A good place for a traditional breakfast. I had the caramel roll, which was okay. My mom had a thick creamy oatmeal that she claims is unlike anything she has ever had! While the food was good, it isn't somewhere that I would HAVE to come back to if I ever find myself in the area again. The best part of the meal was when an older couple came up to us and asked if we were from TX and talked to us for a bit. I really enjoy those moments :) The staff was friendly, but not too personable; very professional. Overall it was good, but not something to necessarily write home about. read more

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

Very good food and service was excellent. Great outdoor seating. Norwegian crepes w raspberries there was also a choice of blue berries were excellent just like Bestemor/Grandmother made us! I also asked for a slice of ham which was good as well. Hubby had Happy Camper omelette it was served like a pie but still very tasty. Very good ingredients,, tasted fresh and delicious. Saw others having mimosa and bloody Mary's they looked wonderful. Nice breakfast and lunch menu! read more

Lingonberry Pancakes Omelettes that are baked Cooked with care and served up right That's quality that can't be faked! read more

This meal was the worst. Our waitress was sweet. We started with cheese curds, they were good. But after that.... I had a small walleye which was dry, burned cauliflower, mashed sweet potato which taste like pumpkin pie, and a salad with a long black hair in it. I was able to eat the fish, the rest was left on my plate. My husband had pork chop, plain no flavor, sweet potato and burnt cauliflower. He ate 1/2 his pork chops, sweet potato and salad. Our waitress asked how our meals and I told her the truth. She took my meal off the bill. But even with that we will never go back there. read more

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

So good! We had breakfast: the Grand Portage omelet and the Scandinavian breakfast. The omelet was oven baked, a first for me. The wild rice, mushrooms, and Formaggio cheese combined into a fantastic omelet. The Scandinavian breakfast was just as excellent. He couldn't get enough of the caramel pecan yummieness. Service was excellent. Could have lounged there all morning. read more

I cannot say how delicious this place is!!!! They were one of the catering companies at the Black and White Ball that our company hosted this past weekend. The entirety of their food looked delicious, but I went straight for their bread and their tender meat. The Chef gave me a few slices and I made small sandwiches out of them. Now I know it probably baffles you to read a review on bread and meat, but I can say that was one of the best slices of meat I've ever had. So those little sammies were extremely delicious. So juicy and tender and full of flavor. I can't help myself, I recommend this like no other! read more

Was not as good as I was expecting. The hash browns were really great but the so-called "crepes" we're disgustingly slimy and much thicker than a real crepe is supposed to be. I asked for fresh fruit and instead was given a slimed pile of berries that were cut into tiny almost inedible slivers and also slathered in a sugary coating. This is definitely not somewhere to go if you want anything that resembles healthy food. All my food was overly greasy, overly sugary, and just all around slimey I'm really really disappointed. I feel like "fresh fruit" should NOT include an extra layer of sugar, what's the point at that point? I also asked for whipped cream but I barely got any and it was very watery, not the thick kind one would desire. The vanilla latte was okay. I would say best thing on menus is hash browns and lattes. That's literally is.... read more

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Great, cooked from scratch breakfast. Which I'm guessing accounts for some of the low reviews from people. They must be use to ordering their food by speaking into a clown at the drive thru. I had the omelet and the wife eggs & potatoes. It comes out a little slow but it's worth it. Service was good, they were still a little busy even though we caught the end of the Bfast run. read more

The food was delicious and full of flavor - leave the ketchup behind. They make their own jam and provide a generous portion for your English muffin or toast. The vanilla bean coffee is light and flavorful. Service was very friendly and we were checked on appropriately without that feeling of someone hanging around. The only thing that may hold you up is the wait as it is a very popular place and everything is made from scratch and to order so of course it will take some time to turn tables. :]] go for a relaxed breakfast or lunch. read more

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Excellent breakfast. They know how to make French toast. And the mint mocha coffee was better than Starbucks (and I've never said that about any coffee drink before!). We went back for dinner - their dinner, unfortunately, is not as good. They need to work on that. But the breakfast earned them 5 stars. Good service. It's not fast, but that was okay with us. read more

I was in an extremely bad mood when we ate there yesterday, so I am going to go with two starts instead of the one star I really want to leave. We stopped in for dinner last night, ambience a little lacking, but I don't care as much if the food is good. We sit down and are told they are out of chicken, nbd, that happens even though it was only 18:00 and they close at 21:00. We order drinks, sodas were crazy syrupy, again that happens I am not putting up too much fuss over that. We order food, I try to get the catch of the day, also gone. Okay,I will order something else. Waitress also doesn't know the veggie of the day, which she should. Our table ends up going with the walleye, two pork chop meals, and the hanger steak. Bread and cranberry butter comes out and it is all pretty good. It was a really small loaf of bread, five little slices of bread for four of us. We ask for more after we eat it, they are out of that too. Again it is free, not going to fuss about that. Soup (wild rice and chicken) was not good. Food comes out. One of my wife's pork chops was black. I mean, slightly darker black - black. No reason that should get put out of a kitchen, ever. She still tried to eat and said it was overwhelmingly salty. So she stopped trying. Sweet mashed potatoes were really runny. My father-in-law had the hanger steak. It is normal for the filet to be sliced up, but this was diced up into almost little cubes, and came in an extremely small portion. He said it tasted fine though (which means it was good). His fries came in a cone, which is fine in and of itself, but absolutely did not fit this restaurant. I had the walleye, after the catch of the day was out, and it came out with a nice sauce on it. Unfortunately, it was upside down. The fish was a bit overcooked and the skin is really thick and tough on that fish, so not as easy to eat as with salmon or something else like it. So the sauce did me no good when I had to flip the fish over to eat. Also, the fish wasn't salted, so had no taste at first. Not bad once I did put a little on there. The rice pilaf was weird, and didn't look or taste good. The snap peas, though (veggie of the day, we found out), were awesome. Grilled and well seasoned. There were definite food quality issues, and they really should be ashamed with a few of the mistakes that were made (upside down fish, steak mutilation, burnt pork chop), being out of so much so early and some of the other things that happened. Overall it was very disappointing, and the food was not representative of what was on the website and in previous reviews. We won't ever be going back. read more

I'm going to admit straight-out that I would have given Pizza Hut four stars just for having heat on the particular morning I experienced Vanilla Bean. We were camping in early June in northeastern Minnesota which- overoptimistic women we are- we thought would be 100% fine. WRONGFACE. Not fine. Forty degrees and windy and raining. We needed a recovery breakfast, and Vanilla Bean came through. They totally saved us. The coffee was bottomless and strong and the amazing wait staff kept it coming. We ordered the Northwoods Traditional- 2 eggs, sausage/ham/bacon, breakfast potatoes/hashbrowns and toast- and it.was.incredible. The sausage was obviously home-made and was heavily spiced. The breakfast potatoes were perfect- crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, lightly spiced with pepper and not too greasy. The toast was soaked in butter and the eggs were cooked exactly as promised. Little sister got an extra set of toast for 50 cents. BOOM. More than that, the waitstaff was eminently patient and allowed us to charge our phones and simply hang out for hours while we thawed out. They poured round after round of coffee (I'm talking probably seven cups each?) while being totally pleasant. It was enough to get us charged up for the long bike ride ahead. This place has its own cupboard in my heart fo' LIFE. read more

If you want gourmet, you won't find it here. But if you appreciate simple food with fresh ingredients that have been prepared with care, this is the spot. We stopped here for lunch over the weekend with my parents and I can't wait to come back! It's in a super location (on the right side of the road when you're driving north on Hwy 61 up the north shore), the servers are genuine and friendly and the food was great. I had the pesto chicken sandwich. The chicken breast by itself was nothing special (it was moist, but somewhat plain). But the homemade honey oat bread that was perfectly toasted sent me into a fit of carbolicious heaven and the combination of fixings were perfectly in sync with each other: a fresh, sliced tomato, creamy pesto sauce, crisp spinach leaves and crumbles of feta cheese. Yum. My mom ordered the pasty and loved it. My dad ordered the wild rice chili (!) and loved it. My fiance ordered the Cobb Salad with a side of the wild rice chili (!) and loved it. He let me taste the wild rice chili (!) and I also loved it!! And then the four of us split their specialty dessert: the caramel pecan bread pudding that is topped with a burnt-sugar caramel sauce, whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon. It was very rich and quite good. But I'm glad we shared because it probably would have been too much otherwise. read more

We decided to check out Vanilla Bean on our way up to Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse. Knowing this was a "mom and pop" type local joint, seeing it listed on the "find me gluten free app," and seeing positive Yelp reviews, we thought Vanilla Bean would be pretty close to a sure thing for an enoyable dining experience. Not so much. We arrived shortly after breakfast was over (11:40AM, breakfast ended at 11:30) and figured we'd either be able to still order breakfast or order lunch. The website clearly lists lunch starting at 11:30AM. We were told, rather rudely, at 11:40AM that the restaurant was "in recovery mode" from breakfast and we'd have to wait 20 minutes before we could place orders for lunch. We immediately felt unwelcome, not to mention a bit confused since people who had arrived mere minutes before us were ordering breakfast. I get it, we missed the breakfast cutoff, but at least let us sit down and order lunch. To hold us over until we could order lunch, we decided to order Mimosas. The server taking our orders looked at us like we were speaking some alien language. "Do we even have those?" She asked? We pointed to the drink menu to confirm that they do. She explained that they can't serve them until noon and was clearly trying to steer us away from ordering them until I insisted that they bring them out for us at noon. At 12:15 we finally received them, after having placed our lunch orders. At this point three different staff in the restaurant had come to our table and we were unsure who our server actually was. Given the small kitchen I expected the food to take a long time, which was the case (35-40 minutes after ordering). With that amount of time, there is zero excuse to overcook the burger I ordered to the extent they did. Our server said that they usually cook it medium well and had no problem with my request that it be cooked medium. There was *zero* pink in the burger - it was nearing on well done, and I also wasn't impressed with the quality of the meat in the burger. The chicken sandwich was tasty but featured a rather thin portion of chicken. I have a feeling we caught this place on a bad day at a bad time, after getting slammed during the breakfast hours (it was Grandma's marathon weekend). Still, we deserved far better service and more care in cooking the burger, particularly after our long wait. read more

Don't judge an old, pink building by its cover like I did. The deciding factor before we left town was $1 off coupon each for 2 entrees. I loved the decor of this cafe that's deeper on the inside than it looks outside. We both got the special philly cheese steak omelet. The steak pieces were small, but it was one of the best omelets I ever had. It was like a flat frittata. A generous size and buttery... Not one bite of guilt of this low carb beauty. Judging by the rest of the menu, carbs or not, I'm coming back. I joined the vanilla bean club, and I'm collecting on that free piece of bread pudding next time around. read more

Had a cranberry club delivered . They delivered it very quickly. I'm sure it would have been a great sandwich had it not been contaminated with a fish type smell. Could not finish it. Please clean your surface or tools before making the next sandwich . Thanks in advance for my next visit. read more

Always fantastic food and service. Wild rice soup and porridge are exceptional. Kids menu has a nice selection. Pasty is also very good. Hard to find anything in the menu we don't enjoy. read more

Vanilla bean has a great menu with lots of unique options to try including (my personal favorite) Swedish pancakes! They also have great coffee. However, when we visited there was a rude waitress who clearly looked disgruntled. The employees generally seemed frazzled with changes due to coronavirus. read more

One of the best breakfasts that I've had in a long time! Perfectly cooked eggs over easy and bacon. The hash browns are the best I've had - very crunchy and not greasy. Even the toast was thick and a rick texture. This place is a must. read more

Delicious little cafe with fun seasonal and specialty lattes! I was surprised by how great everything was, especially the various lattes and chai tea we tried. It's something special when a diner can do coffee right! We also enjoyed Cranberry Wild rice pancakes, Norwegian crepes, the Castle Danger hash, and a giant omelette! Everything was so yummy, the food came out quickly, and the portions are generous! Our only less-than-stellar experience was with our waitress, who was a bit older than the others working and just seemed like she was annoyed at everything and in a hurry to leave. I hope she's having a better day today! read more

Great service and the best pancakes I've ever had. Everything made from scratch. And incredible home fries too! Definitely recommend!

Was here on Sat., 6/11/2016. I had their char burger, which was way over done. The fry cook left it on way to long, even for well done. Was burnt to deep, a good 1/3rd. Thru from both sides of patty. Pricing ok, maybe a little on the high side, but not enough to complain about. Service good, until Oder is placed, then much too long of wait for food. If I go back sometime in the future, I'll try something different. (3) star at best. I almost forgot, their coffee is really over priced and was quite possibility the worst I ever had. I think it was the bottom of the coffee pot, as it tasted real burnt. read more

Poor service, come if you have a few hours to spare. Waited for 45 mins with several tables open and finally left. Went to Cedar coffee down the street, the got us seated and fed immediately. read more

Waitress screwed up our order 2 times after we waited over an hour and we left hungry. Se wanted to argue about how she was sorry she screwed up and we were unable to eat the food but we would still have to pay for it and refused to remove the 2 of the 4 meals from the tab. This place seems to have a bad habit of treating customers poorly. I wish I would have went down the street. We paid $60 for 2 sandwiches. What a ripoff from this scamburger joint. Steer clear at all costs. read more

Where do I start. Waited 25 minutes to get seated when they said it would be a 10 minute wait. Then the waitress (who seemingly didn't give a care in the world) took our order, but they were out of half the items on the menu, so we just got simple sandwiches. Waited AN HOUR for them. Waitress didn't apologize or anything. Meat on the sandwich was very overcooked. Complete waste of 2 hours. Good thing they serve drinks though, you're gonna need them to dine at this dump. read more

If I can give this restaurant zero stars, I would! Last weekend, we were up exploring the North Shore and we wanted to stop in Two Harbors for lunch. I read the reviews ahead of time and called to set up a reservation for seven. They didn't take reservations but they said they had a large enough table open to accommodate us. Okay, whatever. We arrived at the restaurant about 20 minutes after the call and it was just a few groups of 2-4 inside, plenty of room - didn't look busy at all. Immediately all the locals stared us down based on how many of us stood at the door only to be told that there was one server on staff and it would take 30 minutes before they'd even approach us for drinks. I'm not sure what this restaurants business model is to turn down a table of seven adults and make them feel so unwelcome! Additionally, I do not understand that why the hostess didn't bother telling me on the phone that there was one my one server on staff. Not sure why it was so hard for the hostess to help out and perhaps at least put in the drink orders to ease the burden on the server. read more

We visited the Bean for Saturday breakfast on 10/06/12. Coffee was delicious (especially the signature Vanilla Bean coffee: subtle, and not overpowering), and the service was very good. I had blueberry pancakes, which were piping hot and very flavorful. The only disappointment was the syrup (Okay, I'll admit: a pet peeve of mine). The menu states: "Two plate-sized buttermilk pancakes with blueberries served with our vanilla butter & maple syrup." This was NOT maple syrup. It was the typical tasteless colored corn syrup that most restaurants pass off as pancake syrup. read more

I was really disappointed by our last Vanilla Bean experience (but we came after breakfast, so maybe that is the key). The two kids wanted mac & cheese, which was clearly labeled as Kraft in the menu. . . but for $5 they're making a tremendous profit. . . and my kids hardly ate any of it (they're spoiled with Annie's organic mac & cheese, so the Kraft was a huge bummer). My husband ordered a walleye filet sandwich, and I had a BLT and both were exactly "Meh. I've experienced better" and again, at nearly $10 for a BLT I expected better. The bacon was rubbery and they mayo tasted off. For what we paid I would've expected at least fries with it. So the moral of this story. . . when I am an old woman living in Two Harbors I will eat my breakfasts at The Vanilla Bean and make my own damn BLTs. read more

Coming down from Gooseberry Falls, my wife searched on Yelp for a good place for lunch. She happened across this one which was top on the list. We parked on the street since it was already 1:30PM and the street was pretty busy. We managed to get a table in the next room over. I looked at the menu and felt like a 1/2 soup and 1/2 sandwich. So, I got the cranberry bread turkey club sandwich with their signature chicken wild rice soup. My wife copied me as well since it was late in the day so just needed a quick bite. Well, the food took a little longer than expected with the crowd. However, once it arrived we were very satisfied. The bread was perfect with tiny cranberries in it. There was plenty of spinach as well as slice of cucumber to complement the turkey and 2 slices of bacon. Plus, it was nice to eat between sandwich and soup which was creamy goodness with special surprise rice on bottom. We picked up some jam as well and bummed that they ran out of blueberry. Well, Lighthouse B&B had a $2 bucks for this place so picked up blueberry jam the next day. The nice waitress saved a few from the office and brought it to the cashier desk the next morning for us:) Talk about good service. read more

Vanilla Bean - Two Harbors - Cranberry Turkey Club Sandwich and Chicken Wild Rice Soup - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Two Harbors, Minnesota

Delicious wild rice porridge, unlike anything I have ever had. Topped generously with pecans and cranberries. Delish!! My partner had a breakfast burrito and also enjoyed. read more

Vanilla Bean - Two Harbors - Wild rice porridge topped with pecans and cranberries. Creamy and delicious!!! - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Two Harbors, Minnesota

Ok my main problem was the omelet. It was very good but I feel it needed cheese to be an omelet and mine didnt. I got the vegi one and it was very good but I was annoyed that they didnt say it didnt come with cheese and that it didnt. I have never had this experience before. My mom had the vegi burger that was very good and the soup was very good. Ok Overall the food was great and the coffee is very good. They have nice art work and the staff is friendly. I just wanted cheese and I was annoyed that I didnt get any but then again I didnt ask. I will go there again. Maybe for something different. read more

With such a cute name, I wanted to try the Vanilla Bean for a coffee to-go. It was a normal lunch crowd but the staff seemed overwhelmed. It took 5-10 minutes of waiting in the entry just to be greeted. My waitress was friendly. But another waitress really glared at me like I was in the way (my nice waitress needed to check out at a back register). A small plain coffee cost $3. I think that's more than Starbucks. At least it tasted better. read more

I love this place food is hot, and good! The next greatest thing about this, I called a head they said they would call me when our table was ready! Guess what they did what they said in twenty minutes I got the call walked right in sat at our table. Give them a try! read more

The food was average at best and the service was slow. The chips were not good, the club was not bad and the chicken Caesar salad was ok. It took at least 20 minutes to get our food after we ordered - too long for a sandwich and a salad. Ordered the club with no cucumber or bacon and the sandwich had both. read more

I go up to the North Shore every year and I always drive thru Two Harbors Minnesota. This year I stopped at vanilla bean restaurant and had breakfast. The breakfast was fantastic. I had the happy camper omelette and that was great. I substituted toast for a blueberry pancake with vanilla bean butter and all natural maple syrup from Minnesota. I would recommend this restaurant to everyone traveling through the Two Harbors read more

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The food was really really good- 5 Stars! The cashier/waitress had an attitude - no stars The food took 32 minutes to arrive - no stars. read more

What a nice place for breakfast! Swedish pancakes or crepes? Wild rice porridge or pancakes? French toast or marble rye? Friendly greeting, great fast service, and back on the road. read more

Vanilla Bean - Two Harbors - Officially, the best oatmeal ever...cream and cranberries. No sweetener needed! - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Two Harbors, Minnesota

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Not too sure what eating my own throw up is like but I imagine the Vanilla Bean is a shining example. The eggs were runny, and it had a smell to it. Would not recommend. read more

The food looked and tastes like muff cabbage. Nice Minnesota folksiness to accompany the terrible food.

My husband and I had the best experience here at Two Harbors Vanilla Bean. Everything was perfect from the delicious food to the great service. We will definitely be back. Our server Jamie went above and beyond to make our lunch memorable and enjoyable. read more