The Cheese Cave

GREAT FOR A LADY’S DAY OUT!!!
I would highly recommend The Cheese Cave if you want to do a healthy and fun lunch with your girlfriends or mom. They have fresh foods, and of course, cheese from the Faribault Cheese Caves. Their menu consists of paninis, salads, homemade pizzas, desserts, and they even have wine and beer! Before or after lunch you can check out the cute little shops close by, like the Bluebird Cakery, with delicious homemade cupcakes and yummy coffees and other drinks.

While the food was pretty good, we had the potato cheese and leeks soup, the people that work there were so unfriendly and stuck up I don’t think I would ever go back there again. The cook was yelling at his waitstaff in front of the customers. Plus the food took forever to arrive and when it did we were completely ignored. I’d just go back to get the st. Mary’s gouda and get out of there.

Yes, glorious! Fantastic cheese selection. Come here and get the cheese tray with the Caves of Faribault cheeses. So good. Good little tap beer list and small but decent wine selection.
Place has that weird small town vibe– trying to be cool, but failing. Haha. I sound mean. However, staff were very knowledgeable and informative. For the small town of Faribault, this is as «classy» as it gets.
But damn, that cheese.

I work in the specialty food industry so I probably judge a bit more harshly than most. This is a corporate store owned by Swiss Valley Farms, a Midwestern dairy cooperative located in Davenport, IA. It gives the appearance of a mom and pop foodie shop though. There’s a restaurant section but the service was disjointed. One woman took our order, another brought us water and food but had to flag down yet another employee when my girlfriend’s sandwich didn’t have the roast beef that she ordered. The retail section clashes with the restaurant because folks buying cheese have no idea of where to pay — it’s the same cash register as the restaurant. The place seem under staffed. They only charged us for a lesser sandwich due to the error. It’s located in a charming historic looking downtown area.
CHANCE OF RETURN: ³⁄₁₀

Try the free samples! All things Gouda = great. We didn’t eat any of the food, but we can recommend the cheese.

Outstanding menu of wonderful tasting items in wraps pizzas sample tray was outstanding. Good tap beers good wine list. Wonderful reparti with the staff. Cheeses are superb!

Delicious wraps and even better pizzas. Staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about the ingredients that they use. I recommend the St Mary Big Cheesy wrap.

Man, the blue cheese cake with berry sauce is DIVINE.
Shame on those self-​proclaimed Faribault locals who never mentioned this delicacy to me XP

Down visiting family in the area; had heard of them and sampled product at a show a few years prior so had to stop in. Unfortunately, they were in the middle of a tour which we did not have time to attend. Staff was still plenty attentive and gave us the samples we asked for. Purchased a basic cheddar and three varieties of Gouda (tomato-​basil a favorite), all were very good.
Perhaps on a return visit we’ll have time to stay longer for a tour or glass of wine.

This is one of my favorite places in Faribault. Their cheese is divine, and it’s a great place to pick up a last-​minute gift for any occasion.
I typically order one of the cheese plates and a glass of wine. The service is excellent, and the manager (Mary) is extremely kind, knowledgeable, and helpful.
I strongly recommend you stop in to sample their famous and delicious cheeses, stick around for a glass of wine or beer, and take home a large bag of cheesy goodness.

I am being generous with this review. The only reason this shop got a second star is because it has cheese. The staff? Be prepared to be treated with disrespect and not as someone who pays their bills. Not sure who the fellow was that waited on us but he was arrogant and rude. The woman who checked us out barely said hello and DIDN’T say thank you at the end of the transaction. She was much too busy chatting with her cohort. In general, I will purchase my cheese from an establishment that thinks more highly of maintaining customer relations than of itself.

I am a cheese lover and an amateur cheese maker, so I was excited when I saw the sign on the freeway. The store is located in a nice location and the space inside is inviting. I was a bit disappointed with the small selection of cheese, considering the business name. The welcome by one of the ladies working there, who looked like she could have been the owner, was very poor. There was no one in the store so I tried to tell her about the fact that I’m a cheese maker, she replied with «oh» and nothing else was said. When checking out, she swiped my credit card and left to go talk with the other 2 ladies working there. I waited at the cash register wondering when she was going to decide to finish the service.
Disappointing experience.
My first and last visit at this establishment.

I wanted to love this place since I’d heard so many good things about it. Unfortunately, when I went there for lunch with my family, we did not have a very good experience. From the get-​go it seemed we were a bother to staff — not real friendly at all; except for the guy that gets you water, he was friendly.
Took forever for us to even get menus. Then forever for someone to take our order. All understandable (to a degree) since they were winding down from a lunch rush when we got there. But we waited perhaps 45 minutes to get our food!
When it finally did arrive, there was no apology for the wait, no, «can I get you anything else?», she just left the food and we never saw another wait person again.
We had dealings with four different employees and all but one, the water guy, seemed like we were the biggest inconvenience to their day.
Great food, but I won’t be going back.

I’ve been here many times and never had anything but outstanding service and amazing cheese. In fact, it’s gotten to be almost a tourist destination for my friends and family who come to visit… everyone gets taken to the Cheese Cave. I’ve seen some of their cheeses in far-​flung restaurants, so the word has gotten out that this place makes awesome cheese. Their cave-​aged Blue and «Jeff’s Select» are among the best cheeses I’ve had anywhere. Forget about sitting at the bar wine-​tasting, and trying to act like a food snob in middle-​class Faribault. Just go for the cheese and enjoy.

The Cheese Cave was a refreshing change on our road trip. The two guys working were very friendly and knowledgable. The soup was Smoked cream of Mushroom. YUM The wraps are good and plentiful. We also had a small cheese plate. Perfect as an entrée for 1 or 2! It had 4 types of cheese, crackers, gourmet chocolates, dried cranberries, and candied nuts. DELICIOUS!
They make most of their own cheeses, which is aged in real caves. Award winners! Well worth your stop.

Stopped on a whim after doing some outdoor adventuring in the area. We weren’t really sure what to expect but ended up having a great time and tasted some wonderful cheeses. Jacob was super knowledgeable about the company and all the cheese (plus the entire town of Faribault!) and very patiently answered all of my nerdy questions.
After tasting all the samples Jacob offered, we decided to sit down for a pint and a cheese plate. Only 4 taps but excellent selections.
Wonderful hospitality, we’ll be back — hopefully on a Tuesday for fresh curds!

Used to love this place for their excellent cheese/​wine selection but holy Hannah, worst service I have ever seen.
Slow waitstaff, very rude and blunt to customers has equated to me never wanting to enter this cave again.
Recommendation– avoid this place unless you magically already know off top of your head which one of their «artisan» cheeses you’re going to want.

Seems as though this place has gone downhill significantly in the last few months. Very poor customer service and not good food on my last visit.

This place is a gem! I’m glad that we finally took the time to stop in on our way down to Elysian.
We’ve seen the signs and just wondered «what is the cheese cave, exactly?» Well, it’s a great place to get and eat amazing cheeses and other culinary delights.
We were surprised to find that you can EAT IN the Cheese Cave, not just grab and go. They have a small sampling table right in front. Today, there was a blue that was probably one of the best I’ve ever had. It melted so fully on the palate that I could think of several uses in recipes. I may even experiment with a blue cheese cheesecake to add to my savory offerings.
We also tried their baby swiss and a cheddar. These, too, were great cheeses.
We drooled as we watched a young man prepare a plate of cheeses and acoutrement for a tasting that one of the patrons had ordered. We didn’t have time to stop and eat, though it’s now on our list of things to do.
We purchased the blue cheese and the Australia water crackers. Looking forward to having both and then coming back to try something else new.
If you’re in the Faribault area, this is a MUST STOP shop. I find it difficult to believe that you’d be disappointed.

Four words: Chipotle. Garlic. Cheese Curds. That’s all you need to know.
We first learned about the Cheese Cave during the Beer Dabbler. They had an assortment of their cheeses including hopped cheese curds. It was love at first bite. We were lucky enough to try the deep fried version of the hopped cheese curds at a wine sampling party at The Chatterbox and they were even better than I imagined they would be and we decided right then and there that we would be making a journey down to Fairbault the next chance we got. The shop is adorable with all sorts of cheese and wine accessories. Unfortunately, the hopped cheese curds are only available for special events at this time but the chipotle garlic cheese curds more than made up for that. Their regular version is also pretty delicious but the chipotle garlic curds are where it’s at! They also have bulk olive oil and I will definitely be stocking up on that the next time we visit.