Island Cafe

This place is a gem! We came up for the weekend to cross country ski and ate here for breakfast both Saturday and Sunday and we’re very impressed. It is owned by a Greek family and has some nice Greek choices on the menu. The breakfast menu has so many good choices including four kinds of benedicts covered in their delicious homemade hollandaise sauce. The eggs are cooked well, the veggies are all fresh, the hash Browns are crunchy and delicious, the omelets are then and wrapped around a lot of fresh toppings and no oil. The biscuits and gravy are %100 homemade and so tasty! We had two different waitresses and they were both attentive, kind and funny; giving us advice on where to ski and go out for drinks. The atmosphere is great, the food is all fresh and tasty, the staff is friendly and helpful, the prices are reasonable. Overall a great experience, I would highly recommend it for breakfast and will definitely be back!

Always go here for breakfast when we are in town. Great service. Very green/​economy friendly. Food is good quality. I had the veggies farmers breakfast this time. .yummy. Good coffee too! Friend had Blueberry pancakes that looked excellent.

Great service, Greek food, and therefore great value. Good wines/​beers and a nice menu to satisfy everyone. Solid choice in Minocqua.

I’ve eaten here a few times… the turkey dinner (in February!) is yummy. The prices are high but it’s a Minocqua tourist staple so it’s expected. I enjoy sitting at the front table so I can see the pretty red house across the street. My mother in-​law tells me stories about her childhood friend who once lived there.

I’m a regular to the minocqua area, have been for almost 40 years. I’ve been to this restaurant only a couple times and now I remember why. It’s been at least 10 years since my last visit and I don’t know if this place has changed owners in that time or not. What I do know is their prices are insanity. I ordered breakfast to go for 2 on Friday morning. 2 omelettes hash browns, 1 side of bacon and toast. $ 45 bucks
REALLY …WTF
Food was good … Not great but good.
Cheese in the omelettes tasted like velveta or some kind of phony cheese sauce. It was suppose to be American. This is Wisconsin right ??? The frikkin cheese head state !!!
After looking over the bill when I got home I discovered how they pad the bill. Everything had a take out charge added to it from .50c to a buck, that added $ 5 bucks to the bill .
Never again !

I love this place the food is great. George is a sweetheart and his wife Crystal is a saint she’s, such a kind lady. The crew there are all friendly. Dominka is my regular waitress and I think she is awesome. Most important the food is 5 star.

One of my favorite spots «up north». I love greek food and this place has delicious authentic greek choices. The greek platter (i think that is what it is called) is the best– awesome to share with a group. Their lattes and coffee drinks are amazing, and just this past weekend we tried a pumpkin muffin… the server warmed it up for us and it was way too good!

We just had a very unpleasant experience here and it was disappointing because it was our last meal together as a family before traveling back home. :(
Our waitress was rude to us from the beginning. When we asked for a children’s menu she said yes, with a big huff and a sigh. So not off to a great start.
When she brought the drinks she bumped her tray on something (not even near our children), and spilled several drinks all over my mom. There were also several glasses that broke all around my parents. I understand that accidents happen, but she didn’t even apologize; just made another huff/​sigh and went to get a broom to clean up the glass. She didn’t even wipe off the table.
My mom lives nearby so she went home with my dad to change. They let us know they were just going to eat there instead since it would be late by the time they got back to the restaurant.
They took my parent’s orders off the ticket (the food wasn’t out yet anyway), but did NOTHING else. They did not comp a single thing on the ticket. They did not offer a gift certificate for my mom.
Other servers did come by and apologize for our server and were friendly. Our server is a member of the family that owns the restaurant, so the way she handled the situation was disappointing. The finishing touch was when she put our bill face down in the water still on the table. Nothing like a wet bill to end an unpleasant experience.
This used to be one of my mom’s favorite places in Minocqua and it was always our special treat to go there for lunch whenever I was visiting. We won’t be back.

The atmosphere of Island Café is average American diner. The coffee and tea selections are great! The gyro and vegetable baguette were mediocre and lacked flavor.

Wonderful family owned place. Biscuits and Sausage Gravy are great, as well as the Turkey Burger. Best hummus I have ever had! Friendly prompt service too! One star docked because they aren’t open for dinner

I have been here numerous times over the years and this place goes back and forth between really good and utter crap. Today, and the last time I was in, were utter crap.
First off, the person who thought up the «seat yourself at a clean table» thing in a tourist town in the height of summer needs to be fired. We waited 20 minutes to sit down and basically had to fight for a seat with people that came in after us. And when we walked over to an empty table to wait for it o be cleaned, we were yelled at to not sit there and had to walk back to the front like scolded puppies.
The girl who sat us was very nice, agreed that the policy was dumb, and got us our drinks right away. We then waited 15 minutes for the waitress to come over and even say hello (same one that yelled at us… And same one that other Unilocalers complained about, Jane) and take our order. She brought our food and then left and never came back until we were completely done (and this wasn’t just us… Several other tables had to wait upwards of 10 minutes to even get menus from her).
So the food:
— The lettuce on my chicken sandwich was still frozen
— The fries were so greasy they were dripping oil
— I got almost all the way through my sandwich before I realized the chicken was still raw in places (see my pictures)
Oh and you pay extra for everything, but they don’t tell you that on the menu. Skip it and try one of the pubs in town. Or venture down to the ice cream place on 51 as you first come down Oneida street. It’s not worth it and it’s insanely overpriced to boot.

Food is amazing 5/​5, service is mediocre ³⁄₅. I hit this up every time I’m in Minocqua and am never disappointed. Food is somewhat pricy ($ 10+) per most entrées.

It’s hard to remember the last time I thought a Greek run restaurant was either over priced or less than competent but I’m in complete agreement with Heather H. & Michael A. I wish I’d looked online before experiencing an overpriced sub-​par late lunch last week. I ate a $ 7 bowl of ‘homemade’ chili (very thin, reminded me of Campbell’s chili circa 45 years ago) with a hint of ‘Mister Clean’ aftertaste that made me wonder if they’d insufficiciently rinsed soap from their pot or dishes? At 2 pm in a slow restaurant our waitress gossiped with a cashier rather than bring us our check after we requested it. Then, after we’d left a 20% cash tip, the cashier tried embarrassing me into also leaving our waitress the $ 0.65 change I was due? What? Who treats customers like this? Not restaurants that value repeat business. As Andrew L. says «Don’t bother.»

I’ve been coming to the Island Café for years. I’ve had such good food and service over the years. I’ve had the Greek food — the artichoke dip is so good as is the egg lemon soup. When I was still eating meat I had excellent salmon.
They have a good selection for us vegetarians– some super good sandwiches! I LOVE their breakfasts. Last time I went I had a frittata with roasted potatoes and fruit. It was just delicious.
When I come for lunch in the summer I try to time it before or after th true lunch rush so I can be assured of outdoor seating. It is so enjoyable. Consistently good food for many years!

Stopped into the Island Café for lunch on a Sunday and quickly got a table even though it was during the lunch hour. The staff are very friendly and accommodating.
We ordered the cheese curds, turkey club sandwich and a turkey burger. The cheese curds are very good here. They use very light breading which makes them much less crispy then those found somewhere else. The turkey sandwich was pretty big and already cut into 4 sections and included a small amount of melon and a pickle. The turkey burger came on pita bread and wasabi on the side. Both were very delicious and quite filling.
This is a nice little spot downtown, will surely come next time and try their well recommended Greek dishes.

best food in town of Minocqua, my favorite for breakfast: greek omelette or eggs benedict prefer salmon
lunch: lamb shank best in this area
food is definitely worth the price!!!
Enjoy your meal ;)

WHOA. I stopped in here for breakfast for the first time and am thinking it will be my last… unless someone else is paying. The omelet was decent, but was really less an omelet and more just a thin egg pouch filled with stuff. It was pretty good sized tho,
I thought it seemed a little pricey at about $ 11, but everything was that price, so i figured no big deal. The wait staff asked if I wanted toast. Sure. How about hash browns? OK. I figured this was included in that $ 11.
Yeah, apparently not. They were all extra.
So an omelet, a small plate of hash browns, an English muffin (one of the toast options), and a short glass of OJ.
$ 18.00!
Yep. It cost me… JUST ME… $ 18.00 for breakfast. For just «OK» breakfast. I can get «OK» breakfast anywhere for HALF that. For $ 18 I can go do a champagne brunch someplace like Chicago or Milwaukee at a nice hotel.
YEESH. It’s after Labor Day folks… time to quit with the tourist prices! I’m pretty sure when you eat here, you are paying the «Welcome to Beautiful and Charming Downtown Minocqua» surcharge. NO THANKS!
Next time, Perkins will be just fine. This is soooooo not worth the money.

Was planning on stopping someplace else, but the line at the other place was l-​o-​n-​g, as it was mother’s day.
Found this by accident on the way out of town, friendly, Greek-​owned diner, greek and american specialties, very generous servings, exceptional wait staff.
Worth a stop.

Parties came and went before our food even came out. Our waitress never even stopped by. When we finally got her attention, she was unapologetic and gave just about the worst possible answer for the delay. She told us it was not her fault and kitchen was to blame. We ate and had to flag down Miss Not My Fault for our bill. She was clearly angry we did not take leftovers with us. Our bill was $ 41 and was not discounted at all. Inattentive, abrasive waitstaff makes me say who cares about the food. We won’t be back.