Elbow Room — Restaurant in Albert Lea

7/26/23……NEW UPDATE!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We decide it was time to give the Elbow Room another chance. It’s a 5 star place!! We are very glad we did! In the past couple weeks we’ve been back twice, we will continue to return! It’s absolutely amazing!! First time back we had Mary’s Patty Melt and Juicy Lucy. Both were nothing short of drool worthy!! Second visit, again that Patty Melt, and the Popeyes Crispy Chicken Sandwich, with Onion rings. That chicken sandwich is fabulous, crunchy and juicy in the center, the sauce is so very good!! Those onion rings, they are wonderful! Who ever is cooking is doing a fantastic job! Service was terrific, very friendly and kept our ice tea filled to the brim. The music playing in there is great, love it in there. We are glad we went back! We will return and spread the word how good the food is!

6/4/21........ I wanted to update my review, the "Elbow Room" reached out to me with a lovely apology! Also the offer to come back and give them a try again so they can get it right. The burgers would be on them. Thank you very much, its a wonderful step in the right direction. Thank you again!

5/31/21 Wont let me leave a 0 star rating. We had supper for 3 here, 3 burgers, 2 fries, 1 onion ring, 3 drinks, our bill was over $54.00! ALL menu items are "ala-cart". 2 of our burgers, JUST 2 of THE BURGERS were 9.95 EACH! 2 were over cooked, one was still borderline raw. Burgers were tasteless very disappointing at what we knew this places burgers used to be. CrinkleFries were ok at best, the "home made" fries were very good. Onion rings were also, under cooked. Cheese curds, they were undercooked, room temp in the center. They looked undercooked. The Ice Tea was FANTASTIC!! What really turned us off was the belittling of fellow employees to the customer at the tables! The first wait staff cleaned off our table, took our drink order, left. Second person came with the remark, " High and mighty princess over there wants me to retake your order" So we redid the order, this time adding the food to the order. After a few, a THIRD person came to the table, saying "shes so slow at putting in your order, I want to get it cooking". We were appalled at the comments. The menu itself is HUGE, its bigger then a Perkins menu! Bottom line, prices are much to high, the food quality is no where near what it used to be, plus the belittling of each other is uncalled for. We were very disappointed. We will not be back...

I really had high hopes for this place, I wanted it to be my new go to spot away from home and ended up feeling like I made a wasted 2 hour round trip. The waitresses were really nice, so I give huge props to them. They were the most enjoyable part of our meal and even turned us on to the crazy combination of cheese curds dipped in caramel. (I still don’t want to admit it was good lol). That being said the cheese curds were definitely the highlight of our meal.

I ordered one of the confusing steak dinners, there’s multiples all with slight differences. I ordered a 12 oz medium rare ribeye, salad, shrimp, fries and garlic toast. I didn’t get my salad until about 5 minutes after I got my meal, which was strange. My shrimp didn’t come at all until I was almost done and remembered I was supposed to get them. But this is where things go from weird to just bad. I didn’t get a ribeye at all. I got a precooked chunk of prime rib that was loafy and I’m guessing cooked at the factory. It was white/grey in color and was overcooked and just bad. I also got cole slaw with my meal? Nice surprise. But yeah, this is the first steak dinner I didn’t finish. I didn’t even eat half of it.

My girlfriend got some fish platter that she said was alright once she removed the breading that was wet with grease. Wasn’t crispy at all.

That being said after two drinks a piece and those dinners, I feel absolutely robbed leaving there $90 lighter. That’s including a $15 tip which I gave because she was nice and you could tell she deals with a lot of confusion there. I really wanted this place to be awesome, I love finding great hole on the wall places but this was not it.

I’m not saying don’t go here, but don’t believe the pics they post on Facebook and Google. The food looks nothing like what’s pictured and yeah, maybe it was an off night, who knows. I won’t...

Why go to the Elbow Room? Other places are all the same and boring. Driving up, you’ll wonder if you should go in….old building, just off the main drag a bit, and around a corner so hard to notice….. but GO IN1. Been there 3 times, and left happy each time. You enjoy talking to staff. Go a bit late for the meal. Staff is nice, understated at first, but I came late to lunch each time (between 1 & 2:30) and as the other tables emptied, the chef and staff started chatting a bit. Enjoyable! Price & amount of food. Twice I split a meal with my sister, and left full. We split a meal, and each got a full potato last time. Yes, is is a bit expensive to me, but so is everyone else these days!!! They serve REAL food. I’m sensitive to ingredients. Food with a lot of additives leaves me feeling sluggish, and sometimes a tad miserable. I feel great when I leave the Elbow Room. The cook is well trained, not just told how to do a few dishes. The baked potato I got once had at least 2 kinds of good cheese on it, and small, fresh onions. Not your average cafe fair in MN! The sauces appear to be made, not bought. You can ask for changes. You might learn something new, or contribute to the restaurant! The chef enjoys giving out new info, but isn’t pushy about it; just friendly. And twice, when we stuck around til other tables were emptying, we got to sample new recipes, and give our opinions. You wish you could have gone to a restaurant in the 60s and 70s. This reminds me of restaurants when I was a kid—individuality in food and building. You aren’t in a hurry. They may be fast sometimes, but weren’t when I went. But it was ok, as it was appropriate timing for food being made to order, not warmed in...