Hard Times Cafe

Name: Hard Times Cafe
Telephone: +1 612-341-9261
Price range: $$
Rating: 4.56

1821 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA

4.56 (74)

Very friendly

Vegetarian, Breakfast, Diner

Directions

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Recent Reviews

Iszy2,766 reviews

Yay! The app is working with my phone now! Thanks @abillion team! This cupcake really caught my eye. Since we were there for breakfast, we took this home to have later as an afternoon treat. I love earl grey and it ended up being a great flavor for the cake. It's slightly floral and not overly sweet. The lemon frosting added that freshness and sweetness to liven it up. #earlgrey #tea #cupcakes #sweettooth #sweettreats #cake #bakedgoods #dessert #lemon #lemonade

Vegan Arnie Palmer Cupcake

John15 reviews

I love hard times cafe in Minneapolis. There are so many hardy vegan meals to choose from. Vegan Biscuit breakfast is my favorite. I love the atmosphere of this place.

Vegan Biscuit Breakfast

Iszy2,766 reviews

This is a really nice fruity choice! The lemon and cherry work together to balance the tartness of this bar. It's so flavorful and has the right ratio of jam to crumble. This was maybe less of a breakfast choice and better for dessert. #cherry #lemon #bar #dessert #sweettooth #jam #bakedgoods #bakery #workerowned

Vegan Cherry Lemon Crumble Bar

Iszy2,766 reviews

Apple and cinnamon are such great flavors to start the day with. Especially when you stuff them into a muffin! This muffin has whole chunks of apple. The top has that perfect crispy texture while the rest is nice and soft. I think I could have used more cinnamon. #muffin #bakery #apple #cinnamon #bakedgoods #breakfast #sweettooth #morning #brunch #workerowned

Vegan Apple Cinnamon Muffin

Iszy2,766 reviews

Before going on a lovely fall hike in Taylor's Falls, my family stopped into Hard Times to fuel up. The biscuit breakfast is my usual go-to, but I thought something small was more suitable for the more active day we were going to have. This bagel sandwich has their house-made sausage as well as cheese. It also has some tofu scramble. It's a super simple thing and nothing special. It would have been nice to have a sauce on it, but Hard Times is all about just classics and nothing too crazy. I added hot sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic powder when I got it. I could have added some vegan butter to moisten it up too. #bagel #tofu #tofulover #vegansausage #tofuscramble #vegancheese #veganmeat #sandwich #breakfast #simple #workerowned

Vegan Breakfast Bagel

Iszy2,766 reviews

Hard Times has the best deals on vegan pastries! Day old goods are heavily discounted and still taste nice! I saw this apple lemon scone for only $1.50 and thought, what the heck, may as well get one! They're such a nice treat with a tea before a big savory breakfast. The lemon flavor is strong which I love in a scone. There are small pieces of apple throughout. There's not much flavor from them, but I didn't mind. I was really into the lemon. #scone #veganbakery #bakedgoods #lemon #apple #breakfast #sweettooth #pastry #dayold #discount #gooddeal #workerowned

Vegan Apple Lemon Scone

Iszy2,766 reviews

Here's another Chef Challenge entry! Hard Times went in a unique direction with a nice big plate of okonomiyaki! It's a vegetable pancake packed with cabbage, onions, mushrooms, corn and sweet potatoes in a tapioca and wheat batter. It's topped with green onions, housemade veganaise, pickled ginger, and special ‘bulldog’ sauce. The sauce is slightly sweet, like a teriyaki sauce. That made a wonderful lunch and covered such a wide variety of veggies! Since it's all in batter it doesn't feel "too healthy" which is nice. Their housemade mayo is incredible as well! You can pay $3 extra for vegan bacon, cheese, or both for $6. We got bacon and really loved it! It seems to be rice paper bacon! #okonomiyaki #cabbage #veganbacon #onion #mushroom #mushroomlover #corn #sweetpotato #veganmayo #greenonions #ginger #japanese #tcveganchef #veganchefchallenge #workerowned

Okonomiyaki

Iszy2,766 reviews

If you're looking for a cheap treat, check out the day-old section of the Hard Times bakery case! This lemon cake was still moist and flavorful, but only $2! The frosting on this cake held so much lemon flavor. It was intense but refreshing. It helped balance out the sweetness a bit. #lemon #lemonpoppyseed #cake #poppyseed #dessert #breakfast #bakery #dayold #workerowned

Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Iszy2,766 reviews

Going to Hard Times with @jonok is one of my favorite things to do on a weekend morning. I love how we have a spot looking out the window and always get dessert first! I picked out this juicy, chocolatey muffin for my pastry this morning. The raspberries seemed so fresh. They were pretty tart, but were balanced out by the silky chocolate chips. The top of this muffin was the perfect crispy consistency. #muffin #raspberry #berrylover #chocoholic #chocolate #breakfast #dessert #bakery #pastry #workerowned #sweettooth

Vegan Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffin

Iszy2,766 reviews

This cookie was fun to try! It's like a hybrid of banana bread and a macaroon. The banana flavor is the strongest, but then there are coconut flakes throughout the cookie. I wasn't a big fan of the texture of the coconut in this cookie. I did really enjoy the flavors together though. It was a nice tropical break in January! #cookies #banana #coconutlover #coconut #workerowned #sweettooth #veganbakery #bakedgoods #cheapandgood

Vegan Banana Oat Coconut Cookie

Iszy2,766 reviews

One of my favorite things about going to Hard Times is picking out a sweet treat from the display case to snack on while I wait for my food. This lemon basil shortbread immediately caught my eye. It was so lemony and although I didn't really pick up a strong basil flavor, there was a refreshing herbaceous quality to this cookie. #cookies #lemon #basil #shortbread #workerowned #veganbakery #bakedgoods #sweettooth #icing #cheapandgood

Vegan Lemon Basil Shortbread

Iszy2,766 reviews

This huge sandwich is packed with Hard Time's house-made seitan. This sandwich ended up being $16 because subbing in vegan cheese is $3, and we also added mushrooms for $1.50. it's still a good deal compared to other places in the city, but for Hard Times it's on the higher end! I actually really loved the mushrooms and I'm surprised it doesn't automatically come with it. They added so much great meaty flavor! The house-made vegan cheese was delicious and very creamy! #workerowned #seitan #sandwich #philly #veganmeat #vegansteak #vegancheese #mushroom #mushroomlover #peppers