My spouse and I dined at The Mint for dinner on a Saturday
evening in mid-January 2016. (We have dined at The Mint several times
previously in the years since it opened in June of 2011.) The Mint is open for
lunch on weekdays and dinner Mondays through Saturdays (closed Sundays). We
would visit more often if it were open for lunch on weekends. (Years ago, the
hours were more expansive, but they must not have been profitable for the
restaurant.) The Mint accepts reservations by telephone or via the Open Table
reservation system, and we recommend reservations on weekend evenings because
the restaurant gets very busy. The Mint is owned by the Lombardo family, who
also own the Stefano’s restaurants in Bethlehem and Northampton, but The Mint
does not focus on Italian food as the Stefano’s restaurants do.
The Mint is located on Broad Street several blocks from
where it intersects with Eighth Avenue (so it is in West Bethlehem rather than
in Downtown Bethlehem). The restaurant is located in an old bank building, and
the vault remains as a private dining area. The décor is modern, with
interesting contemporary lighting, purple walls and gray walls, metal chairs
with purple upholstery, and greenish tile. Bright aqua doors (now with doorknockers)
lead to the restrooms, although there are no signs, so unless you ask staff or
see others going through the door, it is not immediately apparent. The Mint has
its own parking lot, but additional street parking is available. In nice
weather, you can dine on the front porch/patio, and there is also an outdoor
covered lounge area in the rear of the building. The bar area is separated from
the main dining area by one step (with the bar area being higher in elevation).
The old vault is located off of the bar area, which also has some seats for
lounging. In a nod to its original purpose as a bank building, The Mint supplies
generous cloth napkins wrapped in money bands.
The Mint serves upscale American comfort food with a twist. The
restaurant has changed their menu several times since it opened, so we always
look forward to returning to try something new. On our most recent visit, we
shared the housemade potato chips (served with an aioli dipping sauce) listed
on the snacks menu, followed by the chili and doughnuts, then the BBQ duck
macaroni and cheese (which also included crunchy tater tots atop the shells and
below the duck) and the Seoul bowl (ramen with beef, 60-minute egg, shiitake
mushrooms, bok choy, and kimchi). The Mint serves about six different types of
macaroni and cheese, and our BBQ duck version was truly tasty. The ramen bowl
was also good; however, it was a bit difficult to eat because although it arrived
with fancy chopsticks, the restaurant provided no Asian spoon to go with them.
The restaurant offered four desserts on the night that we dined, and we chose
the “crack” pie, which arrived warm and topped with whipped cream. It had the
taste of a pecan pie but without the nuts, and was absolutely yummy! (The
portion size may seem small – a tiny pie in a size similar to a cupcake – but
it is just the perfect size because of the sweetness and richness of the
ingredients.
Service was very good at our last visit. The only issue that
we encountered was when we tried to pay our bill using a Visa gift card that we
received for Christmas, only to be told that the restaurant does not accept
Visa gift cards because it “messes up their system”.
We really enjoy the atmosphere and food at The Mint; we only
wish that they were open for weekend lunch hours, which better suit our needs.
February 2018:
Poutine and Squash and Brussels
