tl;dr the service is comically poor and the food falls flat at this riverfront neo-Nordic cocktail…read morebar
Bismarck, North Dakota, was named in honor of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and the population has a strong German and Scandinavian background. So, it seems fitting that one of the most popular restaurants is a German- and Scandinavian-inspired cocktail bar: the Huckleberry House. Part of the Missouri Valley Heritage Alliance's riverfront revival project, the Huckleberry made its debut on the Missouri River in 2022. (The restaurant's name is a reference to Huckleberry Finn, who rafted along the Missouri in the eponymous Mark Twain novel.) Since its opening, the restaurant has become a favorite among locals, and Head Chef Cody Monson was even named a James Beard Award semi-finalist for 2025.
The Huckleberry shares a riverfront post-and-beam warehouse with the Lewis and Clark Riverboat ticketing office. The minimalistic decor feels straight out of Ikea. The HVAC is left exposed toward the peaks of the soaring ceilings. The firetruck-red garage door windows and the vibrant houseplants provide the only pops of color against the otherwise whitewashed walls and lightwood furnishings. Half-booths run the length of the restaurant, flanked on either side by trim two-seaters and larger bartop tables. Woven chairs are organized underneath expansive umbrellas on the riverside patio. Soft instrumental is barely audible above the respectful din of chatter. Sunshine through the wide windows leaves the un-air-conditioned dining room feeling uncomfortably balmy.
We arrived for weekday dinner, and immediately, the service was palpably poor. The staff declined to seat us in order to "pace the kitchen." Despite the nearly empty house, we weren't seated for 45 minutes, and we were over an hour in before having the opportunity to order. At least we had ample time to thoroughly review the menu beforehand -- or so we thought. Our waitress rattled off items that the kitchen was out of, and it was nearly half the menu. No matter, we quickly adapted and asked for every plate to be brought out as it was completed. Fortunately, this was only a matter of minutes (shorter, even, than the time between being seated and our order being taken).
The best dish, surprisingly, was the Hasselhoffs (an elevated take on tater tot hotdish). Although the tater tots were obviously the frozen grocery store variety, they were paired with an eyebrow-raisingly dynamic combination of rich cheese sauce and tangy sauerkraut. The Buttermilk Chicken Schnitzel was passable; the overcooked chicken was at least crispy, and tasty charred cabbage helped cover up the gummy spaetzle egg noodles. The Smorbrod (a traditional open-faced sandwich in rye) had memorable soggy bread; otherwise, the beef and blue cheese were forgettable. The mashed potatoes-esque Curried Pumpkin Knoephla (German dumplings) was heavy on the curry spices and exceedingly light on the pumpkin or knoephla. One member of our party asked if the dish actually did have pumpkin, to which our waitress tried to explain that the pumpkin was kept to a minimum because patrons don't like the flavor of it (I wondered to myself why those pumpkin-hating people would order a dish with "pumpkin" in the name in the first place). Lastly, the Peachy Keen salad was topped with sliced apple instead of peaches; however, our server inexcusably neglected to tell us about this swap until after the salad had hit the table, offering little more than a shrug ("peaches are out of season right now").
In stark contrast to our extended wait for a table, our server was quick to usher us out the door. She slapped a check onto the table before we even finished our meal (without even the cursory mention of dessert). It felt as though the staff were in a hurry to close up early, even though it was just after 8PM.
The prices weren't outlandish (the appetizers were all less than $20, and our entree was less than $30), but no dish was worth the price. While the ambitious fare sounded thrilling in theory, it fell flat in practice. And service was laughably unpalatable; I needed a full debrief afterward to believe what I had just experienced. Regrettably, I'd be more likely to recommend McDonald's than the Huckleberry; at least McDonald's won't take 2 hours and $100+ to serve you food that only loosely adheres to the menu description.
