JD's Hideaway Mankato Axe Throwing — Restaurant in Mankato

This place has a lot of potential but definitely have to make significant improvements. Stopped by yesterday around 5:30 for drinks and dinner. The waitress was pretty cold and quiet. We saw on the TV where we can get an $8 pitcher of beer so I asked if we could have that and the waitress just left (presumably to ask if that's ok?) Then she came back and asked what beer we want and we said any light beer is fine and she once again just left without saying anything. Ultimately a pitcher was dropped off by somebody else, we never found out what kind of beer we got, and the receipt charged us $10 (not $8) so either the sign needs to change or how it's rung up needs to be changed. We ordered wood chips with beer cheese and the beer cheese didn't come, we brought it up to the waitress and she asked for proof that the menu said it came with beer cheese, once again just left without saying anything and dropped off a bowl. My brother ordered boneless wings, and after the table recieved all our meals we were told that the kitchen doesn't have any boneless wings. So he reordered with traditional wings. Then the waitress came back and said the kitchen just got boneless wings in again. Had to ask for silverware/napkins. I got the fish tacos and was asked what kind of sauce I want, I said mango habanero, they came out with no sauce. Ultimately the food was pretty decent, the salsa that comes with the chips is excellent, the boneless wings were really good, fish tacos were understandably dry (due to no sauce) and the gyro was nothing special. This sounds mean and it's not my intention but at the end we just asked for everything on one check because I think splitting up everything would have been too complicated for her. And this is when we noticed being overcharged for beer but honestly we were just ready to leave at that point so we didn't bring it up. Atmosphere is pretty cool and we will be back eventually but will probably give it a while. Also the bathrooms have a speaker blasting music at all times at super high volume so that's a little weird. Hope it's able to be improved and I wish...

So, we went here twice. The first time was really pleasant. I went with my boyfriend and were intrigued by the axe throwing and really enjoyed the food. The staff seemed very enthusiastic and I liked the atmosphere. It smells like cedar in the game area and it was really driving home the midwestern vibe.

The second time (on Saturday August 13th) we went again, bringing some friends visiting from out of town. We were super excited to show off the axe throwing. We had a generally very unpleasant time. Here are a few notes;

We got there and seated (9:30pm) and were immediately told the kitchen wouldn't be able to cook anything besides apps, Deep fried items, and flatbreads. We found this very odd for a Saturday night, but didn't really worry about it.

We noticed many of the drinks we had ordered had a subtle soapy taste and I happened to notice a staff carrying a carrier of cleaned silverware to fold at a booth that was still draining water after being washed. In foodservice, this usually means that the dishwasher is not hot enough to sterilize the things it is washing. (I have worked in foodservice for 5 years so I definitely know my way around the workings of the kitchen as I have run a few of them)

My friends and boyfriend were attempting to seek out a game of axe throwing and were denied and told that reservations for axe throwing have to be made by 9:00 at least. Sessions were an hour long and costed $25 a person. We understood and didn't kick up a fuss, but grew peeved when we noticed other people going to axe throw and not being denied. We also noted that people were still throwing axes at 10:30.

In conclusion, We will be taking our business elsewhere. Like I said, Ive worked in foodservice and I can understand a lot of stuff. But I definitely felt embarrassed when I brought my friends to check out a cool new bar on the block to only end up wasting our time and money. If you go, I would go during mealtimes on weekdays. And if you want to throw axes, you had better...

I’ll start by saying 2 stars is gracious, one and a half is maybe more accurate.

We went with a birthday party to throw axes and enjoy food/drinks. The axes and boards were poorly maintained, and there was very little staff for the axe throwing to help. They didn’t give a demonstration to the group and talked to us for about a minute total on how it works. While we sat at our reserved table for throwing we were checked on twice. Everyone had already purchased drinks from the bar by the first time any server tended to the group. As our hour was running up we asked if we could sit at a few tables set up, as we had a group of about 12 or so. We were told no since a larger party was coming in later, understandably so. So we did our best to fit everyone into a booth and a high top.

Food service was just as bad being seated at tables. The large party never came in and staff broke these tables down. We had a few more people show up for dinner at this point, and instead of letting us sit at the large table set up, staff told us it was ok to grab another small high-top, and didn’t even help move the table for us. In this time, another party about the same size of ours left, and vacated a setup of about 3 tables, which staff promptly moved back. We saw our server exactly twice: when she took our order, and when she took our money. Food took about 45 minutes to come out, granted it’s a larger party. Almost all of it was cold, and the fries were extra crunchy from sitting under heat lamps. We continued to order our drinks from the bar since staff was more interested in standing around than performing any level of customer service. Note: they also switch to a limited menu on game nights, so dining options are expensive bar apps, a few burgers, and a couple wraps for the most part.

Cliff notes: service is decent if you go to the bar, nonexistent anywhere else. Food is expensive for what you get, and the general atmosphere is dated to the brewery boom that happened...