Whistle Binkies On The Lake

We love coming here for drinks and dinner. It’s a fun spot with a good patio and good atmosphere. It can get REALLY busy in the summer so be prepared to spend a little time waiting– but it’s worth it. Our favorite servers are the two friendly blonde short girls named Kelsie J. and Robin P. They’re both the best but we haven’t seen them as much lately… Service can otherwise be hit or miss… but if you have them you’ll be in for a good time with good service! Make sure to check out their Bloody Mary bar and patio.

We had dinner elsewhere, and came here for dessert. We ordered the Mile High Chocolate Cake. It was fantastic!
The staff was nice & the restaurant is big, so we didn’t feel bad hanging out & playing trivia. Normally we wouldn’t take a table that long for such a small order, but they make you feel welcomed. It’s nice!

I enjoy this place. The atmosphere is fun with outdoor patio and view of water and sandpit but the service can be very slow and on weekends if you don’t have a reservation it can be very hard to get in. The food is ok and the drinks are good. I really like their bloody Mary’s. They have live music sometimes too.

I seriously can’t recommend this place enough. Excellent food and even better drinks and the staff is amazing. If you are ever in Rochester MN you just can’t beat this place. Best part of my week long trip

Great lunch outside on the patio looking at the water. Been waiting for this all winter. Binkies is a large bar /​restaurant that often has live entertainment, they even have outdoor sandpit volleyball, I never participate ofcourse. I had the Greek salad and today bottled beer is only $ 2!

It’s a fun place but can get overcrowded. I recommend the shepherds pie and their bloody Mary’s are great. It took a long time to be seated and served and the bathroom is too small.

Although they have a vast drink menu and a liter mug for beer, very disappointed in the service. Friday night and it wasn’t all that busy. Took over a half hour to get a half order of nacho’s. When they finally came, the chips were so soggy and cheese was all dried out, it wasn’t even worth the wait. And then to top it off, there wasn’t any jalapeño on them either. :(
Second time there, not impressed.

Not thrilled at all. Service poor, drink added we didn’t receive or order, food so so. Had shrimp and pasta dish that needed more sauce. Appetizers of egg rolls and chicken fingers could be found in the frozen food section of Wal-​Mart. Husband had fish, small, cooked too long. Raisins in bread pudding burnt. Not happy with at all.

The food was bland I got the. Cajun burger and the best part was the bun. The frickles where on point though. My server seemed like he hated his life. Sorry homie I didn’t make you go to work today and yes we tipped the bus boy because he was actually nice and on top of things. My overall experience was pretty bland. I will not be returning to tiddywinkles.

Visited Whistle Binkies on a Sunday around 11AM for their brunch. We called and made reservations on the Friday before as we had a larger group and a person that needed a wheelchair. We arrived and entered the building. They were busy and it was pretty loud in the restaurant. There was a «Please Seat Yourself» sign when you entered, so my husband went up to the bar and asked, since we had made reservations. The person working said they had a table set up in the back room for us. We had to ditch the wheelchair back to the car and help our handicapped person trek through the entire restaurant because all of the tables were pushed so close together, you could barely walk through. After asking several other seating patrons to move, we finally made it to our table. The brunch bar was halfway across the restaurant again, so we knew it wouldn’t be possible for part of the group to get back to it. Half of the party ordered buffet and the rest ordered from the menu.
The brunch contained over-​cooked scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, shrimp and rice, ravioli, bacon, sausage, waffles, a few other breakfast items and some desserts. The eggs were over-​cooked and rubbery. The waffles had little flavor. The bacon was flabby. None of the desserts were good. The brunch bar for $ 14 a person, was a disappointment. I ordered the biscuits and gravy from the menu. The biscuits were like rocks, gravy was cold and hashbrowns were also cold. 2 people ordered fish and chips. The fish were the cod tails, they lacked flavor and were very greasy. The other person from our group ordered a burger. It was good, but nothing to rave about.
Our waitress was less than impressive. We asked simple questions, such as: What time the breakfast bar go until and what the «entrée of the day» was? She gave us answers such as: «It goes until 2 or 3 or somewhere in there.» (We found a menu after and it said 1pm). And «I’m not sure about the entrée, there are eggs and waffles and stuff (yes she said stuff) on the buffet».
This goes without saying, breakfast was okay. The fight to get to our table was not worth it however. Getting out was even harder than getting in. Next time, we’ll probably just find somewhere that takes the needs of a party (such as a member in a wheelchair) seriously, especially since we called several days ahead!

We come here for Margarita happy hours. Fun place lots of room, even though it still gets very busy. Summer time is fun with lots of outdoor seating and volleyball watching. There’s a lake too. I recommend the Mandarin chicken salad and nachos.

We loved this unexpected place! Trust your gps, a little difficult to find. Wanting a beer and needing a good place to eat with wife and 3 kids, wife found this highly rated place on TripAdvisor. Walked in at 4pm and found the place very busy. Would have walked out, but found some spots at the bar. Kids had the complementary popcorn (perfectly buttered) while adults had drinks. The drinks — oh sweet scotch! More than impressive, their selection of scotch and whiskey (or whisky!) is among the best I’ve seen and was immensely enjoyed. Their beer list was extensive, and the taps had some good locals listed, but i was too mesmerized by the scotch offerings. Perhaps another night…
The food was… refreshingly delicious and generous. My 10 year old ranked his turkey bacon wrap add the best he’s had. Want as impressed with the chili. 8 year old really enjoyed the homemade mac-​n-​cheese but not so much the pub chips. 6 year old had chx fingers… and we don’t trust his judgement yet regardless of his review. I had one of the special of the day: a German sausage sandwich with kraft and cheese on marble rye. Very good — in fact n almost preferred the sandwich more sans sausage (links were shared with hungry 10yr old). My wife had the other special: German Rouladen with red cabbage… it was terrific — she won. Hands down, her meal was pure deliciousness and hard to believe served in a pub– it outdoes some more expensive restaurants.
We will be back. With friends. And family. You will want to spend your money here.

Really good Irish Stew, really good egg rolls, huge selection of drinks, friendly staff. Looks like there is outdoor seating next to the lake when it’s warmer.

Not so long ago Whistle Binkies was the closest thing Rochester had to gastro pub. It was a cool place to hang out, have a *GASP* not-​pale-​yellow pint of beer, and get a bite to eat. By Rochester standards, that qualified as hip and trendy.
These days the competition has improved, while Binkies has remained stagnant. There’s better tap lists in town, a lot of them actually, including a few actual breweries. There’s several better places to get a burger. There’s better places to watch the game. There’s hipper places with better atmosphere, both upscale and otherwise. The menu is exactly the same as it was 5 years ago. Heck, I can get a Surly or a Guinness at almost any generic chain restaurant these days. To summarize, the rest of Rochester is eating Binkies lunch. Pun intended.
My family and I used to be regulars, but now we struggle to find reasons to choose Binkies over the competition.

Second time going here… Now I will tell you the place is pretty sweet… And fun, funny thing is I had one of the owners actually wait on me today and it was apparent to me that he could have cared less that I was there– furthermore he had the personality of a fucking rock– the most boring uninteresting person I had ever met and he was my sever and was an owner!!! Holy shit keep behaving like this and you traffic will go down! Don’t be a Debbie downer if your working the bar moron!

My husband and I are here in Rochester from the San Francisco area visiting the Mayo Clinic. I have to admit that I expected a totally different atmosphere… In my mind I pictured a cheery bright restaurant with views of a Minnesota lake.
When we arrived it was clear that we needed to shift gears and adjust our expectations. We were going to have a dark pub experience and no view of a lake… We ended up enjoying this place very much. We were amazed at the extensive beer list and loved the fresh popcorn. I had the Shepherds Pie and thought it was very tasty. It was quite busy when we were there at about 6:30 pm on a week night, but service was good and our waitress was quite attentive. We would go back again.

Great dinner! My wife had the chicken fajita salad and liked it. I had an Irish favorite, fish and chips, which was very good. Decided to have dessert and it was worth the trip. We had the bread pudding! Mmm mmm!

Great little pub with some really nice daily/​weekly specials. The place is a little loud for a family or people looking to talk. However, great place for patrons looking for a pub atmosphere for some drinks and a very large menu.
The night we went was «Tropical Tuesday» with $ 2 Coronas, $ 2.50 Margaritas (way too sweet for our taste), and 35cent peal and eat shrimp (had some amazing flavoring).
We had their specials plus an order of Hot Wings and Nachos. We’d get the Hot Wings any time. They were cooked perfectly and had a great seasoning. We’ll pass on the Nachos on our next visit. We felt $ 10 for a half order was a little too much and we’d rather spend the money on other items.
Food is great, beer is cold, and popcorn is free.

Weird place. You walk in and see the free popcorn and think «swill hall». Then you see the tap list and think «ambitious beer rep». Then you order bangers and mash not knowing what to think.
It’s a real tap house with a sports bar décor. Food was worthy, bartenders know their beer, the atmosphere is straight out of the suburbs.
Worth a try for beer enthusiasts.

First time here, so I’m always cautious to be too critical of service and food, but we chose this place because of the reviews from Unilocal.Actually I’d give it 3.5, 3 is a little harsh, 4 a little too much.
Food was pretty good, I had the bangers and mash (posted a picture). Sausages were huge, veggies fresh and not overcooked, although the mash was watery, and lacked any flavor. Are these powered mash potatoes?
My colleague had the walleye sandwich, and although he couldn’t tell if it was frozen or fresh, certainly finished it. He said it was pretty good.
Let’s be clear though about one thing. There is no lake here. A pond, yes. But not a lake.
The service was just adequate, nothing special, no one checked that our food was good, and refills were a little too slow. We had arrived just after opening for the lunch crowd, so maybe that had something to do with it?
The only thing that gets me is that I am not sure I want to go back… Maybe for dinner? Maybe?