Reviews of The Covered Wagon Café (Restaurant)

Carissa Johner

Maybe we ordered the wrong thing but we weren’t impressed. I ordered the Indian taco with a side of Spanish rice. The rice tasted like it was out of a box and it wasn’t cooked all the way - it was still crunchy. The bread on the Indian taco was very tough and the meat was bland. My husband ordered the hamburger steak and it came with green beans, a salad and your choice of potato. My husband asked if he could substitute something for the potato and she said they didn’t have anything. He asked for cottage cheese or something and they didn’t have it. He said the green beans tasted like they just opened the can and heated them up - no seasoning at all. Same thing with the hamburger steak - it wasn’t cooked with any seasoning. I ordered water with lemon, to drink, but they don’t have lemons - which is a little odd since they serve iced tea. Anyway, the waitress was nice enough and the bathroom was clean. It wasn’t the worst food in the world but it’s not someplace that we will add to our list of places to stop.

michael dickinson

We had been in the road for hours on our way to FL from WA with four kids. It was Easter Sun and this was the only place open in town. The food was great and the atmosphere was wonderful. Thank you for being awesome!

Jodi Hettinger

I had the Indian fry bread taco. It was so good. My hubs had the Italian melt. He lived it. Very fast and good service. Staff was very friendly. We highly recommend.

Breana Moore

Everyone was silent after the food came! Must be good

Michelle Daily

It was great! Great food and service!

Diane Maher

Husbands chicken salad not so good. My chili and baked potato were good.

Craig Edwards

Good food, pleasant atmosphere.

Pam Calkins

Homemade chili was awesome. Decent prices

Barb Krohn

Great

David Charles

Wow great service !!! Food was fantastic!!! Buffalo burger and a slice of cherry pie . Really nice folks running this place !!!!

Judi Keyes

Pie crust that will melt in your mouth

Dave Piper

Never did get the bill to match the menu price

William Burke

Waited for 20 minutes while being ignored by the waiting staff left after not even getting my order taken after a half hour

Jay Pielemeier

Friendly service and good food fairly priced

Wayne Noska

good food a little pricy

Kelly Niesen.Heesch

Absolutely amazing. A designated stop on vacations west forever.

Belinda Songer

Great food friendly service

Di Ldgr Wlz

Good soup and great chocolate milkshake!

Gail Strickland

Good service, friendly staff, great home cooking. The pizzas are made to order.

Lynn Calcaterra

Well... Plan B came out ok. Not where we were supposed to eat lunch because the restaurant we were supposed to go to wasn't open till 4, we got there around noon.

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Great food. Great prices. Best fries I have ever eaten!

Laura Jones

June 2 2019. Very nice cafe. Waitress was very friendly. Had grilled chicken sandwich and was tender and tasty. Would stop again.

Cheyenne Bronson

Nice hometown cafe with good chili! We'll come back here if we come through!

Shellie S

Cute place with a simple menu of tasty food.

Kandie Dracar

Service was good but I wasn't impressed with food. I had their hot hamburger.

Tony Urbanski

Good food and service

Diana McCann

Very good food excellent service! We had our food in 5 minutes!

Woody Wood

Good food slow service

Johanna Geisler

The fries are nice and crispy.

Kristi Knudson

It was ok, but the server was crabby. Don't get a carmel roll. They look good, but they arent very good. Only my opinion though.

Eric Griffin

Good diner with an almost southwestern twist. Not a huge menu but our meal was tasty and fresh. I would stop here again.

Alan Dalton

Good food.

Duane Kadrmas

Good food and service

George Deaton

Stopped for lunch. Service & Food Great

MR. B

I don't what Irene is talking about? This place has good food and good service.

Mr. T

A great cafe to eat, portions are large and delicious! Very friendly waitress. We had the pattymelt It offers souvenirs. We'd stop again if we are passing through.

Daisy Monks

My meatloaf awful. hamburger was nasty but they made up for it with extra fries! The salad was the best thing we had. Never again. After we eat there we were still hungry and went down the road for pizza

The Living Cosmos

Soothing down home atmosphere. Excellent crust on the pizza... Baked well. No need for added seasoning on the cheese pizza. It is tasty de noveau.

Lisa Moore

Delicious food! I had the all meat omelette and it was so good! Also, our waitress was awesome.

Rando Polis

It's a departure from fast food while on the road the road but not very tasty.

Belladonna Laveau

Really nice indigenous people, Good food, reasonable priced.

Allan Tamarkin

Good "greasy spoon " with friendly staff.

Aceso Kittinfire

Food was obviously frozen and just heated up. Price's were much to high for quality of food. Vibe was unwelcoming and unpleasant. Staff were inexperienced and got our order wrong 4 times in a row. TBH the restrooms are worse than the gas station next door. Save yourself the trip and money and go to one of the other restaurants or towns

Ray Jenkins

First of all the waitresses have no idea how to be waitresses. They would never have a job at Orlando Florida. It took them 15 minutes ask for our drink order. There was four of us. After we ordered 45 minutes later three of us got our meal. Another 15 minutes and 2 request for the last meal. I got the Reuben sandwich the corned beef on the sandwich was cut paper thin and had no flavor.

Nathan Delano

A satisfying stop with cafe fare, ice cream, and family friendly seating. Menu items can be split upon request.

BossiKo Farms

Quick service. Below average food

Valerie Boelter

This place had fast service, friendly staff,and great food. It was faster getting our dinner here than getting food at mcdonalds at lunch! The bathrooms are incredibly clean and have that "restaurant" vibe versus gas station. Their ice cream shoppe is refreshing and a fun inexpensive break from a long road trip. Stop here and get some small town hospitality and support a family owned business!

zibbie boo

Friendly service but the food is overpriced & mediocre. $33 for a cheeseburger (very dry), bison burger (very tough & chewy) & a bowl of soup that had so much pepper in it that I couldn't eat it.

David Todd

Great food

Mendy Gronenthal

Service was terrible. Waited more than 7 minutes for someone to acknowledge we were there. And waited more than 20 minutes for a drink we had ordered with our meal. Had 1 waitress try to bring us someone else's food. Had another offer us water, in which I asked about the drinks we had already ordered. Finally our waitress comes with drinks. Not what we ordered. Apologizes, then comes back with our drinks. Then we had ordered hot beef sandwiches, menu said comes with a vegetable. Yeah. Comes with carrots. Yuck. Would be nice to know what vegetable before it arrives. Not recommending. Nothing good came of this visit.

Carl Mathews

Fantastic breakfast in small town SD. Right next to the freeway to for the weary traveler. Worth the stop.

Cindy Benton

Great food, fair prices and super friendly service.

Cherish High

My eggs were sent back due to them not being done. I got 2 more, only to have my husband eat them, since they weren't done either. But, at least he got the 2 extra eggs he asked for the server didn't bring or write down. My hashbrowns were barely done even though I asked for them to be crispy. My jelly poured out of the little container it was in, then the server told me it wasn't old as they got new stuff in just recently. Will not ever be back.

J. Joseph Holzhauser

Very fast service

Josh Ward

Very tasty, fresh food. The bacon cheeseburger is the best around.

John Drayar

Absolutely the best in Service and quality!

Haily Sims

The service we had tonight was amazing. Great food and a wonderful waiter. The place was clean and food came not too long after we ordered.

Mary Dombrovski

Good service, friendly staff...pre-formed burgers undercooked.

Rick Marlette

Goid service

Roger Kolle

Don't know, Wasn't there. Just drove by!!

Justin Boelter

Quick service with solid diner food. Nice place for the kids to get some ice cream too if you are passing through. Would recommend. Prices were fair and received plenty of food for the price.

Roger Mercado

Nice service we loved it

Daniel Perry

Good little local cafe, very good burger and fries, which was my meal selection tonight.....

Jessie Holmes

I’m being generous with a 2 because I feel terrible for what our waitress had to endure. It was clean and cozy. For being a tourist stop I certainly expected better- especially since the shop and museum next door were so awesome- the restaurant experience definitely dampened the mood of our stop. We had lunch- perhaps the breakfast and dinner food is better. Fries and burgers could use an upgrade, if wanted a frozen patty and McDonald’s fries I would’ve gone to McDonald’s and not spent $12 on the same meal. Product aside, our waitress Pam, was very nice but the only one on staff and the restaurant was nearly full. We didn’t see her again after our food was delivered due to her being over worked. The other 3 men there were just standing around making themselves food or drink, the cook was literally just standing in the window watching this poor waitress work her tail off with a crowd of 30 plus people, with ready plates in the window- he could’ve at least delivered the food to the customers since he obviously had nothing else to do and the waitress was drowning in customers. I wanted to help her myself. Definitely lacking in the teamwork, training and leadership department and your customers and over worked waitress suffers. We plan on visiting the museum and gift store next door again because they were fabulous, we may give the restaurant another shot while there but it doesn’t seem likely.

Freddie Stanleta

Only place open in town.food bland and like eating Grey cardboard. I got sick shortly after eating there.

Jody

Small town cafe. Good food, nothing fancy. Had a burger and fries. Was better than fast food for the same price. But the best is the homemade desserts!!!! I had the bread pudding and it was amazing. My son had the brownie, which was the size of a small plate and so good he wouldn't share but a taste. Lost a point on the cleanliness of the floors and that carpet needs to be replaced pronto.

Kristi Sanborn Miller

Perfectly adequate reheated food from a freezer. My kids liked the mini corn dogs...not surprised by that!

Joann Palmer

It was okay when you're hungry.

Barbara Harmon

Good food, fast service

Brianna Garcia

Food came out quickly. We had the Indian Taco & it was good but nothing too special. Their dry bread was a little sweet. Not a fan of that. Staff was super friendly & attentive.

Roger Johnson

Fresh made meals with real ingredients. Great prices and easy on and off Interstate 90. Friendly staff. Beer and wine served as well as dessert options. Children's menu, comfort food, burgers, sandwiches, dinner, breakfast and appetizers. All are affordably priced.

Sheryl Hemenway

Fantastic food and our server was very sweet and courteous.

Explore America

Hair in my salad after I ate half. Gross. Instant mashed potatoes are no bueno. Meatloaf was flavorless. The rolls weren't hot. Service was ok for a one horse location I guess. Wont be back. Overpriced for lousy service and horrible food..

Robin Kimmell

Very nice cafe. Excellent food.

Clay Selleck

Ordered nachos wasn't anything great. Microwaved. Velveeta cheese. Was at least expecting regular cheddar cheese. Beef wasn't anything special either. I can say i was dissatisfied with the choice of food i recieved. Meatloaf looked unappetizing. I can't attest to how breakfast food was as we didn't order any, but for sure don't get the nachos unless you like velveeta cheese. The staff is pretty friendly. I would give it another try to taste the breakfast as most of the photos posted are for breakfast. If your driving about and need something to eat you may want to order something else. Or inquire what's used if your from out of state.

Heidi Roman

Awesome place to grab a burger! The food was great and the burgers weren't greasy. Never knew this place was here till my daughter seen it and wanted to stop. We will always stop on are way back home to MN now

john malek

First rate biscuit s & gravey.

Chad

Good food and friendly staff.

Catherine Fuller

Great food and great service! Breakfast was delicious and so was the cinnamon rolls!

Paige Roesner

We had a great experience having breakfast here. The employees and locals were really friendly. The food wasn't fancy but good and satisfying.

Jen Helbig

Nothing to write home about. I ordered the buffalo burger figuring that since I was in South Dakota it would be good. It wasn't. It was dry, had no flavor and tasted freezer burnt. The soup was bland and not good at all. Service was poor but to her credit she was the only server on the floor so I guess it really wasn't her fault. The food is severely overpriced. My burger was probably a quarter pound before cooking and was $15 since I added bacon and cheese. I kinda felt weird because one of the kitchen employees was just standing around out front watching everyone and staring at them. It kinda creeped me out.

maggie korth

Pricey and not that great 9$ for frozen burger party and small pile of fries. Go to drive in on east end of town or big barn on west side. Better option

Brian Walker

This is the best home town restaurant I've ever been in. The people make you feel right at home. Also try grandma's bread pudding its awesome.

William Smith

Cool little place. Quick friendly service.

Dario Salmon

Service not to great. Definitely had better Buffalo burgers else where.

Darrell Wunderlich

Annual vacation stop. We make it a priority to stop by

H Klossner

Good food and service

Tony Angelo

A little slow when we were there, I think they were unprepared for whatever large group was moving through town that day. The nachos looked a lot better than they actually were, and the burgers were dry. Service was decent. An okay place to stop and visit.

Juston Holm

Could have used another waitress on the floor, service was pretty slow. Also was a little turned off by the snot running down her face while she was taking our order. The hot Italian sandwich and fries were really good though.

Florian Schweitzer

It's fun for foreign tourists if you wanna experience a cliché American diner. The food and service is rather on the mediocre side

penny abel

Nothing noteworthy.

Jack Devones

Good food and service

Alexander Young

Decent food and good service

Eric Francis

Pretty disappointing actually. Food was less than average...dry meatloaf, watery mashed potatoes. Couldn't eat more than one bite of the stale breadstick. Prices were outrageous even for a tourist trap. Service was really good though.

Charles Manson Jr

Very friendly place, great prices. Seems like the kind of place where the regulars meet.

Ray Iddings

Clean place, nice folks, but their "Buffalo Burger" ... well, don't know if it was real Buffalo, or just a pressed Costco beef pattie sold as something else. Only thing special about that burger was the price. The poor quality salad & fries were just a little worse. Any big-chain burger place serves better quality at much lower price.

Julius Ketsenburg

Good food. Good location.

terry nass

Always have good food amd great sevice here when passing through

Rosier Jay

We waited over 30 minutes before we were even seen. Several people who came in after us have eaten an already left the restaurant before we even received our food. It was an hour and five minutes before our food came out from the time we sat down. Would not go back. They were apologetic but did nothing to make it right. Don't order the pizza.

Brenda Slover

Great service, great food! Our bus stopped for lunch and they had our orders taken and food delivered so fast we had lots of time to spare shopping in the gift shop.

Billy Carper

If I could put zero stars I would....hair in my salad....stale crutons....and small portions. Also felt pressured into tipping.

Connie Defehr

We had an excellent meal here. Homemade veggie beef soup. Hubby had Grandmas Meatloaf. Both very good.

Steven Haag

Really good food in a down to earth atmosphere.

Jason Williams

Good for a quick bite and the staff was very nice.

Ralph Mcgee

Awesome restaurant! Has nice atmosphere, is clean, excellent service, good food!! Really enjoyed this place!

Bridget Braswell

The best breakfast!! So good! All meat omelet, added veggies and crispy hashbrowns on the side

melodee Shinn

Fast friendly sevice. Good food. Affordable prices. Cook eben came to table to make sure my buffalo burger was done right. Props to small diner done right. Thank you for the great sevice. Definitely will be back.

Matthew Groff

Slow service

Yuliya Fedorova

the tables in this cafe are very dirty and sticky. I ordered hot tea, but the tea was cold. I waited 40 minutes for my food. My salad was cooked for 40 minutes. The waitress was bringing food to those people who came after me who brought them the same salad that I ordered. This is a very bad cafe.

Brad Everette

We had the meatloaf, which was great, and a burger, which was average. Ice cream was very nice. Fries were good also. Service was very nice.

Emilie Pomerleau

Potatoes tasted like pickles, little to no vegetables on the menu. Great service, awful food.

Elvis Mujić

Super welcoming and food tastes like grandma made it. Thank you! ElvisComedy(DOT)com

Jared Keller

Great place to eat. Huge burgers, lots of fries and decent pricing.

Susan Brackett

Enjoyed the Indian fry bread taco & chili. Used hot sauce for more kick. Restaurant adjoins a nice gift shop. Put a coin in one of the antiques for a little entertainment. Didn't take time pay admission and see the museum.

Mothertrucker

Great place, been coming in here for years. Last year it was taken over by new management and they are awesome. The waitresses are the best, but watch out for the locals, haha.

Dominique Hyten

Was just there and one of the 3 waitresses came over and wiped off the table behind us and then walked away. Then they proceeded to ask the other customers if they needed a refill on their coffee. By now we've been sitting there for over 5 minutes. Then one walked by us and went behind the counter and just stood there.

Adrianna Mastel

Food was good, service was bad. The table was sticky and we asked for it to be wiped down. The waitress replied “if I wipe it down it’ll still be sticky” The waitress only checked on us to give us the ticket.

Eve J Waggoner

My boyfriend and I intially pegged the place as a good, clean and basic place to eat. We were sweetly seduced by the chef-style home cooking. Fresh ingredients, tasty meat and comfort food desserts. Let "The Covered Wagon" get you EXCITED about road trip food.

Lynn Bdx

Great service.

Dennis Taylor

Staff was on the ball and came right away. Food came in pretty short order. Potato soup was nothing special; I'll take the salad next time. The server offered some gravy for Grandma's Meatloaf; that provided enough moisture to make it palatable. My wife used her ranch dressing to moisturize her hamburger steak. Prices seemed a little high, but it is a tourist town after all.

Chad Knauss

Food was okay service was great very expensive for what you get I asked how much it would be for an extra Patty on my hamburger and they told me $ 5.00 for a extra Patty $4.50 for a side salad didn't have a lot of options had two different waitresses been there three times the waitresses wear nice order the special the first time and they had it to me literally in like 3 minutes so something to be said about something that sitting in the crock pot boiling and cooking for who-knows-how-long never posed to be rib tips I got that plus gristle and Bone shattered pieces or whatever you wanted to calling her very very disappointing breakfast burrito was pretty decentjust small portions and really expensive so if I don't order the bacon cheeseburger with the extra $5 padding it would have been about $16 throw the sites out on there you looking at a $25 meal by time you got a drink and everything else very very expensive

Vonnie Murfin

Great food and service!!

Jr Murphy

Good chili. Compliments to the chef.

Christine Dornbusch

Good food and fast. Friendly waitstaff

Marcie Rasnick

Great place especially since nothing else is around! Our waitress was amazing! However I do not recommend the gravy. Everything else was great for breakfast.

Chuck Schram

Good food and I always check out the car related shirts in the attached store. The pioneer museum is right there also!

Amy Parker

Over priced, food has no taste. Had biscuits and gravy. The biscuit had mold on it. Never again.

Alliekat

The fries were so hard that one person with us kept asking "how long ago did they get these out of the trash?" The prices are average for a cafeel, but absolutely not worth it.

2GoBox

The fries are the star here. Great service, good food, quirky atmosphere. What more do you need.

Jeff Birkeland

Great food with friendly service!

M&B Paint Correction and Auto Detailing

The food here was gross. The breakfast burrito came totally flat like a pancake from the press. The sausage was chewy and nasty. And we asked for crispy hashbrowns and they came out barely cooked. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

Lynne & Steve Kennedy

Great breakfast staff were pleasant.

Bill Bartels

Good food and service. Would stop again.

Rene Maldonado

The best lunch

Kim Sickler

Friendly waitress and great food!

Larry Kramer

I was looking for some pizza, and was directed here because it was the closest in town. I was expecting a warmed up frozen pizza, but instead got this delicious freshly made pizza. 1000% better than I was expecting.

Miranda Burfeind

Not that great. Few options. And service was slow.

B Isaacs

Bland, from frozen type food. 3 apparent waitstaff, but only one was working the tables so she only came to take our order, bring the food, then bring the bill. No refill on water, limited children's menu, overpriced. We won't be returning.

Audra Tyler

Staff is so sweet and kind. Food is good. Nice homey atmosphere!

tawny havlish

Waitress was very nice. Food was good.

Sherry Nygaard

Best Indian Tacos from Sioux Falls to Rapid City. Fast and friendly service and fresh!

Jason Sumners

The food was great and the service was extremely good! A great environment with very friendly and fabulous service!

salt chunk

Staff was friendly and helpful, food was diner quality as was expected, prices great.

Heather Meyer

They was packed do to a tour bus. But still had excellent and fast service. Food was great.

Wesley French

Food was pretty good, inexpensive. Nicest waitresses I have ever meet.

Meghanhjmmmjknb Benjamin

Very accommodating. We had a large group with small children. Got right to a table. Food was fast, hot and yummy. Very sweet owners. Thank you!

Rachel Scott

Nice place for breakfast. Good coffee. Biscuits and gravy were really good. Waitress was friendly, too.

Andrina Foley

Pricey not worth it

Lucky Banfill

Friendly staff. Food is overpriced. $4.75 for a small salad. $10.75 for a $7 burger. $2 for coffee. 1st table we sat at was sticky.

Dominic Baruzzini

Uhhh... yeah. It's not often I go to a place thinking that I will be disappointed and instead walk out beyond impressed. I had the soup and pizza... both totally homemade from scratch and utterly delicious. My waiter was nothing short of a gentleman- nothing phoney about his kindness either; a rarity. There is nothing fancy about the joint. You'd probably drive right by it if you weren't looking for it. But the food is real and so is the service. I'll be back.

Anna Kinman

Not sure what’s up with the low rating, this place was PERFECT. Service was friendly and fantastic. Portions were almost too big. Very good coffee! Quiet environment, very relaxing and calm atmosphere. Food was so delicious and very reasonably priced. Parking was good, and location was right next to the highway. 10/10 would eat here over and over again.

rcwilbur56

I really like this reaturant. The food is brown, its hot and there is plenty of it. The foods made from scratch and tasty. I had a cheeseburger and chili that was real good. For dessert I had the apple cranberry crisp with hand dipped ice cream. I highly recommend them for you.

Jack 'n Karen Bowden

Typical 60's style diner, my favorite pla es to eat. Service was prompt and food was good.

Stephen Banfill

Overpriced nice staff decent food Dirty tables and overpriced food

Brad Birt

Great food and great eye candy too.

Wendy FitzHenry

Don't stop if you are in a hurry. Despite a half full restaurant, food takes forever to cook.

Kendra Kluender

Great diner..quick food..great service

Sue Willard

We had the ribs. They were good! Enjoyed them. The gift shop was nice which is attached. We hope to go through the antique car museum tomorrow! Can't wait.