Double Play

A standard sports bar/grill type atmosphere however does have a gaming area for kids to stay entertained for a bit with some quarters. The menu is about 4 pages with nightly specials like steak, shrimp, and my favorite prime rib. Service tends to vary having eaten there multiple times now sometimes it is 5 star and other times it is a weak 2 stars for no apparent reason- no one in the place but it's slower service then when they are busy during prime hours- odd.

The food is not worth it.

Double Play is a restaurant/bar located in Downtown Blue Earth just off Main Street. For a very long time, it has been the only restaurant in this area. Almost all of the other restaurants are hear the Interstate Highway.
I've mostly eaten there for the last 5 years. The menu has the standard sports bar traditions - fried appetizers, burgers, and pizza. The flavor of items isn't consistent from one visit to another. The waitstaff tends to be stretched too thin, so service suffers, but I don't feel like it's an attitude/training problem with the staff. In the recent past, I've tried to order a burger to take away and on a slow, weeknight, my order took almost 25 minutes. Like most, when I want to "go out to eat," I go to another town.
I hosted a party at Double Play Saturday, 10 March 2012 in the early afternoon. I am from Blue Earth, but live near Minneapolis now so I wasn't sure the procedure to bring a big group. I called about 1 month before the event and asked for a manager. She suggested food options for our party, but couldn't give me prices on any of it. I asked her to send me pricing and she refused. Without catering, I was going to be charged a $75 space rental fee. Apparently this is a fee only charged to outsiders, because it didn't reserve a party room or special space. I had a local check on this for me. She was not asked to pay $75.
I said we could speak again closer to the date when I had a better head count. I left  my name and telephone number. When I asked for her name, first she said I should just ask for "the manager" whoever answers will know who she is. I asked a few more times. She said "I'm the owner" when I asked again "I am Karen" and when I asked for her full name she gave it reluctantly.
A few days before the event, Karen called to finalize the food order. I thought the chicken salad sandwich might be a good "middle ground" item for a large party. It was one of her suggestions from our first conversation, but she didn't have the pricing ready. When she figured it out, she priced 50 sandwiches and a bowl of potato chips at ~$6.50 each with pitchers of water - the same price as the menu. When I said I wouldn't pay menu prices for such a large order, she began calling me "Sweetie" and "Ma'am"  in a condescending tone.  She couldn't give me pricing on any other of the "catering" food items she'd mentioned before. There was a lot of arguing that I didn't know what I was doing. I felt Karen wanted to "win" more than she was willing to actually get the business.
On the day of the event, Karen (she really is the owner) had blocked off part of the restaurant for us (no charge) and introduced me to her daughter who would be our server.
About 30 minutes in to our "open house" gathering, getting beverages and ordering food was difficult, even for people who joined our event but wanted to buy their own food. Several times I had to go looking for our server. Eventually, I would find her and tell her what we needed to exasperated " OK, I'll be there in a minute." Empty plates on tables piled up and I couldn't find our server, so I cleared them to a busing station myself. When Karen asked if all was OK, I said service was slow and I didn't like clearing my own tables. Service didn't improve.
When I wanted to settle the bill, our server asked me if everything was to my satisfaction. I told her I was unhappy about the service and clearing tables. She also started calling me "Sweetie" and explained she was the only server for the whole place and I made her look bad. Bad attitude, anger when I asked about items on the bill. I paid and left a very small tip that I felt guilty about, but the arguing about my problem with her service continued on her side. I regretted leaving a tip at all.
They won't get my business again. I'm hosting another, larger event in August. It won't be at Double Play. I won't eat there again for any reason, even to attend someone else's party. I'm done.

This is an enjoyable place to eat in Blue Earth, and a wonderful alternative to the fast food places. The food is very good and very well priced. Their tater tots are a wonderful, guilty pleasure of mine. The service is usually pretty good, but depends on the particular server, of course. The atmosphere is fun, though nothing particularly exciting.

So, while not a big city diner, it's an awesome place for a small town like Blue Earth, and I look forward to stopping here when I'm in the area!