Depot Bar & Grill

I love this place, the food and service is great. I always get the Faribo Burger it’s delicious and the fries are too. In the summer you can sit outside and if your lucky the train comes flying by literally 15 feet from your table it’s really cool!

The quality seems to have dropped and prices have gone up! Almost $ 25.00 for two BLTs and we got under cooked bacon and thin tomatoes that seemed to have a slimy texture. Sad:(We have always enjoyed the Depot but the last two times has been very disappointing. Won’t be returning.

Passing through Faribault and thought this Depot would be a great place to eat. We were sadly mistaken. Ordered the homemade chips and salsa and the chips tasted stale and were not fresh. Had ordered a peach salad which never came. The waitress finally said the kitchen ran out of peaches so I replaced the salad with a beet salad, which was really good. Hubby ordered the steak and chicken fajitas. Meat, chicken and the fajitas all were cold, seemed like they were never warmed, and when they replaced all, the chicken looked and tasted like packaged deli meat that you purchase from the cooler section at the grocery store. My BLT was not good either. Bacon was fatty and barely cooked and the toasted bread was hard and seemed like it was several days old.
Beet salad was the only saving grace, otherwise all around a terrible food experience. The Depot needs to hire an entire new kitchen staff. Waste of money and time.

Average food, prepared poorly and terrible service, with a manager that doesn’t care that the meals come out wrong and the service is bad! Cheese curds were over cooked, the Reuben was made sloppy with all meat on one side of the sandwich, steak was served raw and cold — with no apologies for making it wrong, balsamic vinegar bottle had Malt vinegar in it — not great for the salad I ordered. It Took over and hour 20 minutes to make and remake our meals. Waiter was unapologetic until I raised the issues with the meal surprised they didn’t even acknowledge that the meal was Not good. When raised to the manager her response was «we did remake everything» so why wouldn’t we want to pay the full price? She also explained that They also had two large parties (10 each) come in, so guess they expect the rest of the restaurant to not want good food or service when this happens! Unhappily paid full price for this Terrible experience — NEVER returning.

Weren’t very hungry but tagged along with gf’s sister and family. Ordered appetizer sampler and a couple drinks. ($ 48 with tip, ouch!) Food was good, and love the décor. Have to try a ‘real meal’ sometime.

I had a great experience at the depot tonight. I was there for a rehearsal dinner so we had a large group all wanting food and drinks fairly consistently. While the wait staff could have been a little quicker in filling those requests, they were very kind and did the best they could I’m sure. I ordered a barbecue chicken sandwich that had Swiss cheese and bacon on it, and it was delicious! The housemade chips were good, but the French fries were even better. Also, I ordered the cheese curds as an appetizer and they were very tasty as well. If I ever come back through this area I probably will stop here for a meal because it was a really enjoyable experience

My wife and I are from Rochester and stop at the Depot about 6 times a year. The food is always good and the service is excellent. Their Mexican food is always fast and tasty and the daily specials are just that… special and many are not on the regular menu. We will be back again and again!

I stopped in for a late lunch. Great old Depot building that has been added on to… very cool!
It was off hours, so I can’t rate the service. Friendly staff.
I ordered the fish tacos. They were very good, a LOT of food. They came with chips and salsa… one ‘chip’ was a boat, with some queso cheese in it…
There lemonade was pretty good, sweeter than I like… I will go back.

The food is great… walleye on Friday nights is the best!
However, last time I was there we had horrible experience with our hostess.
We had reservations for 6pm on ⁴⁄₂₄ for 8 people. When we were seated, she looked at us and said «it’s not quite 6pm yet, but this table is booked for a reservation at 7pm too, so you need to be done by then.» Excuse me? 1 hour for 8 people to eat and leave? Clearly someone had overbooked the large table, but that’s not our issue. Our waitress was fine and didn’t rush us, but it was a shocking experience at a generally fabulous restaurant. Very disappointing.

Tremendous experience! Great food, great service, attentiveness, great prices, waitress answered questions and offered great suggestions. Would recommend to anyone anytime! Will be back. We had just completed a horrific experience at a restaurant close to The Depot… Alexanders…where we were treated horribly and their policies were even worse. They told us if we didn’t want to wait to eat, after being there an hour and the third ones to order, we could leave. Trouble is, they didn’t have the food that was on the menu anyway! Take well earned kudos to the Depot. Very happy with experience here!

If you’re looking for consistently outstanding food, The Depot is the restaurant for you. Chef Jeff LeBeau’s international training lends itself to some of the finest cooking techniques you’ll find anywhere. It’s also very common for Chef LeBeau to visit your table and ask how your meal is.
Changing daily menu selections like elk burgers, mahi mahi and lobster mashed potatoes keep me coming back just to see what’s new. The classic menu selections like the Depot burger and the ravin craisin salad are what put the «home» in The Depot’s hometown restaurant feel.
If you’re lucky enough to have room for dessert, try the sea salt caramel cheesecake. Need I say more?
Give The Depot a try if you’re in Faribault. You’ll be glad you stopped by.

The food is delicious and the service is AMAZING. Our server bent over backward getting us exactly what we wanted. Lovely setting. Homemade wild rice soup is great. Burgers excellent. Mostly it’s just a very friendly generous place to eat. So happy we found it!

My favorite thing to get here is the tomato soup! Delicious. The fries are good too.
Sevices is friendly and quick. No booths, only tables. The prices are reasonable.
There is a nice outdoor seating area as well.

Great Place! Drink by the Rink app brought us to The Depot in minutes! Good Asian salad~ Nice atmosphere… Our team played a little pull-​tabs before the hockey game!
Download App today ~ Where Should We Meet Before the Game?

Stopped for lunch on the way to the Twin Cities.
The french-​fried mushrooms in beer batter were simply outstanding, the best I’ve ever had (and I order this dish whenever it’s offered; most are mediocre, or worse): just enough light, crispy beer batter on substantial, perfectly-​cooked mushrooms. Skip the cheese dip served with them; it only detracts — they’re perfect with a little salt and pepper.
My turkey-​pot-​pie soup was rich and creamy and packed with turkey and vegetables, but bland: needed a bit more savory from celery and bay and rosemary/​thyme and black pepper. I chalked that up to the Midwestern aversion to spicing.
My companion rated his blue-​cheese burger as «excellent», and it was cooked exactly as he ordered it.
His fries were obviously mass-​produced frozen battered things, and so completely unremarkable.
Fine selection of beers; I was pleased with my «Lost Trout», which I’d never had before.
Two thumbs up.
(Next time I’m trying the walleye sandwich. Or the lobster mashed-​potato side. But for sure I’ll drag other people in for the mushrooms.)

Those people that wrote a negative review have obviously never actually eaten here. Food was good atmosphere was great. Had never been to this town or this place before today and needed to stop before a wedding this evening. Very pleased with this stop. I’d gladly stop again.
Portion are huge for the price and prices are definitely not out of line at all.

After working Faribault for the past year and a half, I’ve had many lunch meetings at the Depot. While dining in, the food is pretty consistent and I have never had any issues with my salad being nasty. Recently, I ended up picking out half of the lettuce because it old and brown and slimy. The brown lettuce has happened a number of times previously while ordering out, but this was terrible. Ironically, it was all hidden under a bed of nice fresh lettuce. What kind of chef would intentionally hide spoiled lettuce and serve it to a customer? I will no longer patronize an establishment that charges $ 14 for a shitty salad.

The Cajun Elk burger was fantastic as were the fried cheese curds. We had 4 people and everyone was happy with their meals. The service was good. We ate in the bar to watch a game and the atmosphere was just right.

I felt like a Sunday drive, and I had just seen this on the local Tawnja show ch. 6. They made a point of mentioning they cure their own corned beef. So I get the reuben, it tasted good, I just wish they filled it. For almost the same price, you get it falling out at Crossroads deli in Minnetonka. I was pleased to get a cup of clam chowder on a Sunday, but once again you’re shorted somehow. It would have been nice to sit by the window overlooking the tracks, but the only waitress in that section was going off duty. I was happy with the attention I got from Bev on the upper level, although much darker. It is quiet there mid afternoon, almost serene. Another oddity, they had the lowest bathroom sink I’ve ever seen. I’d come back again in spite of these quirks, just order something else.

Good find in a land of chain options. Great service, decent food (especially the poppyseed dressing), full bar, interesting building, reasonable prices. Worth a visit if you are in the area.
BTW — Faribault has a charming downtown.