Border Bar & Grill

Haven’t been here in years. The dollar bills are no longer on the ceiling and it’s not quite the biker bar it used to be. Had a great bloody and bartender was super friendly. What’s not to like when in Taylor’s Falls???

Third visit to Border Bar and next time will try Romayne’s right across the street instead. First time was a few years back when folks used to write a little note on a dollar bill and stick it to the ceiling. It was fun reading them… at least until your neck got sore from looking up. There were notes from travelers all over the country. Don’t know what happened, but the dollars are gone now and it’s a plain old ceiling. I’d read a review saying this was one of the best burger places around and since I love a good burger, thought I’d give it a try. It was good. Not out of your mind crazy good, but good. My family and I had driven up from Minneapolis to enjoy the autumn weather at Taylor’s Falls, so this place wasn’t out of the way and it’s right across from the state park. Second time was in the winter and again, good, but not knock your socks off great. Third time was this Memorial Day weekend and for the third time I ordered a burger. This time it was not so great at all. Dry, and crunchy on the outside, overdone. I’d ordered a California burger, but couldn’t even taste the mayo. My husband ordered a big burger but it only covered half the bun, literally. All that and we never got our fries. The waitress told him 3 times it didn’t get on the order, in spite of the fact they’d had a discussion around what size basket and she had read the whole order back to him. We had already spent an hour in the place and were on our way to Stillwater. The only redeeming trait was the music on the jukebox, which was blaring some old school rock and roll. Maybe they were just too busy, but like I said… next time Romayne’s.

A greasy burger sounded about right after skiing away the afternoon at Wild Mountain.
As my two friends and I entered Border Bar and grabbed a high-​top table near the window, we got a whiff of greasy air and knew we’d come to the right place. There were no other patrons inside the small bar when we arrived, and thank goodness we got our food order in to the kitchen before a huge family of 12 (along with 3 – 4 other groups) poured into the joint. It got a lil’ crazy.
The one employee totally took care of us and seemed to be managing everybody else rather well too (considering everyone arrived at once). A multi-​talented lady, she did the waiting, the bartending AND the cooking. Though there wasn’t much to the waiting aspect, as she just hollered at us (in a friendly way) and asked us what we wanted to drink. I think it’s best to order food and drinks at the bar and then go back to your table — there’s a sign that says so. They call your food order when it’s ready and you go grab it at the counter.
After we had already ordered drinks, we noticed a build-​your-​own Bloody Mary Bar that they have on weekends. Looked like they had some good stuff on it. We played this board game called Rack-​o while we waited for our food. It was in a basket with a cribbage board on the window sill.
My patty melt ($ 6) hit the spot. Juicy burger + melty cheese + grilled onions + marble rye = yum. I wish it had real swiss cheese instead of that American-​style swiss cheese that melts like a Kraft single. It didn’t ruin the sandwich by any means, but real cheese would improve it. We split a big order of crinkle cut fries ($ 5) between the three of us. She portioned them out in our burger baskets too, which I thought was nice.
My only real criticism is that the bar’s surfaces have a bit of a grimy film on them, so I do think it could use a very good cleaning. Despite the dust, this is a totally solid spot for burgers and beer in Taylor’s Falls!

We stopped in for lunch today because we were craving a burger and this place fit the bill. It’s a very small place with a few tables and about 8 bar stools. There are video games, a pool table and a couple of tvs above the bar. It’s a pretty standard bar, but clean.
The cook/​bartender was very fun. She was attentive and seemed to enjoy her job as she put a lot of love into making our burgers.
The burgers were very fresh made to order and came on soft buns topped with your choice of fixins. They tasted great and were complimented by some of the best crinkle cut fries I’ve had in a long time. Top that off with a beer and it was a very good lunch!
Order the supreme burger with a half order of fries. You won’t be sorry.

Full bar
cheap & decent bar food burgers and fries
bloody mary bar
buck hunter and a juke box
all in all, typical small town bar/​grill

Outside the Twin Cities, up Hwy 8, past little towns where the Masonic lodge is still the community cornerstone and some signs are still in Swedish; past Hazelden where the Boy suggested I stop in and stay for awhile; not quite as far as the casino where I waited in the car in protest; is a little dive that serves the best bar food in America.
On a little grill behind the bar, the lanky guy in the hockey jersey will cook up a French Dip for $ 6.50 that will bring tears of joy to your eyes. The Boy orders this happy sandwich every time we stop in here. Since I know I will finish half his meal in addition to ¾ of mine, I try to change it up with the burger menu (it’s still the best representation of bar food: let’s not complain about my lack of imagination). The mushroom burger is my nirvana.
On Friday, the bartender made the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever tasted. On Sunday (yes, twice in one weekend), we tried out the Bloody bar where I doused my white shorts in Clamato after the Boy warned me that the cap was loose. I don’t listen well… and apparently I felt the need to shake things. Perhaps Hazelden *might* be the best place to write my next Unilocal review.
Since we are now regulars, we casually discussed the Deadliest Catch muted on the tv with the hockey-​jerseyed bartender and he vented about how hard it was to get his friend to stop leaving his tobacco spit bottles everywhere. Welcome to hometown America.