Twin Cities Restaurant Blog

Wildwood Pizza ~ Mahtomedi, MN

Cuisine: American, Pizza, Ice Cream

Restaurant Features: Bar, Banquet, Catering, Games, Bowling, On-Site Parking, Live Music (on occasion in the Bowl)

Location: Willernie (Mahtomedi)

Address: 310 Stillwater Rd, Willernie, MN 55090 (651) 429-1141

Hours: Mon-Fri  1pm-10pm  Sat 12pm-10pm  Sun 12pm-8pm

Links: Google Map

Atmosphere: Wildwood Pizza is a very small restaurant located in its own enclosed space within the Wildwood Bowling Alley.  There are approximately six wooden booths that accommodate four adults each.   Every single inch of the walls are adorned with humorous memorabilia, plaques, signs, newspaper articles, sayings, etc.  A fun place to play "I Spy" with the kids.

The Game Room is located within the Bowling Alley and is a great place for the kids or adults to play a game or two before (or after) you eat.

The Bowling Alley itself has eight lanes, not sure if it has automatic scoring but there is shoe rental available.

Menu: Appetizers include Nachos with Cheese, Garlic Breadsticks, French Fries, Cheesy Breadsticks, Mozzarella Sticks, Onion Rings, Fried Mushrooms, BBQ Ribs Sampler, Buffalo Wings, Fried Cauliflower, Cheddar Nuggets, Chicken Nuggets, Chicken Tenders, Chicken Drummies, Cheddar Jalapeño Poppers, Tator Tots, Pizza Rolls, and Mini Corn Dogs.

Salads offered are the Chef and Taco Salad.

Wildwood Pizza is home to over 40 pizza toppings! Besides standard toppings (pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, olive, onion, pepper, etc), with tomato pizza sauce, Wildwood offers a variety of very different toppings/sauces including Mixed Nut, Spam, Minced Clam, Dill Pickle, Sauerkraut, Peanut Butter & Jelly, and Chicken Nugget.

Specialty pizzas include Bangkok Pizza with sweet and sour sauce, Great White Greek (with feta), McDermott's Godzilla with 9 toppings and Tex-Mex pizza with hot sauce, just to name a few. Crust is ultra-thin and crispy. You may also have the option of doubling your crust, with or without an extra layer of mozzarella in between.

Sandwiches include Fried Flour Tacos, Hot Dago, Steak, Chicken, Fried Fish, Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Grilled Cheese, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Corndog, Hot Dog, and Chili Cheese Dog.

Pastas offered at Wildwood include Cheese Tortellini, Spaghetti, Beef Ravioli.  All pastas come with a salad and bread & butter.

Dinner Entrees include Fried Chicken, BBQ Pork Ribs, Hamburger Steak, Sirloin, Butterfly Shrimp, Battered Pollock Fish, and Italian Sausage Patty.  All dinner comes with salad or coleslaw, French fries, and dinner roll.

Price guide: Appetizers $2-8  Sandwiches $3-8  Pasta $8-9  Dinners $6-14  Pizza $11-24

What We ordered: We started with the Fried Flour Tacos, which came with three in the order for $4.50 (or can be sold individually for $1.50).  The tacos were awesome! The flour tortillas were fried to a toasted golden brown and had seasoned ground beef stuffed inside.  Tomatoes, cheese and shredded lettuce is served on the side so that you can build-your-own

Next my companions and I shared a Jumbo Pepperoni, Mushroom and Shrimp Pizza. The crust was thin and crispy and the sauce on the sweeter side.  There were a ton of each of the ingredients on the pizza; the pepperoni and mushrooms were pretty standard and the shrimp were some of the smallest I have ever seen (which is a wonderful thing on pizza!).  The small shrimp were mild in flavor and had a soft texture unlike larger shrimp.  We asked for our pizza crispy but the center was packed with so many ingredients that it could've baked for another couple of minutes.  Overall the pizza was excellent.

Even though we were stuffed after dinner, my companion and I also shared a large strawberry malt, which the server split into two glasses for us (normally it would come in one glass plus the metal malt glass).  The malt was triple-thick and double-delicious with a lot of strawberries (I am assuming they were frozen & sweetened, not fresh) and also a generous amount of malt powder.  Malts were topped with plenty of whipped cream.

Service: Great! I have been to Wildwood Pizza many, many times and have always had excellent service.  They are usually really busy on the weekends so it may take longer than usual for a pizza, but it is worth the wait!
Overall Impression: Awesome pizza and a nice selection of other menu items as well.  Great place to bring the kids, extremely reasonable prices for everything on the menu

Jethro's Char-House & Pub ~ Mahtomedi, MN

Cuisine:  American, Burgers, Fish & Seafood, Steak & Ribs

Restaurant Features: Bar, Games, Pull-Tabs, On-Site Parking

Location: Mahtomedi, MN

Address: 3140 Century Ave  Mahtomedi, MN 55110  651-770-2443

Links: Google Map

Atmosphere: No need for fancy duds at this Char-house!  Jethro's is a very laid-back restaurant/bar, a popular place for locals to meet up and enjoy a drink or fill up on good food.  Wood paneled walls and wooden tables grace most of the restaurant.  There is also a back room complete with 2nd bar, pull-tabs  and dart boards. 

Menu:  Start of your experience with a choice of buffalo wings, fried mushrooms, Beef Nacho Supreme, and Walleye or Chicken Fingers.  Sandwiches include a Philly, French Dip, Jethro's Reuben, Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken, Tuna Melt and Fish Filet.

Maybe your more in the mood for a burger? Jethro's recently changed their burger menu to a "Build your Own Burger" with a list of toppings so that you may customize your own burger.

Entrees include Broasted Chicken, Wild Sockeye Salmon, Baked Lemon Pepper Cod, Shrimp, Penne Pasta or Sirloin or New York Strip Steak.

Price guide: Appetizers: $6-9  Sandwiches: $7-11  Burgers: $7.95 (for up to 3 toppings) Entrees: $10-19

What I ordered: The Jethro's Reuben.  Classic corned beef Reuben on pumpernickel with swiss and "special sauce".  Basically the special sauce is the sauerkraut pre-mixed into the thousand island dressing; you can't have one without the other. I thought the sandwich was very good, piled high with corned beef and grilled nice and crispy. (I wouldn't have been able to take a picture of the inside of the sandwich without making an gooey mess.  Take my word for it).  The large steak fries were HOT and crispy.

My companion customized a burger with cheddar, bacon and sauteed mushrooms.  If you're  a fan or charbroiled burgers, Jethro's has the best!

Service:  The service at Jethro's often seems slow, no matter how many wait staff they have on duty, or how busy the restaurant is.  They recently changed their menu so that only one free refill is allowed on sodas.  When our dinner was served to us I had already finished my original soda, but instead of bringing me a refill immediately, our server stopped at about 3 other tables and took orders, etc before I was able to get my refill.  I am not a fan of sitting with a large plate of hot food in front of me and being left drink-less for over 5 minutes.  Service seems to be better at the bar.

Overall Impression:  Jethro's is a good place to go if you like a casual atmosphere, they are also accommodating toward larger groups. Good food (excellent burgers) but not the best service in town.

Lakeside Club ~ Mahtomedi, MN

Cuisine: Steak

Restaurant Features: Bar, Banquet Room, On-Site Parking

Location: Mahtomedi

Address: 10 Old Wildwood Road Mahtomedi, MN 55115 651.777.4097

Links: Google Map

Atmosphere: The atmosphere at the Lakeside Club is one that is very laid-back.  The restaurant has been family-owned and operated since 1946 and the emphasis is definitely on the food.  There isn't anything fancy about the small, wood-paneled dining room, and eating at the Lakeside does not require anything but casual attire.  A small bar is a popular spot to have a beer and watch whatever game is playing on the TV behind the bar. 

Menu: Hungry? Start with an appetizer: breaded chicken wings or cheese curds. 

Most people come to the Lakeside for their tender, aged steaks.  Cuts include Prime Rib, Ribeye, New York Strip, Filet Mignon, and Sirloin.  Not in the mood for steak?  Try the porkchop, grilled chicken breast, shrimp or walleye.  All meals come with side salad and choice of potato or vegetable.

Price guide: Appetizers: $7, Steaks: $22-39  Other entrees: $16-22

What I ordered: Fresh, warm bread is always served complimentary.  On this occasion we were served baskets of warm popovers.

I have been to the Lakeside many times and wouldn't even think to stray from my usual 12 oz Ribeye, cooked medium with french fries.  This particular steak was cut thin and extremely tender.  I am not sure if the lakeside uses much more than salt & pepper to season the steaks, but they are always very flavorful.  I also love the crispy shoe-string fries.

The 16oz Prime Rib is always a big hit with my companion.

Service: You know you are a regular at a restaurant when the waitress knows exactly what you are going to order before you actually order it!  That is the type of place the Lakeside is.  Most wait-staff are members of the family who own the restaurant; I would not say that the servers are overly friendly, but they are laid-back and like to joke around. 

Overall Impression: If you are in the mood for an excellent steak but do not want to go to a fancy restaurant, Lakeside Club is the place to go!