Casper's Cherokee of Eagan — Restaurant in Eagan

I can't in good conscience ever go back! My bride and I went there 2 weeks ago for their Friday night special. I knew it would be busy but a stop in the bar would pass the time. We got there at about 6:15, gave the person taking reservations our name and told her we would be in the bar (right inside the door -I was skeptical as she was working off 5 or 6 different sheets of paper with peoples names on them) We checked back in at about 7:00 to see where we were in the line. She lost our name, she was even looking in the garbage can. Nothing..ok mistake and understand so put our name in again on one of the sheets..went to the bar, ordered up another beer and at 7:45 still no call so went to check. Guess what, couldn't find our name! Ok on the list again, by this time I'm getting a little anxious. Went to the bar and ordered a wine for my bride and I..she checked with them a 8:15..guess what..no name again..that's 3 times. Ok..raise a bit of ruckus and they finally found us a table for the 2 of us - a table right by the entrance of the restaurant with those real low comfy chairs that should be by a fireplace somewhere so you could sit back and relax. I tried to see the menu on the table and had to sit on the front edge of the chair in order to see the top of the table..it came about chin high. Certainly not comfortable for eating so, shame on me, asked for a table that you could sit up to. That took about another 15 minutes and told me the table was open. The waitress and the reservation person got in an argument as apparently the table we were going to have was being reserved for someone she knew. After a bit, we did get the table and all was good. A pleasant little waitress came to take our order, my bride ordered shrimp and I wanted the fish. Thank Goodness she warned me because now, they were our of tarter sauce! I love tarter sauce and fish. That was the last straw. I finally convinced my bride that we should just leave so we did that. This was over 2 1/2 hours later..we did have beer and wine and the bartender was great..I wish I had gotten his name! That was the only good experience we had there!!! I don't ever remember leaving a restaurant before as I'm usually pretty understanding of things that might happen but this was...

We had called over 24 hours in advance to make a reservation for their patio for a group of 8, which I assume could be accommodated (I personally did not make the reservation - but it wasn't relayed back that they could not accommodate us). However, when the first member of our party arrived (about 20 minutes early), they sat us inside, due to the patio being full.

Once I arrived with 2 more members of our party, other than being greeted at the entrance, no one came by within the first 5 to 10 minutes to see if we were ready to order drinks. Probably about 20 minutes in, a server finally came over to take our drink order. The first half of our party already had their drinks and then about 25-30 minutes into us arriving, the first half of our group got the food that they had ordered about 40 minutes prior. Still at that point, no one had asked the last 3 of us if we were ready to order food, though our drinks had been brought to us at that point. We were eventually able to order food and I think it came out fairly quickly (I was too engaged in conversation to notice the exact time frame for the arrival of the food). One member of our party found a long blonde hair in her food, so that was sent back and comped on the bill.

Eventually some space opened on the patio, so they offered to allow us to sit out there for the rest of our visit (mind you it was about 6:40 PM when the first member of our group arrived and it was nearly 9 PM by the time the patio opened up). The service outside wasn't much better, as no one ever came to check if we wanted any other food or drinks for the rest of our stay.

This may have been an off night for them, as multiple servers said that they had been slammed for the majority of the evening, which is understandable, but for first impressions, I was underwhelmed. Even if you're busy, at least check in on your patrons every once in a while and apologize/ explain delays if they're happening.

One pro was that the Basil Cobb salad was so good! It was a huge portion and the price was really inexpensive.

I'm not sure that I would return to Casper's to dine in again, but I would definitely order the Cobb...

Me and my family members have been going here for food and drink for many years all the way back to when it was the Cherokee. Since the early 2000s when it became one of our regular and favorite places to go to for a great time there has not once been a bad experience. The happy hour is fantastic along with the complimentary taco bar. After my last visit I just had to take the time to write this. It was my birthday and my mother and father wanted to get together with me to celebrate. The first place that came to mind was Casper's as we remembered that they offer a free steak dinner for birthdays. As I arrived early before the other two got there I went to the patio to get a table. I wish I asked our server what her name was. As a waiter/bartender myself, this waitress is hands down amazing. Her personality and the way she interacted with us was literally the best experience we have had in such a long time. She took such great care of us almost like she knew exactly what time we were ready for another drink. Now I would like to give a shout-out to whoever cooked my steak. I am speechless. Perfection for a temp on a steak is a bold statement and I am going to make that statement now. I ordered it rare. It was so perfect that as we were all taking bites of it any other conversations came to a stop because all we could talk about was how it was cooked and how perfect it was. I brought some home for the next day and when I opened my container and saw it even the next day I was still in heaven.

This visit was on Thursday the 19th. So whoever this waitress on the patio was and whoever cooked that steak please tell them that it's tough to beat that kind of service at any restaurant. Thank you Casper's for making sure my birthday gathering was...