WEEKEND: DAY ONE - SECTION FOUR
Updated: Aug 17
LOOPY
IN THE
NORTH LOOP
RECOMMENDED TIME WINDOWS: SCENARIO 1 (7pm Show): 10:00pm - 12:00am
SCENARIO 2 (8pm Show): 11:00pm - 1:00am
SCENARIO 3 (9pm/9:30pm Show): 11:30pm - 1:00am
Once we’re done with First Avenue, it’s time to cap our first evening in the Twin Cities . . . with a nightcap celebration!
Before leaving the venue, take a gander below:
This is a pretty unique Section for Loreways. It’s an intro version of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Itinerary. You’ll have your choice of options for where you’d like to spend your nightcap experience if you haven’t dropped from exhaustion yet.
We’re headed next to the North Loop, a section of Minneapolis that is the best for downtown nightlife, in my opinion. I mean, this is the section where Love Is Blind filmed their Minneapolis season in! It is dominated by repurposed warehouses turned lofts with posh retail and restaurants on the first floors. Most of the acclaimed restaurants/bars of the city are found in this neighborhood.
There are so many awesome places to choose for our nightcap. I’ve had to narrow down the list to a few. It was painful.
Depending on what time we’re leaving First Ave., some of these options may not be feasible due to midnight closing times. I decided to leave them up just in case. If it’s later in the evening, Meteor and Cobble Social House are the best bets.
Feel free to go to one, two, or all of these places tonight (if you go to all, you’ve reached the Loreways Lunacy level, for which I’ll want to personally shake your hand):
TOP NORTH LOOP BARS
A. METEOR (Open Friday til 2am) A little outside of the center of the North Loop, it’s on the outskirts.
This is the most casual bar of the lot, BTW.
This place feels like B-Movie lovers run the joint. They specialize in classy cocktails, dive bar beer and hot dogs.
They also turn into a themed bar come Halloween or Christmas time. So, if it’s that time of year, you HAVE to go and see whatever they’ve concocted.
B. FLORA ROOM (Open Friday til midnight) A speakeasy underneath Porzana, an amazing Argentinian restaurant, the Flora Room is a dark and intimate setting dominated by, you guessed it, flora and/or fauna, and soft ambient lighting!
The brick visible through the faux window screams NORTH LOOP.
This place’s main draw is the cocktails. Not only does this place scream NORTH LOOP, it screams NIGHTCAP.
C. BILLY AFTER DARK (B. A. D.) (Open Friday til midnight) Billy Sushi is one of the best places for sushi in Minneapolis, hell, the metro!
But, in its basement is a speakeasy with some of the coolest ambiance I’ve ever sat in.
I’m a sucker for lighting made to look like a starry sky, and one of the two rooms in this bar has just that, complete with a limestone wall.
This place gets a couple of points docked because you need to make a reservation before you go.
Billy After Dark is in the alleyway behind Billy Sushi. Your reservation will give you the code to the back door.
Couple extra steps involved with this one, but the ambiance alone is worth it, so, it makes the list!
D. COBBLE SOCIAL HOUSE (Open Friday til 1:00am) In the alleyway next to The Monte Carlo you’ll see a sign marked with an eye.
This is a not-so-secret feeling speakeasy that specializes in cocktails and sushi.
Its ambiance is a bit more common, but no less intimate. If you’re feeling something a bit less gimmicky and touristy compared to Flora and Billy, this place is a happy medium.
Reservations are recommended, but not necessary, as in the case of Billy.
E. HEWING HOTEL ROOFTOP (Open Friday til midnight)
If you’re wanting a rooftop to gaze upon the Minneapolis skyline, this is your best bet!
It’s a bit of a place to be seen, and it’s honestly a great place as an out-of-town visitor to close the lid on a day’s worth of activity hopping all over the city. You get to sip on your drink and take in the lit up skyline.
FINAL VERDICT
If it’s in the 10:00 hour, I’d say Hewing’s Rooftop Bar is the best choice. It’s the most epic way to cap off an evening hobnobbing all over Minneapolis. Second best choice: Flora Room, as you’ll get a sense of the repurposed brick feel of the North Loop. Third best: Billy After Dark, just because of the reservation requirement.
If it’s later, where midnight is vast approaching or past us, I’d go with Cobble Social House. It’s a bit more classy and gives a taste of the aforementioned brick feel. Second best: Meteor. The atmosphere is more casual, and it’s a bit outside of the main North Loop. But the crowd and staff really make this place special. You get a sense of how the good people of Minneapolis treat each other in such a small, positive place.
ALTERNATIVES
Other notable bars to choose from:
-Barcelona Wine Bar (Open Friday til 1:00am)
-NOLO’s Rooftop Bar (Open Friday til 1:00am)*
-NOLO’s Basement Bar (Open Friday til 1:45am)*
-The Loop - Minneapolis (Open Friday til 2:00am)*
-The Freehouse (Open Friday til 12:00am)*
-Bunker’s Music Bar & Grill (Open Friday til 1:00am)*
*FYI - NOLO’s through Bunker’s tend to cater to a younger party crowd. They’re all fun, regardless, even if you’re older adults proclaiming “Hello, fellow kids!”*
TIME TO CHOOSE:
Make your choice. Order an Uber/Lyft to take you there.
After the nightcap(s), order another Uber/Lyft back to your hotel. Or back to the garage you stashed your car in. Or back to your home, in general.
Cheers to an epic first evening on the Weekend Experience! We’ve got two and a half more days’ worth of whirlwind activity to go, so don’t worry!!! We’ve barely scratched the surface of the Twin Cities!!
Goodnight, fellow Traversers!! I’ll see you bright and semi-early tomorrow morning (8:00am) for Day Two.
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