Critics Savage Andrew Zimmern’s New St. Louis Park Restaurant

ST. LOUIS PARK, MN — There was a lot of positive hype for Andrew Zimmern's new restaurant. That is, until it opened.

To put it mildly, the initial reviews of "Lucky Cricket," located in St. Louis Park, have not been good.

Writing for Growler Magazine, James Norton said the restaurant's $6 rice order "tasted strongly and unmistakably of cigarette ash."

"So much so that before we tasted the rice, one of our dining group was looking around to figure out if we’d been seated next to a heavy smoker," he added.

Lucky Cricket does promise "a unique take" on "bold flavors," but we're guessing burnt tobacco wasn't the intention there.

In Eater, Soleil Ho had similarly negative feelings, writing, "say what you will about Panda Express, but at least the fried rice is seasoned there." She also said the noodles "were overdone to an Easy Mac consistency."

Remarking on the aesthetic, Ho said the restaurant "carries kitschy, mildly racist irony in one hand, and an argument for its own expertise in the other."

The poor reviews are the latest in a recent bad public relations run for Zimmern. Last month, the celebrity chef came under fire for badmouthing the Chinese restaurants of middle America.

"I’m saving the souls of all the people from having to dine at these horses--t restaurants masquerading as Chinese food that are in the Midwest," he said in a video interview with Fast Company.

Zimmern later apologized for the remark on Facebook:

The Lucky Cricket is located at 1607 West End Boulevard. It's open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. It's open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and closes at 9 p.m. on Sundays.

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Photo: Andrew Zimmern hosts Lucky Chopsticks: An Asian Night Market at Metropolitan West on October 16, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for NYCWFF)