Stella's Update: No minimums on patio seats, no reservations, and a new deck
What with all the commenting/Facebooking/Tweeting going on regarding CJ's Star Tribune column about Stella's $100 minimums on patio seats, I called Stella's general manager Gary Windschitl to get more details about their policy and found that, in fact, Stella's does not have minimums for its patio seats.
Put away your wallet--no need for the Benjamins at Stella's.
"There is absolutely no charge to sit on the patio," Windschitl says, and he notes that there never has been in the five years he's been with the restaurant. "It's first come, first served," he says. "You can have a beer or you can have a full dinner."
Windschitl says he was not involved with the conversations his staff had with diner Caryn Goldberg and CJ, but it seems confusion may have occurred regarding the distinction between making a reservation and booking a private event through a sales manager like Erin Mackley, who was quoted in the Strib article.
It's kind of a fine distinction, but think of it this way: If you and three friends want to hit Stella's patio, you can call and make a reservation. When you arrive, they'll have an indoor seat for you and, if you request the patio, they will try to accommodate you, but those seats are available on a first come, first served basis, so you may have to wait.
If you want to have a private event--your bachelor party, a work get-together, or some other group gathering where you are guaranteed a patio spot--you'd have to book that as a private event, which would have a minimum involved.
Windschitl notes that guests tend to linger longer on the patio than they do indoors, which makes it impossible to estimate when guests might leave. "I have people that get there at 5 o'clock and don't leave until 10 o'clock," he says. "How can I book a reservation? You don't want to put a time limit on a table."
As for the construction mentioned in the Strib piece, Windschitl says Stella's is in the process of adding another deck to its patio--an additional 750 square feet capable of seating 48 more people. "It has a 360 view of Uptown," he says. "You can even see a tiny sliver of Lake Calhoun." He expects the new deck to be open within the next couple of weeks.
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