Best Spots for Boba Tea in Minneapolis
From artisanal boba stops to international chains, the tea shops of Minneapolis have your cravings for this Taiwanese treat covered.
Minneapolis Restaurants Mixing Up Refreshing Mocktails
Looking for the most creative mocktails in Minneapolis? We’re sharing the deets on the bars and restaurants shaking up the city’s best zero-proof drinks, whether you’re taking a temporary break from spirits, serving as a designated driver for the evening, or are rocking a full-time sober lifestyle. Gone are the days where you have to make due with a seltzer or soda! These local favorites are mixing up non-alcoholic drinks so delicious, you’ll feel great about ordering another round.
Khâluna
Boasting one of the largest non-alcoholic drink menus on our list, chef Ann Ahmed’s Southwest Minneapolis Laotian destination is one of the best bets for mocktails in the city. Picture transporting drinks like piña colada-inspired lassis, the Dharma (with mangosteen, grapefruit, green coffee, and coconut water), and the Balinese Tonic Water—a fruit-forward bubbly blend of tropical fruit like jujube, calamansi, and jackfruit, plus floral essences of frangipani and gentian.
Owamni
This much-lauded eatery emphasizing indigenous flavors and eschewing colonial foods—like dairy, wheat flour, cane sugar, beef, chicken, and pork—also takes a trailblazing stance with its zero-proof drink menu. Featuring mocktails with native ingredients like balsam fir, aronia berry, sumac, and cinchona bark, Indigenous tea blends, and sweet-tart switchels, there’s definitely something new to discover. Recently winning the intensely competitive “Best New Restaurant” category at the James Beard Awards, Owamni is definitely a must-visit for lovers of good food and great zero-proof sips.
ie - Italian Eatery
A short stroll from Lake Nokomis on Minnehaha Parkway, ie - Italian Eatery features a lovely seasonal patio that offers a perfect perch for sipping mocktails al fresco. Enjoy a cinnamon-spiced Hibiscus Punch, a seasonal house drinking vinegar, or a Cafe la Bella, a molto Italiano espresso drink accented with lavender, vanilla, and fennel.
Stanley’s Northeast Bar Room
If pub grub is more your style, head to Stanley’s for burgers, nachos, and reubens to go with your mocktails. Grab a Lavender Mule with lavender syrup, lime juice, ginger beer in that oh-so-classic copper mule mug or a sunset-hued Tropical Storm with passionfruit, grenadine, lime, habanero syrup, and a salty Tajin rim. Local tip: enjoy your mocktail with your four-legged best friend on Stanley’s year-round dog friendly paw-tio.
Cardamom
Offering colorful plates inspired by Aegean and Mediterranean cuisines, this buzzy restaurant at the Walker Art Center puts herbs, citrus, spices, and seasonal produce center stage on both the food and drink menus. The mocktails are no exceptions—enjoy zero-proof drinks like the Gazoz (fermented berries, cardamom, pomegranate, herbs, and flowers), the Soumaki (pineapple, sumac, and lime), and the Mahamadi (persian tonic water, rose water, and orange blossom water).
Umbra
The onsite restaurant of Minneapolis boutique Canopy Hotel by Hilton, Umbra offers an industrial-chic space, seasonal plates featuring local meat, cheese, and produce, a full bar, and hand-crafted non-alcoholic “faux-tails.” Try the You're A Peach (peach mint iced tea muddled with strawberries) or the Pineapple Express (pineapple juice, ginger beer, fresh squeezed lime juice, and soda water). Note: Umbra’s mocktails are only available from 2pm through close.
Spoon & Stable
James Beard Award-winning chef Gavin Kaysen’s chic North Loop dining room melds French cuisine and modern Midwestern fare. Every picture-perfect plate would pair beautifully with one of bar manager Jessi Pollak’s three mocktails: a Grapefruit Cordial with lime and salt, the Flor (peach blossom, lemon, verjus blanc, and celery), and a Watermelon Verbena Tonic with lime, herbs, and roots.
Martina
Blending Argentinian and Italian flavors on plates coming out of the kitchen, this upscale Linden Hills destination leans toward the tropics and Southeast Asia on its mocktail menu. Picture elixirs blending passion fruit, mango, and lime, a lemongrass-forward bubbly with ginger, galangal, and lemon verbena, and the Masala Chai with aromatic bitters.
Hai Hai
Few Minneapolis restaurants can make you feel like you’re on a tropical vacation despite the weather outside, but Hai Hai delivers with Chef Christina Nguyen’s spin on Southeast Asian street food fare. The small but mighty trio of spirit-free mocktails brings the freshness to the drink menu, too—order up the Mot (with lychee and housemade jackfruit cordial), the Hai (with housemade rhubarb-strawberry-ginger shrub), or the Ba (with housemade guava-grapefruit cordial) to sip alongside your beef laab lettuce wraps and water fern cakes.
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