Andrea at the Mary Tyler Moore table in Basil's Restaurant in the Marquette Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. Note the plaque on the lower left. This is the table you see Mary Richards eating lunch at in the opening credits in later seasons. It looks like she is outside, but she's really in an atrium. Note that you've really got to cajole the restaurant to get the Mary Tyler Moore table for only two people. The restaurant usually holds it for parties of three or four.
You may note an escalator on the lower left. That is the escalator you see Mary Richards riding up with her shopping bags in the opening credits. We rode up the escalator. We also saw the building used for exterior shots for WJM-TV, about a block away. If you'd like to read a really interesting overview of downtown Minneapolis, click here.
Well, that's it. Thank you, drive through.