Grandma's Kitchen in Mora, Minnesota: Review

Sometimes when you are traveling a long distance between cities, a stop at another fast food joint just won't satisfy your appetite. On our way from St. Cloud, Minnesota, to our home on the shore of Lake Superior, my family stopped in Mora, Minnesota, for dinner. No one wanted to eat McDonald's style burgers and fries. We decided that Grandma's Kitchen must be a pretty good place to eat judging from the number of vehicles parked in front and to the sides of the restaurant.

Grandma's Kitchen is one of those restaurants that the locals frequent to discuss politics or current events. At least, that was the atmosphere I sensed from both the exterior and the interior of the restaurant. This eating establishment is located by a main thoroughfare, Highway 65 South, which meanders through several small farming communities on its way to St. Cloud. The restaurant itself sits off the highway on a short frontage road. The exterior looks as if the family cafe has been in that location for quite a while.

As we parked, one of the kitchen workers finished her cigarette before going back into the kitchen via the side door. The interior of Grandma's Kitchen had the atmosphere of an old time diner with booths and tables filling the dining area. The diner was clean despite its worn interior. The men's and women's bathrooms to the rear of the restaurant were single occupant. They were clean but were also in a worn condition.

Even though many of the tables and booths were filled with customers, our waitress brought us our menus quickly and was friendly. We were given plenty of time to scan our menus and decide what we wanted. The restaurant serves an all-American cuisine. The prices were fairly reasonable. We fed a family of five, three adults and two older children, for under $50.

Coffee could be ordered by the pot at $1.50 or by the cup. A chocolate malt served in an old-fashioned soda glass was $3.50. Our daughter reported that the malt had just the right degree of thickness.

For $7.95, one of our daughters got an enormous taco salad served in a taco shell bowl with sides of salsa and sour cream. She found she had to ask for a doggie bag for some of it.

My husband chose the chicken-fried steak. It came with lots of gravy, a buttered roll, corn, and his choice of soup, salad, or coleslaw.

A large baked potato with a small tub of sour cream supplied at no additional cost was $1.95.

The side salad was fresh and crispy and came with shredded mild cheddar cheese, a green pepper strip, a slice of cucumber, and onion. The salad dressing was served in a small covered plastic tub to the side so that you could put as much or as little as you wanted on your salad.

Two of our party opted for burgers. The bacon cheeseburger was moist, not dried out as hamburger can sometimes get. The bacon was not overcooked and the cheese was "melted just right" according to our daughter. The pickles were placed to the side so that she could decide if she wanted to add them or not and she was also allowed to opt out of having onion on her burger.

She also asked for the oyster stew. She said there were large pieces of oyster in the extra creamy stew. She was given three packets of crackers with her order.

The Grandma burger and Great Grandma burger are specialties of Grandma's Kitchen. The Great Grandma burger has tomato, lettuce, bacon, and cheese served on grilled bread. If you get it without fries the burger is $5.95. Our daughter asked for deep-fried mushrooms instead and received a nice sized mound of mushrooms to the side.

Grandma's Kitchen has an excellent pie menu including blueberry, peach, coconut, lemon, apple, strawberry rhubarb, pumpkin, and pecan.

Grandma's Kitchen also serves regular meals like liver and onions and offers broasted chicken and take-out chicken baskets.

Grandma's Kitchen of Mora, Minnesota, had great food, an efficient and friendly staff, and charming small town atmosphere. Given the choice, I would stop and eat there again on my way to or from St. Cloud.