Every couple has the routine: a restaurant you’ve been to twice, drinks somewhere loud, home by ten. Perfectly fine. But if you’d rather spend the evening somewhere with creaking oak, candlelight, and a rumor or two of resident ghosts, there’s a single address in the Whittier neighborhood that handles the whole night — the Pillsbury Club, inside the historic Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion at 100 East 22nd Street.

Begin in the speakeasy-style bar

Date night here starts the way all good stories do: behind a heavy door, with a drink in hand. The Club’s bar leans fully into the mansion’s mystique — low light, dark wood, and a rotating cast of themed and delightfully spooky cocktails that taste even better under a century-old ceiling. If you’re new to Minneapolis’s hidden-bar scene, our guide to finding a speakeasy-style night out in Minneapolis makes the case for why a Gilded Age mansion beats a basement bar every time.

Dinner in a dining room built for the Gilded Age

The mansion’s historic dining room was designed for entertaining in Minneapolis’s Gilded Age, and it still does its job beautifully — comfort-forward menus served in a room that has hosted more than a century of dinner conversation. It’s “dinner and a show” where the room itself is the show. (Curious what those walls have seen? The deep history lives in our History Journal — tonight, you just get to enjoy the atmosphere.)

Add a little thrill: ghosts, mysteries, and psychics

Here’s where the Club outruns every ordinary date spot in town. It’s the home base of Minneapolis Trolley Tours, which means your evening can roll straight out the front door aboard a vintage trolley. The Candlelight Ghost Tour visits the city’s most haunted corners aboard a trolley that’s said to be haunted itself, and the Murder Mystery Tour turns you and your date into partners in crime-solving. Prefer to stay inside the mansion? Check the Experiences & Tours page for evenings like psychic readings and the paranormal ghost hunt. Wondering how the boarding works? Tours depart from inside the Club — so you can linger over that second cocktail until the conductor calls.

Dinner and a movie — the mansion way

The Pillsbury Mansion keeps one more card up its sleeve: a private theater tucked inside the house. Ask about it when you book — a screening room all to yourselves is the kind of detail that turns a good date into the one you retell at dinner parties. And if the night goes so well you start planning a bigger occasion, the mansion hosts private events too; see renting a historic mansion for a party in Minneapolis.

Make a full afternoon of it in Whittier

On Wednesdays through Fridays the Club opens at noon (11 a.m. on weekends), so summer daters can build a whole Whittier itinerary around it. The Minneapolis Institute of Art — a short walk away, with free general admission (closed Mondays) — pairs a world-class collection with zero pressure on the wallet. Between the museum and the mansion sits Washburn Fair Oaks Park, a shady stroll through what was once the grandest estate block in the city — the heart of the Washburn-Fair Oaks Mansion District. For even more inspiration around town, Meet Minneapolis keeps a running list of what’s happening citywide.

Turn one night into a whole weekend

If the evening deserves an encore, keep the mansion theme going: 300 Clifton, a historic mansion bed & breakfast in nearby Loring Park, comes with its own speakeasy and a four-season garden hot tub. Visiting longer — or planning a slow-burn romance? Oakland’s on 9th offers furnished, month-to-month stays downtown.

Reserve your evening

The Pillsbury Club is open to guests with a reservation — that’s part of what keeps the atmosphere feeling like a secret worth keeping. Check hours, parking, and all the details on the Plan Your Visit page, then book your experience. The mansion has been setting the scene for memorable evenings since the Gilded Age; yours is simply next on the guest list.