Howard's Bar — Restaurant in Stillwater

Our first visit to Howard’s was serviceable, but won’t have us rushing back for more than a drink and apps anytime soon.

The appetizers were the highlight of our meal. Their rendition of trout dip was a good one with a special call-out for the pickled veggies that accompanied; they were a nice surprise and wonderfully flavored. The lightly battered, crispy and melty cheese curds were honestly some of the best I’ve ever had.

But it went downhill with our entrees; we all ordered the steak and while the loaded baked potatoes were great and it was very nice to have well-cooked asparagus as the veggie side, I have some notes for the kitchen on the actual steaks: The steaks are being over-seasoned. The black pepper is overpowering and the only flavor I could taste. I had to dunk every bite into the au jus and horseradish sauce just to tone it down. A steak that was ordered medium-rare came out past medium, and one of the three steaks at our table was much thinner and smaller than the other two and still had a bone in. When serving multiples of the same plate at the same table, I would recommend going for cuts that are as uniform as possible so it’s not as obvious that someone’s getting shorted a few ounces or a better cut and making sure temperatures are spot-on as there will be others to compare it against.

Service was kind but very busy, and as such had a few misses (a drink ordered on the rocks came “up”). Like I said at the beginning, I’d return at a less busy time for a drink and more of those fabulous cheese curds, but Howard’s missed the mark with elevated bar food/supper club dining for me. Hopefully with more time, the kinks will...

Best breakfast spot in Stillwater, Minnesota. The food is made from scratch, is hot, delicious and comes out quick with large portions. The server greeted us right away and took our orders. The menu has a lot of great options. They have food runner's and people bussing the tables so the servers could focus on us. The girl running the food got me hot sauce that I forgot to order. Nice to have all the extra help. The cage free eggs scrambled are moist, fluffy and hot. The hash browns are hot, moist, with a crispy crust that was delicious. The french toast is full of flavor, thick cut fluffy, fresh strawberries, blackberries and pineapple. The bacon thick cut and juicy. The toast was hot with melted butter. A place that reminds me of cheers the TV show. We ran into some old friends there. They go there often and love it. Great place for a quick meal or to hang out with...

We had been to this place when it was called Whiteys several times, but this was our first visit since the change in ownership.

First thing I noticed was they kept the fresh squeezed juice... YAY!!!! I enjoy a variety of cocktails, but a screwdriver with fresh OJ is near the top of my list. So big thanks for that.

I was perusing the menu and it didn't take long for me to notice the lasagna w/side salad. I am a lasagna hound and snob, and have tried it at many establishments over the years. This offering was outstanding, perhaps my favorite (not made by my wife, of course).

We will be back.

P. S. we used to boat on the river and visited Stillwater a lot, but not since COVID. Howard's has been on our radar for a while. Hearing more about it at the Wits Reunion show at the Fitzgerald motivated us to...