Whitey's Cafe

I'm torn with how to review this place....

The atmosphere was aweseome - it was an old place redone and reminiscent of the past.  It was clean and the staff was friendly enough.

I wasn't crazy about the food - the salad was primarily all white.  The dinner was good, but not great - I had the parmesan crusted whitefish and it was way too much parmesan crust, kind of hard to find the fish.

i will rave about the scalloped potatos.

My one plug is that - there aren't a ton of other places to eat in Grand Forks area.

I was excited to hear that Whitey's was reopening in 2011.  Unfortunately the new owners seem to have a lot to learn.  I was willing to overlook the bizarre cosmetic changes made to the space, but I had a hard time overlooking the disappointing food.  Granted Whitey's was never known to have the best food around but one would think that someone putting such a large investment into reopening a failed restaurant would want to spruce up the quality of the menu a bit.  The food and menu reminded me of a small town "supper club," and this isn't a good thing.  They had almost no beer choices besides the big three light beers and the remodeling of the space had the effect of making it no longer feel like a comfortable hang-out but rather it felt dull and depressing.  If their target market is people over the age of 70 (not that there is anything wrong with old people) then maybe these approaches will work.  Although I did hear the hordes of the elders around me complaining about the food and the prices (old people always complain about prices so this isn't anything to get excited about).  The only reason I gave it two stars instead of just one is because I love the location and the fact that it's still a local restaurant and not a national chain.  R.I.P. former Whitey's.

P.S. I really want this place to succeed so I hope the new owners are paying attention.

Whitey's is a local land mark. The Interior is art Deco. The Menu is steak based. Whitey's has recently changed hands and is still going through a transition. I've been there twice in the last couple of days.
The first night I had the rib special with au gratin potatoes, a salad and the french onion soup. Portions where all good. The salad was a nice mixed green salad. The Pate is a nice touch although I thought the garnish onions could be chopped a little more uniformly, but it was good. The bread basket was wild rice cranberry bread with honey butter and garlic bread. Which isn't bad, but it seemed like kind of an odd combo.
The French onion soup comes with mozzarella melted on top of a crouton. It's good, but it needs something.

The Ribs where good, but they didn't rock. They need a little kick. The sauce was sweet and not bad, but it doesn't really pop.The au gratins where nice chunks of potato in a very creamy sauce, I felt they could have turned up the cheesiness a little bit. I'm trying not to say the food was a little bland, but the food was a little bland.

The service was great. Very Friendly. I got everything fast and my table got cleaned up quickly. And I didn't have to wait for refills on my soda.

The next time I went back with a family member. The board said the soup was turkey wild rice, but was clam chowder. Not a big deal, unless you have a shell fish problem. Fortunately it was excellent.

This time I had Lobster bisque. It's rich and creamy with chunks of sweet lobster in it. It definitely pops. Very good.

I Had the Steak medallions with Blue Cheese sauce on it. I ordered it medium rare. The meat was a perfect temperature with a nice slightly seasoned exterior, drizzled in creamy blue cheese sauce, so good. The mashed potatoes where skin on, smooth and rich with a pool of brown gravy. This was a really great meal.

We got Cheese cake with raspberry's and chocolate on it for dessert. We got a huge wedge of cheese cake drizzled with chocolate and raspberry's. What more do you want?  
I will definitely go back and give them another shot.

Over all I was happy and look forward to seeing how things evolve under the new owner.