Brandon:
The buzz for Ward 6 Food & Drink in St. Paul is so loud it could be heard from Shakopee. It seems now every publication I look at is giving Ward 6 great reviews. That being said, MN Food Bros needed to jump on in. Only we don’t just jump in…we jump in Double Dutch style…Brad does the worm…ropes keeps spinning…I do the running man…ropes keep spinning…we end with both of us doing the splits, out of breath, basking in applause, as Marky Mark finishes rapping the final lyrics to Good Vibrations! Yup, that’s pretty much how we do things.
I made the mistake of ordering my adult milkshake before my meal. I know myself and even hesitated for a second before ordering. Needless to say, there wasn’t a drop left by the time my food came. I ordered the Strawberry Dreamshake which is made with amaretto and strawberries. It was excellent! I’m not one who likes very strong drinks so this was perfect for me. It was creamy with only a hint of amaretto. I did take a sip of Brad’s Sour Sophie which was in the same realm as mine when it comes to strength and flavor.
Initially, I had planned to order some of Ward 6’s meatballs. They have a new meatball each day and I was hoping for something that sounded good. Unfortunately the meatballs for the day were Turkey and tomato. I hope you don’t even have to ask why I didn’t order them. We decided to start with the poutine instead. If you’re not familiar with that, it’s basically french fries topped with cheese curds, and gravy. I guess it’s pretty common in Canada. The poutine at Ward 6 has large chunks of sausage in their gravy which I could have done without. It did something with the texture that creeped me out a bit. Either way, it was still very good and would be perfect with an ice cold local brew.
Next I ordered the Ward 6 Reuben, made with house-cured corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, and their take on thousand island which they call 10,000 lake dressing. This sandwich is something many people have recommended and they were all right. This ranks as one of the better Reuben sandwiches I have ever had. The sauerkraut was pretty standard and did a great job of staying tart without overpowering the meat. The 10,000 lake dressing was outstanding. It was sweet and tart at the same time and complemented the corned beef very well. The corned beef itself was perfect. Sure I’ve had larger portions on sandwiches before but the quality and flavor of this beef makes up for any lack of quantity. When I make it back around this way I will definitely be ordering the Ward 6 Reuben again!
Overall Ward 6 is the perfect place to grab some high quality pub food along with your favorite local brews. The mirror and oak bar that was built over 100 years ago is stunning. Even if you don’t get seated near it, make sure you walk over and take a look. Without a doubt I will be back, and next time I’m doing some drinking. Who’s coming with me?
Disclaimer: After we leave a restaurant we do our reviews independent of each other and do not read the others until they are going to be posted. So there may be some repeated themes/ideas in our reviews.
Brad:
I really knew nothing about Ward 6 before Brandon suggested it and I am so glad he did. The building and the beautiful bar are both over 100 years old. They only serve Minnesota made beer and have over 20 on tap, there is even a Hamm’s bear logo on the floor boards from when they owned the building. There is only about 50 seats so if you’re going a peak times you may have to wait a bit but its worth it, where else can you get beer and pie?
We went with the poutine to begin with, yep you read that right we didn’t get buffalo wings. Ward 6’s fries are awesome; they are hand cut skin on and cook perfectly crispy on the outside. The sausage gravy on top tasted great and had big chunks of equally tasty sausage in it. I didn’t get many cheese curds to speak of (maybe Brandon took all of them) and would like to have had more.
I also got an “adult” milkshake, mine was the Sour Sophie: Absolut Vanilla and sour cherry syrup, with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. These are great and I could get into trouble drinking theses. I didn’t taste the alcohol up front but got enough of the vodka after taste to know it was there. This did not last very long at all.
After an epic battle inside my head and stomach over ordering the Fish and Chips or the Fatty Melt(burger with grilled cheese for buns), I went with the Fish and Chips. Wow this was great, the fish was perfectly done; very crispy on the outside and flakey yet firm inside. Instead of normal tartar sauce it comes with malt vinegar mayo, which if you love malt vinegar like I do is great. The fries were the same they used on their poutine and were still just as excellent.
Ward 6 is a great neighborhood bar with great pub style food and all the servers were knowledgeable and friendly. I wish this was in my neighborhood (the upstairs is a studio apartment so maybe…..) but I will be back regardless.
