Mendoberri Cafe & Wine Bar

Delicious! Fantastic food and service! Try the spaetzle!

love love love! Now bare with me as I am new and not very hip with all this technology so I hope this reaches you all, my husband and myself have been coming to Mendoberri since you first opened, but two years ago we moved to Arizona for Sams work. We recently returned to Minnesota to visit family and the first place we stopped was Mendoberri. It was even better than I remembered! Chef Robert you have a magic touch when it comes to food. the new set up with the couch area was so nice! It looked so cozy I didn’t dare sit there or I never would have left! I cannot wait to return in March to see what new things you have next! The only down side to my visit which I cannot fault you for is I didn’t get to see my favorite waitress, (petite girl with a bird tattoo on her arm) please let her see this and know we just adore her and hope she is doing well she is always such joy when we used to come in and so sweet! Again, chef Robert please keep up the great work and great food you are FANTASTIC! see you in March!!!

The café burger was definitely not worth $ 15. The bun texture was like something from McDonalds and the burger was rolled into a large ball instead of a nice even patty. I cut the burger in half and ended up eating two balls of burger somewhere lost in a bun which ended up crumbling under the weight of such great responsibility. The service was fine and the wine was pretty good. Also, the corking fee is $ 20. That tells me, «hey, if you’re coming here, it’s definitely not for the food». I’m giving this one star because I won’t be coming back.

I work in Mendota Heights and struggle to bring my own lunch to work every day (or any day). Mendoberri is a beacon of deliciousness that I have come to greatly appreciate. There’s this casual elegance about the place that makes it a nice break from the work day. My absolute favorite thing on their menu is the tuna melt, and the salads are also pretty good.

My to go spot for lunch. Any of the sandwiches are a must. Went to dinner for the first time today, but it was not what we expected. I ordered the hamburguer, and even tough it was good, I did not think it was $ 15 dollars good.
Will keep coming back for lunch.

A cute and cozy place but I was disappointed in my roasted beet salad. It turned out to have VERY few beets and only a few small crumbles of goat cheese. While nice flavor, was mostly just spinach greens. I would go back but will ask alot of questions of my server as I select my choices.

I can’t believe I haven’t been in this place yet. Its a cute little café that turns wine bar at night. I went for lunch and was very happy with the quality and quantity of food for the price. I sat in a cozy booth with pillows and cushions (granted there was only 1 of these, but cute none the less). The wine bar area looked nice, with plenty of seating and a waterfall wall. I will definitely be back for happy hour!

I met my hubby at Mendoberri for lunch with the kids this week. The inside is great, I love the atmosphere and we were seated at a nice table with a cozy bench. I didn’t like that we were right by the door, but other than that it was fine.
They have a really good variety of sandwiches and salads for lunch. I had a hard time choosing between the tuna melt and the Rachel, but when I was told they make their sauerkraut in-​house, I was sold. I decided on the half Rachel and a cup of their chicken and vegetable soup. The sandwich was good, but nothing overwhelmed me. I couldn’t really taste the dressing and their wasn’t a large amount of sauerkraut (which was probably a good thing since it could overpower the sandwich). I would not recommend the soup. I thought it was very bland and it was pretty much all celery with a few large chunks of chicken. Plus the cup was pretty tiny.
My hubby had the spiky club which is actually curry chicken salad with bacon and avocado. He said it was excellent and the lady behind the counter was kind enough to let him sample the chicken salad before ordering since he wasn’t sure about the curry.
Overall, I think this is a cute spot, but next time I would probably try the tuna melt and skip the soup.

This place is adorable! Really nice server, yummy food and lovely interior.

Ideal spot for a business lunch. You order at the counter and they bring everything to your table. Lunch includes excellent salad, soup and sandwich choices. There are always some open tables at lunch, so we feel free to take a long lunch when needed.

Great variety of wine choices. The food was high-​quality, light, and delicious. Very enjoyable atmosphere and convenient location.

I’ll admit, I was intimidated at first because so many of the boutiques and restaurants in this strip mall are overpriced. A healthy, locally sourced menu with filling portions! I can’t wait to go back. Everything was delicious, including my burger, and the hummus appetizer my party shared. Definitely coming back!

My colleague and I were looking for a place that was on the healthy side. And we came up with this place.
This was really a surprise find of the day. Their menu changes season to season (some, day to day — depending on what they can find — the very definition of farm to table) so probably a specific food review will not mean much. Having said that, I will say we tried hummus and olives, schmankerl board (chef’s farm to table selection — it was pâté and bread today) and beets salad (usually beets salad is with goat cheese and arugula but this was with spinach). They were all great but beets salad was really fabulous. Balsamic vinegar used was so sweet it was almost like dessert. (Spinach? dessert? really?)
Had I stopped there, I might be giving them 5 stars. I probably made a mistake of ordering dessert of ordering sachertorte. They should have called this a regular chocolate cake (probably they called this sachertorte because they did use apricot jam and chocolate icing but the cake was not dense and unfortunately a bit dry — this was not sachertorte in my opinion and even as chocolate cake, it was not the best I have ever had). But not everyone is a dessert person like me and I chose to add dessert after such a perfect beets salad! I probably have nobody but myself to blame.
I really recommend people try this place. You walk out feeling great from the food you will consume.

Absolute perfection! The food is FANTASTIC, the service excellent. We had a great dinner. Love the ambiance and feel of this place. Such a hidden gem. I always appreciate a restaurant the sources locally and prefers organic ingredients.

Love the place. Was looking for a coffee shop but it turned out to be a place to dine in as well with a lot of options that we left after having coffee and a light dinner as well. I ordered the Austrian style chicken soup which was one cup but it was a generous enough for one bowl. The burger was good as well. Ordered medium and it came out to be medium. I love the casual seating arrangement in there. Its a hidden gem :)

This place is surprising. We’d walked over to it a few times in the past and weren’t impressed with their menu.
My husband did go to lunch there some time ago with a colleague, and he’d said that he saw no reason to go back.
Well, we were around this place again and decided to check out the menu to help decide if we were or not we were going to have lunch outside the home. We were pleasantly surprised to notice that none of the things we’d seen in the past were present on the menu.
We decided to give it a shot, and I’m glad that we did. I ordered the Spiky Club, and my husband ordered the Turkey Croissant. We were pleased with our sandwiches, though we were wishing for some spicy mustard to round out the flavors.
Both sandwiches were well prepared and accompanied by a quite nice house salad that was not overdressed in the vinaigrette.
The only thing I didn’t like was the coffee. I’d ordered a decaf and it had a weird citrusy taste to it that I didn’t appreciate at all. Adding cream and sugar did nothing to kill the taste. My hubby’s regular coffee did not have this problem, so I’d go with regular when next we’re there.

Stopped in for wine and desserts and will definitely be back for dinner soon!
The wine list has a little if everything for everyone.
Had the almond torte and it was fantastic the pastry was light and flaky and in filling was amazing.

Great artisan/​organic/​seasonal takes on salads, «pizzettes» aka flatbreads, burgers and sandwiches. Entrees are in the $ 13 — $ 18 range, but well executed and worth it.
A hidden gem in mendota heights with a great location overlooking a quaint square.

My inner fat child prevents me from fully enjoying this place.
I know, I know; it’s organic. It’s local, it’s fresh, it’s fair trade, it doesn’t wear fur or attend the monthly kill the rainforest meetings.
I can appreciate those things.
So if I’m a closet fatty, you’re probably wondering how I ended up here.
My girlfriend loves places like this. If the place has ‘café’ or ‘wine bar’ in the title, I know we’re more than likely going to be trying it out at some point.
Shortly after walking in, I started scanning the menu. I eventually settled on the Reuben and, since I have an intense dislike for eating bagged chips as a side, I opted for the salad. My girlfriend got the steak salad and we both grabbed a couple of organic strawberry sodas.
We went off to the side to sit by the waterfall feature and chatted while we waited on our food.
The décor is nice. Modern, clean and calming. We were both surprised at the relative age of our fellow dining partners (mid forties to mid fifties) and noted the lack of anyone even remotely close to our age. I’m not saying this was a bad thing… we were just surprised.
Anyway, after a few minutes, the food arrived.
The Reuben was just all right. I’d have liked it a little more fired – it was just warm enough to slightly melt the cheese – and it didn’t have a particularly good flavor. The sandwich had an odd ratio of fillings (a lot of meat, a small brush of thousand island, a tiny pinch of sauerkraut) that didn’t work for me.
I tried the side salad. It was a load of mixed greens with a very, very light slick coating of what tasted like plain olive oil. It made for quite a bitter salad and I only took a couple bites before I simply didn’t want to eat any more.
The steak salad was all cold (the steak was refrigerator temperature) but it had a pretty decent flavor despite being chewy. The onions really made it pop; she said they were her favorite component of the dish.
Obviously they didn’t make the sodas there but they were pretty awful. They tasted like sugar water with red food coloring; there were no acids, little carbonation and nothing to keep you wanting to drink more.
The food here is very light – a little too light, almost – and we both ended up leaving unsatisfied. I wasn’t surprised that I was still a little hungry afterwards (again, inner fatty) but my girlfriend was, too.
She didn’t seem to be in any sort of rush to come back. Since these sorts of places are directly in her wheelhouse, that was surprising to me.
The prices here seem a bit high for what you get but I didn’t suffer from any sticker shock or anything.
It’s worth a try if you’ve never had it before.

Still a fan.
Been here a few times over the past couple years, and with the exception of the strudel mis-​step in my last review, their food is consistently good. Service is consistently friendly and attentive. It’s also become on of my favorite places for take out.

Like a little bistro…
So, in hopes of finding some new in the area for lunch, we tried this out on a recent Friday around 11:45. There were a few people in there, but it wasn’t too busy.
At first glance it reminds me of the Cheeky Monkey in a way, although the menu is hanging on the wall at a strange angle. You have to kind of stand in the doorway back a bit in order to see it. Which isn’t a good place when servers are running in and out to the patio. I don’t like the placement of the menu.
I decided on a chicken and artichoke panini and my friend selected the tuna melt. The menu doesn’t indicate what kind of sides come with the sandwich, but it is a nice garden salad. We sat down near the waterfall and waited.
Food didn’t take too long. The tuna melt was huge! She said it was really good. My sandwich was also pretty good — chicken and mozzarella on a ciabatta with sun dried tomato and artichoke spread. It was surprised at how quickly the food came considering the sandwich was fulled grilled and nice and crispy. The side salad was good — spring mix, carrots and cucumbers with a red wine mustard dressing.
For just over $ 9 I thought the sandwich was good and fresh. Once again, I appreciate a place that has something other than fries or chips with their sandwiches.
If you are in the area looking for an alternative to fast and chain like or greasy food, it’s a good choice.

Stopped in for lunch last week because I was in the area and had been meaning to try the place ever since reading an article in The Villager newspaper a few months back.
It was a broad, open space inside, with windows lining the front and letting in all that wonderful sunshine on that sub-​zero temp day.
Their menu was written on a chalkboard that hung from the ceiling above their counter and register. I decided to try their Rachel sandwich — warmed to eat in, rather than «to-​go».
I paid at the counter, was given a number posted to a table top «ornament» and then went to plant myself at a table next to a window to wait for my food. Although it was pretty damn cold right there, I really enjoyed looking out to the sunshine.
While there were people scattered about either eating or waiting for their lunches, the place did not seem busy at all. I waited maybe 10 minutes for my plate to be brought out. The sandwich looked delicious as did the side salad that came with it. I got my 1000 Island dressing on the side so as not to allow the sandwich to get too soggy before eating it.
It was the best tasting sandwich I’d had in a long time. Nicely toasted (not fried in oil/​butter) marbled rye bread from the New French Bakery, plenty of tender slices of what appeared to be «real» turkey, some melted Swiss cheese, and the sauerkraut seemed like it could have been homemade as it had some spices mixed in. I truly enjoyed every morsel. The side salad consisted of some mixed spring greens, a marinated and seasoned tomato and some attractive slices of cucumber — all freshly tossed and lightly dressed with a nicely acidic vinaigrette. For me, it was perfect.
For $ 8 + tax, you can’t go wrong with this sandwich at this place.
I had tap water with my meal; however, they sell bottles of flavored soda: one brand made someplace in MN and the other from the east coast. They had flavors like Orange Crème Soda, Root Beer and Black Cherry, amongst others — all made with cane sugar, not corn syrup. They also offered milk paks, bottles of brewed tea (including green tea) and juices. I don’t recall seeing any Coke or Pepsi products.
Mmmm… I’m already imagining my next meal here… a Reuben sandwich and a bottle of Cream Soda…