The Freight House

For as many years as I can remember, my parents and I often times would end up in Stillwater for Memorial Day weekend. We'd eat at one of two places, The Freight House or Estebans which was a mexican place that is now closed. I am not sure why we started this little tradition, but I suppose it was kind of a little getaway without having to go super far away.

This past weekend, Nate and I decided we wanted to go somewhere different for dinner. It was a gorgeous evening on Saturday and remembering my family tradition I asked him if he'd mind if we drove out to Stillwater and ate outside on the patio at the Freight House. He agreed, so off we went.

The Freight House has not changed much in the years since my youth. We arrived around 5:30 or so and it was busy, but mostly in the outdoor seating since it was such a nice night. We did get some seating on the patio and were lucky to be under a canopy that they have so the sun wasn't right in our faces the whole time.

We were excited to see several Minnesota beer options. I chose a Cold Spring Red River Ale and Nate chose a Mantorville Brewing Co. Stagecoach Amber Ale. We also selected pizzasticks as an appetizer.

My beer was good, it was light in flavor and I knew it would compliment the Barbequed Pulled Pork sandwich I chose for my entree. Nate chose the Jumbo Hot Dog, which came with relish, onion, and bacon. We decided to split an order of fries. Nate was not as crazy about his beer, he thought it had a bit of a maple flavor to it, which is funny, the other Mantorville beer they had on the menu was an actual Maple beer of some sort. At any rate he did drink the whole thing and then ordered one like mine.

We did not care for the pizza sticks that much, they were a breadstick that was basically stuffed with mozarella cheese and had marinara sauce for dipping and the sauce was so/so. Once our food came out though, we were much more satisfied.

My sandwich was piping hot, but delicious. The pork was nice and juicy and the barbeque sauce was light and just enough. Also the ciabatta bread it was on was outstanding. I did cut it in half to force myself to bring part of it home, between it, the pizza sticks and french fries we had alot of food on the table! The french fries are tasty as well, not over seasoned, though they call them rough cut fries and we thought they'd be thicker, but they were not as thin as a shoestring. Nate loved the hotdog, it was huge and he also had to force himself to stop so he wouldn't be too stuffed! He loved all the fixings that came along with it, even the relish which he is usually not a fan of.

It's funny, the Freight House is known for their hamburgers but I guess neither of us were in a hamburger mood. For the most part though, they do other food quite well too! As I said, I would not recommend the pizza sticks, but our entrees were great. I had to laugh too, I went in to use the restroom and you could've had your pick of any seat inside, no one was sitting there! The patio is quite large though so it was accomodating the many different groups of people gathered there. There were other couples like Nate and myself, there was a bachlorette party, and there were families that we observed, so it's a great place for all ages.

The downside? Be prepared to empty your wallet a bit. After tip we had spent a little over $50 or so. The portions are large enough though that we could've split an entree, maybe skipped the appetizer and would've saved more. The beer also wasn't cheap, but it was fun to try some Minnesota beer. Also, try to find some free parking if you can, we parked in a pay lot and had to pay $5.00 (which does give you 12 whole hours to enjoy Downtown Stillwater) but as we walked further, there were spots open in the Freight House's smaller parking lot and we could've parked there for free.

Bottom line, the Freight House is still a great place to go in my opinion and I would definitely go back, but would maybe try to be a little more frugal the next time. Skipping the pizza sticks would help alot!