Photo of food from Urban Skillet

taken by Abi Hilden on March 5

Abi Hilden, features editor

Are you looking for a quick bite to eat? Urban Skillet is here to satisfy your needs — for the most part. Let me explain.

Located at 2300 Hennepin Ave S in Minneapolis, Urban Skillet serves a variety of dishes all with a “one of a kind” flair, according to their website. Looking over their menu, you can see this uniqueness in the sheer variety of dishes that they serve; from sandwiches to sambusas, this place has it all. Another aspect of Urban Skillet that makes them stand out from the crowd is the fact that all of their meat is 100% certified halal, making them an option for those who are on a halal diet.

Now, looking over their menu I had high hopes for Urban Skillet. All of their dishes sounded amazing and I was excited to try them. However, the reality of my experience was less than ideal, and these hopes were only met by one dish out of the two that I tried.

That dish? The brisket fries. As one of their many side dishes, the brisket fries featured an order of french fries covered in barbecue sauce, house sauce, American cheese and barbecue brisket. These fries were one of the best loaded fries that I have ever had, and that is not an exaggeration. The brisket was perfectly cooked, as it was juicy and tender without being too chewy. The other toppings were all extremely complementary to each other, as the barbecue sauce was sweet and smoky, the house sauce was tangy and the American cheese helped to balance everything out. My mouth is watering just writing about these fries, and I would definitely order them again in a heartbeat.

On the other end of the spectrum is a dish that I don’t think I will be giving another shot: the southern barbecue burger. This burger is served with a half pound of beef topped in lettuce, swiss cheese, barbecue sauce, house sauce, halal bacon and an onion ring. I ordered mine without the lettuce and onion ring, but I don’t think those things would have affected how I felt about this burger. My biggest beef with this sandwich was the fact that the meat was on the drier end — which is not something you want when a sandwich already comes with two sauces on it. The toppings themselves were pretty okay but overall this burger was nothing to write home about.

I will admit that my experience could have been tainted by the fact that I ordered this food for delivery and didn’t have a chance to eat in the restaurant. At the end of the day, Urban Skillet isn’t a bad option just because I didn’t have a great experience with one of their menu items.

You can stop by Urban Skillet Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight. Make sure to give their loaded fries a try — they will definitely be the highlight of your meal!