Saint Dinette in St. Paul will likely close next year; cue the long, Minnesota goodbye

Saint Dinette owner Tim Niver has indicated that the beloved St. Paul Lowertown restaurant with the popular burger and iconic fried bologna sandwich will close at the end of March 2025.

It's a decision that the restaurant owner and famous hospitalitarian had been mulling for quite some time. "Our lease is up at the end of March 2025," Niver said. "It's really hard to predict a future where five years from now [Saint Dinette] would be an irrefutable financial success."

On the restaurateur's podcast Niver Niver Land, Instagram and to anyone who has reached out to him, Niver has contemplated the state of Lowertown and the overall restaurant landscape. "I don't see any major return — work-from-home people aren't coming back," he said in a recent phone conversation. "The Madison Group's [downtown building is] in bankruptcy. Government workers aren't returning. The overall tenor is not together it's ... frayed."

In the beginning

When Saint Dinette opened in 2015, Niver was part of an ownership group launching the restaurant with plans for a flannel French formal sort of feel. Many of the faces that opened the restaurant were ported over from his other St. Paul eatery at the time, the now-legendary Strip Club.

The restaurant burst onto the scene at a time when Lowertown was transforming from an enclave with artists and old buildings around the farmers market to the site of major new construction, including condo buildings, CHS Field and light rail.

Saint Dinette opened in the lobby level of the newly built Rayette Lofts with a sparse interior, warm hospitality and a menu that changed often. Few items have remained on the menu, where one would find spring pea risotto, shrimp nuggets, blistered shishitos or white asparagus with blue crab.

In a 2015 review, the Star Tribune wrote, "Alice Waters herself could have composed the relish tray, a food porn-esque composition of small-scale vegetables that radiate a just-harvested bite."

It's also the house that the burger and bologna built. The burger is an ultra-rich blend of beef that oozes buttery richness, topped with housemade American cheese. The fried bologna sandwich is another must-order rich bar bite that has its own legion of fans.

Present-day Dinette

"Maybe 10 years is the lifetime of a restaurant?" Saint Dinette's general manager Nicole Paton said at a recent dinner, before the decision was announced. She said the staff had been talking about the potential end, and the mood was nothing but love for the place and the people who have walked through the doors.

"I'm a sole owner now, it's a pretty small island," said Niver, who also owns Mucci's Italian on St. Paul's Randolph Avenue. He noted the concerns of Minneapolis restaurant owners, including that city's proposed labor standards board, credit card fees, service charges, vandalism and more unease in the industry and a general distrust of restaurant owners in some circles.

"But ... how do you know when you've arrived at the end?" he said.

Paton had likened the forewarning to a good Minnesota goodbye, one where the restaurant and its staff still have time to welcome guests and make a few more memories.

"It's beautiful," said Niver. "This is another good story I got to write. And you know, we want people to come into the restaurant and have a great meal and enjoy this. You never really understand when you first open a restaurant what it will be. It isn't until people come in and help it grow that it becomes that beautiful thing. It can be a conduit for happiness."

Saint Dinette, 261 E. 5th St., St. Paul, saintdinette.com

A previous headline on this story said that Saint Dinette will close next year. It is likely to close.