I am looking for a restaurant where a woman alone can get a great meal before several days of "meeting food". I will be staying in downtown Minneapolis. Ideas?

I highly recommend Oceanaire Seafood in the downtown area. Try the crabcakes and scallops. That's what I had, and those two dishes were absolutely fantastic. The dessert, if you've got room, is also good, albeit massive!

112 Eatery ^

Small restaurant with terrific food. Short distance from downtown. Open late. You can eat at the bar or a table.

Can't help you out with MSP for one. If you ever find yourself in RST, Mn., I am the expert on dining for one.

I spent a weekend there last fall and had a lovely dinner at Restaurant Alma. I was traveling alone and was perfectly comfortable everywhere I went, but am drawing a blank on the other places I tried.

If you're willing to take public transportation (or have access to a rental car), I'd recommend heading over to Grand Ave. in St. Paul. There are a lot of unique, boutique eateries in that area. One in particular that I would recommend would be "Everest on Grand" which serves Nepalese food. Very good, and very reasonably priced. Otherwise, if you want good food and are willing to spend a bit more, The Capital Grille in Minneapolis is right in downtown and is very good. For steakhouses, again right downtown, you have a choice of three really good ones: Manny's, Morton's, and Murray's. I haven't sampled it, but I hear good things about the new Wolfgang Puck restaurant located at the Walker Art Center. Perhaps make a day out of the museum/dining? I dunno, there are a lot of food options. Really depends on the mood you're in, what you want to pay, the atmosphere you're looking for, and whether you can go beyond a reasonable walking distance.

I second the recommendation for Murray's. It's definitely an oldschool steak house.

On the other end of the spectrum, try Solera on S. Hennepin. I loved the food there. It's mainly a tapas place, with decent wine and drinks. Relatively quiet, kind of dimly lit, a nice atmosphere, and a great place to get out of the cold. Nothing like meeting/convention food.

Ocenaire is also one of my favorites downtown. Can get pricey sometimes, but the food is usually very fresh.

A fun place to grab a cocktail, even if alone, was a place called "Drink" on 5th Street. I used to head there after work with some of the clients. Sometimes it gets a llittle noisy, but it's a very friendly place, bright, multi-level and just fun. At least when I've been there.

Don't bother going there, IMO, unless you're younger and like loud beats and overpriced drinks. There are better places within that area if you're just up for a coctail, unless of course your objective is in fact to dance next to a bunch of 20-somethings and college students in very close confines.

Consider walking further down First Avenue towards "Block E". In the same building as the cinema, there is a bar on the ground floor called Shout. They have a couple of pianos there and often times they're dueling. Could be fun. They usually have cheap Guinness, if that's your thing.