a sign for a restaurant
Talk about big beefy burgers!
a green door with a welcome sign
a plate of mashed corn and gravy
a t - shirt that says sunday fundayoo where happy hour lasts all day
Tito P.
Sep 28, 2018
Great burgers!Looking forward to having a steak some time down the road(get it? Because it's called Back Roads!)
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Adam H.
Aug 10, 2018
We stopped in after an afternoon on the lake. The service was pretty good (above average), and the decor inside was neat. The patio was pretty basic, but nice enough for a beautiful evening. We had some issues with flies in the area, but you sort of get what you get when you sit outside. Otherwise the food was pretty good though I would say that the low-light of the meal was ironically the steak. It was tough and was under seasoned. It was cooked appropriately (medium rare), but was my least favorite thing on my plate. The highlight were the pretzel sticks - they were very good and the cheese dip was AWESOME! The kids had burgers and they seemed to enjoy them pretty well. One thing to note, it looks like they may be upgrading their patio seating - if they do that their patio will be really cool! We would probably stop again if we were in the area, but I probably wouldn't order the steak again.
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Andrea W.
Apr 8, 2016
Great food! The burgers are particularly good, or try the chislic (it's my husband's favorite).Mari and her team also catered our wedding with rave reviews!
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Leah J.
Oct 17, 2018
This is what our small town needed! If this was in a larger community it would be beyond popular. I love their array of draft beers for a small town. Awesome appetizers. I am a huge fan of their club sandwich WITH homemade fries and their steak sandwich. This is a great stop for dinner with the family or date night!
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Julie J.
May 25, 2015
WE've had a lake house in this area for 15 years, and you just kind of take what you can get in the food dept. There are a couple of other restaurants within a 10-mile radius, but don't expect much.The location where Backroads stands has been about 5 different restaurants since we've been around. They have all been the local hangout, despite the lack of decent food. Frozen-to-fryer comfort food has been the fare.We visited the town over Memorial weekend after a two-year absence and laughed at the menu's frequent references to "home made" and fresh.But lo and behold ... it was! For the first time, the restaurant served some healthy foods and some seriously home-made traditional food. The stuff was surprisingly good: hand-cut, home-made "Road chips," home-made onion soup (a little too heavy on the salt and beef bouillon), hand-breaded thick-cut onion rings ... and our entrees, all of which were presented beautifully.I had the steak salad with freshly toasted focaccia bread. $11 included a generous portion of steak with grilled onions and mushrooms on fresh greens - delicious but could use a little more seasoning. My husband had the Philly cheese steak ($10.50). Looking around the restaurant, the hamburgers and fries looked big, cheesy and delicious.The service was courteous and professional.We met the young owner, Mahrie Anderson, who grew up in town and moved back recently after 10 years in the military. I told her that, as the only restaurant in town, the food didn't really have to be THAT good. She says she majored in nutrition and would want nothing else.We live in the San Diego area and would be frequent guests if Backroads were located there. It's amazing you can find this kind quality in a town of 600-some people.If you find yourself on 94 between Fergus Falls and Alexandria, it's worth pulling over for this.Good luck, Mahrie!
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Jami G.
Dec 6, 2014
We happened upon this place when attending a music event in Evansville Friday night. If you've never been to Evansville, it's small. I was amazed to find such a big place and even more pleased to find such wonderful food and service. Based on some of the talk, it sounds like they have recently expanded the dining area ~ a major accomplishment having only been in business since 2012.We went in the back entrance which is a large dining room - big enough to use for banquets. The front has a bar and small dining area with a larger dining room behind this area. The menu was impressive with a lot to of choice and, as may be expected in a small town, the wait staff was friendly and attentive. It was definitely more than I expected in the way of menu selection, staff knowledge (read more below) and drink specials. There is a small dance floor and electronic juke box and photo machine so entertainment potential is there. It looks like they do open mike and there is an Ugly Christmas Sweater party on 12/13/14. Sounds like fun but we'll be in the cities. So, back to our experience.My husband had the prime rib sandwich with onion rings. The sandwich was billed as Melt in your Mouth and it delivered ~ it was amazing. The rings were good though not quite as good as beer-battered rings. They had PBR on draft for $1.50!I was excited to find that when I started asking questions about the stuffed mushrooms, our waitress Mariah immediately picked up asking if I was Gluten-Free. She was able to offer me good advice on what to try and I was so pleased to find someone who gets GF. I'm still amazed by how many restaurant people still don't comprehend GF. And here in the 'middle of nowhere' Minnesota, we find understanding.I had the stuffed mushrooms - which were really tasty! They were so rich and perfectly spiced. I also ordered the potato skins thinking I'd get those potato boats with cheese and bacon. To my surprise, the appetizer actually was... "potato skins". There was enough potato to make them substantial but they were basically deep fried skins. A mountain of them! With melted cheese and bacon on top - SO GOOD! Super crispy and delicious, they were served with a side of sour cream and a side of salsa. I was very impressed with the flavor. And this combo of 'shrooms and skins was perfect as the excess cheese from the 'shrooms could be loaded onto the skins in the mountain that didn't get full cheese coverage. I would say that you could split the 'shrooms and skins along with a couple drinks and call it dinner for two.So, needless to say, we will definitely be back to Backroads for a meal anytime we're close to Evansville. I suggest you get there when you're anywhere close.
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Craig G.
Aug 13, 2017
Stopped in after having some trouble finding the place. (Google Maps is WAY off, its right in town!)It was a nice night so we seated ourselves outside at about 6:30 pm on a Saturday. Patio is small but comfortable. Server was there immediately and attentive. Ordered a middle shelf Canadian Whiskey and was surprised to find they had it, and also that they they poured a decent drink! My wife ordered the house Chardonnay which was 'ok'. Between the 2 of us we selected the mushroom appetizers, broccoli cheddar soup, and the surf and turf with onion rings and side salad. The food came out promptly. The soup was pretty bad. Obviously rewarmed quite a few times, it had an unappealing khaki color, mushy texture and was super salty. We tossed. Next was the mushroom app which was stellar. Baked mushrooms with an Alfredo/rice cheese topping. The side salad was your typical bag mix but fresh. Finally, the main event surf and turf. The 6oz sirloin was served perfectly seasoned and medium rare as ordered. A little tough but very flavorful. (expected with a sirloin). 4.5 for the steak. Shrimp are beer battered and deep fried. In my opinion they are too small for beer batter and are lost in the coating. 3.0 for the shrimp. They were saved by the house tarter sauce. 5.0. The beer batter, which was over the top on the shrimp, was spot on for the onion rings. Already great they were enhanced by the tarter sauce. 5.0 for the rings. The side vegetable was a microwaved frozen 'medley'. Frozen vegetables look nice but are rubbery and flavorless. Especially carrots . 2.0 for the vegetables. Suggestion: fresh-steamed are just as easy and make a big difference. The end of the meal was a little bizarre. Our server who started out great went AWOL. We ended up paying at the bar and leaving. We would have been happy to stay for another beverage. We put it down to some local drama we might have observed outside, but management should keep an eye on these kinds of things. Overall 4.0 and we would come back now that we know where it is!
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Jennifer O.
Jun 5, 2024
What a disappointment. We were there on a Thursday around 7, the waitress came by and took our order. Waited 45 minutes with no interaction with any of the waitstaff or our food. My husband went to look for someone to see how much longer it would be and there were no employees to be found. People were waiting by the cash register to pay, people at the bar waiting for drinks, dirty tables that needed to be cleaned and not a person around. After waiting another 10 minutes we left money for our drinks and left. We won't be back any time soon.
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Janet F.
Jul 16, 2017
It is a local bar that has steak on the menu. They were out of ribeye steaks. We saw many burgers on the waitress' trays---we would have been happier with a burger than with the ribs and beefenator. Cute decor. Friendly folks.
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Valerie M.
Jan 26, 2019
Made a pit stop here with my family. We had the ribs with fries, Phili cheesesteak with fries, and mushroom swiss burger with fries. Everything was delicious, (I took samples from my son and husband plates). Definitely a place I'd visit again. Waitress, (I didn't get her name), checked on us many times, great service.
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