Oakstone Recreational — Restaurant in Village of Cottage Grove

Oakstone Recreational 🍔

As we've been trying out more restaurants around us, we came across Oakstone Recreational. Their menu looked amazing, and the atmosphere seemed like something we definitely wanted to check out. We love pub food, and this seemed like a great spot to try.

The cheeseburger was very tasty; it was juicy and had a slightly smokey taste. The bun was gorgeous and was incredibly fresh and soft. The meat itself was tender and had a great flavor, not overly seasoned but just right.

My favorite item was the cheese curds. You can order them in 1/2 lb. or 1lb sizes, which is great if you're feeding a large group, or you just really like cheese curds. They were not greasy in the slightest, like how some cheese curds can be. They had a light breading on them, which meant you could taste the cheese flavor even better. The cheese was squeaky and creamy with a perfect balance of salt.

The tater tots were a perfect side choice for the burger. Crispy and fried to a nice golden brown. The inside of the tots tasted like McDonald's hashbrowns in the best way possible. They were insanely good and not greasy at all. We would 100% get these again.

We also tried the Slap-o-rito which was a smokey grilled chicken and wild rice burrito that was smothered in two different types of salsa. The burrito itself was pretty good, the chicken was nice and juicy, and the seasoning on the rice was yummy. The salsa on the top wasn't my wife's favorite. It was spicy, but didnt have a ton of flavor outside of the heat. Overall, she would order it again, but maybe with the sauce on the side.

My wife's favorite thing we ordered was the garlic green beans. They were so fresh and had a great snap to them. The garlic flavor wasn't overpowering but was a nice compliment to the fresh veggie flavor. It's rare to get a vegetable side at a restaurant that actually tastes fresh instead of frozen or canned.

We will be going back to Oakstone Recreational for sure. The atmosphere inside the building is very cozy yet modern at the same time. It's even cooler that you can use a number of their different athletic spaces (volleyball, basketball etc) and have delicious food in the same...

Even when crazy busy the staff is friendly and attentive. Atmosphere is a higher end sports bar with a dash of hipster, which means the food is good and the decor is appropriate and not dive bar haha. However, that also means if you go at night, that just means it can be very loud. I've been here a few times now including a brunch with good strength bloodies. Good selection without being an overly large menu for brunch, so you don't have to wait for that one indecisive friend lol. Lunch/Dinner food is tasty and pretty big portions. Between myself and the various friends I've been with here, only good experiences. Last night we did a pick up order, I got the Ruben with tots and a surprise happy smiley guy on the box. Tots are well seasoned and crispy, aka how they should be. The Ruben is really good, for my tastes it could use more kraut, so I added it to the half I didn't eat last night lol. Very grateful for this delicious option in the good food dessert of Cottage Grove. I'm sure I'll be back. Side note: not a sports person, so I haven't experienced that side of the business. But I'd expect it to be good...

Maybe our expectations were too high? My aunt, uncle, grandparents, and I are what I would consider "foodies". My aunt and uncle more so. We were impressed with the menu options, the wording and descriptions were all wonderful. But when the food came out it was not as expected. Brioche is a rich bread, expected to be cut a little thicker and more of a "treat". My toast looked like a thick-ish slice of white bread and my uncles Drunken Elvis French Toast looked like it was made with grocery store white bread.

Service was good, but slow. Took us 5 minutes to get a table on a not busy Sunday morning and another 5-10 for the waitress to arrive. Food was brought by runners and we ended up taking our check to the bar to close it.

Coffee was okay. Nothing special.

Overall 2☆ for this restaurant this time. Maybe once they've been open longer we will return...