Twin City Grill gets an upgrade

Twin City Grill

New and improved mall dining

We really are quite spoiled here in the Twin Cities. Other malls across the country have your basic stores, your basic parking lots, and your basic food court.  Our mall has an amusement park in the middle, and aquarium in the basement, and the best, most varied food that has ever shared real estate with retail sales. By far.  In fact, with the number of culinary hot spots the Mall of America features (including not one but two sushi bars), it's just as much a place to grab lunch or dinner as it is to try on pants ... probably in reverse order.

The Twin City Grill has always been a popular fixture, recently receiving a 2012 Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor. But recently the staff decided that the menu needed a major upgrade.

The new menu includes traditional comfort foods and also expands its grill and budget-friendly options. Northern lakes walleye, "loaded" mac and cheese (hint: bacon), a variety of grilled flatbreads, and the like now take center stage without breaking the bank. But yes, steaks and other customer favorites are still on the menu. Also, from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, happy hour prices include $3 beers, $4 wines, and $5 cocktails, and every Thursday offers half-price bottles of wine.

Bottom line: it's not the flashiest, theme-iest restaurant at the mall; if you want a fake robot monkey to hoot at you while you eat, you already know where to go. But if you're craving solid, Midwestern food on a reasonable budget, the Twin City Grill might be your new go-to at the mall.