Uptown — Restaurant in Wadena

The other day I bought cheap Walmart hot sauce. It was ,99 and I didn't have any sort of hopes for it, but -much to my surprise- it was great. Score one for a surprise good thing in a cheap package.

Uptown doesn't look like much from the outside. Its an old Café styled looking room attached to a bar dining area, and a sign that says "Seat Yourself."

When I was there, there were two large tables with families, and a third one came before I was done. It was loud, obnoxious, small town good fun. People were having fun, laughing and talking, and kids were running amok and it was... eh, typical for a Friday night out in small town Minnesota.

To my eternal gratitude, Koop, the server, was great. I never needed to wait on a refill, food came fast, and for as many people as were there, he was attentive to my table of two, and the rest of his customers. Two thumbs up, I hope your table tips were great, man.

I left my house wanting pasta, and that's where my opening story connects to the review. Wifey mentioned she remembered pasta at Uptown, and Wadena is a smidgen closer than Fargo, and I've never been to the Uptown, sooooo...

We ordered onion rings, because, and they were fine. Not a homerun but not terrible. I sort of felt like they were out of a bag from the store, but wife liked them.

Soup showed up next, and it was for all intents and purposes no better or worse than a two dollar can of soup from the store. It was terribly underwhelming.

My cheese ravioli was straight out of the bag tasting, with sauce that came out of a jar tasting. It had limited flavor, little parmesagn cheese, and it was underwhelming for the cost.

Wife had noodles in Alfredo with shrimp, and she liked it.

I'm uncertain if I went to a bar restaurant and ordered out of their wheelhouse, when I should have got a burger and fries that would have blew me out of my socks, but it just wasn't great.

All in all, I'd go back and try more. If I was a drinker, their bar selection was great too, and I'm sure they specialize in something amazing there. Maybe I'll find...

I recently dined at Uptown in Wadena, MN, and had a mixed experience. I ordered the jalapeño and cream cheese burger, subbing fries for onion rings. The waiter took my order without pen and paper, which didn’t seem like a great idea—especially since he had to come back and confirm what I wanted after getting sidetracked in the kitchen, despite the restaurant being fairly slow.

Unfortunately, when my food arrived, my burger was wrong, and I got fries instead of onion rings. He also forgot the ranch dressing. The only thing he got right was my beer. That said, the burger I didn’t order was still tasty, and the wings were good.

The food itself wasn’t the problem—just the service. I even suggested to the waiter that he carry a pen and paper next time. Hopefully, they work on that, because the food was worth...

The friendly staff and decent food at this place are worth mentioning. However, we had an issue with our drinks. We ordered four cherry Cokes, but they tasted off. When we brought it to our waitress’s attention, we were informed that the diet and regular dispensers had been mixed up. Despite this, we weren’t offered a swap for regular Coke. We paid the full price for the drinks. While it’s not a major inconvenience, especially considering the price range, I would expect to receive the drinks we ordered when paying over $90 including our meals. Nevertheless, I still recommend this place for its good food and...