3rd Street Tavern — Restaurant in St. Peter

I had never been here before today, as I was just driving through town. I also stopped in relatively early (5:00pm) on a Tuesday. The space is nice and friendly. There were two occupied tables out of about 15-20 total, so not very busy. With the direction to “sit wherever you want”, I sat at a window table. Unfortunately that wasn’t near the other two occupied tables. After watching the server for nearly ten minutes without any contact, the hostess finally wandered over and asked if I had been helped. When I said “no”, she said she would send my server over. About 5 minutes later the server showed up at my table. After that, she was reasonably attentive for the duration of my stay.

The drink menu is very large, so I ordered the top one on the cocktail list, a Cuba Libra on tap. That was a mistake. The drink was basically just sweet syrup on a little rum. After just a couple swigs, I decided not to finish it. The server asked how it was, and I told her. To her credit, she agreed that it’s awfully sweet and asked if I wanted something else. Since this appeared to be a featured drink, I decided not to risk my luck further.

For my meal, I ordered the grilled brisket/cheese sandwich. Since brisket items were all over the menu, it appeared that this was one of their specialties. Well, this was another mistake. The sourdough bread was fine. The cheeses were fine. But the chunks of brisket were all tough and without flavor. There were several pieces that were more gristle than meat and consequently inedible. A straight grilled cheese without the brisket would have been a much better choice. The side slaw and pickles were OK.

So the overall result of my visit was an $8 drink I drank two swigs of and a $12 grilled sandwich, pieces of which couldn’t be eaten. It’s too bad. With the cute decor set in a picturesque town, I wanted to like this place. Unfortunately, other than the decor, there wasn’t much to like on my visit. Maybe they just had a bad day. But when I drive through St. Peter again, I’ll likely try some other restaurant or continue...

This beastly brisket behemoth has a title: The Lone Star. Yeah I know, interest rates are rising and some menu prices are goin’ up. But I’d still take out a loan to eat this star sandwich 😉😅

Alright alright, it’s time to meet the meats on the menu 🤝

The Lone Star ⭐️ 🥪 🧄 Smoked, trimmed brisket with caramelized onions and garlic aioli on a toasted bun

Buttermilk Chicken Sandwich 🍗 🍟 Buttermilk marinated chicken, battered, fried and served on a bun topped with coleslaw and herb mayo

Meat Platter 🥩 🍖 🍞 with a LOT of stuff

And Fried pickles 🥒 aka Eggroll pickle spears and pepper jack cheese served with sriracha ranch.

from the 3rd Street Tavern in Saint Peter, MN 🛣⛪️🚘

This place is no joke and all smoke 🔥 The moment you enter ya know you’re in a barbecue establishment. One particular positive note is that it didn’t seem too loud, which was more conducive to conversation.

My order was indeed to Lone Star, but I didn’t feel alone at all with this comfort dish 😬🤣 The brisket was tender while still flavorful and hearty. Onions and aioli were absolute perfect partners here, serving as savory, rich additions to an already almost-overboard sandwich (in a good way, of course:)

The chicken sandwich got mostly compliments from its consumer… once they sent out a replacement that followed the orderers instructions 😤 But here’s the rule for this reviewer: if they fix it, you betcha I’ll forgive and forget it. In the end, we said this sandwich stood out 👌

And what could be the matter with a giant meat platter?! 😆 I didn’t hear any complaints from the diners who downed this doozie. Specific praise goes to the au gratin potatoes and pulled pork 👏

And finally, the funky finale, which was not in the ordinary chip-style. It was also PHENOMENAL 💯

Despite the name, in terms of Saint Peter barbecue, 3rd street comes in first.

Don’t have enough words to thank the Doughertys for dinner and selecting some unique items!! Special shoutout to Amber for her fine photography & Abby for showin’ us this spot and giving us an excuse to celebrate! Over food,...

The food was delicious, but a little pricey for what we got. I would have given more stars but when a group of friends and I went today the service was literally non-existent. There were several other customers, but it was by no means over crowded or anything. There was a "seat yourself" sign out so we did. We sat for well over half an hour and not once did a server stop and greet us, give us menus, drinks or anything in the like. We were a group of 4 adults, a child, and a toddler and seemed to be completely invisible. There were several servers helping the tables in every surrounding table, and they even helped people that came in well after we did. Every time we attempted to stop a server they quickly rushed away, helping other tables. Finally after about 40 minutes I had to physically get out of my seat to stop a woman working (I don't think she was designated to our serving area) to ask if we could order ever. She was suprised no one had helped us and said she would get someone to come serve us, which of course, no one ever did. We ended up bugging her to place our order to go, as it was clear no one else was going to help us. No waters, drinks, menus, nothing was given to us. It took another half hour or so to get our food. Everything was made right and was delicious, and I would give the food five stars, the service was so bad I can't give more stars. I don't think we will...