Review: The Bean Coffee and Wine Cafe

Photo of The Bean Coffee and Wine Cafe by Don Taylor
The Bean Coffee and Wine Cafe
Andover, Minnesota
E corner of Hanson & Crosstown Bullivards
I was visiting a friend in Ham Lake, Minnesota, and he suggested eating at “The Bean” a cafe in Andover. It is a strip mall restaurant in a fairly new complex. With a name like, "The Bean," I figured it focused on coffee, which it does, but, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that they sold wine and beer. 


Photo of the Grilled Tuna Melt with kettle Chips by Don Taylor
Grilled Tuna Melt with kettle Chips
The Bean Coffee and Wine Cafe

I don’t drink a lot of beer anymore and the explosion of craft beers has me at a disadvantage in that I don’t know a lot of the new craft beers. I spoke with our server, Amber, about the beers. She was extremely helpful, asking about my preferences and tastes. Finally, we agreed on Tree Shaker by O’Dell which is an Imperial Peach IPA. It wasn't nearly as peachy as I thought it might be which was good.  It a very good beer and Amber was very helpful.

 My friend and I then ordered. I was undecided between two options. When my friend ordered one of them, I then chose the other. He selected the Grilled Tuna Melt -- Tuna salad, American cheese, and tomatoes served open face with a fork. He chose kettle chips as his side. I selected the “The Rodeo,” which is a pulled pork sandwich, pulled pork on a layer of Mac and Cheese. I added the pasta salad as my side. I know my wife wouldn’t approve, but she’s several states away....


Food arrived at in a reasonable time. My friend’s Tuna Melt looked awesome. Beautiful and plenty of food. My Rodeo also looked very good. I tasted my friend’s sandwich -- Excellent tasting. The tomato was a little overcooked to my taste but overall it was one of the best tuna melt sandwiches I’ve ever tasted. My sandwich was also very good. The Mac and Cheese was very good, cooked neither al dente nor overcooked. It had a good amount of pork that was seasoned nicely. It was good, but I wish I had ordered the Tuna Melt. My pasta salad was very good. I’m not sure what type of pasta was used, I asked Amber about it and she didn’t know. I was disappointed that she didn’t go and ask the cook what was used but she was very busy. The salad had lots of veggies in it and a lot of crunch. It was different than most pasta salads and I enjoyed it.


Photo of "The Rodeo" - a pulled pork with Mac & Cheese sandwich with side of pasta salad by Don Taylor
"The Rodeo" - Pulled pork with Mac & Cheese with pasta salad

The Bean Coffee and Wine Cafe was formerly “The State of Bean Coffeehouse” and moved to its current location about three years ago. I would definitely return and I consider it a favorite in the Andover, Minnesota, area.


Rating

Ambiance: 4 (Clean and open, good for conversations.)
Food: 4 (Every item was cooked perfectly.)
Service: 4 (Server was friendly and attentive.)
Price: 4 (Lunch items were $7.95 & $8.95)
Value: 4 (Definitely on my places to return to list.)

Highly recommended.
The Bean Coffee and Wine Cafe on Urbanspoon

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 21, 2015 at 5:35 AM


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  2. UnknownAugust 16, 2015 at 5:53 AM

    When my friend ordered one of them, I then chose the other. He selected the Grilled Tuna Melt -- Tuna salad, American cheese, and tomatoes served open face with a fork. He chose kettle chips as his side.
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    ReplyDelete

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