You can't go wrong with a grilled cheese and tomato soup after a weekend of canoeing in the BWCA! Truly a perfect end to a perfect weekend. Yummy food, nice staff, and pretty outdoor seating. read more

The food was delicious and service was so fast! A very large group of us came in all at once and they handled the chaos like pros. Loved the addition of games for us to play while we waited. read more

Many years coming to Ely and today was our first visit to Gator's. Very delicious and a courteous staff, we will definitely return. All of our sandwiches were fantastic and good sized. We ordered the Turkey avocado club, the Rachel, and the burger. We also tried the Turkey wild rice soup and it also was good also, and very filling. Looking forward to our next visit. read more

Tasty. But 45 minutes for grilled cheese and tomato soup at 2pm on a weekday? Seems a bit out of bounds.

Our family wanted to have a nice and easy breakfast in the morning, so we choose the grilled cheese emporium. The minute we walked in they announced to us that there credit card machine was down, which we completely understood and had cash to pay for our food. Then when we were about to order, they told us that they would not make us any lunch order because they were too busy (we were the only ones inside the restaurant besides a group of seniors that didn't seem to have ordered any food. We made the ultimate decision to go somewhere else that was capable of serving us food, and when we told her we were sorry and that we would be eating somewhere else she said "Okay whatever" in a incredibly rude way. Our experience with this restaurant was less than enjoyable and the service was snappy and rude. read more

Delicious food! We had the turkey avacado sandwich & dinner salad. They had homemade dressings and while we were outside eating they brought our dog Lucy a bowl of fresh water. This will be our new GO TO restaurant in Ely from now on!! read more

We have dined at Gators many times over the years. They are always friendly and the food is great. My kids love the Mac and cheese, and the grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup are pretty awesome! They have decent breakfast food as well. I most recently had the opportunity to try their Pasties, and they were pretty darned good as well. I just wish they were open more in the winter months, but I understand that this is hard to do in Ely. I will continue to go to this restaurant! They have become a favorite of ours. read more

Gator's Grilled Cheese Emporium - My son enjoying Mac and Cheese - American Near Me - Ely, Minnesota

We heard it was good. I ordered grilled cheese and tomato soup. The sandwich consisted of one slicew of American Cheese servered inside two pieces of Texas toast. The cheese was not even melted . It was stone cold. I had asked for the four cheese. Do not waste your time thinging you might get a good sandwich. Plus the tomato soup was cold. I asked for crackers..none to be had. read more

Good grilled cheese and tomato soup. the chicken and rice soup is excellent! I wish I had noticed the regular vs the 4-cheese sandwich. I got the regular which was fine but just American. Overall tasty. read more

They obviously specialize in grilled sandwiches but their breakfast options are pretty good too. The coffee is VERY good. We ordered biscuits and gravy, the breakfast burrito, and the breakfast sandwich. The best of the three was the sandwich which, given their specialty, shouldn't have been a surprise. read more

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We enjoyed Gator's twice when we were in Ely, once for lunch and once for breakfast. GO THERE for breakfast - the selection and preparation is excellent! Staff is friendly and service is fast (and you'll starve waiting in line to get into Briton's, so just forget about that place). The lunch menu was just okay - we just expected more choices from a place that calls itself a "Grilled Cheese Emporium." I love grilled cheese so I was disappointed they had only 2 choices (plain cheese, or, 4-cheese), both were basic grilled cheese on good grilled bread with a cup of good tomato basil soup. An "emporium" brings to mind a great variety of choices and I encourage the owners of this cute place to get creative - there are so many ways to add variety to a grilled cheese and I don't even care if you charge me for every added ingredient (spinach, tomato, harissa, roasted chilies, bacon, avocado, egg... you get the idea!) Okay, but none of that counts as a complaint - 5 stars! read more

For the food alone, I would give 5 stars. I had the 4 cheese grilled cheese with tomato soup. The grilled cheese was fantastic. The bread was buttery and toasted perfectly without being greasy. The tomato soup was full of flavor and had some nice tomato chunks, without being too chunky. My kid had the bacon mac and cheese sandwich and it was more of a fork & knife situation rather than a sandwich. The mac & cheese was amazing but didn't go well on the bread. Indoor and outdoor seating are pleasant. The menu was very small so check it out before you go. Prices felt high for grilled cheese sandwiches but it is high quality food. You'll find that most of the restaurants in Ely are priced high compared to a larger town or city, which I assume is due to the costs of getting those quality ingredients into a tiny place like Ely. read more

Ran in here to avoid a rainstorm.....Food was terrific. Service was terrific too! Definitely would go back

Excellent food. Best hot turkey sandwich with homemade mashed potatoes I've ever had. Daughter had grilled cheese with tomato soup. It was perfect, she said. Really friendly staff. Clean comfortable atmosphere. We enjoyed it so much we planned on going back the next day before leaving town. Sadly, they are closed on Sundays. read more

Great service! Dog friendly deck. The first thing they did was bring a water dish on the hot day. Visited twice on our vacation. The turkey avacado melt is amazing and the club salad is even more so. My wife had the dinner salad, which is a meal in itself and the white chicken chili is creamy almost like a stew. Sooo good! Try the grilled cheeseburger too. We loved everything we tried! Highly recommend. We will visit every trip we make up here! Server went out of her way to put an umbrella back in the table even though we were okay without it. Love this place. read more

Eat here. Great food. Salad was fresh, pretty sure even the croutons were made in house. Had the bacon Mac n cheese sandwich. It's unreal. Service was awesome as well. Great place for lunch! read more

Gator's Grilled Cheese Emporium - Bacon Mac n ' Cheese Sandwich - American Near Me - Ely, Minnesota

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Everyone enjoyed there food! Fantastic sandwiches and great homemade soups! All enjoyed!

Great restaurant with tasty food and wonderful service. I like some of the sandwiches for lunch and one or more breakfast items during those earlier hours. read more

BEST GRILLED CHEESE EVER If you even like grilled cheese a little bit... You'll love this place! I would have to be Jeff bezos to give a large enough tip for how good this food was! Amazing service and Great staff! read more

The Club Salad was really good! The ham must have had a maple brown sugar glaze & bacon was outstanding. It was a pleasant surprise that I didn't expect by the looks of the outside. read more

What a great place for lunch! It was clean, organized, (let's face it organized is now important during these times) indoor and outdoor seating, fast service and really good food. There is a big board posting menu items, you place your order, pay and take a seat with your number, then your food arrives....pretty simple. We ordered the lobster mac and the turkey avocado melt. Both were delicious! We'll be back. read more

Loved this place and the food served here. Had a beautiful little table on the deck and a GREAT sandwich (Turkey Bacon Avocado). No turkey deli meat served here . . . large pieces of roasted turkey were on our sandwich! DELICIOUS! Highly recommend Gator's! read more

Our new favorite place in Ely! It's been around for a while now, but we're only here for a week or so in the summers, so we hadn't been. Two picky teen girls loved it and so did my husband and I, and we all had different things and shared bites with each other. One girl got macaroni and cheese, and it was literally the best any of us have ever had! The other girl got the turkey avocado club, we both got tomato soup and one 4 cheese grilled cheese and one grilled ham and cheese. The tomato soup is unique and different and the sandwiches are loaded with meat/cheese, and on the best fresh bread. We'll be back every day now, while we're in this awesome town! read more

So delicious! And very friendly wait staff. They have a lot more than just grilled cheese. We had the cheesesteak, turkey avocado club, and Greek salad and they were all very good read more

Gator's Grilled Cheese Emporium - Cheese steak - American Near Me - Ely, Minnesota

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We stopped at Gator's for breakfast after spending a week outside of Ely in a cabin. We had our dog with us (a lab) and were planning to park with the car running and watch her from the patio. We were immediately told our dog was welcome to join us on the patio and they even brought her a bowl of fresh water and treats! The food was fantastic! Two from our party had biscuits and gravy. They were out of buttermilk biscuits but offered the gravy over croissants. They were even better than biscuits! Each served with eggs served perfectly as ordered. One from our party had the breakfast burrito and said it was wonderful (and huge!). The last of our party had the corned beef and hash and again, was very pleased. All drinks were kept filled, the coffee was great and prices reasonable! read more

Great place, easy to miss when driving by but definitely worth the stop. Met the owner, she was great. I asked what to get, she suggested the turkey avocado melt. Absolutely amazing, great flavor and a flavorful bread. Eat here! read more

Found this online and read the reviews. Called to follow up on GF items. They had plenty of options. Food and service was great! read more

Gator's Grilled Cheese Emporium - American Near Me - Ely, Minnesota

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We have visited Gators 4 times in our 2 week visit and have enjoyed every visit. 3 times for breakfast & once for lunch. The breakfast sandwiches were very good, biscuits & gravy very good, but I really enjoyed the breakfast salad. Very different & yummy! We enjoyed lunch just as much with the turkey avocado cheese melt. Service was great all 4 times. I would highly recommend!! read more

Gator's Grilled Cheese Emporium - Breakfast salad! - American Near Me - Ely, Minnesota

We stopped at Gator's the day before our trip out to BWCA. We figured we could use the carbs from pasta to help fuel us the next day. I was a little confused over the visit about who our waitstaff was, as we got service from both an older man and a younger woman throughout the night. Other than that, the service was decent. Nothing spectacular but definitely did the job. The food was pretty good too! The salad I had was decent, with a house made ranch. The white chicken chili was GREAT. I am so glad I ordered it, because it was so good. Creamy, well seasoned, and just overall satisfying. The mac and cheese however, which is kind of their thing, was disappointing. I actually only ate 3-4 bites of it before I abandoned it. It was bland, barely tasted of cheese, and the cheese sauce had a weird graininess to it. For dessert, we had the black forest cheesecake, which was pretty good. We also tried the raspberry cheesecake, which was VERY good. The perfect balance of sweet and fluffy that you want in a cheesecake. read more

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Gators is the perfect match between small town hospitality and savvy menu with sophisticated options. It's places like this that should be replicated in every town but I fear that would ruin the uniqueness. Treat your self to a simply extravagant meal and an extraordinarily crafted delight. read more

Visiting from down under (San Diego). Best ever sandwiches. Y'all know how picky I am. read more

Gator's Grilled Cheese Emporium - American Near Me - Ely, Minnesota

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What's not to love? We've eaten here twice in the last few days. The first time was lunch, which was their amazing Mac and Cheese and the Bacon Mack and Cheese sandwich. The second was breakfast, for a gigantic and delicious burrito, and blueberry French toast. The staff is friendly with quick service. Their outdoor deck is all set up to make you feel relaxed and comfortable during this pandemic. Would absolutely recommend this place. read more

Had a great lunch at Gator's while visiting Ely! The restaurant is clean and bright (with a log cabin exterior) situated right on the main street. Service was friendly and efficient. Our group had the reuben, the Denver sandwich, the grilled mac & cheese, and the turkey/avocado sandwich, along with the tomato soup. All were fantastic! Would definitely recommend. read more

Joni, this place is delicious. Please, everyone do your stomach a favor and order the grilled Mac n cheese sandwich. Fun little spot. A little limited on the beer selection, but adequate to gets the job done. read more

Gator's Grilled Cheese Emporium - Ate it all! - American Near Me - Ely, Minnesota

Breakfast or lunch -- IT DOESN'T MATTER! Just go! The people who run this place obviously have a passion for good food, good service, and a pleasant environment in which to enjoy both. We love this place! read more

This is a true hole in the wall great place with fantastic service and a very healthy selection of mouth watering dishes! Our waitress was impressive, she took all our orders without writing a thing down...that's for 9 people! Once the food arrived not one person was disappointed with their selection. This is a great stop and a healthy one as well. ps they do not accept Amex read more

I came here with a group for breakfast before heading out for a trip. The waitress was very nice and the place was pretty busy for an early Sunday morning in Ely. We were promptly seated and everyone was able to order either a lunch or a breakfast according to what they wanted. I ordered the biscuit and gravy. It really didn't work for me. It was "Gator's style" which meant that the "biscuit" was really a hamburger bun. Really? I was thinking something unique. If that's the way they are going to roll, then they needed more open disclosure. Do NOT order this. Everyone else had a fine meal, but I felt like I was a bit hoodwinked. read more

This is a hidden gem. We were looking for some descent food, being just back from a 5 day portaging canoe trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch. I had he soup and salad. It was a white chicken chili with two kinds of beans and real pulled chicken. The flavor was perfect. No salt or pepper needed. The salad was what would be expected. My husband had the daily special. Pulled turkey and bacon wrap. It was all homemade. Even my salad dressing. The mac n cheese was creamy delicious. We would definitely eat here again and again. read more

Outside dining only during Covid but not a hassle. Cute place. Food was tasty and not bland for comfort food. I appreciated the small differences. Example: my son had pizza. It was a big slice that was homemade when a lot of restaurants just use cheap frozen stuff for kids. We'll be back. read more

My husband and I split the MUTT and it was the perfect amount and the atmosphere was adorable. I highly recommend to anyone.