About Us
Welcome to the Chart House Welcome! This is George Maverick, the owner, well, the bank is the owner... I'm just the guy who sends them checks. People ask about the history of the place, so here's what I know. At first, this was the Kon Tiki bar in 1961, which burned down in 1963. I heard a rumor that the insurance company did not pay for the fire damage, so I can only speculate that… well, nothing. You can see traces of that fire on the bricks in the dining room. The Chart House was opened in 1968 by Dan Ahmann, a Navy veteran. A membership bottle club at first ($25 a year!), eventually it became a supper club. Around this time a pool was built where the patio is today. Many current patrons learned how to swim in the Chart House pool decades ago. The “Chartie” holds a special place in the hearts of many, and I feel privileged to be the current custodian of this place. In the late 70s, Marie Danelski joined the Chart House, taking care of staff, setups, gardens, and anything that needs caring… and she is still here, going strong. From 2006 to 2021, Josh and Debbie Ruppert ran the place.
The Chart House means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and many memories and expectations are linked to past experiences here. It would be impractical to try to recreate all the highlights of the Chart House over the past 50 years. Our team is working to create a menu that is both delicious and relevant in today's world. It will have a lot in common with our sister location, Brianno's Italian Deli in Eagan. We're doing this in a challenging labor and goods market, where everything is more expensive and occasionally scarce. As a special treat, we restarted Sunday brunches, and we'll have extra nice brunches on Easter, Mother's Day, and Thanksgiving. In addition, we'll have awesome dinners with live music on special occasions such as New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, and more.
To make the Chart House more appealing, we have several projects going: we added more pull tabs and free games in the bar, remodeled the office into a bridal salon, we're building a take out deli, and we'll be updating both the dining room and the patio to be amazing. We've also started bringing more attractions: live music 4-5 days a week, Bingo on Tuesdays, Karaoke on Wednesdays, and this summer maybe belly dancers (I promise it won't be me belly dancing). Please see the website for show dates and times. In May, the patio is getting a band stage and a dancing waters fountain (think Bellagio).
Finally, I would like to thank all our patrons, and especially our regulars, for supporting us. We are living through uncertain, ever-changing times, and we're trying to read the tea leaves every day, to make good decisions. We do not have it all figured out, and we do not claim to be perfect. We appreciate your feedback as well: whenever you have ideas, please talk to us, or email us… and when you feel we did well for you, please write us a nice review, and please tip your servers well. Cheers! And thank you for choosing the Chart House.
The Chart (map) House had a lot going for it, but it did not have a “chart” to house, so we made one with hints about its history, people, and amenities. This is it.
About Me...
People often ask: how I came to be the owner of the Chart House, where I am from, why are all my jokes silly, can't I be normal, or at least nice? (the last question is mostly from my staff - just kidding) Born in Romania, I attended a military academy there, where I had a lot of suggestions on how the Army could be run better. The Army failed to appreciate my young wisdom, so it eventually parted ways with me. In 1992 I landed in Canada and came to the US shortly thereafter. Landing alone in a foreign country gave me a fear and a drive that still pushes me. I worked as a janitor, night guard, nursing assistant, tech support, analyst, and project manager in IT.
In 2003, planning our wedding, Cindy and I concluded we did not like how the industry treated people: gotchas, fine print, required minimums, etc. A friend got ordained online and married us, and I thought that would be a fun thing to do. Driving through Minnesota officiating weddings, with Cindy taking pictures, I started thinking about how I could do weddings better: a stress-free day, a fair deal, and no fine print. 15 years later, we have 3 wedding venues (Glenhaven in Farmington - you might know this as the Oak and Treasures, Royal Cliff in Eagan, and now, the Chart House). Glenhaven is a large log building, fitted with a pretty wedding garden, a make-up salon, an arcade, over-the-top dance lights, fog, and soap bubbles. The Royal Cliff is a very modern venue, which we completely remodeled during Covid. If you were there years ago, you would not recognize. In the same building with the Royal Cliff is Brianno's Deli... an Eagan favorite since 1993, known for its pizza, home-style sausage, meat lasagna, bread, and sandwiches, some of which are coming to the Chart House.
Coming to America has been a wonderful experience, I met a lot of great people, and I've been given a lot of amazing opportunities. I try to do the same for others.
Fab! Weddings & Events Packages
Our event packages are more inclusive than those found in most venues: we do the event planning, provide a day of coordinator to orchestrate details, we provide an amazing sound and lights system with our house DJs and an array of event services. In addition, our pricing is transparent, the fine print is nonexistent, everything is disclosed up front for full transparency. When you throw a party at your house... you're the only one not having fun, and that, I believe, should not be your wedding day experience. I like to brag that our wedding couples have more fun because they have more time to enjoy the day, while we toil away in the back and make sure things run smoothly. The same can be said for corporate and other social gatherings. Give us a try!
