Zumbro Cafe

Limited breakfast options but a nice, comfortable, calming space.

Excellent food, great atmosphere, warm and friendly service. Can’t go wrong with the french toast or the pancakes … Get there early long line ups on the weekend. Funky neighborhood.

Cute little spot but food just didn’t impress me. Hubby enjoyed his veggie bennie but the vegs just looked soggy to me? Two buttermilk flapjacks lacked crispy outside that I like but were fluffy. Bananas, blueberries, and pecans available to be cooked in or on top ($ 0.25 each) and get the real maple syrup ($ 0.75) vs the table syrup you’d get otherwise. OJ was delish– just the right amount of pulp, not too sweet or sour.

ZUMBRO IS AMAZING!!! It’s so inviting the people are so nice and they have some of the best food that I think I have ever had!!! The service at Zumbro is wonderful and the area around it is amazing, fun and super cute! I’ll definitely be back!!!

I love this place! The service is excellent, the food is great, and the atmosphere is inviting. What more could I ask for?
My favorite healthy choice is the Zumbro oatmeal. My favorite somewhat healthy choice is the steak salad. The poached eggs are great too!

I love the Zumbro Café. My favorite thing to get is their eggs benedict. Amazing! The best eggs benedict hands down. The eggs are poached perfectly. They don’t use boring English muffins. It’s built on a base of amazing bread. The hollandaise will make your knees weak. It’s seriously the best. Creamy, creamy creamy!!! This is served with roasted potatoes with rosemary and olive oil. I’ll be back again soon.

Love: owners, waitstaff, food. Don’t love: having to wait because all of the tables are grabbed by ladies from Edina. The breakfasts are what everybody knows and loves and don’t get me wrong – I don’t think I’ve ever had more perfectly cooked bacon. But my favorite is the Cesar salad. I’d eat that for breakfast if it was an option!

Hey you Minnesotans, there is a deep dark secret just waiting for you and its called Zubrow Café. Now I don’t even live in Minneapolis, but friends brought me to the place for brunch and it is so eclectic décor and such a northern Calfornia street café vibe that was perfect. But, the main attraction is the food of course and this place knows how to do breakfast. Simple foods with just a touch of upscale with some of the best breads I could ever have. You can just tell that they have an almost groupie following where heads nod in recognition of returning customers. No one pushy here, you can read the paper and have your coffee and enjoy. Of course, we were there during the week and I can bet the weekends are jammed with patrons. But, this is the type of place you wouldn’t mind waiting to get a seat.

Seriously one of the best breakfast places in Minneapolis. Also a great price for the quality and quantity of the food! I went earlyish on a Friday morning and it almost had a small town diner feel, people drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, waiters knowing costumers names/​asking about their lives. I can only imagine that that this place is PACKED on the weekends. Definitely recommend the veggie Benny! My friend got the bacon and Gouda frittata, which looked equally as delicious, and she gave nothing but high praise as well! Will be back soon!

The comfortable style, the tasty food, speedy service with great tips and a couple of words with the owner. Wonderful brunch. Bountiful! Delicious! #ZumbroCafe #eggs #bacon #carianncarter #lindenhills Cari Ann Carter, Edina Realty

Zumbro is a nice spot for breakfast. I went on a Sunday, group of 3, around 10am and we only waited about 15 minutes for a table. Service was very good. I had the Veggie Benedict — I liked the veggies. Instead of a English muffin it comes on buttered toast — I wasn’t expecting that for a Benedict, so would modify next time. One poached egg was perfect and runny, the yolk had set in the other. Coffee was good and refilled often. Dining companions had frittata and eggs and greens, and liked it. One ordered Gray Duck Chai which looked excellent. Good spot and close to the farmers market — however for the same neighborhood I personally prefer Harriet Brasserie or Tilia — the menus are a bit more interesting.

I was facing a 2 ½ hour drive home after this meal so didn’t want to be overly full. My daughter and I shared a turkey sandwich with side salad. The bread was toasted firm with a nice crunch. The fillings were fresh. There was cranberry mayo inside but I didn’t taste any cranberry. Half a sandwich with a side salad was just enough to satisfy me. But looking around, I was envious of the eggs Benedicts going past me. Huge breakfasts that would have put me to sleep. Will definitely go back and try something else. Sat outside in the patio. Seating inside is a little cramped and the noise level is louder. It got busier while we were eating so service got spotty but the waitstaff was working hard.

Awesome breakfast! Had the eggs Benedict and they were some of the best I’ve ever had. They serve them over this absolutely amazing bread instead of an English muffin. I’m not sure what kind of bread it was but is was soooo good!
Kids had the teddy bear pancakes … of which I had to sneak a bite, or two. They were really good! A hint of cinnamon in them which was unexpected but very good! Wife has a frittata which she loved.
Have to go back to try the much talked about cornmeal pancake.
Great coffee too! Love it and we will be back for sure!

Very neat place! We went here for the first time recently. Lots of new food options I hadn’t seen before. We sat outside in the screened in patio, which was very nice. We had visitors from out of town. Everyone liked their meals very much. I will go back

My husband and I went here when we were still in college, and boy did we feel out of place. Mostly families and older people ate here (you can tell they lived nearby). The food was pretty average and so was the service. There is nothing here to boast about.

Really really good.
I had looked at the menu ahead of time so I had a good idea of what I wanted but sometimes I get a little crazy at the last minute and change my mind. However, when I looked at the menu, it was slightly different and I didn’t see what I wanted (eggs and greens). On the online menu it’s listed all day but in person it wasn’t. However, she said they would make it for me.
The food was delicious. Simple and fresh and very good. Poached eggs on greens with sauteed chicken and peppers and onions, with toast. I also got a side of pb. Service was good, she was very friendly and accomodating. Everything that everyone else had looked delicious and fresh too. Cute little joint in the Linden Hills area. Definitely worth coming back to.

When I can find this place without getting lost, I will be a really big fan! After getting lost and making my poor friend wait we finally arrived to a crowded restaurant. Awkward lay out and really crammed, but we didn’t have to wait too long.
The wait was worth it.
I had the regular eggs benedict. Quite possible in the running for the best I’ve had. Perfect tasting hollendaise, two nice asparagus spears and nicely done red potatoes.
The bread –toasted striato (from New French) good lord it was good.
My friend ordered the eggs etc. I think the bacon was a tad dry, but otherwsie she liked it.
Great breakfast place with some of the best benedict.

Veggie Bennie here is breakfast nirvana.
Loved the flavors in every bite!
Comes on the best toasted, chewy bread a million times better than an English muffin. Then there is a layer of sauteed spinach with warm tomato slices. Finally topped with perfectly poached eggs with such a creamy, flavorful hollandaise sauce.
It came with roasted baby potatoes and asparagus.
Wish I could have this every day for breakfast. So satisfying and perfectly sized.
I ate every bite on my plate. Mmmmmm.

I can only review the breakfast here, but man was it delicious. The eggs are local and organic, which (and trust me on this) make a huge difference. Try the Eggs Etc or Eggs Benny.
I was also impressed by the coffee, which isn’t always the strong suit of a great breakfast joint.

Outstanding eggs benedict, very tasty pancakes. This was my first time here and I was thoroughly impressed with the prompt and attentive service. I was slightly annoyed by how expensive my Diet Coke was.

Zumbro is a very cute breakfast and lunch spot with good food. Veggies and eggs are fresh and there are some fun options on the menu, like the chicken wild rice hash. I’ve had most of their menu items over the years and have never been disappointed.
This is a great place to take kids and still have a relaxing meal. I came here with a little cousin and the server went the extra mile with coloring sheets, activities and lots of attention. I also like coming here with girlfriends, my parents, my husband… it’s a nice quiet place to chat and munch.
Overall, the food ranges from good to very good. Zumbro still gets five starts because their coffee drinks and desserts always hit it out of the park and their service is excellent. No matter how busy they get, my meal and drinks are always well timed, the food is hot, and the server is 0% stressed.
Favorites: Vegetarian pesto sandwich, chicken wild rice hash, teddy bear pancakes (for kids!), chai latte, anything with salmon on it.

In my never ending quest to find amazing pancakes, my journey took me to Zumbro Café to try their cornmeal pancakes.
The place is over in the Linden Hills area, which for me was a bit of a pain to get to thanks to construction around and on 100, but, anything for pancakes! Their parking lot is under construction, so expect to park on the street or in the hardware store’s parking lot (if you get their really early, the risk of getting towed is minimal).
Very, very cozy place to stroll into. Welcomed as soon as I walked in and seen the specials right away on the board — quite literally as I walked in, their on the wall right in front of you. Chose to take up residence on the patio because Saturday morning was beautiful.
Then opt for a cup of house coffee, a bacon-​gouda frittata and those cornmeal cakes.
Very short wait, and my coffee cup was never empty before it was getting refilled.
Food arrives, and it looks amazing (see picture). Dig in!
The frittata… smoked bacon and gouda, if there is a symphony of flavors that would be blessed by the gods, it’s bacon and gouda. Throw those together with light, fluffy eggs and we’ve got a recipe for delicious. Very copious amount of bacon meant no bite was devoid of my tasty pig, and the cheese was perfectly melted throughout to give each bite that amazing flavor. I thought about using hot sauce on this, then the little angel guy on my shoulder told me I’d better not, this is a divine creation not to be F’ed with. Throw a scoop on the multigrain toast that comes with the meal, perfection through and through.
To compliment the fittata you’re given these house roasted potatoes. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly drizzled in olive oil and the perfect compliment to that frittata. In all honesty, the potats are enough for the trip alone, they’re that good.
Drum roll… pancake time! Truth be told, I had no clue what to expect with a cornmeal pancake. Would it be grainy, gritty, corny, need syrup, fall apart? The best way I can describe it, is a take a corn muffin, flatten it out, and mix in some maple syrup. Which, let me tell you, tastes a-​freaking-​mazing. Texture was a bit gritty like a muffin, but not over powering at all. It does require a topping, syrup or in my case I also opted for the house strawberry preserve (didn’t need it for the toast, so went to the pancake). Either way, syrup or preserve, this pancake was incredible. The soakability (that’s a great made up word) of the syrup was on point and made each bite a bliss of maple-​corn muffin joy.
I couldn’t have been anymore happy or satisfied with my visit here. Great service, great staff, great food and a great setting. Get here early on the weekends, it’s small and it will fill up fast.

Very nice atmosphere; cozy and with a lot of light. The eggs Benedict is my favorite! The French bread is what makes it so good.

Sometimes I have a hard time rating restaurants. This place was good, but not as good as their competition across the street (Tilia’s)
I’m giving them a 3 star because they are good, but not great. All of the dishes I tasted was heavy handed on the salt.
I had their special Benedict of the day (Pork belly). Truthfully, I didn’t listen to much after pork belly, but when it arrived it was served on a french baguette, it threw me for a loop because I was expecting English muffins. The downfall was not the choice of carbs, but the over poached eggs. I cut into the yolk and they were not leaky or gooey at all #frownface. The potatoes were good and the hollandaise sauce was not too thick like gravy, so that was good, but my favorite part was ruined for me.
Wife ordered the tofu scramble, it arrived a bit soupy. The flavors would have been great, paired with goat cheese, but it was heavy on the salt. I’m comparing this to French Meadow’s tofu scramble with really resembled eggs and the flavor was balanced.
Almost forgot about the corn meal pancake. This was the best thing I had. I ordered the half order which was one gigantic cake. I would say this is one of my favorite pancakes in MN. Worth the trip if I only ordered that.
Final Word: I will go back, if only for the pancake, to see if it was a fluke. If the results are the same, I’ll be going to Tilia’s is right across the street (with booze!)

I love Zumbro Café as much as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s hilarious monologue from last night’s Golden Globes. Sure, there were some jokes that weren’t funny (like the one about Martin Scorsese), but overall there were so many awesome highlights that the few misses weren’t really all that bad. *Shout-​out to Barkhad Abdi, the Somali-​American that was a former DJ and limo driver in Minnesota! If you’re reading this Barkhad, it’s so awesome that Tina Fey hit on you. haha.
After reading all the Unilocal reviews about the long wait, my boo and I decided to avoid the lunch rush and visit around 1 pm. At first, I was taken aback by the beautiful light wood interior that, I imagine, resembles something like the inside of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s crib or the Boxcar Children’s, uh, boxcars. Very impressive! I also loved the large windows that allow the sun to infuse the room with light. (No happy lamp needed, ya’ll.) Lots of light in a restaurant is rare, and it’s wonderful to have during the miserable Minnesota winter. Our friendly host quickly seated us in the back. (Still sunny back there, btw.)
My only regret about visiting Zumbro was forgetting the name of our server. It seemed like her smile took up half of her face while speaking to us, and she patiently and bluntly answered all of our questions about the menu. «Try this dish. Super good.» «Hmm, that one is ok. Not enough food.» I appreciated her honesty, unlike some servers that have tried to sell the most expensive items to me on the menu to make a buck. While this mystery server’s name shall go unknown forever, it’s more appropriate to talk about Zumbro’s delectable lunch menu in this review.
My boo and I both shared (and devoured) an order of the chicken wild rice hash and eggs Benedict. I sipped on the house coffee.
–Chicken Wild Rice Hash with fresh vegetables in a rosemary cream gravy
I loved the tender chicken, perfectly cooked wild rice, and the subtle hint of rosemary in the gravy. The entrée wasn’t mind-​blowing, and it didn’t have to be. Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy something more rustic and hearty, without it being too heavy. The thing that was just «ehh» were the vegetables, since it was a handful of chervil, arugula, and other leafy lettuces found in a spring mix. That’s great, but something else could have been included to make it a bit more harmonious with the rest of the dish.
–Eggs Benedict on toasted striato with grilled ham, house-​made hollandaise
Perhaps the highlight of meal, I really loved Zumbro’s take on this classic. While the toasted piece of bread was a bit thick for my taste, it complimented the grilled ham and poached egg excellently. Also, I think the house-​made hollandaise really took this dish to another level. ***Wipes drool off mouth.***
–House Coffee
Man-​o-​man… I did not expect to have such a great cup of coffee. Their blend is quite tasty. Slightly strong, very hot, little acidity, and nutmeg-​y. Yesss, Zumbro, where can I buy some?
Awesome space, wonderful service, palatable food — Zumbro, I shall return.

I heart this adorable, family owned café! Zumbro is the perfect weekend brunch spot, and it’s always lively, filled with noise, people, and fresh ingredients.
When in doubt (& a little less hungry), I go for my favorite. That being their Zumbrola – homemade granola, nuts, fruit, and yogurt. I am also a fan of their buttermilk pancakes, and those scrumptious fritattas, accompanied with roasted potatoes. It’s a great place to bring kids as well, as I spotted an adorable pancake in the shape of a teddybear on the plate of a youngster seated next to me.
Let’s not forget about their coffee, as the latte and cappuccino I got to try on my most recent adventure were done to perfection. Additionally, Zumbro uses their own special blend of Bull Run coffee, which is pretty awesome if you ask me.