Dock & Paddle in Como Lakeside Pavilion

We stopped for dinner at the Spring Cafe prior to enjoying a fabulous and free Kenwood Symphony concert. Great summertime music was enjoyed by a fairly large crowd. The food was good and flavorful, with spice, depending on your menu choice. There weren't a lot of items to choose from, but everyone in my group seemed to really enjoy the hummus. They serve alcoholic drinks, beer and wine as well. The interior needs updating, but the view of the waterfalls across the street is always nice to look at.

A quaint Cafe and Bar right in the heart of Como park. The menu is small but focused on fresh, high quality offerings with lots of health-conscious options. The tap list and spirit selection is impressive, as are the seating options. There is a huge outdoor patio overlooking the lake perfect for warmer weather, or two floors of indoor seating. A large meeting space makes up the third floor. Service is friendly but not particularly fast, so give yourself time to relax and enjoy a meal or drink.

Service was exceptionally friendly and nice! Outstanding ambience! Went on a late Sunday morning and vibes were immaculate.✨Low and slow music, lots of sunshine streaming through and a lakeside view. The menu is great! I got the nachos, beef slider and a coffee. All exceeded expectations and my experience here amounted to a super start to the day. I recommend stopping here if you’re on a walk in the area. You won’t be disappointed!

DO NOT GO HERE!! This is a ripoff restaurant with horrible food. I paid $9 for a kid's meal that consisted of seven French fries and a slider for a hamburger. The patty was maybe one ounce and dried out. It was served on a dinner roll. My kids refused to eat their meals. And the fish and chips was inedible. Save yourself money and just bring your own food if you are going to listen to music. The restaurant will ruin your experience. To top it off, the bathrooms were in accessible. So we spent over $50 on dinner and couldn't even use a restroom. It honestly ruined our night.

I should start by saying that I would really love to see the Spring Cafe succeed where so many other attempts have fallen flat. The Como Lake Pavilion is a beautiful location, and it would really be a boon for St Paul to have a consistent, quality lakeside restaurant for casual dining on nice summer/early fall days. My visit to Spring Cafe occurred on one such occasion; it was a moderate, late-summer afternoon and the family was trying to think of a nice restaurant with outdoor seating to enjoy the weather for a meal. After some discussion, we decided to give Spring Cafe a try. The restaurant itself is welcoming and well-kept. The design hasn't changed much, with a bar-centric layout and ample seating, with full downstairs and upstairs seating areas. Staff were friendly, and the menu was fairly straightforward. I ordered the fish tacos, while the rest of my family decided on the BBQ pork sandwich. We chose a seat in the pavilion; the availability of seating in the pavilion is definitely the biggest strength of the restaurant, with lovely views of the lake and warm breezes bringing a natural, open air to the experience. The food was served in a reasonable amount of time, delivered to our table by a server. Presentation was simple, but that is to be expected and almost preferable. The portions were a bit small, given the price, with no sides for the entree and a somewhat meager portion of chips for the sandwich orders. The tacos were flavorful and well-prepared, but the corn shells were saturated from the contents and fell apart quickly (as is common with such dishes, to be fair). I would come here again, though mostly for the location and not particularly for the food itself. I think that this is both the curse and the blessing of the pavilion; there is a natural pull for the setting, but it is relatively distant from any other nearby attraction. To attract visitors as a standalone restaurant and build any sort of brand awareness/loyalty, there needs to be something that sets it apart (price, quality, uniqueness, etc...) and that is currently something that I don't quite see.

Enjoyed the fish tacos and wife tried the fish and chips. Both had excellent flavor but portions could be bigger. Nice atmosphere, I imagine the pavilion to be hopping when there's events going on. Friendly service, would definitely eat there again.

One week after opening, we had a great first experience at Spring Cafe! First, logistics: Order from the counter. Take your number but pick up your drinks from the counter before finding a table - drinks come out fast. Also grab your own napkins/plasticware/condiments/water from the counter if needed. Sit anywhere with your number - inside (upstairs or downstairs) or outside. Wait for your food to arrive, and when you're done, leave your baskets on the table. This place is exactly what the Lake needed - it's uncomplicated and efficient, and the food is delicious! One particularly good idea is that they have an ordering station just for drinks, so you don't have to wait in the full line for just a drink. The grab-and-go menu is perfect for a quick bite if you're in a rush, but even our regular food came out in about 10 minutes despite the place being packed on a warm Saturday evening. You can also order most drinks to go if you want to take them on your walk around the lake. The seating areas haven't really changed at all since the transition from Dockside, which isn't a problem. Waitstaff was friendly, well-trained, and helpful. We ordered the chicken tinga nachos, the wild rice brat, and the elote hot dog. Nachos and especially the elote dog were excellent, and we'll definitely get them again! The wild rice brat was good but we'll probably try something else next time. The default side is kettle chips, but you can substitute the house-fried tortilla chips if you prefer. It would be great to see more side options (maybe even a side salad?) in the future, although you can also get a basket of fries for just $4. For drinks, we had a gin & tonic and the naughty pine - both were good and surprisingly strong! Like some other restaurants by this owner (Matty), most of the drinks are premixed so they are served up very quickly. In talking to one of the waitresses, it sounds like the cook (JD) has some future plans, including adding a grill to the not-yet-operational outside bar area by the grandstand. We are looking forward to making this a regular visit and can't wait to see what the summer brings!

Management must have taken some previous comments about the fish n’ chips to heart because the fish n’ chips we had on 5/26 were fantastic and some of the best we ever had, we’ve been to Ireland and these were much better! Four nice size pieces, lightly breaded and very flavorful. A couple chips (waffle fries) were undercooked but very tasty as well. Add to that the free concert and nice outdoor seating area we will be definitely going back for some more music and great food! The on tap Old Fashions were very good too!!