Harold's Chicken Sports Bar Is Coming to Uptown Minneapolis
A CHICAGO ICON PICKS UPTOWN
Harold's Chicken Sports Bar and Rooftop is heading to Uptown Minneapolis, taking over 1430 Lagoon Avenue on the northeast corner of Lagoon and Hennepin. The space previously held Daisy's and Cowboy Slim's, two names longtime Uptown regulars will recognize. Now it's set for a very different chapter.
For anyone with Chicago roots, Harold's needs no introduction. Black entrepreneur Harold Pierce opened the first location on Chicago's South Side in 1950, and the brand has since grown to 47 spots nationwide, including one already operating in Brooklyn Center. The company's Facebook page is billing the Uptown restaurant as the biggest Harold's Chicken location in its history, which is a bold claim for a chain with this much behind it. It also tells you how operators now see Uptown as a destination worth betting on.
WHAT'S ACTUALLY OPENING
The new Uptown spot will connect to Kiss Lounge and Rooftop, a late night club that runs Friday and Saturday nights. Behind the operation is After Midnight Group, the same team that launched the Cowboy Jack's restaurants and sold most of them in 2024. That group secured liquor license approvals for the Lagoon address last month.
There's no confirmed opening date yet, and no franchise filings are publicly available. Even so, a cleared liquor license usually signals that plans are firming up rather than stalling out. Anyone who has watched Uptown's restaurant turnover over the years knows the difference between a rumor and a real lease, and this reads like the latter.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR UPTOWN AND THE TWIN CITIES
Harold's arrival fits a clear pattern. Sports bars have been opening across the Twin Cities at a steady clip, as diners increasingly choose places that combine convenience, reasonable prices, and entertainment in a single visit. A rooftop, a lounge, and a recognizable food brand under one roof checks all three boxes.
For Uptown specifically, filling a prominent corner with a well known name is encouraging. The building is owned by an entity tied to Swervo Development, the firm behind the Uptown Theatre's transformation into a live music venue that opened in 2023. Just to the north, the former Williams Uptown Pub and Peanut Bar building is still available for lease or sale, so the corridor clearly has gaps left to fill. A high traffic tenant like Harold's could help pull foot traffic back to a stretch that has seen plenty of change.
For east metro residents tracking the broader metro picture, it's one more sign that Minneapolis nightlife and dining are rebuilding around experience driven concepts rather than quiet storefronts. Restaurants and bars are often the first businesses to test a neighborhood's recovery, which makes this a useful signal for buyers and sellers alike. That kind of momentum tends to ripple outward across the Twin Cities. [INTERNAL LINK: relevant blog post or listings page]
Thinking about buying or selling in the Twin Cities? Let's talk. Text Darin Bjerknes at 612-702-5126 or DM on Instagram @darintheminnesotan.
