Sandcastle

Nothing fancy here, usually crowded, so tables are casually occupied so people working her are always busy.
While their food is inepensive they serve fresh and tasty food.
Not to mention my all time favorite ice cream, creamy, big servings and totally in a very reasonable price.
Forget all the guilty feeling about your diet and indulge yourself to their wide option of ice-​cream flavors.
Freshly made with quality ingredients!
Lots of flavors and toppings to choose from!

Sandcastle ia a fantastic addition to Lake Nokomis, which was already my favorite hangout in the cities, especially after last year’s construction project which added a beautiful patio and lots of outdoor lakeside seating. Whether you’re spending your day on the adjacent beach and need a bite to eat; need a fun, relaxing, outdoor venue to meet friends for eats and drinks; or want to re-​fuel or reward yourself for running 5 times around the lake (it’s 2.4 miles, by the way), Sandcastle has you covered. They have live music some afternoons and evenings, so it’s a fun, relaxing place just to hang out with friends, companions, lovers…
The menu isn’t huge, but they’ve got a good range of selections and only the pickiest or snootiest diner won’t find something to love. Great choice of beers. A grab-​and-​go window if you want something in a hurry.
Sandcastle is seasonal, and open late spring to early fall. The wait isn’t too bad most of the time, but around peak dinner hour, even weekdays and especially if the weather is nice, you can wait a while in line, but it’s a beautiful place to do it.
Tons of parking in the lot and adjacent streets, and convenient to walk or bike to as well — it’s right on the trail system.

Yeah, it’s a bit overpriced but lovely place to have a beer and watch the lake! Lake Nokomis needed a place like this which would offer more than deep fried frozen food.
Menu offers a nice choice of fresh items and staff is always friendly. One thing which changed from first year was the wings. please bring them back!

Cheese curds and fries with Bacon Powder. The curds were more fried than curd and bacon powder turned out to NOT be the stuff that ends up on the bottom of the Bacon Bits™ bottle, but something I can only describe as powdered sugar if it tasted like bacon and not sugar. Fries & curds, not bad but it took 25 MINUTES. In mid-​October when pretty much EVERYONE’S gone home? C’mon now. At least now I know where NOT to go when there’s more than 5 people around, I’d hate to get stuck in THAT line

Sandcastle is a great place for a summer day by a south Minneapolis lake! It’s not as «hip» and popular as Tin fish, but it’s a great place to spend an afternoon, and I’d much prefer to hang out at sandcastle over tin fish.
The food isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s all solid from my experience. The hot dog with kimchi and a fried egg was pretty good, although it didn’t have as much flavor as I was hoping for…
The curds were good and so was the ceviche, but again, not great.
If you just want a beer, go to the «refill» window and you don’t have to wait in line!

Good view and lots of seating available. If you just want to get drinks, make sure to go to the «pick up» booth where you can pay for your drinks right away. Also, if you want just water, you can always ask for cups and water is available for free on the side.

Sandcastle is a bit over-​priced for what it is. And if you care about your guts, I’d say be wary of getting food there. I’ve been to sandcastle twice in the past few weeks, both times with the same result…

We ate at Sandcastle on a very chilly, windy MN night in July (go figure)…we anxious to get our food because we were COLD, but it took a long time… probably 45 minutes after ordering. This place seems to be a victim of their own success – we walk Nokomis weekly and the lines are always super-​long.
That said, the fare was definitely better than what you would get at most fast-​foodie lake shack joints. We really liked the deep-​fried cheese curds dipped in ranch dressing, but the fries with bacon powder were just weird. The pulled pork sandwich was pretty good, according to my husband… and I had the fish tacos which were decent. (Be sure to ask for extra sauce with them.)
Overall, not rushing to get back there, but better than average lake fare. Definitely pricey as other reviews have mentioned.

On one hand, I’m glad this place is here. On the other hand, it’s just so underwhelming.
Here’s what happens every time I stop in here with my precious spawn…
I read the description, get excited about my surely delicious food. Wait while holding one spawn, because there are no high chairs. Receive food. Immediate deflation ensues.
The buns are often stale. The fries cold. It’s just bland and dull. I haven’t had anything here that blows my skirt up and don’t even start telling me that the cheese curds are tasty, because you clearly haven’t been to Northbound. It’s not terrible food. It’s boring food.
I only stop in when I’m too lazy to pack a picnic. And since that’s often, I’ll be back. Back for more disappointment.

This little walk-​up is aptly placed pumping their deep-​fried air into the warm summer afternoon full of hungry post-​swim lake visitors. We fell right into the trap and got some deep-​fried cheese curds! It ain’t cheap but the food’s really good.
I’ve never eaten cheese curds in my life but (as with almost anything deep-​fried) they were delicious. They’ve got a great spot overlooking the lake and even hand out buzzers so you can hang out by your stuff until your food’s ready.

Food was OK but service was extremely slow! Expensive to. Waited over an hour for the food. It’s practically dark and the mosquitoes were eating me alive. Didn’t even give us a discount. In conclusion this restaurant was horrible!!!

Great spot to catch a quick lunch lake side. Amazing out door seating options and patio. Dog friendly. Serves beer. Both the BLT and pulled pork sandwiches were pretty damn good. Although to be honest I really just went there for the view. Just a great spot to grab a bite to eat before walking around Nokomis. Cant wait to go back.

As with Sea Salt, if you don’t want to wait hours for food it is best to go on off-​hours. Also like Sea Salt, the ambiance and atmosphere does a lot to compensate for price and service.
Though the food was good, it wasn’t close to $ 12/​person good. For that you get a half deflated, albeit delicious, wrap and a pickle spear. Even though it was quiet it took a lot longer than expected to get our wraps. Vegetarian wraps, no less. I might stop by again for a glass of wine or a beer, but I can’t see spending more than that.

I came on a Friday to try their «Fried chicken Friday» special that everyone has raved about but was disappointed to find out it wasn’t available until 4pm (don’t remember ever seeing this on their website or mentioned on their twitter feed). But I came all this way, so I wasn’t leaving empty handed. I tried the dog flicker which was mighty tasty but fell through the bun even before the yoke of the broke. Messy but still very good. Also added an order of fries to make it a meal. They gave a very nice portion for the $ 2.25 add on price, and the bacon powder is super original and really added to the flavor. I decided to add sriracha so the powder wouldn’t blow away in the wind which was a great choice.
Awesome new patio which I’m glad that they added, very spacious. I’ll definitely be back to try their Friday chicken special, AFTER 4PM this time :)

Try the fish tacos. The prices are fair, they have a great view of the lake (they’re right on it) and are family friendly.

The concept of this place is cool, obviously. Order at the window, grab a seat with a gorgeous water view, enjoy the weather and a beer – and we loved how kid-​friendly it was with a sandy beach and a playground… but the food. Oh how I wanted the food to match the phenomenal ambiance. Maybe my expectations were too high… I did see Andrew Zimmern in their Facebook photos…
I can second other negative reviews about the beer prices. Dude. $ 7.25 for a CAN of Crispin? Please, get over yourselves. No thanks, I’ll head down to Sea Salt for a Sociable Freewheeler on tap for $ 5. Now the food. It was cold. And the place was slow so it’s not like they were crazy busy busting out orders. We got french fries, which would have been good if not cold and soggy. We got chips and pico – thick, greasy chips were delicious; the pico was totally flavorless – basically just chopped tomatoes. My husband got fish tacos but said they were really bland, and I got the Dog Flicker, which is supposed to be a «beef frank with kimchee, cilantro, and a fried egg.» First of all, cooked, plain cabbage is NOT equal to kimchee. And second of all, you can’t say a menu item has cilantro, if you’re going to put one leaf on it.
Overall, very disappointed in the food.

Everyone raves about the fish tacos — they were not fantastic, especially considering the best fish tacos in Minneapolis (Sea Salt) are just a mile or two away.
The real star was the falafel wrap that my wife got. Delicious!

A pint of lift bridge will run you $ 6.75. A pitcher of the same beer is $ 27. The pitchers looked small, so asked the girl behind the counter if the pitchers were a better deal. She said, «Yes, you get more glasses of beer for the price.» We bought a pitcher and divvied it up amongst ourselves. 3 full pint glasses and one not so full glass. I flipped the pitcher over and, sure enough, 60 ounces! So we actually got LESS BEER for the money than we had if we had bought 4 single glasses. We left feeling rather ripped off. And rightly so.
I want to love this place– I live in the neighborhood and we adore summer evenings at Sea Salt, so I thought perhaps this would be a comparable (and closer to home!) rival; one where we can meet friends for a few beers and some good food on a summer evening… But every time I go, I feel like we paid too much and got too little. Want condiments? 50 cents. Want fries with your $ 8 sandwich? It’ll cost you. Oh, and even though its counter service, you always feel guilted into giving the folks at the counter a decent tip due to the fancy ipad tipping device they make you checkout on (maybe that’s just a personal problem).
The food is decent, but the value just isn’t there; particularly when you have something like Sea Salt to compare it to. I realize you’re going for a more upscale take on concession food, but the pricing here is way too aggressive for what you get.
PS A pitcher of local brew at Sea Salt runs $ 18.

The location is terrific! Right on the water and near a park for the kids to play in.
We had soft serve cones, cheese curds, a Dog Flicker and fish tacos for our party of five. The cheese curds were outstanding with what seemed to be homemade ranch sauce– yum! My mom loved the fish tacos which were pretty good. Hubby loved the dog flicker– unique and delicious. We will be back!

The last time I got something to eat from a park concession it was not good. I don’t remember what I got, but it was not good.
Fast forward to today when following a whim we wound up at Sandcastle for lunch. Let me just say at the beginning this is not just another park concession stand!
Cheese curds coated with a light batter (almost tempura like), fried and served up with a choice of sauces — just go directly to the sriracha sauce option. The batter is light, crisp and absolutely lovely. The curd inside is hot and melty but not run all over your face and hands gooey. Hands down the best fried cheese curds I have ever had, and I don’t like deep fried cheese. But these babies will bring me back time and again.
The fish tacos were cooked up on a flat top and served up on corn tortillas with julienne radish (we requested no cilantro to accommodate a food sensitivity). The lime wedges served with them were nicely juicy.
The pulled pork sandy included a light BBQ sauce that didn’t cover up the pork with cloying sweetness, allowing the pork to shine on its own right, while the slaw on top complimented the pork and lifted the sandwich up.
The dog flicker was a snappy skinned dog served up with kimchi, cilantro and a fried egg on top. I was worried that the fried egg would turn the whole thing into a mess when eaten but the egg was prepared perfectly for the way it was to be consumed — the yolk was slightly set so as not to run all over the place yet still have a hint of liquid egg yolk.
The topic of the cheese curds kept resurfacing as we drove across town, so there is no doubt we will be back.