Choo Choo Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Loretto

So here is the short backstory. As kids my parents had a 1951 Lighthouse Deluxe mobile home on some property near Annandale. It looked like a caboose and we called it the "Choo Choo House". Fond memories for me.

Mom saw an ad in a website for obscure / fun restaurants across Minnesota and the Choo Choo Restaurant was on that page. She brought me here for some nostalgic fun

The place had a full sized caboose inside. The interior is not bright, shiny, or new - but I like it that way. Give me a Choo Choo Caboose over any crApplebees anyway!

The waitress was super friendly and helpful. She listened to my parents share the story of how we came to try the Choo Choo Restaurant - and was patient with us as we wandered around the place taking photos.

She was great explaining the specials and the menus and patient while we decided what to order.

We all ended up with either the club sandwich or BLT. Everyone really enjoyed the meal. The food was tasty - portions were generous - fries were crispy - home made chips were great - and the onion rings were ginormous. I had the club on marbled rye bread with the fries. It was phenomenal!

The waitress checked on us numerous times and was very attentive to us during our meal.

We were there by 11am - and soon after the lunch rush started - it was far busier than I would have expected. Nearly (if not a) full house. That speaks a lot about a restaurant to me!

We are already making...

The concept and decor are simple but fun-- the place is built around an old train caboose, which you can even go sit/dine in, and I believe they have live music on a small stage in there periodically. The staff is fairly kind and accommodating. The place, however, is extremely outdated, and very dusty/dirty. The chairs and tables appear to come from the 70s, and I wonder at how clean the kitchen is with how dirty and old everything in the dining areas are. The food, also, falls short. Amusingly, their website calls their food "upscale, casual family dining," but it's that small-town fare that lacks real punch or creativity-- because it doesn't need either. It's not in a competitive area, and the people in the (small-town) area don't seem to mind. They have your staples-- burgers, sandwiches, salads, sirloin, wings, meatloaf, but none of the food seems very fresh (burger patties are clearly frozen and are flavorless), the bread on the sandwiches often somehow soggy and stale, and I realized-- the texture of most of the dishes is soggy and unappetizing. I truly would never recommend this to anyone who wants quality food and atmosphere. If you're dying to take your dining experience inside of a musty old train care, I suppose you can, but don't...

Maybe I'm a little sentimental and that's part of what keeps bringing me back to Choo Choo for family functions, but I really do love going here. I've gone a couple of times during the day, when you eat in the main bar area. It's not my favorite place to eat, and maybe it's coincidence, but the food always seems to taste better at night. The feature that draws me back again and again is the atmosphere in the dining area. A few years ago, they did a really beautiful job renovating the dining area. My large and loud family is easily accommodated and always well taken care of. This restaurant was my grandparents' weekly date before my grandma passed away. She always got a salad and a huge plate of steak. Tastes a lot like good home cooking. The bread sticks are amazing, and totally worth the calories. Haha. Harvey (I hope I'm remembering that right?) is usually working and comes to say hi to our large family, and brings us a shot of scotch, which we all ceremoniously sip in honor of my grandma. See? Sentimental, yes. But we're picky, too! It's the only restaurant we can all agree on. I will always look forward to our next family gathering...