Mendoberri Café & Wine Bar

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 'cafe' 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 decor 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.

FINALLY!!! A restaurant in a Twin Cities suburb that serves fresh, locally sourced, organic and absolutely delicious food at very reasonable prices.  I came upon this place by accident abut a month ago looking for a decent lunch spot near where I work.  This area is full of chain, fast food, bad for you food spots but really lacking in a place to get just a nice healthful meal.  I decided to try this place out and was blown away.  First the ambiance is fantastic - warm, inviting, nice fireplace, great lighting, nice music.  I felt instantly relaxed.  The hardest park was picking amongst all the wonderful sounding choices and landed on the salmon with seasonal veggies and mixed greens.  The salmon was perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked and the greens were dressed with a very nice, light vinagairette. I'm extraordinarily picky when it comes to food and I am giving this place the highest # of stars.  Really top of the line experience and food and I'll definitely be back and be bringing more people.  Do yourself a favor and try this place.

I am so happy we have Mendoberri in the neighborhood!  Its really the only legitimate dining experience in the Mendota Heights community, in my opinion.  The desserts are amazing.  The lunch menu is casual and fresh with daily soups, a nice variety of sandwiches and salads.  They create a nice ambiance for dinner with a limited, but exquisite seasonal menu.  I only wish they had more vegetarian and vegan options to choose from.