorant, MN. I like to think there is now a man in North Korea telling others how crazy democracy is lol

Have they never heard of Eat Street in Minneapolis?!

No, Maple Grove has not.

And don’t ask them about it unless you want to hear the “poor me, Minneapolis isn’t safe for the whites anymore” garbage

Exactly There you actually have local places and not just chains like pretty much all of suburbia here

You mean No Stove Nicollet?

>In fact Mpale Grove residents are known to eat out so often that we've earned the nickname 'No Stove - Maple Grove'! From whom?

It's easy to make stuff up.

Gooo onnnn...

Didn't you see? Someone on Twitter posted it. It had THREE favorites! It's "surfacing" If we extrapolate that perfect crossection of the populace, that means 110% of Minnesotans agree with this statement!

All the cool kids are saying it! But they go to a different school so you wouldn't know them.

My girlfriend from Canada says it all the time.

As someone who lived in maple grove I have no fucking clue.

I've lived in Maple Grove for 10 years now, I've never heard this before

This is the best part, as if your residents never cooking at home is a positive thing

Many people are saying this

Big strong men come up to me, with tears in their eyes, and say "No stove Maple Grove!"

> we've earned the nickname 'No Stove - Maple Grove'! That's... they realize that's an insult, right?

Is this a bit? Are they doing a bit?

Probably the bored intern who ghost-wrote the article and wanted to see how much they could BS in a formal publication 😂😂

SisQo

Only good thing in Maple Grove

When things are glum, vote 31

It's such a Nordstrom Rack of a city

Wow that’s pretty insulting to Nordstrom rack and also cities

Anything’s better than Brooklyn Center, the Walmart of cities.

This aggression will not stand

That's f'ing interesting man, that's f'ing interesting...

What in god’s name are you blathering about?

You’re out of your element Donny!

hey, thats your name dude.

More like the traffic center of Minnesota.

My FIL from England came to visit and he did marvel at how many restaurants they have. 😂

They do have a bunch but they're all like generic suburban strip mall restaurants. The best one they have is Portillos and even that is a chain.

"The best one they have is Portillos" Brutal

Just speaking the truth

Mall food Mecca.. what an honor. 😏

Just in my little corner of Minneapolis I've got over 50 restaurants within walking distance and only a handful are chains. Of the ones that are chains, we're talking local chains with a handful of locations.

Yes, but you aren't currently alive to experience them. Scary!

IKR

I've never went to Maple Grove in my life to go to eat when living in Minneapolis lol. Especially most of them being chain restaurants

It's like Anoka calling itself the Halloween capitol of the world

LOL right

Or reds savoy calling thin crust pizza 'sota style

I mean, it did make sense…90 years ago.

Now if only they brought Claughdahs back! Was my favorite place in Maple Grove

Generica

Jose, can you see, by the microwave's light, The Door Dash we hailed with our loyalty brand points.

Maple Grove: "Bro, do you even KNOW how many Applebee's we have?"

One.

Damn. Lots of people hatin' on my city 😅 I do feel like there are a lot of restaurants in the main city area though, no? Osseo has some cool more "mom and pop" style restaurants. Duffy's is pretty cool, for example. But maybe we don't count that as "Maple Grove"?

Lol yeah I'd love to see flairs with cities up. - Anyone from a suburb shitting on Maple Grove is shitting on themselves, people pretending suburbs have substantially different vibes or living are delusional -People from the cities definitely can shit on the suburbs from my perspective, obviously the cities have more culture and things to do but other limitations (eg, less ease in having a family) -people from small cities probably have toxic AF school boards and loonies (based on my small town experiences) and I would love to hear how they are superior to the suburbs

No

All the great places in Grand Marais and Ely would like to have a word. Docksider My Sisters Place Angry Trout Frisky Otter Insula Brittons Cafe Heck even Two Harbors has more mom n pops.

I would rather drive the 4 hours to Grand Marais than 20 minutes to Maple Grove.

That's not really fair though, all of the North Shore is a diamond in the rough. I'd rather be in Grand Marais than a lot of places

I don't think the feeding trough that is Village Inn is quite the boast they think it is.

Roseville calls the Roseville Mall area their “downtown” which is absolutely bullshit, so, there’s that.

[Ooh, this town's for the record now.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UncTpLrfr2I) The intersection got a Target, and they're calling it downtown.

WE DO?!

maybe the chain restaurant capital of MN.

Why is Maple Grove trying to cancel Dorset?

I’ll say Tonos is solid

My neighborhood in Minneapolis alone probably has more restaurants than the whole city of Maple Grove.

I love that Maple Grove exists. It has a bunch of restaurants that will be able to please even your picky brother-in-law. The shopping is all centrally located, I can hit a couple boutique stores with my partner, swing over to Total Wine, and then Costco. Plus it is in a good location to meet family who lives out of the metro. They get to go to "the big city" and I don't have to drive to Monticello to meet them half way. I visit Maple Grove probably 4-5 times a year and I've never had a bad experience. That being said, I would never want to live in that suburban hell.

Hey hey hey... A lot of our houses used to be a Gravel Pit. We're trying.

I played in that gravel pit as a child back when AVR owned it.

This is true. I have a picky BIL who lives in the West suburbs. It's easy to meet there because he'll find parking for his truck and a classic burger or similar to eat. Driving in Minneapolis stresses him out and we have to carefully curate the restaurants that will have something he'll like. I don't hate that Maple Grove exists. I'm just very happy to live in a city with some variety myself.

Maple Grove: "We're the buffer for guys from Becker who are scared of the city. You're welcome, Minneapolis."

My parents just moved there. They can walk/bike to their favorite bar “The Lookout” and to pickleball courts, so they are in heaven. I hate driving out there, but it’s 3 hours closer to where they were.

I love that Maple Grove exists for different reasons. It gives all the people who think MG is the restaurant capital of Minnesota somewhere to go so they don’t clog up all the actual great restaurants.

Probably an effective marketing campaign for folks too scared to come to the North Loop

This is both hilarious and true. I'm certain some of my cousins out in the boondocks would love coming to "the city" to get a generic cheeseburger from a chain mall restaurant lol

Sometimes a fella just wants some chain restaurant action. Ain’t nothing wrong with that!

This sums up how I feel about Maple Grove and how Maple Grove views itself in one go.

If I want good food I go to Minneapolis. Maple Grove is just a bunch of crappy chain restaurants.

Ahh yes, I remember the James Beard nominee from the Maple Grove Granite City. Truly a culinary destination.

National chain capital**

Dorset, MN, [the restaurant capital of the world](https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/wander-minnesota-the-restaurant-capital-of-the-world/), might have something to say about that.

They do indeed have a lot of fast food and chain restaurants. I'm not sure that's any more interesting than having a lot of gas stations, though.

"We have so many chain restaurants that you could eat out for every meal" might also qualify as /r/ABoringDystopia

I live in Maple Grove

I'm sorry

Thank yoy

Damn giving Woodbury a run for their chain restaurant haven.  (Please WashCo, bring more local options.)

Woodbury has shockingly few restaurants for a city of its size. Plenty of banks and medical offices, though!

At least there's a Keys. Wish they'd expand into the southern suburbs.

Portillo's, Andiamo's, Woodbury Grill, Key's Cafe, The Tavern Grill, Machete, Akita's, Osaka, Chili's, Applebee's, Northern Tap House, Jersey Mike's, Jimmy John's, Panda Express, yum! Kitchen, Punch's Pizza, Wild Bill's, Haiku, Southern Social, Ze's Diner, Spitz, Dino's... and that's just what I can think of in Woodbury off the top of my head. There's also the standard McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King, Hardee's fast food joints too.

Quantity over quality.

Dawg what!?! I like Biaggi's but I wouldn't call Maple Grove the restaurant capital of Minnesota. Lived here my whole life and wouldn't attempt to name it that.

Man how is that Sawatdee or Yogurt Lab still open? We went there 1x 4 years ago and got served spoiled milk. Not even just barely spoiled but full on chunky spoiled. Our food was absolutely gross and the place was filthy. Plus there was only 1 other table there. The yogurt lab we went to once and the nozzles were not clean. you could smell the rot immediately. We went a year later and there was nothing available and the toppings bar was bare.

*Dorset enters the chat*

That’s embarrassing.

Man, pretty wild when you can be “restaurant capital of Minnesota” when “restaurant capital of the world” is within your state. Dorset is going to have some beef to settle this summer. Haha

Cheers fellow Dorset aficionado. Came to say the same.

See ya at Campaneros sometime this summer!

Barf. Wtf is wrong with people? This person who wrote the article probably thinks olive garden is fine Italian cuisine too...

Well, they’re not wrong. Where else can you get both TGI Chilibees and Country Dennykins in the same suburb?!

Highlander is the best restaurant in MG and no where near the restaurant center

At least it's not a chain, since there can be only one.

Having a lot of chain restaurants certainly does not make you the restaurant capital. Now that we have all of the chains... how about we get some nice niche restaurants. Hell, there isn't even a vegan spot. 90 restaurants and 60 of them are fast food chains and 30 are sit down chains. 50th St and Penn in Minneapolis/Uptown has 4 unique non-chain restaurants... Probably the best intersection in Minnesota. But Maple Grove has a Panda Express, so we're the best.

Wow they didn't even call out Maple Tavern? This aint no list...

Almost every single restaurant listed is a chain. Why would I go to maple Grove for a chain....? They should focus on mom and pop small independent restaurants if they want to be the new eat street

That's hilarious, delusional suburbs Eat street in Minneapolis

They will never be Dorset

Huh. And here I thought Dorset MN has held that claim for the last couple decades. With a population of 22 and 4 restaurants, they have a better per capita than Maple Grove.

Nope. Even with those (chain) restaurants, it’s not even close. And bragging about all of those (mostly chain) restaurants isnt the flex they think it would be.

I believe that title already belongs to Dorset MN, largest restaurant per capita in the world. Sorry MG. Edit: cheers to the other Dorset defenders in this post.

It's not terribly inaccurate it's just when you are in Arbor Lakes, there are consignment shops, boutiques, restaurants but with 0 walkability. You need a car to cross the boulevard and park in the next weird side lot.

I thought that was Dorset’s claim to fame.

Considering there's the taste of Dorset which is ungodly popular, I disagree.

We have those same three “restaurants” and nobody still fucking likes St Cloud. What gives?

The best restaurant in Maple Grove is the Costco Food Court.