Dave Dahl
Co-owner
Forecast Minnesota weather on television for four decades. The tornado thing is his, and he'd like it noted that the siren was not a joke suggestion.
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- Sunday – Thursday
- 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Friday & Saturday
- 11:00 AM – 1:00 AM
324 S Main St, Stillwater, MN 55082
Our story
A weatherman, a music guy, and a corner of Main Street
Stillwater has plenty of places to get a drink. What it didn't have was one big room where the food is worth the drive, the game is on every screen, and somebody's playing piano on a Friday night. So we built one.
200
seats
43
years forecasting Minnesota weather
1
working tornado siren
It starts with a bad day in 1965
In May of 1965, six tornadoes tore across the Twin Cities in a single evening. Thirteen people were killed and hundreds were hurt. Dave Dahl was ten years old, and like a lot of Minnesota kids that week, he never quite got over it.
He spent the next four decades on television explaining Minnesota weather to Minnesota people — the blizzards, the derechos, the nights nobody slept. Somewhere in there, the idea of a room built around all that turned from a joke into a plan.
The Tornado Room is that plan, finally built. It's a sports bar and a music room in the same breath, in a building that has stood on Main Street for a century, with a kitchen that stays open as late as the bar does.
The idea was a sports bar that also works as a proper music bar — the kind of room you'd bring someone to.
— Paul Barber, co-owner
What we took over
The space was most recently the Tilted Tiki. Before that it was a long list of other things — that's what happens to a good room in a hundred year old building. We gutted it, papered the windows, and let the neighbourhood wonder for a few months.
The building
The Grand Garage
A Main Street landmark, a block up from the lift bridge.
The size
200 seats
Room for a date, a team, or the whole section after a game.
The sound
Live music & piano
Bands on the patio, and Tim Grady on the keys Fridays.
The screens
Every game on
Plus one TV always left on the radar. Naturally.
Three people talked each other into it
None of this is a chain, a group, or a concept from somewhere else. It's three people from around here who wanted the same room to exist.
Paul Barber
Co-owner
Stillwater restaurateur and live music promoter, previously behind Ziggy's in Stillwater and Hudson. The music calendar is his doing.
Dave Eichten
Co-owner
Stillwater business owner and restaurant investor. If something in the building works properly, there's a decent chance he's why.
We did not hold back
Once you name a place the Tornado Room, there's no version of it where you play it cool.
The siren
A real one, mounted in the corner. When it goes off, every drink in the house is half price for five minutes.
The F5
Our giant roast beef sandwich, named for the top of the original Fujita scale. Nothing above it.
The Hail Mary
The Bloody Mary, loaded, over round ice — because hail is round and we think about these things.
The forecast
One screen stays on the weather, always. Someone in here will have an opinion about it.
Come see it for yourself
We're at 324 South Main in downtown Stillwater. Call us with a question, or get on the list and we'll tell you the day the doors open.
Bar, grill and piano room in the Grand Garage on South Main. Giant roast beef, every game on, and the biggest patio in downtown Stillwater.
Hours
- Sunday – Thursday
- 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Friday & Saturday
- 11:00 AM – 1:00 AM
© 2026 The Tornado Room Bar & Grill. All rights reserved.