Thieves Target High-End Liquor In Downtown Mpls. Restaurant Burglaries

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- With bar service back open in Minneapolis and hours slightly extended, more customers are returning to the downtown dining scene.

But several popular restaurants have been hit by unwanted visitors.

A handful of restaurants along Marquette and Hennepin avenues say they've been burglarized in the last week.

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In most cases, the thieves aren't taking cash. They're taking high-end liquor.

Manny's Steakhouse is the only restaurant that shared details about what happened. The general manager told WCCO two people broke in Tuesday in the middle of the night.

They used a crow bar to break through the front door and then smashed one of the windows to let themselves in. They made off with several bottles of liquor that cost up to $2,000 a bottle.

Minneapolis police said they've adjusted patrolling and say it is still safe to come downtown.

"These are crimes that are happening when businesses are closed," Director of Public Information John Elder said. "We're not seeing those sort of challenges, obviously, when these businesses are open. We encourage people to come downtown. Downtown is safe, it's vibrant in its ways that it can be with COVID and the lesser number of people that are actually down here."

There have been No arrests in any of these burglaries at this point.

The general manager of Manny's said they improved security on their doors to make them more difficult to break into.