American • $
“I was looking through our online checking account, and I saw all these charges for Little Me and I told my husband I thought our account had been hacked. He looked at the charges and told me it was The Little Mermaid Cafe in Askov. The…what? The restaurant is in a building that used to be a school and also houses the town’s history museum. To be clear, this isn’t a fine dining venue, but if I was headed up to Duluth, I’d drive right past Tobie’s and hit The Little Mermaid for breakfast. Much better food, no Up North tourist crowds and better service. What makes this place so special is Michelle, who runs it with care and pride. She is supported by young service staff and many members of the community who volunteer there. Let that sink in for a moment. The people of Askov believe in this place so much, they donate their time. I love that, and I’m sure it’s a business model that probably won’t work outside of a small town like this. Great breakfast food, the burgers and sandwiches are solid. I didn’t try any of the pies because I happened to stop in on the 4th Saturday of the month when they offered their Aebleskivers. These are Danish doughnuts? They’re really like a hybrid of a popover and a pancake. Lovely little pastries perfect for sharing. I didn’t get enough time to tour the museum on this visit, but I will make a stop the next time I’m in town.“
“Visit Docs on occasion, but it has been a while since my last visit.Stopped in Nov. 27th 2023, 4pm.I ordered the "double dip" sandwich with french fries. Our waitress, Jessica was a super good waitress, which is fairly rare these days. The double dip sandwich, was very tasty, with a superbly fresh sourdough bun.The atmosphere was above satisfactory. Sometimes sports bars have a rather loud and annoying atmosphere, but it has never been that way whenever I visited it.Will eat there again, of course.“
“We just ate here Sunday, November 5th, 2023. We stopped in on our way back from Split Rock to the Twin Cities. Every year we have a dilemma of where to eat and just happened to take the Willow River exit. We found this little gem of a restaurant in the back of the gas station out front. We had the patty melt with coffee. Our waitress was attentive and kind. The price was incredible! It was under $14 for 2 patty melts and 2 coffees. We will definitely stop here next year!“
“We came in after a red eye flight on our way to Duluth. There was one gal taking care of everyone who didn’t skip a beat. It was simple breakfast food, but was exactly what we needed. This place like seems like a regular place for the locals and everyone knew each other. It’s worth the stop!“
“We stopped in Askov looking for a restraunt. We were on scenic byway 23, and the town looked big enough for a restraunt. We were surprised when we saw a school bldg, with a sign that said crafts, antiques, and restraunt. Upon entering the museum was to the left entrance to the left. Straight ahead was the restraunt. The little mermaid, it had a lot of decorations, mermaid themed. We took had lunch , they are open for breakfast and lunch. I had the soup of the day and a half turkey sandwich. It was hard to call it half, as it was from a large slice of homemade sourdough bread. The soup was cheese burger stew, it was good. My wife had a burger with chips and the soup.After lunch, I spoke with the museum coordinator. She told me about how the county took over the school. They opened the museum, gift shop and restraunt. They have a few full time employees, but the rest are volunteers. We didn't have time for the museum ( it looked interesting from what I saw, and was told about), but we did go to the gift shop. I was talking to the shop manager. She informed that the art and crafts were by local artists. The antiques were spread throughout the space. They seemed to be reasonably priced and varied. I was impressed by the quality of the locally made jewelry and art.If you made it through this whole post, you can tell we had a good time visiting the place. I definitely recommend it.“