About Martina
Daniel del Prado opened Martina in 2017 in the space that previously housed Upton 43 on the edge of Linden Hills, one of Minneapolis's most charming residential neighborhoods. Where Porzana — del Prado's North Loop steakhouse — operates as a statement of power and presence, Martina operates as something closer to its opposite: intimate, neighborhood-scaled, designed for the kind of evening that is more about the person across the table than the room around you.
The cuisine is Argentinian-inspired — del Prado grew up in Buenos Aires before training in Minneapolis kitchens — but expressed through a primarily Italian framework. Handmade pastas, wood-fire grilled seafood and meats, grilled octopus with bone marrow and slow-cooked tomato sauce. The techniques are classical; the flavors are South American. The result is a kitchen that produces food unlike what you would find in either Argentina or Italy, but that feels entirely coherent and deeply personal.
Martina also offers weekend brunch — Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM to 2 PM — with a menu that applies the same wood-fire sensibility to morning cooking. The brunch has a loyal neighborhood following and is worth knowing about for occasions that begin in the afternoon.
The Room
Martina seats perhaps sixty guests across a dining room that has been arranged to feel smaller. The warm wood surfaces, the soft lighting, the intimate table spacing — it has the atmosphere of a restaurant that was designed specifically for two people, even when full. The Linden Hills location is significant: this is not a destination neighborhood for the city's dining scene, which means the room feels like a discovery rather than an obligation. You drive slightly out of the way to reach it, and the effort communicates intention to whoever you are bringing.
Why Martina for a First Date
The menu is built for sharing, which creates natural engagement — you are making choices together, reaching across the table, talking about what you are eating. The food is interesting enough to be a genuine subject of conversation: the pasta is clearly handmade and the preparation techniques are visible in the texture and flavor, which gives a person who knows food somewhere to go with the evening. The price point is honest — you can eat extremely well without the check generating any discomfort.
The neighborhood setting also helps. Arriving in Linden Hills — a quiet, beautiful part of the city — rather than fighting for parking in the North Loop establishes a different mood for the evening. The walk from car to restaurant, the small-scale shops on the street, the residential quiet: it all signals that this evening is about something specific, not just a night out.
Why Martina for a Proposal
The room is small enough that the kitchen will notice you. If you contact Martina in advance, they will handle your evening with the warm attentiveness that del Prado's restaurants are known for across his portfolio. The format — à la carte, dishes arriving as they're ready, the evening unfolding organically — is ideal for proposals because it doesn't impose structure. You choose your moment; the room supports it without choreographing it. The wine list leans South American and Italian, and the sommelier knows it well enough to steer you toward something genuinely celebratory without ceremony.
The Brunch
Saturday and Sunday brunch at Martina is among the best in southwest Minneapolis. The same wood-fire sensibility applied to morning dishes produces results that most brunch menus cannot approach — grilled proteins, smoke-inflected eggs, the empanadas that are a del Prado trademark. For a birthday brunch or a casual early occasion, the weekend format is a significantly less expensive and more relaxed version of what the evening offers.
Reservations
Martina takes reservations via OpenTable. Dinner hours are Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 9 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10 PM. Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM to 2 PM. Weekend evening reservations should be booked at least a week in advance. Street parking in Linden Hills is generally available.