Hilton MSP Airport Mall of America, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Ordered via in-room dining at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Mall of America Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 “Looks like we won’t be making it to Jackson Hole tonight,” my father said in disappointment as we scrambled last minute to find flights that might work. Delta had delayed our flight from Boston several hours, which meant we were missing our connection to Jackson, Wyoming. Evan was not a happy camper; stuck on connecting Delta flights, wishing he chose the American Airlines flight instead.

“Stay calm and find the silver lining” I told myself. And when my father said we’d be spending the night in Minneapolis, and rather than fly direct the next morning, we were being transferred onto American Airlines and connecting through Dallas, anger knowing I was spending more time traveling than actually in Wyoming spread over me. Silver lining… silver lining… alright, so at least I’d get to see the entire mid-west by air the next day and maybe American would upgrade me to First for free (which they actually did end up doing) but Minneapolis, I have no idea what to do there.

And then I looked at the hotel we were staying in – what’s this, next to the Mall of America?! Why, there’s the silver lining; I’d get to go to a world-famous mall that I’ve heard a lot about but never cared to visit. Let’s see what all of central America is talking about.

By the time we finally made it to Minneapolis, we had all accepted our fate: Mall of America tonight followed by a 4am wakeup call and more planes and airports tomorrow. There was an air of calmness around us as we checked into our airport hotel and made arrangements to meet downstairs in 5 minutes to check out this well-known shopping and entertainment destination.

My mom decided to pass, so my father, Rachel, and I took the free airport shuttle to the mall and began to walk around. Wow was this place huge – it was literally an amusement park with a mall built around it. And to add to the massiveness, the stores were cramped next to each other and extremely densely populated – we had malls back home almost as large, but with not even close to the amount of stores, so we could easily see why this was known to be the biggest in the states.

We perused the dining options. Sushi, Chinese, Mexican, more Japanese, a Pacific Islands establishment, and a steak house. For the Mall of America, this place had very few American dining options, so we chose really the only one in our section of the mall: Twin City Grill. I was expecting a club sandwich on the menu as we arrived, but to my disappointment there was none. In fact, it appeared there was not one club sandwich in all of the Mall of America. So I ate my steak, enjoyed talking to our waiter who resembled the lead actor in That 70s Show, and slowly made my way back to the hotel room, sadness sitting in my stomach.

I was still hungry, annoyed about tomorrow’s flight schedule, sad I was missing white water rafting in Jackson, and just plain unhappy about where we were. How could I make this situation better? What would fix this? I knew the answer, and so did Rachel when I looked at her begging for a reply. I didn’t even look at the menu, picked up the phone, and hit 0.

“One club sandwich please!” I announced through the phone as if they had been expecting my order. The person who answered replied nicely, gave me a choice of sides (I went with the fruit cup – was fantastic to be given a healthy option after a day of airport and mall food), and said my order would be up in 15 minutes. That was the speed I needed!

After 15 minutes exactly, an excited, overly charismatic waiter brought the tray into our room, thanked us for our order with a smile, and closed the door, leaving us each with a savory treat to dine on: club sandwich for Evan, fruit cup for Rachel.

Everything in the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Mall of America club sandwich was great except for one thing: the turkey. The bacon was thick cut and just exceptional – everything I expected from a Minnesotan club sandwich. Each bite was filled with this tasty meat and it enhanced the sandwich in every way. The uncrisp lettuce leaf still added good flavor, as did the sparse tomato. Lightly mayo’d and stapled between thing white bread, there was that one remaining ingredient, largest of them all, that I hope was going to be the best.

Unfortunately, the turkey was… wet. It was soggy. As if it had been frozen, thawed, brought to room temperature in this same pan, and put right on the sandwich. Each bite I took was full of water. I had no idea what to do; I simply couldn’t eat this wet turkey. A sad disappointment – especially considering the bacon was so great. I was forced to remove the turkey and eat a blt. Was I satisfied? Well, kinda. It wasn’t the club I was hoping for but it still filled me up. I enjoyed the service, the hotel, and the ease of access from the airport and mall, however I look forward to never being in Minneapolis again to have the chance to try this club… I’ll wait until I’m at another Hilton. Of course, at a total of $20 for this club, maybe I’ll look elsewhere depending on where I’m staying…

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