Great place! Awesome wait staff and decor. Have the tator tot nachos. They're wonderful. There was enough for four people, easy. One of us had a hamburger, one a famous cranberry club, one a pasty and I had the walleye. Everything was prepared to perfection and was presented extremely well. The deserts we tried (gitchi gami pie ala mode and pecan/maple bread pudding) were excellent. I hear breakfast is the best meal of the day for them. I can't imagine how it could be better than the dinner. I wish I took pictures!!!! Argh! read more

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The lingonberry pancakes were delicious. Also the Vanilla Bean butter was so amazing! The service was friendly and fast! Would definitely go back! read more

Oven baked omelets are the BEST! My boyfriend couldn't even finish his there is so much food (he couldn't remember ever not finishing a meal at a restaurant) Just when you think it can't get any better the toast is their own homemade bread. WOW. Would be 5 stars but dinner was so-so. Go for breakfast. read more

We were driving through Two Harbors last week while on vacation and decided to look for a local restaurant for dinner. We came across the Vanilla Bean, liked the look and the name so we gave it a shot. I have to say it was such an excellent experience and dinner! I didn't catch our servers name but she was so helpful the whole time and was always right on top of things with drinks, food, etc. We started out with the Smoked Salmon Pate appetizer and it was fantastic! The outstanding spread with very tasty pita chips made for a great combination. My burger was excellent and my wife had the Lake Superior Trout, which I sampled and was seasoned perfectly. I have no idea when I'll find myself in Two Harbors, but eventually I'll get back and you can be sure I'll pay a visit to Vanilla Bean for some great food! read more

I had the wild rice soup, and it was delicious. My husband had the pork wrap, and it was tiny and pretty mediocre. Our waitress didn't seem like she wanted to be there. Only go if you like chicken wild rice soup, otherwise it's pretty meh. read more

We were greeted and seated promptly, and food arrived as expected. I had the portobella sandwich which was pretty tasty. My husband ordered the walleye meal which he described as mushy and "not terrible, but not awesome". We did not order drinks or dessert. Our water glasses were kept full, however, our waitress did not check on us until our meals were finished. Cleaning needs to be improved... my husband found a dead fly stuck to the bottom of the coffee artists' table card. Then we noticed 3 more laying on the windowsill. :( read more

I was on a roadtrip through Two Harbors and this seemed to be a nice place to stop and have lunch. It seemed like a quaint little cafe that had really good food. I was...mistaken. I don't know how their breakfast is, but what me and a few others had was mediocre at best. I'm a sucker for Mac n' Cheese. And theirs was not worth the amount I paid. It was more like flavorless cheese soup over some pasta. The sauce was runny and very bland. My friend ordered a grilled cheese for an outrageous price he got two pieces of plain old white bread with some barely melted cheese and a pickle (no side). I had hope that this place would become a regular stop through Two Harbors, but I was sorely mistaken. They have potential, but if they think they can get away with serving that food along with poor service. They are wrong. read more

We waited many minutes before anyone even made eye contact with us, much less spoke, even though my wife was leaning on her cane and though I counted five staff persons in the not-nearly-full room. A gracious waitress, not the hostess, finally seated us. We've had very good food in the past (excellent fish tacos last year), though it's been quite variable (as has the service). This time mostly poor: The very thin pieces of walleye on our sandwiches were as much breading as fish, and the shapes of the fillets were surprisingly uniform (but the house salad was fresh and nicely made). read more

Best breakfast I've had in a long time! The Castle Danger Hash is fantastic. Very tasty and creative menu. Can't wait to go back and try more. Just one tip, don't be in a hurry. read more

I was there on Tuesday and 10:00 am. The service was very slow! 45 minutes. When we arrived they were standing right there and ignored us for several minutes. There were several waitresses once we sat down at 50% full with only 6 table inside. Food was just good. Had to ask where our food was she said it will be right up. They should have less waitresses and more cooks. They did have a sign on the wall saying good food takes time by the cashier. That would be at the front door in big letters. No reason it was that slow. read more

Awful, awful service and then the server decided to give herself an 18% tip! Gratuity is a way for a patron to show their appreciation for good service and say thank you. I do not think it's right to provide poor service, add a tip when it was not deserved and then be rude it is questioned. Food was decent but not good enough to endure that "service". read more

This is one of the best restaurants in town as far as food but service is really lacking. We waited 10 minutes before even being acknowledged at the door with no one waiting ahead of us. We waited another 10 minutes before being seated with 5 empty tables in the restaurant. Once seated it took another 10 minutes to get drinks (water, coffee and tea). There were 4 waitresses for 8 tables. I understand being busy and also that the food takes longer to cook because of quality but the lack of friendliness and basic attentiveness in the staff makes us not eager to come back even though the food is excellent. read more

We were vacationing in the area. We stopped in for brunch. Food is homemade and fresh. You don't want to be in a rush to eat. Because the food is prepared when you order it and is FRESH it takes a few minutes longer. Not a large amount of time, just not a get in, get out place. I had the Huevos Rancheros, which I have provided a picture. Kids had crapes, pancakes and chicken fried steak. Spouse had castle danger hash. Everything down the to the coffee was great! Reasonably priced, huge portions. I would strongly recommend stopping here. read more

Vanilla Bean - Two Harbors - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Two Harbors, Minnesota

We attempted to stop in to eat on our way out of town. It was a busy Saturday for the town, but this place was dead. Couple tables full, but most were empty and not yet cleared. The host told us it would be a few minutes, as they just simply had to clear the tables and we could be seated. We waited 15 minutes, and they didn't clear a single table. We left, and we will not be going back. Not sure how hard it is to clear a table when you have nothing else to do, but apparently it's tough for Vanilla Bean. read more

Wonderful meal! We had corned beef hash (actual chunks of corned beef), Thunder Bay omelette, and we shared the Norwegian crepes. Service was attentive and quick. Chai tea was a treat for a drink. We stopped on a Tuesday late morning so not a lot of tourists. Will be a new traditional stop for our family. read more

I like this place. The Swedish pancakes are amazing! Instead of the berry's I got chocolate chips. And man did I love it!

Amazing food!! Made from scratch and you can tell!! The Norwegian breakfast, bread pudding battered and grilled, was great! Recommend to anyone driving through. read more

The atmosphere is great, the food, not so great. I've been there once for each breakfast, lunch and dinner. The omelets are absolutely disgusting, the chicken sandwich that I had for lunch was good but my dinner was, once again awful. Their bakery items are EXCELLENT! Maybe it was just all the wrong timing and I just happen to have 3 bad experiences though. read more

Amazing and quaint North Shore restaurant. Amazing service, atmosphere, and food! Desserts are to die for!!! read more

Vanilla Bean - Two Harbors - Such a cute little restaurant!!! Amazing service, quaint atmosphere, and AMAZING FOOD!!! Desserts are to die for!!!! - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Two Harbors, Minnesota

Tonight we had the most amazing 6 course meal paired with Castle Danger Brewery beers. Our group of 6 is walking away satiated and wishing we could come back tomorrow for round two. My favorite was a lobster roll profiterole with a close second of Black Forest Cake. We will certainly be looking for another opportunity to come back. read more

Vanilla Bean - Two Harbors - Mushroom consumme - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Two Harbors, Minnesota

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Decided to try The Vanilla Bean Cafe while in Two Harbors. I try to be positive after working a restaurant for 26yrs. However I must say it was a big disappointment. Poorest service I've seen in a very long time. Three staff on on the floor, I'm not sure what was in the kitchen. Social distancing was in place. The girl at the register seemed to keep busy and focused. After the guests in front of her, she had to leave for a moment, and another girl was right there. I asked, do you have a table for 2?, she totally ignored me. Another girl came out and they seem to be discussing who had what tables. Neither of them were friendly to us at all. The counter girl came back and seated us after cleaning off a table, where someone just left. Disappointing,: over a half hour wait for food. The kitchen is right there where we sat and I could hear the bell telling them an order was ready. Our waitress left the floor up a few steps to another room. When she did bring our food she didn't seem interested or wanting to be helpful at all. however seemed to be at least attentive at other tables. She carried clean glasses out from the kitchen to stack where they use them from. She neither washed her hands or used a tray. She carried them out bunched against her shirt. Food took a long time. When we got it she said they burned the toast and would be back. She never offered us more beverage, which was only water. Over all, the place felt dirty to me. Bathroom was out of toilet paper. And I didn't see any sanitizing of things in place while we were there. Unfortunately,I will move on to another place the next time I visit Two Harbors. read more

More like Vanilla Burnt - for such a small place, a dozen tables tops, 10 minutes wait for a table to be cleared and another 10 minutes after we were seated before they took our order felt excessively long. There were 3 waitresses working. None would make eye contact or checked on our table at any point during the meal. The hash was burnt with overcooked eggs and few vegetables amongst the potatoes. Blueberry pancakes should NOT taste like onions. The bacon was grease soaked and barely cooked. Everything was overpriced. Never stopping in again. One star only because I can't enter a zero. Disappointed traveler read more

Such a wonderful restaurant/coffee shop up the North Shore! Definitely recommend to anyone in the area.

Food was "meh". Omelet delivered was "scorched" tasting and the English muffin was black burnt. They were super busy so maybe they just had an off day. read more

Went there for breakfast. Ordered a caramel cinnamon roll, which isn't much to complain about. It came with their vanilla bean butter which I enjoyed. However, I ordered coffee and was not aware of the different blends they offered until after my coffee was brought to me. There were coffee grounds in my coffee cup and the roast tasted dark and burnt but the menu I noticed later said it was a medium roast. They have an apple pie latte I was interested in trying but was informed they didn't have any cinnamon for it. My husband ordered the castle danger hash and he said the veggies were a little undercooked and the corn beef was old with an undercooked eggs. There's only about 10 tables in the small restaurant with 2 waitress and a hostess with, even on a busy day, shouldn't have warranted the poor service we received. The meal took a little longer than I expected to come out, during that time the waitress never came around with coffee refills (not that I truly wanted any of the house blend anyways). She didn't come over with the coffee until after our meal was over. With the high ratings on Yelp I expected better than I received. read more

Husband and I stopped here for breakfast and was very impressed. My husband had one of the baked omelettes with gluten free toast and I had the Huevos rancheros and they were both excellent. We were also impressed by the amount of gluten free items they offered. I'm sure we will be back again. read more

Stopped here on the northbound leg and everything was awesome. Then again on the way south and received a charcoal burger. They made things right though and we were good again. Just a little longer stay. read more

We had the best homemade Minnesota Wild Rice soup at the Vanilla Bean Cafe. This place feels small, local, quaint, and authenitic. I love all the oak furniture. On one side of the restaurant they had a gallery display of children's art. read more

There is nothing uptight about this place. Best breakfast my partner and I have ever had! Super cheap for extremely tasty food. I had the veggie oven-baked omelette (they substituted broccoli for spinach without a question. My partner, he had a Scandinavian breakfast. Our bill came up to only 20 dollars and change. Best birthday breakfast read more

Great place. Cannot wait to go back on my next trip. I grew up in a house behind this place and it was just as good then as it is this day.

I found a metal staple in my sandwich. Other than that the food was great but this left me feeling scared and disturbed at what could possibly be going on in the kitchen to cause a staple to end up in a sandwich read more

I used to like this place. Nothing stood out or made me crave it, but it was good. With my expectations firmly in the "meh" range, I had lunch there yesterday. And all I can say is my god. They destroyed my expectations by serving up some of the best food I have ever found along the shore. My reuben was spot on, and my wife's walleye sandwich was so good, I almost ordered one to go so I could be guaranteed a meal that would exceed whatever my family would be serving at the cabin for dinner. Seriously. If you want a high quality meal at cafe prices, this is the place for you. If, on the other hand, you want boring food at inflated prices, you're in luck. Everywhere else in town seems to serve that up in abundance. read more

Wow. Incredible breakfast! Complete with a sassy greeter (she could've been mistaken for grumpy but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt. We all have bad days.) and a darn nice waitress. Seriously on the waitress. She couldn't have been sweeter! We arrived at a great time on Saturday morning (8:30-ish a.m.) and were seated right away. I ordered the Popeye Baked Omelette. The flavors were incredible and it was cooked to perfection! My super awesome,handsome, hilarious and brilliant guy (I'd say this even if he weren't reading this...) ordered the Castle Danger Hash. Delicious and authentic hash! The real deal, folks! We swapped bites and were equally impressed with each others' dish. We had good 'ol plain coffee and it was perfect. The service was wonderful and the prices were right. I'd very much recommend this as a stop on your way north! read more

Very impressed with the quality for such a small town. Lingigan berry burger with house-made kettle chips and cappuccino! Very kind and helpful wait staff. Could use a interior/decor update. read more

This place is over priced for the food you get. I got the walleye and it came with a small condiment size container of baked beans, a cold slice of bread, and 2 child size pieces of fish. read more

Waited over 40 minutes for pancakes! Food was good but took forever to get our meal. They were out of kids menus and didn't really expand on what was available for kids meals. Thought it was expensive read more

Stopped in here for breakfast on our way up the north shore. I got the corned beef hash and it was so good! Nice little cafe with a friendly staff. read more

Our party of six was here on a Monday evening. It was slow and the servers were glad to see us. I enjoyed my wild rice burger. It's the best non-meat burger that I've ever had! Everyone else enjoyed their meal also. I'd come back! read more

Go for breakfast and have the wild rice porridge. Best thing I've ever eaten. A burger and fries at dinner were average, but the porridge was awesome. read more

Had breakfast at Vanilla Bean. Very nice small town restaurant. Service was good. Food was great. My husband and I both had the Happy Camper omelet. It was very good. I would recommend. We will be back! read more