Val’s Rapid Serv

Let’s put it this way, people drive well out of their way to go to Val’s. Took my girlfriend there on our first date. Still together 6 years later. Coincidence? I think not.

I’ve been here a couple times before today. Each time I enjoyed the food and efficient simplicity of their ordering system. Their burgers are great, tasty and priced right. Today was busy so the customer area was packed but everyone was cool. My bacon cheeseburgers were great. I like the way they chop the pickle and onions, kinda like relish but bigger. My vanilla shake was tasty too. I’ll be back, this place beats any fast food burger place. No drive thru so you lazy people can go elsewhere.

Extremely tasty food — and it’s really cheap and fast too! Quite greasy but delicious. The location looks run down and quite dated but don’t let that fool you, it’s an awesome place to eat.

When I use to live in St Cloud for college this was my GO-​TO place for a great, scratch that, AMAZING burger.
If you haven’t been here and you drive through St Cloud often or even live in the area this is a must eat place. It is the absolute best!
It has been about three years since I lived there but I went back up recently to pick up a new puppy and made it a must stop before we left back to the cities. Even after 3 years it still tastes just as good as the first time I had it.
The prices are really decent and the quality of burger for being «fast food» cannot be beat! If you are craving fast food you need to eliminate McDonalds or Burger King from your mind and just get this.
You walk in, order what you want off a screen, pay and wait for your meal to be made! Its super simple and eliminates the issues of having to trust someone else to make sure your order was places correctly!
I haven’t had one bad meal here and any time I drive past/​through or near St Cloud I will always make this one of my stops for Lunch or Dinner!

Do not write off this place! Val’s has been a staple in St. Cloud for years. I truly can say that St. Cloud would not be the same without it. I love that it’s family-​owned, the «small town» feel of it, and the tastiness of the food!
Val’s is a place where the phrase, «expect the unexpected» should be applied to. It may not look like much from the outside appearance, but you will leave here with food that is made from the heart.
I love the chocolate shake and the fries here. I sometimes get the double cheeseburger as well. The cheeseburgers are very greasy, but that is part of their character. They are delicious and hit the spot! The fries come OVERFLOWING in the bag, so a regular size will seem more like a large. They are crispy and ALWAYS hot out of the fryer. Sometimes, the fries are over seasoned in my opinion, but you can’t not buy them if you stop by.
Kudos to this family for running such a wonderful business! Their service is fast with their touch screen ordering system, and they are all so friendly when you pay at the counter.
Thank you for being an iconic part of St. Cloud!

An ionic and unassuming st cloud building with the best fries ever. This place is a classic and a sc tradition. Because of the small waiting area, I’ve found that calling in the order works the best.

Vals. What a small iconic place. I remember stopping here in the 1990’s. Not much has changed, there are order by touch screen computers now. I like their shrimp burgers. Today there was too much tartar sauce on it, that it dropped on my shirt. The fries are always the bomb. Fresh shoe string ones with seasoning salt. They don’t skimp on quantity of fries. I don’t understand why they charge for ketchup packets. Someone explain. Why not just charge an extra 25 cents for fries. Good fast takeout.

Best damn fries on the planet. Very unique atmosphere. No seating at all, this is a take out only place.

An amazing blast from the past. This place serves terrific burgers in a quick serve setting. If you have a chance to get over there, do yourself a favor and go. Do not be scared away by the appearance from the exterior. Oh, and get one of their shakes.

Personally, I’ve never understood the appeal of Val’s. I believe it’s partly due to their longevity/​history as they’ve existed in St. Cloud for so long. It’s also probably due to their generosity when it comes to french fries. As many have noted, order the small as you get plenty. It may also be due to the strange way of ordering. It used to be that you picked up a telephone and placed your order. Now they have touch screens. It’s an odd little place.
The fries are seasoned, salty, and good. The burgers? I’ve had better. The shakes are okay. Again, I’ve had better.
Everyone should have the Val’s experience at least once because it’s historical. It’s a reminder of fast-​food before the chains.

Great Burgers, Awesome Fries and Shakes.
First time. I will be back. Went back a second on July 20^th before leaving to return home to Florida.

I don’t understand why the 4 star ratings. This place is okay, nothing special.
Pros — Fast service. Great salty shoestring fries (the regular is larger than most places large — great size to share).
Cons — burger patties are thin like fast food chain stores (need to order double patties), burgers are lacking in condiments (only choices are ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onions… that’s right no lettuce or tomatoes and the only cheese available is American cheese).
But the thing that upset me is they charged for ketchup packets for the fries.

This WAS the best place in town for fries, and the burgers were pretty good once upon a time too. Unfortunately, the quality is no longer to the same par. Went tonight, fries didn’t taste the same (less flavor) and the burgers were awful. Patties very, very thin, no flavor (pretty sure 95% soy), and on super thick buns. Too bad, used to love this place! Hopefully, this was just a bad night. One less reason to cheat on your diet

They have upgraded their ordering system from the old school telephones to a touch-​screen computer system. The fries are wonderful, but only get the regular order if you are EXTREMELY hungry or have another person with you. The shakes are all amazing! They also have shrimp sandwiches (they are good but I usually save them for Lent). The burgers are not the rag meat crap you get at muckdonalds, but rather real, flavorful, beef. Grab a burger and sit down by the river and eat up!

This is easily the best burger place in St. Cloud! Awesome salty French fries, juicy and greasy burgers, and awesome shakes. The only downside I could possibly find about this place is that there isn’t anywhere to sit down. Otherwise, it’s awesome. I love how reasonably priced it is too. It’s worth a stop.

Amazing blue berry cheesecake shake!!!
But the fries and burgers are equivalent to McDonalds Ive noticed people keep comparing Vals to 5guys but 5guys has a large number of toppings available and Vals has ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onions.
Stop in for a yummy shake! Skip the burgers and fries.

Stopped here while on a road trip. The service is quick and the food is fantastic. The burgers were filling and I absolutely love their fries!
One tip: the patties are kinda thin (¹⁄₈ lbs) and the fry serving is big. With that said, the average person could be filled with a double size burger and a regular fry.

You want bang for your buck go to Val’s. 2 of us ate for $ 11, 2 doubles, large fry and 2 pops. The large fry is enough for 3 people if not more, yes the burger was greesy but it was so good. Will be stopping at Val’s everytime I pass through St.Cloud.

I love this place. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been there, but I’m sure when I head through town again I will stop there and it will be just like old times. Excellent burgers, tons of fries for not too much change.
No seating, hardly any parking. If you think you are lost going there, you’re not, keep driving and you’ll see it.
They used to be closed during wrestling season so the owner could go to all of his son’s wrestling meets (or so the rumor was). I loved that, not sure if they are still closed then, but that made the place all the more dear to my heart, taste buds and stomach.

Mr. Runge informed me that he knew of a burger joint that was better than Five Guys, and possibly better than In & Out. I got my chance.
Val’s Rapid Service is a stand alone, standing room only burger joint in St. Cloud, Minnesota. They do three things, and these three things, they do well; burgers, fries, shakes. Your order is taken from a touch screen, and what’s nice about this, is two things: a) the order is digitally communicated, so being lost in translation is not an issue, and b) it is the same price no matter what you order.
AWESOME!
I ordered a cheeseburger with extra cheese and everything on it, except ketchup. HATE ketchup, it’s too sweet. Almost why I don’t like barbeque sauce. Got my mustard! Very happy camper. Mr. Runge ordered two double bacon cheeseburgers with extra cheese, ketchup and onions with a large fry. Which really means an entire white paper bag filled with crispy, browny, goldeny fries.
I also ordered a simple strawberry shake whose flavor was anything but simple. It felt like strawberry clouds sliding down my throat, something I sipped and sipped, happily floating on St. Cloud 9. Sweet, sweet air.
What I can say is YUM. Outside of In & Out and an orgasm-​inducing Gorgonzola burger I had in Chicago five years ago, it is one of the best joints to go to. It was de-​lish! The burger was juicy and so warm, the bun soft and warm, the cheese melty and warm. Nothing was cold, everything was lick-​your-​fingers-​clean tasty. Which I did. Multiple times. I took my time eating the wonderfully decadent fries, dipping them into my strawberry cloud-​in-​a-​cup. It’s one of my favorite things to eat, if both are made exceptionally well. This was the case.
Val’s is enjoyable across the board, but their shakes are really the reason to go back. They have such a variety that I wouldn’t even get tired of going back, because by the time I finished trying them all, it would be time to start all over again.
Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Well, Val’s can and will do that for you.