Balsam Lake Cafe — Restaurant in Balsam Lake

My disabled daughter and I drove northeast 1 1/2 hours to meet my other daughter, her husband, and my two grandchildren. They drove 1 1/2 hours southwest. We met last winter at this little restaurant to celebrate a late Christmas and were very happy with the food and friendly service. However, this time was not so great. We arrived at 9am and planned to take the same small area where we had all met last winter. The rest of the group had not yet arrived. I was totally shocked by the rudeness of one of the waitresses. Very loudly and in front of other customers, she told us we could not be seated because they don't seat people until the whole group is there and to go wait outside. Now, if this was some rule we had never heard of, she could have politely addressed the situation rather than embarrass us in front of everyone. The rest of the group arrived and we were seated. By 9:30 we had our order in but soon realized they were way behind with cooking. It took until 11:00 for some of our orders to trickle out. We did notice that people who had placed orders after ours were served first because they threatened to leave. As guests ate and left, Miss Hospitality was not the short-tempered person we had encountered earlier. Despite this, we all felt she needed some education in customer service because "warm and fuzzy" did not describe her. The other staff were friendly. The food was pretty good. All it took was one rude person to throw a wrench into what should have been a pleasant day for me to celebrate my grandchildren's birthdays. We will never go back to...

Wow, here I am in a small town called Balsam Lake in rural Wisconsin writing a review for a great small cafe. Go ahead, be surprised, I’ll wait…...! Well, you might find yourself here at some point, and you just might be looking for a place to have breakfast or lunch. Balsam Lake Cafe, without a doubt, has the best breakfast in town; period! They have the best Biscuits and Gravy that I have come across since I left my mothers kitchen. I think their secret is that they take their time and make all of their fare from scratch. I have to tell you, as good as the breakfast is, their cook knows how to make a hamburger (and don’t forget gravy and biscuits). I love Jalapeño peppers and this cook uses Jalapeño infused bacon that makes the simple act of eating a hamburger a epicurean event. I have been eating at this cafe when I am in town for about 6 years, but since the new owners (Angie and her family)have taken over they have really redefined their A-game. I don’t know their hours—that is probably on the review page—but I do know that reviews can’t tell the whole story; so please, don’t take my word for it, go and order food and decide for yourself. Odds are you’ll be glad you did. (Couple of pictures...

Taking a needed break...I finally got out to enjoy breakfast at a local place! Love the atmosphere with the outdoor patio area that is dog friendly and also live music at 11a! Street side has a portable fire pit which looks like it would be fun to sit n have a drink by it!

Tried the Cinnamon french toast special which has a custardy texture to it for appetizer. Followed by corned beef hash (w/o toast) and traditional eggs benedict (w/o english muffin).

All of it was delicious! You can't go wrong eating here!

Shout out to Hannah (our server) and all the crew - very friendly service and food arrived hot n...