House of Coates

I was super excited to finally try an infamous House of Coates burger. I’m a sucker for small town bars/​restaurants and heard great things. I ordered the Swanee Burger and split a basket of fries. The burger was good, but lacked in being seasoned correctly. I’ve honestly had better. I would definitely eat there again, but overall not worth the hype. Great staff, good atmosphere, but I expected a little more from the food.

The hamburgers are wonderful. It is definitely a place I like to visit on my way to rehearsal a couple times a year! HUGE TIP: Save a little money and order a basket of fries to split with the table.

What a classic place… Having always seen lots of cars in the parking lot from passing by on several trips between MSP and Rochester, I decided to stop in and have lunch. I was not disappointed… Their burger was quite impressive. While their claims of «the best burger» may be slightly overstated, it was certainly VERY good. I ordered their Mushroom burger and it did not disappoint. First of all it was rather HUGE. My burger had a nice helping of mushroom, cheese, and onion and was cooked to a perfect medium rare. The bun was good as well. For $ 7.50 it was an absolute bargain! Their order of fries was also huge. Too much for one person to tackle.
The décor inside truly goes with the building outside. While circa 1970s, it is clean… I can say without hesitation, that this will be my new stop between MSP and Rochester moving forward…

Great little jem of a place! Hamburger was good, the bun was so light, fluffy, oh delicious — had to eat it even though I am not suppose to. Will visit again when back in town.

Stopped in on a Thursday evening. House of Coates has a very cozy atmosphere. It’s exactly what you would think of when someone says «small town Minnesota bar». Our server was busy, but attentive.
I went against the crowd and instead of getting the Swanee burger I ended up getting the Big Canada Jack. It was pretty good. The only thing I was disappointed about was that I read «Canadian Bacon» as normal bacon, and their normal bacon looked to die for. Our table also shared an order of fries. Overall everything was reasonably priced. When I’m in the neighborhood again I will for sure stop by!

Went to House of Coates at about 7 on Saturday evening. Place was packed to the gills with locals. Luckily it was just me and my gal, and we were seated immediately.
We started with an order of onion rings. They were crunchy and fried well-​enough to our liking. I’d give it an ⁸⁄₁₀ because they were definitely underseasoned.
We each ordered a Swanee burger and ordered a basket of fries to split. Lame that the burger doesn’t come with fries for $ 8, but what’re you gonna do? I’m too busy to start a petition.
The waitress (who was very friendly and attentive) didn’t ask us how we wanted them cooked, but I specified mine medium at ordering and she was happy to accommodate. My girlfriend said the same.
We had some time to kill, so we decided to donate some money to the community by getting our asses kicked in pull tabs. Not the fault of the establishment, so losing at gambling isn’t reflected in this review. That’d be like saying «1 star, Kum n Go sux! I didn’t win on my $ 20 scratch off!» when clearly the name itself is enough to warrant at LEAST 2 stars to Kum n Go, right?
Sorry, got off track.
Anyways, the burger was a good size, maybe a little over a ½ lb before cooking. Tasted fresh, but was underseasoned. Mine was cooked perfectly but could have rested a bit as it bled all over my plate like a grisly scene from a Romero movie.
My girl’s burger was red as a baboon’s ass. She ate half cuz she wanted to put it in the microwave at home so she wouldn’t get sick, or die, or some nonsense. I mean, women? Right?
Basket of fries was enough to share between 2 of us. Again, underseasoned. But there’s salt at the table though, so you know… there’s that at least.
All in all, food was okay. They must not have a spice rack in back, but everything I ate was cooked well enough and tasted fresh. I was surprised the Swanee burger was just a ½ lb bacon cheeseburger. I figured if it was World Famous there’d at least be a fried egg on it or something.
I might ask them to do that next time. To be continued?

Awesome burgers, and their chicken looked delish! I will try that next time! Waitress was funny, pretty much told us to order fries and share them! We did as told. Was perfect amount and tasty.

The house of Coates has probably the best burger in Minnesota! Fresh bakery buns every morning, hand pattied ½ burgers, two freshly made large pieces of bacon, and to top it all off with fired onions you just can’t beat it! I have had the Swanee burger the past few times in and it’s so good I can’t get myself to switch to try something else. If you are ever driving down hwy 52 in Minnesota it is definitely worth the stop to get the best burger in the state along with that caring small town feel!

*** STRICTLY RELATED TO THEIR BURGERS ***
The Best Is Yet To Come!
The smooth sounds of ol’ Frankie in the background has me thinking about my recent visit to a place advertising the following. «Best Burgers Around» and «World Famous Burgers». Well, of course that is going to get my attention and yes, yes I did pay this restaurant a visit. Settled just off the highway in the little town of Coats is the House of Coats, the restaurant bold enough to advertise such phrases.
I will start by saying, the burgers being served are certainly worth eating and I would consider stopping back for another, however, if you’re going to be bold, you better be able to bring it! In fact, I would ask the owners to take part in the 2015 Burger Challenge taking place in the North Loop this summer and see how they do against the competition and the champs, my pals at B52 Burgers and Brew.
I ordered two Swanne Burgers, their signature burger and of course ordered them pink. I added my condiments as I usually would, cut the bad bad boy in half and there it was… No pink! While still juicy, no pink! There was no waiting for my lips and this burger to meet and thankfully, it was still a pleasant burger to consume. But… To call it the «Best Burger Around» or «World Famous», that’s a stretch.
As Frankie so graciously puts it, «you ain’t seen nothing yet» until you’ve tried the other places «around» that serve better which include; King’s Place (downright amazing), B52 Burgers and Brew, Jersey’s Bar & Grill or my very own creations at home. If «around» is speaking to just Coats, sure! It’s the only place in Coats that serves food! AND, if someone orders a pink burger, they want it to be pink, not well done.
The best is yet to come and babe, won’t it be fine? Yes Frankie, it sure will!

There was a bit of a wait initially. It was a Saturday evening so I guess we expected that. I understand they were having difficulty with their credit card machine so that could’ve contributed to the wait.
Service was excellent. My husband had the prime rib and it was just as we expected it to be… delicious! As we were waiting, we kept seeing au gratin potatoes that looked so yummy. They didn’t taste quite as yummy as they looked. Tasted a bit artificial. I had the tiger shrimp and they were just perfect. I also had the rice and that was also very good. We both enjoyed the salad bar. We would definitely stop again.

The service is typically great here, as it was once again.
This is NOT a chain restaurant and it shows.
The blinds are rarely open and the ceiling is low but that does not matter once you have some good creative home cooking and a few stiff drinks.
Kid friendly.
Old folks friendly.
Farmer friendly.
Biker friendly.
They even take plastic!
And wow, you will even get a conversation out of a bartender that does not have a plate or jewelry store hanging out of protrusions in his or her body,
A great American bar with damn good food.
Locals love it! You will too!

The atmosphere was perfectly Minnesotan, and the food was yummy. We got the Vegamite burger, it was a big burger topped with a variety of chopped fried veggies. The food was good and the service was excellent. We were fortunate enought to have a bartender named George and a server named Jaye help us out. They were both really enthuastic, and when the Vikings scored they gave those of us at the bar a mixed app basket.
We just happened to stop here on a Sunday and it was a great addition to the weekend! Bloodys, burgers, & pull tabs – thanks House of Coates!

The burger. It’s not just a hamburger. There’s a certain way that the meat is cooked that makes this burger a meal. I also enjoyed some really fresh cheese balls. Order the cheese balls early. You will still be munching on them when your burger shows up. The steak special looked good and everyone around me was loving their decision to order the steak.

Swanee burger… Remember that!!!
Ok, this is a hole in the wall that you drive by 100 times and never think to stop. Well, stop and get a burger, sure the city has matts bar or the nook but in the burbs we have the house of coates with the Swanee!
For us it’s a winter place, it’s a warm and cozy place that screams Minnesota! The tap beer is good, fries are great and burgers are perfect and the bill is affordable.

Try the Swanee burger and the cheese curds. Both are fantastic!
I would not recommend going here on a Friday or Saturday. The place is very small
And cramped and they are always super busy. Guess that means the food is good, right?!! If you live close by, I would
Recommend doing takeout just so you don’t have to wait for a table.

I had a mushroom Swiss burger, and it was definitely top 5 favorite mushroom Swiss burgers I’ve had in my short 26 years on Mother Earth. Great taste, really juicy, and really good price. Would definitely recommend it to anyone traveling South from the Twin Cities along 52. Even if you’re not hungry, get it to go. You won’t regret it

Stopped here on my way out of town after hearing from a buddy that they were known for their burgers. I was less than impressed with the whole experience. It has a small highway-​stop burger joint feel, which is interesting, but not all that great. The burger itself was high quality and cooked exactly as I had ordered, but everything else lagged behind. The bun, toppings, sides, etc. all lacked any sort of quality, and the service was average.
I’ve since read that this place used to be much better, so I’m not sure if it’s changed or what, but I was underwhelmed. Worth the stop if you are in the area to judge for yourself, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to try this again.

Bitch, don’t kill my vibe
The burger was alright (?), but
what happened to Jake’s?
I had heard and read great things about the Swanee Burger. There is not much else on the menu; this is what they are known for. Did not live up to the hype. Asked for it medium well and it came out medium rare, at best. It was bleeding into the bun. Some people may like it this way. I am not one of them, and it is the opposite of what I had requested. Also, took them about 25 minutes to bring out the thing which was barely cooked.
Sad to see Jake’s across the way reduced to a mere liquor store. The good old days are gone. #nostalgic

Checked in here for the first time last week and I must say, it was good! The place in general appears to be a bit of a dive, limited beer choices and such. However, the place is clean and pleasant.
Food wise, the burgers are made fresh; as in not a frozen disk of meat. I had the vegemite burger. No, no actual vegemite on it. But, there was sauted onions, peppers, and celery (vegetables?) with cheese that made for a not surprisingly good flavor. Pops had a mushroom burger he claimed was very good as well. Fries were good and fresh and the beer nice and cold. It was slow in there so I would expect service to be good and it was.
I’m almost a fan, but I’ll have to check it out one more time to be sure.

Several years ago, my wife and I used to routinely stop at the House of Coates on the way back from treks to Rochester, MN. Recently, I had lunch here with a couple of friends. They’d never been. In any case, we all ordered burgers and fries and shared a basket of Beer Battered Onion Rings. The food was as good as I remembered it to be.
I had the ¹⁄₃ lb. mushroom Swiss burger, medium. It was juicy, flavorful, overflowing with mushrooms and cheese and served on a fresh (non-​toasted) bun. The others had the Swanee and the basic cheeseburger respectively. Both gave them two thumbs up. The fries were fine. The onion rings were very good. It may be worth noting that as advertized, there is a subtle beer taste in the batter. Of course all the alcohol has evaporated by the time the rings are pulled up out of their emersion in hot oil. This is just an FYI to those for whom this might be an issue.
Service was pleasant and the atmosphere road house casual. A mix of retirees, families with young children and a few guys watching a game on one of the screens scattered around the room. A solid, no frills place to enjoy a tasty, reasonably priced meal.