Norske Nook - Osseo — Restaurant in Osseo

Edited to add 2 years later - We gave the Osseo Norske Nook another go Summer 2025 and it was MUCH improved, back to the baseline we loved. The service was good, the menu complete, and the food delicious. The only gap from back in the day was eating outside required ordering to go; there was no outdoor table service. Yay!

2023 - I like to give restaurants the benefit of the doubt and not judge a place on a single bad experience. Everybody deserves a bad day. Unfortunately, this Norske Nook location has been going downhill for several years and it breaks our heart. For years, the Osseo Norske Nook was a major destination for us; we would do everything possible to get by while on the road in the area a few times each Summer. However, the past few years the restaurant has been off - understaffed, long waits, a patio that is almost never open anymore, limited menu, and so forth. I feel like maybe they simply have not recovered from service changes made during the pandemic, and that they just don't care. In our experience and for years, this location consistently was much more warm and welcoming with reliable outdoor dining (which is very helpful when we are on the road traveling with our pet in tow). On this visit, the outdoor dining was closed again, they appeared understaffed, and when we asked about just getting takeout we were only offered a few items from the menu. When I tried to clarify what exactly was available, they were frankly, shockingly, and unapologetically unkind to me. It’s too bad, we used to love coming here, but we have marked it off our travel list. Thankfully the location at Rice Lake has been consistently good, kind, and has...

I don't give out 5 stars very often but this little place deserves it! If you're in the area you need to stop by. Everyone I encountered was hard working, hospitable, and kind.

Food: I had the strawberry cream cheese Norwegian pancakes. Next time I go back I'll be getting these for dessert.... so tasty! They were out of the park amazing!

I also had the Swedish meatballs. The meatball itself was meh, in fact I didn't care for them mostly because of the lack of flavor and odd texture. But the gravy made up for it!

Finally, I had the Butterfinger pie. Again, it was amazing. It was overly rich so is recommend splitting one piece two or even three ways. The pie had a mousse texture to it which was so light and fluffy. There is no doubt about it, I'll be going back to Norske in September for the pie of the month!

Ps-They have 10+ blue ribbons for pie contests!

Service: This was the best service I've had in a long time. I sat at the bar stools and watched the cooks and staff. Plates were always picked up the second they were done and brought to the tables. I didn't have to ask for anything, my waitress was really busy and still on top of it all. I was highly impressed. The other staff were friendly. I didn't hear any complaining and everyone was in a great mood!

Decor: I'd give it 3.75 stars. The restaurant has a small town look and feel which is great. Everything was clean and looked good. I don't think they lack anything, they do great with what they have but it could be brought up to date.

Summary: Great people, great food, and great service. Definitely worth checking out if you're...

This was our 1st time here. We're on a 10 day camping trip and purposely added this place to our plans. We stopped in early morning. The place was busy but not packed. 2 waitresses on duty when we arrived. We were seated right away. Service was slow. Our waitress seemed distracted and her customers waited for almost everything. There was a table of men who got most of her attention. The table next to us waited a good 10-12 minutes to get their tab and the table behind to us finally gave up waiting for their tab and went to the register without one. We waited 15 minutes b4 she came to take our order. Once a 2nd waitress came on in that same section, the newly seated tables were served immediately. Getting drinks and coffee right away. We finally got the new server attention to get our coffee. 30 minutes after arriving. Service was disorganized and slow. The lady at the register (owner maybe) never stepped in to help her staff. The food was amazing!!! 👏 my potatoe pancake breakfast was delicious!! Eggs were done exactly as ordered. There was too much hollandaise for my taste (the menu said it would be a drizzle). Overall it was great! The sourdough toast just melted in your mouth. 4 berry jam was awesome. I bought a jar to take home. We also bought 2 pieces of pie that I can't wait to try. I would have taken home a sourdough bread too but they didn't have any for sale that day. We will be back if we're ever in the area. I'll sit back and relax. Thank you for...