Jamie Lytle of Milwaukee stopped by Truck Park, a new food court at 214 7th St. West in Saint Paul, on Wednesday, October 4, 2017 and ordered a carnitas taco. "It's pretty good," he said. The new restaurant serves food from a variety of food trucks inside the space with everything from nachos, ribs, pizza and ice cream. (Ginger Pinson / Pioneer Press)

Vicky Forconi, of Ham Lake, and Adam Konrad, of St. Paul, enjoyed nachos and a beer at Truck Park, a new food court at 214 7th St. West in Saint Paul on Wednesday, October 4, 2017. The food court offers a variety of food trucks inside serving everything from nachos, ribs, pizza and ice cream. (Ginger Pinson / Pioneer Press)

Tinga de Pollo Tacos are served at Truck Park, a new food court at 214 7th St. West in Saint Paul on Wednesday, October 4, 2017. The food court offers a variety of food trucks inside serving everything from nachos, ribs, pizza and ice cream. (Ginger Pinson / Pioneer Press)

Investment consultants for ScottTrade stopped by after work for a beer and a bite to eat at Truck Park, a new food court at 214 7th St. West in Saint Paul on Wednesday, October 4, 2017. The new food court offers a variety of food trucks inside serving everything from nachos, ribs, pizza and ice cream on Wednesday, October 4, 2017. (Ginger Pinson / Pioneer Press)

Employees of ScottTrade enjoy a drink and food after work on Wednesday, October 4, at Truck Park, a new food court at 214 7th St. West in Saint Paul offers a variety of food trucks inside serving everything from nachos, ribs, pizza and ice cream. (Ginger Pinson / Pioneer Press)



Bartender Trevis Herrmann explains the beer menu to customers, Neil and Brenda Smith of New Brighton, at Truck Park, a new food court at 214 7th St. West in Saint Paul offers a variety of food trucks inside serving everything from nachos, ribs, pizza and ice cream on Wednesday, October 4, 2017. The bar extends to the outside, weather permitting. (Ginger Pinson / Pioneer Press)

The experience of visiting the new Seventh Street Truck Park in downtown St. Paul can be summed up in two words: sensory overload.

It’s garish, it’s loud, it’s overcrowded, and even the food, served from retro trucks that have been repurposed into individual kitchens with counters for serving, food-truck style, is over-salted, over-spiced and generally underwhelming.

I should acknowledge at the outset that middle-age, food-loving, craft-beer enthusiasts like me are probably not the target audience for this new venture. Yet curiosity got the best of me.

The Truck Park, the latest venture from the owners of the sausage-centric New Bohemia on St. Paul’s West Seventh Street, is a brash and cartoonish ode to the great outdoors, circa 1978. There’s a Stripes “Urban Assault Vehicle,” a vintage milk truck, a VW bus and more, and the food coming out of them is decidedly low-brow — pizza, chicken tenders, tacos, deep-fried ribs, cookies and ice cream.

One of the trucks has been converted to a stage, and on the night we visited, there was a duo crooning some oldies. Loudly.

Drinks are low-brow, too, with old-school brands like Old Style, Miller, Grainbelt and Pabst dominating the beer list. You can also buy a full bottle of Boone’s Farm or a Kool-Aid cocktail if you’re really gunning for a stomachache.

Let’s start with the best thing we ate first: An individual, cracker-crusted Bangkok Duck pizza ($10), topped with cilantro-spiked duck sausage, peanut sauce, cheese and peanuts. The sausage was flavorful, the sauce delicious and the whole thing ranks as something I would eat again.

Not so the chicken tenders ($9 for a five-piece), which were crisp outside and tender in, but suffered from a near-lethal dose of salt. At least I could finish one of them — more than I can say for the deep-fried, dry-rubbed ribs ($9 for 3). My mouth was instantly set ablaze, not because of peppery spice, but because of the mind-blowing salt content. A basic Southern slaw ($4) helped counteract the one bite of the rib I was able to choke down, but an overly spicy jalapeno mac-and-cheese ($8) sent my taste buds reeling again.

Tacos, which are ridiculously priced at $3.99 apiece, were fine, if a bit on the bland side. Hot salsa, served on the side, was mostly sweet and definitely not hot. As a dining companion said, “They need to take some of what’s in the mac-and-cheese and put it in the salsa.”

We had high hopes for the fresh-looking street corn salad ($5), which would have been much better had it not been overdressed.

We did end on a nice note — the restaurant is serving giant, awesome cookies from local T-Rex bakery, and you can get Sebastian Joe’s ice cream sandwiched between two of them. The double ($12) was easily enough for four of us, and it’s really hard to go wrong with those quality ingredients. If you’re the type that can’t resist a ridiculously expensive gimmick, you can get a $99 version of the ice-cream sandwich, which consists of two 5-pound cookies with 5 pounds of ice cream stuffed between them.

If you decide to visit, be aware that you have to pay for each part of the experience separately — the center bar for drinks, one food truck for ribs, chicken and tacos, one for pizza, and another for cookies or ice cream. If you’re there with a group, the best plan of attack is probably divide and conquer — everyone hit a different truck and meet at a table. And stay away from the ribs.

Small Bites are first glances — not intended as definitive reviews — of new or changed restaurants.