Lake Cafe - Big Lake, Minnesota

As I mentioned before, my mother has many “favorite” restaurants.  She lived in Big Lake for many years, so she has several there.  Of course, Russell’s On the Lake is one of her favorites but for casual fare, she likes the Lake Cafe in Big Lake. 

Lake Cafe (Building) 20130513_1077 The Lake Cafe is a “home cookin” establishment that has been there since 1968.  It has an extensive menu covering breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  It has a lunch counter, booths, and tables to provide many seating options.  It is also the kind of place you often see a few regulars, just chatting and having coffee.  Real friendly. 

We went there the day after mother’s day, so I was trying to be “good” and have something a bit lighter, so after a thorough review of the menu, I decided on a Taco Salad.  I know a taco salad isn’t something you would expect getting at a neighborhood cafe, but I figured, why not.  

Taco Salad at Lake Cafe - 20130513_1075
Taco Salad at Lake Cafe
Our order came quickly and the taco salad looked good. There was plenty of seasoned ground beef and cheese on top, albeit grated cheddar and not mexican queso.  There were also cups of sour cream, salsa, and guacamole to augment the salad.  Certainly, that it was 100% iceberg lettuce was disappointing.  It could have used romaine or other types of lettuce.  The disappointment was overcome immediately upon tasting the home-mail chips that accompanied the salad.  Rather than serving the salad in a taco bowl, homemade tortilla chips were served as a side.  The chips were really think, almost like peta chips and really good.  Clearly home made and fried on site, the had excellent spices and salt.  Next time I go there I will definitely see if I can get an order of the chips as a side. 

Taco Salad's homemade chips - Lake Cafe - 20130513_1074
Chips with the TacoSalad

I had iced tea and rather than getting real lemon slices, they brought little packets of lemon juice.  I didn’t care as much for that as the oil of the lemon adds additional flavor.

Lake Cafe

Ambiance: 3 (70‘s vintage but still clean)
Food: 3 (Great chips Best queso fundido eve)
Service: 4 (Friendly and timely)
Price: 5 (Lunch under $10 per person)
Value: 4 (I will return, as I have done many times, whenever I’m in Big Lake.)

Lake Cafe on Urbanspoon
Location: Big Lake, MN, USA

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