Thanksgiving/Black Friday 2008

Some friends and I are looking into driving to Minneapolis from Manitoba for Black Friday. We figure the most convenient thing to do would be to arrive on the day before Thanksgiving. We would likely stay in the Bloomington area near Mall of America

Consequently, I am trying to figure out what types and which restaurants are open on Thanksgiving Day, in order to give us something to do on Thursday, November 27th other than just lounge around the hotel/hotel%26#39;s pool all day.

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks.

Thanksgiving/Black Friday 2008

Closer to Thanksgiving, our local paper might have a list of what will be open that will have a Thankgiving spread to eat -

www.startribune.com

but safe bets I know that will be open -

O%26#39;Donovan%26#39;s Irish Bar - downtown Minneapolis by Target Center (they are always open all holidays)

Top of the IDS Tower - buffet run by the Marquette Hotel on Sunday%26#39;s %26amp; holidays

Mystic Lake Casino - they are always open

Thanksgiving/Black Friday 2008

Other than shopping at the Mall of America (MOA), are there reasons for staying in Bloomington? I only ask because I%26#39;d suggest staying downtown. You%26#39;ll have more entertainment options, and will be right in between MOA and Albertville Mall - what I consider some of the best shopping in the area. And if you don%26#39;t want to drive to MOA, light rail is a great option - esp if the weather%26#39;s bad.

Actually, I work downtown on Black Friday, and there are great sales down there - Macy%26#39;s, Marshalls, the large anchor Target on Nicollet, the areas%26#39;s largest Saks Off Fifth and Neiman Marcus (top floor outlet). To me, all the excitement and hustle/bustle are downtown.

And I don%26#39;t think you%26#39;ll have much trouble finding restaurants with a Thanksgiving spread. Many of the good hotel and ethnic places are open that day... along with what I%26#39;d consider great area restaurants. Just look online a month out at StarTribune.com or CityPages.com - they should have ads along with TwinCities.Citysearch.com. And if you%26#39;re interested, it%26#39;s also a big party time starting Wed night thru the weekend.

My thanks to both of you for your advice. Especially about the Irish pub and the restaurants in downtown Minneapolis on Thanksgiving day. Which leads me to my next point:

The reason we%26#39;d likely stay in Bloomington, as it is close to Mall of America - as well as relatively close to other suburban shopping areas that have more electronic/computer/etc shopping. Moreover, I%26#39;ve found the hotels in the area to be less expensive than the downtown. That said, the nice thing about the Mall of America is it contains a light rail station within its parking lot, and it is really easy to get downtown using it.

I have another somewhat open question. Regarding the Minneapolis newspapers that would post restaurants/stuff that is open on Thanksgiving, would anyone be able to give me a brief snippet of what was posted as open in 2007? I ask this because of:

A) The notoriously unfriendly nature of newspaper searches.

B) I don%26#39;t have an account/subscription to any of the Twin Cities area newspapers.

Thanks a lot!

Dan

You don%26#39;t need a subscription to find restaurant info on the site - I would recommend looking for restaurants around mid to late October. If you%26#39;re not finding anything, you could always repost a topic here and we%26#39;ll help you out then. You won%26#39;t have a shortage of choices, lots of people like to go out to eat that day.

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