Norm’s Wayside

Been here a few… many times. Don’t expect stellar service… enjoy your beer and be prepared to wait about 45 – 60 min for your food. Servers don’t seem to care about your experience… just their tip… runners work their tails off. live music is pretty good though.

Absolutely hideous service for the 2^nd time in a row, not going to make a 3^rd! Not coming back would highly recommend NOT going here.

I haven’t been to this place in a while. It had an interesting menu. They had a few descent deals on beers. I just don’t go back because of the service. If you want service your gonna have to sit at the bar and then even sometime I had female bartender that was kind of bitchy. There pizza is nothing special. Oh yeah I have seen the owner and I believe his wife in there drunk on more then one occasion.

We went with a group of 6 adults on a Friday night for dinner … The place wasn’t packed but it was seat yourself which caused a HUGE cluster. There were 2 people sitting at tables for 6 and 8! And there was a crowd wait to find spot, we weren’t willing to fight for a table once one did become avail so after 30mins of waiting we took our business elsewhere and won’t likely be back to try it. There seating system is really lazy and they need to fix it.

Had breakfast here last Sunday. Good food, good bloodies, good people. Definitely gonna come back for dinner sometime, an all around fun place.

Food was decent. Our server was decent, not memorable. I actually prefer Domino’s pizza over theirs. So, I wouldn’t drive out of my way again to have their famous «Detroit» pizza. I found their $ 8.00 burger slightly too expensive. It only includes a single pickle. If you want fries or chips it is extra. One star is because clearly the «owner» is an arrogant condescending jerk and I would rather spend my hard earned money in a happier environment.

Great food, poor service. We’ve eaten there 4 times, the food is always great! This time we brought a group of 20, our table 1/​3, sat without ANY SERVICE AT ALL for over an hour and left without eating. Our friends at the other 2 tables ate and drank. The wait staff knew we were there, they cleaned off the tables for us. After 30 min we went up to the bar and got our own drinks. HUGE BUMMER!

A great place, can’t wait to go again. Good food, good music, good prices and fun.
A restaurant has been at this location since my older brother was a kid, and danced for other patrons for peanuts. About 50 years. The location had the kiss-​of-​death form many years. But I hope Norm’s is here to stay.
We were there last Saturday night, the wife and the boys. They got a Pastrami sandwich and a couple of the cheese pizzas off the kid’s menu. I got the messy burger, we got fried pickles and a side of onion rings. Good food and good portions. I love spicy food, but the messy burger was too much, sweating, watery eyes and gut ache.
They had a band, usually regrettably with two small kids, and no longer in my 20s, but the Everett Smithson was wonderfully different from my single days. American Roots music, not to loud and the boys were fascinated and the wife tolerant. My kind of music. Mark your calendar for March 11^th.
I would have gave it 5 stars had I been offered a mucho picante version of the messy burger and if we would have gotten a broken down bill, but the bottom line was okay.

Food is good but service is terrible. You walk in and feel like you’re crashing a private party. We finally gave up going there and just go to buffalo bar and grill where they’re always nice

Went on Friday evening and I was told by server they are understaffed. I should have left then. We worked with 2 different servers and 1 looked like she hated her job and never said a word. The other was so rude not sure I have experienced service like that before. Chicken wings cooked dry to the bone. Reminded us of the turkey from Christmas Vacation movie. We had hand toss pizza and it was ok. The Detroit style is better. Also it took over an hour to get our food.

They have really good pizza… That is after you wait an hour for it. The reason for the 1 star is the owner. We were seated near a table he was sitting at and he was sitting with another guy and could hear them talk. He would call waitresses over and he was very rude to his own staff, seemed very arrogant. I’m not sure if he was just pretty drunk or if that’s the way he is. My server was ok, nothing bad to say about that but nothing noteworthy either. I would rather spend my money someplace else but if you have a lot if time and don’t care about anything but pizza it is awesome.

I absolutely love this place. The food is wonderful. I have been here several times with groups while attending hockey tournaments in Buffalo and it is unanimous every time: excellent bar & grill food. Burgers are great and although I have not ordered a pizza yet, I have seen enough of them go by me to say they must be excellent too. It is a rarity for a place to nail both burgers AND pizza but this place does it.
Very fun atmosphere… Roadhouse feel and not over-​lit. You feel at home the minute you walk in.
The service: another story. In several visits it has ranged from passive/​average to downright bad. Most of the waitresses wear a scowl and occasionally they seem overmatched by the size of the crowd dining here. Don’t let that scare you off. The «rough» edge to the service adds to the road house atmosphere and the food MORE than makes up for it.

Pizza was really good. My idea of perfection for this type of pizza would have been a little more dense crust and a little less cheese. Still a 8.5÷10 for me. I have never had a ¹⁰⁄₁₀ pizza before for reference. This would probably be a top 10 in MN for me. Check out the pic I posted to drool a little.
Don’t drive 2 hours to eat it necessarily but don’t be afraid to drive a couple extra minutes if you are anywhere close by. Ambiance is pretty sweet. Updated and clean. Big screen tv’s inside with pool, darts etc. etc. Outside is a nice open patio with picnic tables and a fire pit, and a covered outdoor area with about 10 booths and a bar. Comfortable crowd for everyone. Saw old dudes with grey beards in leather vests and a group of Wayzata types in polos and flip flops sitting next to each other. Nothing biker bar or divey about this place. Looked to be family/​kid friendly.
Recommend getting the cheese bread if you want a cheese pizza for a couple bucks less. Nachos are also pretty darn tasty.
Surly Furious on tap also. Sounds like a winner

Interesting place; from the outside it looks like a biker bar but once you enter the doors it’s very sporty. I went with a few of my coworkers and we were all surprised we ordered some of their famous pizza and we were not disappointed.

This review is only for ambience and service. Clearly this place is not set to handle groups. In town for a softball tournament and in between games the team came by to grab a quick bite. Once we found an area to sit, the server came to tell us it would be a minimum of an hour to get food, but maybe will be able to get pizzas in 45 minutes. We did order some pizzas to go since the girls need to eat!
We went to play the bean bag toss and realized there were no bags, so put the games back up and one of the girls were yelled at for taking the stands down because we didn’t have the bags.
Then the bartender continued to the group to tell us «we don’t move tables, you need to move it back».
For a restaurant you would think they would be happy to have a rush come in hungry and thirsty.

Very dissappointed! The rib appetizer was delivered to table … No napkins provided so finally had to ask. The Beer ordered on arrival was forgotten and only delivered after a 20 minute wait and 2 reminders. Excited to try the Detroit Style pizza… not anything to brag about … very greasy… won’t order again. We were watching one of the TVs with Womens World Cup game on it when it was suddenly switched to golf and three other TVs were on men’s LaCrosse. Our request to have one of them set to the soccer match was ignored. Won’t recommend and won’t be back.

Horrible service on a Friday evening. Food was good but the waitress didn’t care that our table of 8 was out of beverages for 10+ minutes. She was too worried about her friends table.

Although we live in San Diego, we visit the Buffalo area often and have been to Norm’s probably 10 times. The service has always been adequate and the food is generally pretty good. Our last trip, however, was really disappointing:
— We arrived for breakfast this past Saturday around 9AM
— The waitress said they were understaffed — okay — understood
— After multiple tables around us had arrived after us and had been served, we got the «it’s coming», etc. — now it was it was about 9:50AM and one of our guests had to quickly just get some fruit to go.
— At around 10:20 or so, I asked about our food and then the scurrying began
— Each of the 6 people at our table were served partially what they ordered and each arrival of food was about 5 minutes apart
— Eggs arrived and then the pancakes 10 minutes later (burned and had to be returned), but now the eggs were cold
— They missed a bacon order and quickly brought out a plate of soggy, partially cooked pile of fatty bacon
— Coffee refills were rare, the waitress was rattled, we were very nice
— Norm was there and didn’t look too happy as we saw him personally returning plates of food to the kitchen
— Probably an off day by all, but we have noticed the service slipping the last few times in the restaurant
— We never beg for or ask for refunds (partial or entire) as we believe it is up to the restaurant to «do what is right». I asked my wife to pay the bill so I wouldn’t say anything. However, after 2 hours to get breakfast with the final product being mediocre to poor at best, there wasn’t even a sniff of an apology let alone an offer to take something off the tab.
— We will be in again due to the proximity, however, with a lot less enthusiasm.
I sincerely hope this Unilocal helps provide feedback that is needed and is taken constructively. When we are in town, we are usually treating 4 – 8 people at the restaurant.

Great Detroit style pizza in a car/​Detroit themed restaurant. They even serve Vernors, which a Michigan ginger ale.

Out for a beautiful fall day motorcycle ride and stopped in for lunch. The «Squealer» was really tasty but the service was slow at best. Might have been busier than they anticipated, so well definitely give it another try.