The Port - St. James Hotel

We previously had a lovely dinner at The Port and were excited to visit again. Unfortunately, due to terrible service (the busperson kept refilling our water as our server was nowhere to be seen and we waited nearly half an hour between courses), we sat for dinner for TWO HOURS. Nothing was comped, no apologies were offered. We saw other tables come and go in the time it took us to get served. We did not ask for anything unusual - only two appetizers. I would NOT recommend the 'market cheeses' appetizer - not well described. We had a 2" x 1" slab of blue cheese, two tiny dried up crostini, one of which had a dab of tomato confit. My husband's NY strip was more charred/bloody rare than medium rare. My market fish, thankfully, was halibut and was excellent, so we shared that. NOT WORTH the price or the wait time. I am sad to have to report our disappointment.

Loved this place! The thick stone walls, the fireplace, the excellent food, the very kind wait staff - all of it was lovely. We had the best mussels we've found in the state of Minnesota. Very cool bar, too, where we had a drink before our dinner reservation time.

First time we have been at The Port in the St. James Hotel. The ambiance was great situated in the basement. It looked and felt like you took a step back in time. The food was excellent. The French Onion soup was the best we have ever eaten. The steaks were tender and cooked as ordered. The scallops were cooked perfectly pan seared and not rubbery over rice that was a perfect match with mushrooms, parmesan and a buttery sauce. We will definitely be returning.

Mushroom Swiss burger was hands down the best burger I have had.
Highly recommend

The service, food, and aomdanc were all great!

This is an absolutely lovely place. So unique. The food was great. We went over Valentine’s Day weekend so it was a set menu and pricier as you had to order an app and well as a dessert.

We didn’t realize that on Valentine’s Day,that there was a limited menu....the steak was burnt and overdone and the dessert had no flavor.. terrible for having to pay 59.00 a person..

We had dinner at The Port on Valentines Day so our expectations were high. We knew they would have a prix fix menu but were disappointed with their limited choices. For 59.00 I had a Caesar salad that was missing one of the ingredients, spaghetti with black bean meatballs (the sauce was good), and strawberry shortcake with dry, inedible biscuits and chopped strawberries. It just wasn’t worth it.

Our evening experience turned out better that could have been expected. After dessert we found two seats at the bar. Lori is a fabulous example of a wonderfully friendly professional Mixologist.

Special Valentine's Day Menu offered good choices, nicely prepared and presented with tasty wine pairings in a lovely setting. Very pleasant evant.

The St James was fantastic. Open Table not so much. I had made the reservation through open table and had even confirmed the reservation. I received a confirmation. We arrived ahead of our scheduled reservation only to find they did not have our reservation. It’s Valentines Day of course they are fully booked. I am in tears. I have been very ill recently and it’s the first time that I am well enough to go out. Thank goodness for Nicki the Manager. She asked if we would be willing to have a table in the lounge that it shouldn’t be a long wait and that she would purchase our drinks while we waited. Not only was she empathetic but truly made us feel special. The food and service was fantastic. I will call the St James directly from now on to book my reservation. I am very disappointed in Open Table. But I am so very happy with our experience at the St James. Troy -Tammy

The staff went above and beyond for me and my fiancee! 10 out of 10 for service!

As much as I would like to, I can't quite recommend The Port. For $40 steak I would definitely be looking for something of considerable thickness (1.5 - 2") and more flavor character. This was clearly a bulk choice steak and not work $20. Portion size was considerable, as I ate half of it but then did not get my to go box back. I chose not to ask for it as we were staying at a local inn anyway. I also tried the salmon ravioli (special) and was glad I only had to eat one bite. The menu lacked creativity and depth for entrees. The appetizers where quite good (Fries, Cheese plate and crab cake). I think there are better values in the area for just as good or better tasting food.

Had dinner there friday. Showed up early for our 7 pm resevation, got right in. Menu is limited to about 6 entres. Sides are extra for most. I had ceasar salad and crab cake appetizer as my meal. It was good. Boyfriend had gnocchi and added head on shrimp. He liked his fine, bit didn't rave about it. Cool bar in the basement. Ambiance is nice. Drinks are $10+/ea. Also had brunch buffet there sunday morning. A bit overpriced for the offerings but food was good. Good place to visit, but not dying to go back asap.

Great experience! Friendly staff- if in Red Wing- this should be a required stop!

We were celebrating our wedding anniversary, which we noted in our reservation, and the hostess & server were both nice enough to congratulate us, etc. We love staying at The St James Hotel and a nice meal and martinis at The Port makes it even better!

Been to The Port 4 times in two separate night stays at the the St. James. Every experience I've had has been consistent and amazing! The food leaves you craving more, the atmosphere is quite, comfortable and cozy and the service is top notch! Left feeling completely satisfied with the entire experience.

It's a great vibe in this historic building! Very nice setting. My wife and I had dinner and drinks. She had the scallops and mushroom risotto. I had the filet. Both of our meals were excellent! We've dined in the best restaurants in the Twin Cities and the food quality compared favorably. Service was a little slow the night we were there, as they seemed to be short handed but the staff handled themselves exceptionally well and they even comp'd our soup without us even asking. Overall, it was a very good experience and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something upscale while still feeling friendly and casual at a price that beats the bigger city restaurants by quite a bit.

Had a late Christmas lunch with my family. Loved the ambiance and service. The place was not super busy, so it felt as though we had our own private room and server. Food was great. Will definitely return.

Our ‘Go-To’ place in Red Wing!!

Great bar, decor, service, food, ambiance- the prix fixe menu with wine pairings was great

We went for dinner for New Years, and everything was yummy, well prepared and great presentation.

We spent the night at the hotel and had a romantic dinner. Very casual dress. My wife and I had steaks which were perfectly done and delicious. The sides and sauces were OK. Very nice overall.

Good food, quiet music, great night. We'll be going back again.

The Port is great. Food is creative and the bar staff know how to make the standard drinks righjt and have creative suggestions for those in the mood for something new.

The price was too high for the small portions. If the price was about 1/2 I feel that would be fair.

Truthfully, the service isn’t great. The bar area is nice, drinks are made perfect and bartender is very friendly. The serving sizes are a bit small for the price. I do really like their French onion soup, not sure why people don’t like it. The host was super friendly and did more then he had to( he did most of the stuff our waitress should have) our waitress wasn’t very attentive, had to ask the host where she was twice because we didn’t see her after we got our food. Tried to email the st James about our evening but no reply.
Id recommend this restaurant but I think it all depends on who’s your server because in the past we’ve always had good service.

To be honest, We thought the food we were served was not as palatable as hoped, especially for the
price. My steak had to be returned for additional grilling. My wife's salmon was tasty but what was served with it was not. The chef's soup had a real bite to it which our server forgot to mention. Although she was
very accommodating. We would have to hesitate to recommend Port to friends after this our first visit.

My wife and I celebrated our Anniversary staying in a Suite at the hotel and booked a table
for dinner. Service and food was awesome definitely coming back here again.

Took a friend from Colorado who is interested in history and antiques. The place was great. While the menu is not large, the food is excellently prepared and we all found our meals to be great. the side dishes are large, each best shared with at least one and likely two other people at the table. Our friend indicated he had the best filet he had ever tasted!

Service was excellent. Overpriced for the quality of food. We had the French onion soup. It was not anything to write home about but definitely the best part of the meal. We also had pasta with shrimp. The shrimp was good but the past had zero flavor and was swimming in water on the plate. Buttered noodles would have been an upgrade. we had the sliders and ordered them to be prepared medium. They were between raw and rare. I would have been disappointed with having paid $25 for everything instead of the $75 we ended up spending with only water to drink.

The French Onion Soup is excellent! I'd consider coming back just for that. Russet potato puree was okay, but it wasn't anything special; I probably wouldn't order it again. Pork tenderloin entree and NY Strip steak were both very good. Housemade ice cream was a good way to finish the meal.

Great service and atmosphere but don’t recommend the slider burgers.

Room temperature was quite cool. Medium-well requested steaks were more medium. Very unique room made for an interesting experience. Service was excellent.

Had a wonderful night! Dinner was perfect. Food was delicious!

service was great, dinner was great, the place is charming. A greta evening

My husband and I were in the area celebrating our 20th anniversary. We wanted to try something special so we went to the St. James and to the port restaurant. The food was delicious, the waitstaff was paced just right and the drinks were delicious.

It was good to be able to eat in the Port again. Gabby did a great job taking care of us and it was good to see Rita.
The food is as good as it always has been!

Outstanding meal with a varied menu to make everyone happy. Nice atmosphere and terrific service.

Service was very good. Halibut was overcooked and dry. Vegetables were overcooked and mushy. Portions were on the small side for the price. Probably won't go back, but if we do, I'll stick the steak. However, my wife's salmon was very good. Not much else to recommend it.