Citizen – Saint Paul

Love the food. Ask for Laura, she's the best server ever.

Not an expansive menu, which is quite nice. They have options for everyone. Started with a moscow mule and it was done wonderfully. Appetizer of Walleye tacos which had a nice apple slaw and just a hint of jalapeno. Had the lobster club with fries and it was delicious and very nice portion. Not too much and not too little. We went before a concert and surprisingly not overcrowded- just a short walk from the Excel. Service was great, she was helpful with the menu.

First time visitors. Restaurant was clean, warm and friendly atmosphere. Chicken vegetable soup fit the waiters description of hardy. I enjoyed it. Humus and baba ganoush dip was delicious. Menu was interesting and numerous items intrigued us. Our entrees were tasty and portions just right. My wife had the crab cakes and I the jambalaya. Our initial seating was under a air conditioning vent and after a few minutes we requested a different table and they were very accommodating.
One issue stood out for us. Our waiter had accurate descriptions of the menu items and after going over several choices my wife decided on the crab cakes. She was served the scallops by mistake. My meal was served and after a few minutes we got the attention of a waitress who sent our waiter to our table. He remembered the conversation during ordering, apologized and removed the scallops and we waited for the crab cakes. We ordered a dessert, the opera cake 2.0 which was delicious. We thought the waiter could have offered a dessert on the house to make up for an obvious mistake and the awkwardness of waiting for an entree.

We were going to the Bruno mars show next

The service at both the bar and our table was amazing! The food was ok...a few items we ordered (lobster club) lacked flavor.

Great food, great service

Great service. Food was good. Not great

We made reservations at Citizen because it was within walking distance for a concert at the Palace Theater. We did not realize it is a restaurant within a hotel. There was a convention with very loud convention attendees at the bar. Service felt perfunctory. Menu was somewhat limited and overpriced. I would not recommend this restaurant unless you were staying at the hotel.

My hair smelled like a grill all day so perhaps needs better ventilation. We were nowhere near kitchen but by front window....intersting characters walking by. Parking ramp old and somewhat creepy.

It was restaurant week and we wanted to give it a go! The crab cakes were dynamite! Best thing we had!

Visited for Restaurant Week, very happy with value of items purchased, but entree's were not quite what I was expecting. Dessert was amazing

Great drinks, great food and great service. Highly recommended!

Aliyah was a very good and attentive server. The food was very good except the cheese curds. They were very greasy, and pretty bland.

Very nice restaurant. We plan to go back and take our friends.

We were three for Brunch prior to a matinee at the Park Square Theater.

There was a nice selection of menu items, and what we chose was flavorful, nicely presented and well served.

There was plenty of time to make the show.

Stopped in on short notice on the afternoon of July 4th. Was pleasantly surprised to fine Citizen open. Food and service were great!

A pleasant surprise. Food was quite good (I had the lemon fish) and we had a great server. Add this to the list of places to go pre-Ordway or Xcel.

Awesome food, service, and experience. Loved the small plates and even got a visit from the chef to tell us about the bacon powder served with the deviled eggs!!!

They take their food seriously here and do everything to make it right if you don't like it.

Dependable food, the staff were helpful in giving me just a few fries and a little fruit--the correct proportions for what I needed that day. I wasn't paid attention to however, until I asked for help.

We booked because of the menu and it was close to our hotel. Got there they changed the menu 2 days ago and chef wouldn’t accommodate anything on old menu. If you’re changing your menus SAY SO. Our waiter was amazing, food was very good but they need to figure out noise canceling. The restaurant was maybe 1/3 full and we couldn’t hear each other so much for a romantic date we were horse by the end from shouting. Guess I didn’t take pictures of our main meals

Birthday celebration. Everything was “good”. Nothing was great.

This location is wonderful, has a great atmosphere and an intimate experience for diners. The food is high quality and our service was impeccable. Everyone we encountered greeted us with a smile.

Great location for dinner or drinks before an event at the Excel. Service was excellent as was the food. They even throw in parking in the ramp.

We enjoyed the reserved seats with a hi top which was very comfortable. We met some good friends at the restaurant and were able to have great conversation. The wait staff was excellent. The food was very good.

Wonderful inventive fare. Dined with friends - all very pleased, esp. with the salmon with blackberries and asparagus. Excellent service. Returned for solo dining and was just as impressed.

Excellent food, made an accommodation easily. Server attentive but not obstrusive, very helpful. Quiet - there was a large party but they were festively cheerful rather than noisy. Altogether a great experience. My first time, but I will be back!

I was looking for a new place to try for a night out with friends and Citizen was a good choice. Service was excellent and the food was very good. We enjoyed our dinner and would likely go back again.

Great food! Nice people and patient with us!

We love this place. The food is outstanding and our server, Laura is perfect, friendly, efficient knowledgeable and kind.

We were shocked that the restaurant wasn't very busy. The food was excellent. I highly recommend this restaurant for a pre-show dinner.

The food was more delicious than I expected from such a quiet restaurant; I’d call this a legit hidden gem in downtown St. Paul! The only bummer is that happy hour only goes until 5pm. Also I wish there were a few more people to add some ambiance.

We went for a date night and were pretty underwhelmed with Citizen. It was a slower night and the service still left something to be desired. Food was disappointing overall.

Had dinner before a show. Excellent tomato bisque soup....best I’ve ever had. Very nice broccoli and beef, although portion was small for the price. A beautifully made Manhattan. A bit pricey.

We love this place. Deviled eggs are awesome, the filet is tender and dessert perfect. The server, Laura goes way out of her way to make your visit perfect

Absolutely terrible experience. Took almost an hour to get our food from the time we ordered it. On top of that, I ordered the Quinoa, kale and strawberry salad as my entree and when it came out, all it had was wilted kale and strawberry....no quinoa! Not sure how it's even possible to forget one of the main ingredients in a salad but maybe par for the course with this place. I didn't send it back as we were in hurry and didn't want to wait.

In any case, this place definitely would not be anywhere near the top of the list of places I'd like to return to.

We have been there three times now and I really want to like this place. Cool atmosphere and really friendly staff, but...
The first time there was for some quick late afternoon drinks. The place was empty so the bar service was great. Drinks were good too! Our second visit was for diner before a hockey game. Again, the place was pretty dead so the service was very attentive. Drinks were great but the food was hit and miss. The ramen bowl was good but the chicken wings were overcooked and the cheese curds were rather blah. Our third visit was for diner before a concert. We arrived ~2 hours before show time and they were surprisingly busy. Drinks were again very good (recommend the jalapeno martini) and our server was attentive and very apologetic as we waited nearly 1.25 hours for our food to arrive. My wife loved the lobster club but my Citizen Burger was overcooked. We both found the thin and crispy french fries addicting. Our server kindly took a couple of drinks off our tab to accommodate the long wait. Also, they comp your parking if you dine in the restaurant (even on Excel event nights). Overall, keep your expectations low and you will probably leave satisfied (especially if you take advantage of the free parking).

The online menu looked great, but this is basically a Perkins style diner. Great if you are staying at the hotel and need a convenient average meal, but don’t go out of your way.

My co-workers and I had dinner here Thursday night and really enjoyed it. We loved Mary Kay, our Server, who was celebrating 45 years at the same hotel. Wow, fantastic. The food and atmosphere was great. I would recommend to anyone.

Great ambiance. Very friendly staff gave us just the right amount of attention. Drinks and food were spot on for Happy Hour.