Wally's Roast Beef

Stopped by for lunch the other day. The restaurant is in an office building. has a casual, diner vibe. The staff was very helpful for ordering a lunch plate. I ordered the blue plate special that came with a roast beef sandwich, corn, and mashed potatoes all slathered in gravy. It was a full plate, and for $10 and some change, a good value for money.Unfortunately the food was aplenty but not seasoned enough. There was salt and pepper shakers on the tables and that helped. The roast beef was cooked well and was tender but the flavor wasn't there. I was a little disappointed considering all the positive reviews of the place. Maybe I just happened to be there on a bad day. I might give them another try but probably not anytime soon.

I'm glad I went local rather than to the myriad of chain places. But the food was rather bleh! The onion rings were good but needed salting. The roast beef was bleh even after salt, horseradish and bbq sauce were addedMy daughter said her cheeseburger was the same...just nothing to write home about. Nothing was terrible but nothing was good either.

Decent food, great prices and great service. I enjoyed my lunch overall. Roast beef was delicious and my pork tenderloin sandwich was good (but seemed to be pork loin, not tenderloin). The pork needed something beyond the meat and bun though and neither the BBQ or horseradish sauce offered did the trick for me. I also wasn't a huge fan of the buns used, a bit gummy. With that said, the prices are so affordable, I will likely be back.

Quite honestly, there are very, very few places that serve a good roast beef sandwich in the North Star State. Granted, I grew up elsewhere, so my tastes were forged differently than most Minnesotans, but I have persisted on my quest for great RARE and thinly sliced roast beef for the last 40 plus years.In my opinion, only two places qualify as great: Wally's Roast Beef in Bloomington and Maverick's Real Roast Beef in Roseville. Morts in Golden Valley used to be good, but then it went downhill and closed in 2023.Wally's is a funny, little place. First of all, it's located inside the Southtown Office Park Building. Go to the back (south) side of the building, go inside the door and it's immediately on the right. It's only open for lunch and it's closed on Saturdays. You will find it off of 494 on Penn Avenue. Wally's does that 1950's vibe and they specialize not only in Roast Beef, but also ham, turkey and a variety of soups. They also have daily specials as well as Blue plate, Red plate, and Green plate specials. One is meat loaf, one is roast beef, and one is turkey. They explain which is which on their website, but not on their restaurant board, which is insane, but is one of their quirks.Most importantly, the food tastes home-made, is excellent in terms of quality and taste and the prices are reasonable. C'mon, what more do you want? They have good milkshakes and tasty fries too. I think this place is a gem and I highly recommend it.

This place is in an office building that looks like it was built in the late 60's/early 70's. I have never heard about it before, even though I once lived near it. However, I am glad that I finally got to experience the great food that this place has to offer. The ambiance is a combination of the 1950's-early 90's, frozen in time. It's a bit odd, but it creates a charm that works for them. There's a juke box that works. You order at a counter, and they bring the food to you. The prices are very reasonably. I am a grilled cheese fanatic, and I'll say that this one is top notch. It had just the right texture, crispiness, and saltiness that I'm looking for. The roast beef is great as well, and was definitely the popular item based on the name of the restaurant and the many surrounding tables of customers that had ordered it. The line was long, for good reason, but went FAST. The staff communicate well, and are friendly with customers. This is a hidden gem for sure! Their hours are quite specific, probably because they mostly cater to the people who work in the building, but it's worth a special trip if you don't!

Not the same place. Over priced. The cheese sauce was like beer cheese soup. Must've switched owners a couple times since last time I was here. Went out of my way to come here only to be disappointed in the end. Used to be on 90th & Penn with way better quality-prices in the 1990s. You could get a full roast beef & cheddar on a Hawaiian bun for $2.99. Times and things change, people move and people change. The multi million dollar building-store is immaculate clean though. Only in heaven will this place be good again like it once was.

I'd heard so much hype for this place, but hadn't gotten around to trying it until recently. I would always drive past and not really know where it fully was I guess.It's in an unassuming location, at the bottom floor of an office park building. The dining area is nice, but I can't for the life of me, get what all the fuss was about. I got the blue plate special, roast beef on white bread smothered in gravy with a side of mashed potatoes and corn. The mashed potatoes were good. Everything was decent but nothing to rave about. Not sure I'll be back.

My wife and I have been wanting to go here for years, because we have heard that it is great. It is right near Southtown in Bloomington in an office building.It has plenty of seating and there were about 8 people in there for lunch at 11:15 on a Saturday, but about 6 guys behind the counter and in the kitchen, so it must get busy later on in the day and it looked like they had a big take out/delivery audience.On Saturday, you can get 2 roast beef sandwiches for $7 and I added an order of au jus for $0.60. You have to get the au jus!. I actually sipped up the last of it after I was done and it adds a perfectly rich and salty flavor to the sandwich. We ordered 2 $1 Diet Cokes to wash down to tasty meals.It only took a few minutes for the friendly staff to bring out our order, and I tried one bite without jazzing anything up. Pretty good. THEN,,,,I added the horseradish sauce. The tender and pink roast beef blended perfectly with the spiciness of the horseradish sauce. Then, I added some pickles and onions and lettuce to it and dipped it in the au jus. Fantastic! Everything melded together like butter on a hot biscuit.The perfectly toasted bun was a nice touch, I could have easily seen some places put it on a non-toasted bun.1 sandwich was just fine, but I had both and I was stuffed still 2 1/2 hours later.There are a ton of other places in the Twin Cities we want to try, but for a quick, casual, great lunch. This is worth a 20 minute stop.

Roast Beef sandwich was just ok-!expected more. Beef was quite chewy & had to spit out hard pieces. Au jus was hot but not very favorable. Service was great very pleasant lunchroom & very nice servers.

Penn Lake Roast Beef down the street is a better sandwich. Kevan the owner used to be a cook at the original Wallys on Penn and 90th.