One of the North Loop’s hot, new restaurants is about to get a little bit hotter.
Dario is set to debut a 36-seat patio next weekend, right at the official start of summer, on the east side of the T3 building.
The seasonal patio will consist of tables and chairs, some planters, and a barrier to separate it from the rest of the sidewalk. The tables and chairs are a shade of seafoam green that’s similar to the booths inside of Dario.
Dario’s full menu will be served on the patio. Reservations will be available for the patio, too, but those haven’t gone live yet on Resy, the booking platform used by Dario and many other downtown Minneapolis restaurants.
Joe Rolle and Stephen Rowe opened Dario, a globally-influenced Italian restaurant focusing on handmade pasta, vegetables, and cocktails, in late January. The duo previously helped open other popular Minneapolis spots, including Parlour (actually, Rolle invented the Parlour burger) and Marvel Bar, but this is the first place of their own.
“This food isn’t tame,” Rolle said in an interview with Downtown Voices earlier this year. “It kind of demands your attention.”
As does Dario’s interior design by Aaron Wittkamper of Wittkamper Studio, who was also behind the ambiances of Berlin and Sloane’s Beauty Bar in the North Loop, as well as Picnic in Linden Hills.
I’m no restaurant critic, but I love food – especially pasta – so believe me when I say that Dario is worth the hype. But if you’d like a more educated take on Dario’s culinary credentials, look no further than this great review on the restaurant's punk rock pasta by James Beard award-winning food writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.
A heads-up to any faithfuls out there who might’ve missed the news earlier this week: Dario is making a big menu change on Friday by removing its Instagram-worthy oysters from the menu and replacing them with a new raw dish.
Dario is located at 323 N. Washington Ave. It’s open Sunday through Thursday from 5-10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5-11 p.m.