Three summers ago, the corner of Water and Lake was the quiet problem nobody in town wanted to name. The busiest intersection in downtown Excelsior sat dark, with restaurants that had anchored Water Street closed after the pandemic and their storefronts still vacant. This August, that same corner has a supper club, a ramen counter, and a basement burger bar stacked into one building, and the block across the street is pouring espresso by 8 a.m. and Sicilian wine by 8 p.m.
If you already live here, the practical question isn't whether Excelsior "arrived." It's how to plan a Wednesday evening now that the Commons and Water Street are both running on the same clock. Here's the map.
The three concepts sharing one address
The building at 200 Water Street is doing the heaviest lifting in the food scene shift. Jester Concepts, the Minneapolis group behind Borough and P.S. Steak, staged its Excelsior expansion in three parts.
Parlour Excelsior opened first, in the basement in late 2024. It's a casual diner and craft cocktail bar known for the Parlour Burger, a double-patty smash burger with American cheese and pickles, with an eclectic menu that includes breakfast food all day. Reservations aren't accepted; the room is walk-in only except for private events. When it's full, the host runs a waitlist and texts you when your table is ready, which matters if you're trying to pair dinner with a 6:30 concert start time.
Shiki, the ramen and dumpling counter, followed. The name translates to "four seasons" in Japanese, and the menu focuses on dumplings, ramen, and Japanese-inspired flavors. It's a tiny, cheeky room with a mural of a woman lounging in noodles, serving sake alongside the bowls, and it's physically connected to Mirabelle.
Mirabelle is the flagship. From Jester Concepts, it presents as a warm, welcoming neighborhood restaurant with a menu of American comfort food and rotating nightly specials like lasagna, meatloaf, and fried chicken. The build-out preserved historic details in the space, including a cast iron fireplace. It's open for dinner seven nights a week.
The reason to understand the three as one address: if Mirabelle is booked, Shiki almost never is, and Parlour will text you when a seat opens. You have three fallbacks under one roof before you leave the building.
Across the street, a Sicilian long game
The other half of the corner story sits in the old Red Sauce Rebellion space, and it's the one that changes what daytime Water Street looks like.
Chef David Fhima, known for the Minneapolis restaurants Fhima's and Maison Margaux, opened Vagabondo, a Sicilian restaurant by night, and by day a cafe serving coffee, pastries, and spritzes on a sidewalk patio with a peek-a-boo view of the lake. The kitchen turns out wood-fired pizzas and handmade pastas, and there's an espresso-and-pastry counter for daytime treats, with breakfast and lunch on the way.
Fhima has been direct about how he's approaching it. He's settling in for the long game, aware that the opening buzz won't last forever and neither will the warm, strollable nights along Excelsior's main street. His stated goal isn't to be the latest trend but to be here for quite a while.
A block over, two more rooms round out the newer wave. Layline, also from InnerBloom Hospitality, the group behind Wayzata's Josefina, opened in 2023 with a splashy dining room, bold wallpaper, surprising cocktails, and fresh oysters. The same group runs a sushi destination in town with creative rolls, happy-hour deals, and a Japanese whisky menu. MontegoBlu handles the island-drink slot, with the Dirty Banana getting most of the attention.
The Water Street cast, at a glance
For the residents who've been asking which of these is actually worth the walk from the Commons after a concert, the shortest useful summary:
| Room | What it's for | Reservation posture |
|---|---|---|
| Mirabelle | Sit-down dinner, weekend brunch | Book ahead |
| Shiki | Fast bowl, late-night stop | Walk-in |
| Parlour Excelsior | Burger and a cocktail | Walk-in, text waitlist |
| Vagabondo | Morning espresso; pasta and pizza at night | Book for dinner |
| Layline | Oysters, cocktails, occasion dinner | Book ahead |
| Red Bench Bakery | Breakfast, lunch, live music | Walk-in |
| Haskell's Port of Excelsior | Patio and a lake view | Walk-in |
Red Bench Bakery is the scratch-cooking cafe with lattes and music nights that anchors the quieter end of the strip, good for lingering over breakfast or lunch or a light dinner with live music. Haskell's Port of Excelsior is the bar and grill attached to the liquor store, and the corner patio seat is the one people drive in from other towns to claim for the Lake Minnetonka view. Next door to Excelsior Brewing, a counter-service barbecue joint from the Famous Dave's family, run by Dave's son James, keeps a takeout window open for quick bites if you're grabbing a beer at the brewery.
Free on the calendar in August
The Commons has been running its own parallel program all summer, and the two Wednesdays and two Saturdays left in August are the ones to know.
Concerts in the Commons runs seven Wednesday nights between June and August, with food trucks and beer or wine open at 5 p.m. and music from 6:30 to 8:30 on the banks of Lake Minnetonka in Excelsior Commons Park. The August lineup this year:
- Wednesday, August 12 — The Suburbs
- Wednesday, August 26 — Rumours & Dreams, a Fleetwood Mac tribute band
Then the movie nights, both free at the same park. The Lego Movie shows Saturday, August 15, and Sandlot shows Saturday, August 29, with both starting at 8 p.m.
And if a lakeside yoga habit is more your speed, the Tuesday, Thursday, and alternating Saturday donation classes run through the first week of September, with proceeds going to Community For The Commons, the park conservancy working on improvements to the Commons.
How to actually stack a Wednesday
The mechanical version of this post would list events and restaurants separately. The resident version is that these two calendars now interlock in a way they didn't a couple of years ago.
Start the Wednesday at the Commons around 5:15 for a food truck plate and a beer, hear the first set, and be back on Water Street by 8:45 when the music ends. That's when the walk-in rooms earn their keep. Parlour will put you on the text list from a sidewalk bench. Shiki is faster and rarely full. Vagabondo's night crowd thins closer to 9. Mirabelle is the one to book ahead of the concert, not after.
The Saturday version is easier. Dinner reservation at 6, dessert on Water Street, then the 8 p.m. movie at the Commons with a blanket. The classic ice cream parlor that has been serving scoops and housemade waffle cones since the '80s has become the nostalgic summer-night standby for exactly this reason. A newer cheesecake shop, started by a former Paisley Park staffer, turns out mini and full-size cheesecakes in seasonal and standard flavors if you want a splittable dessert to walk with.
Why this matters past Labor Day
As the leaves begin to change and foot traffic inevitably slows, the open question is whether Excelsior can sustain the restaurant boom year-round. Operators are watching the same thing residents are. The restaurateurs are counting on friendly competition. "Regulars are the thing that everyone survives from," said Stevens of Maynards, adding that competition will keep them hungry.
Translation for people who live here: the fall and winter versions of these rooms exist only if the neighborhood shows up on a Tuesday in November. That's a piece of information the summer tourist doesn't have.
The bridge event is close. Excelsior Apple Days runs Friday, September 18, on Water Street, and it's a reliable early read on which of the new rooms have settled into the community and which are still running on opening buzz. Vagabondo's promised breakfast and lunch service should also be online by then, which adds a real daytime option to a stretch that used to hand mornings entirely to the bakery.
Mayor Gary Ringate's take is the honest one. "The restaurant world is churning around here," he said. "There's still even a desire for more."
For anyone thinking about a home closer to the lake, or already living blocks from the Commons and wondering what a well-timed sale looks like heading into fall, the Steve Schmitz Team has been representing buyers and sellers in Excelsior and the west lake communities for decades. Reach out for a conversation about your street, or start with a home valuation.