Okay, so admittedly the idea of reviewing a gas station/bait shop strikes me as fairly dumb, too,…read morebut this place is going to be a footnote in my travel tails for life, I'll bet. I flew into International Falls to rent a car and visit a friend up in Thunder Bay. My first stop was the Border Bob tourist trap to exchange some USD for some Canuck currency, but they failed me and pointed me in this direction. The old guy that runs this place is one of the most interesting individuals I've run across. For about 45 minutes I stood there and talked to this guy about his prior camping trips to Atikokan, and his encounters with the wildlife in the area. The guy busted out some old photographs of moose he'd run into on a canoe trip some five-ten-fifteen-who knows? years ago. This man is one of the friendliest people I've run across in my travels. If you happen to be in the area, stop in and say hi. (Bring cash though, because he apparently uses a fairly unreliable credit card processor.)

We found this bougie spot on Yelp, and what a great find! It's just outside International Falls in…read moreRanier. We ate outside at the street side tables and it was perfect. Our server was also the bartender, pitch hitting for his very pregnant coworker. The atmosphere was lovely and we felt very welcome. I had halibut tacos and my husband had the Big Vic burger with fries. The food was amazing! The mango salsa on the tacos was bright and full of flavor. I can't rave enough about our lunch. It was so good. The service was fast and friendly. The food was excellent. 10/10

What a beautiful, clean space - which seems to be half restaurant and half hotel. After a long day…read moreof travel we were starving and came in around 4 pm for dinner. It was busy on a Saturday night (of LDW). I knocked a star off for the speed of service. It was slow. It took forever to get a menu and drink, but the waitress apologized. We counted 5 people working but 1 girl was actually bartending, serving, and hosting. It was strange, it explained the long delay. I had the ginger soda mocktail and it was excellent! The sandwich was hot and tasty and the fries were cooked perfectly! Great place to grab dinner in town. It looks like the nicest spot in the area! Would highly recommend!

I think i drove by several times looking for the name, as i had the address correct, but the name…read moreis pretty small. It's got a perfect coffee shop vibe, and i would camp there to work if i had time. They didn't quite understand 'give me something local' However, the white choc raspberry scone was superb and the coffee they made was pretty good as well. Tried to go back, but closed on Sunday

A surprise, an expansive fresh made menu, tasty in house roasted coffee and a laid back vibe. I…read morehear all the comments about waits and likely they are true, but chill people. This isn't New York or Chicago, take some time, have a conversation, enjoy yourself and your fellow travelers.

We weren't planning on eating at Chocolate Moose, but after a mishap with the wifi at our hotel and…read morenot having much cell service in the area, we to give to give the first restaurant we saw on the way into town, Chocolate Moose, a try for dinner. This is a larger restaurant located right across from the Days Inn. We arrived pretty late, but even at 8PM on a Saturday everning, the place was packed. Luckily there was a table open and we were seated immediately. We ended up only getting one item to share because we had just eaten a ton of cherries and were not that hungry. The server was happy to accommodate. Fried Chicken Dinner ($20.99) - The dish first comes with a side salad, which since we decided to share, came split on two plates. It's a basic salad with some cucumber, iceberg lettuce, and shredded cheese, and is served with two whole small cups of dressing. Our choice was Ranch, which is surprisingly delicious. It's slightly tangy with that classic Ranch taste. It's served cold and is clearly superior to regular bottled dressing - I believe they mix their dressing in house. The fried chicken took about 30 minutes to arrive. It includes four pieces of chicken that are tiny - the smallest pieces I've ever seen other than Cornish game chickens. The chicken seems to be hand trimmed from a whole chicken, then hand battered and fried. The breast actually still has a piece of neck attached and the cut ends are quite messy. It's a homestyle, classical fried chicken, so it's fried hard until somewhat dry and chewy inside. The exterior gives a robust crunch, not quite cornflake/thick flour batter style, but a thinner crunchy coating. The chicken is bled thoroughly so there's no sign of extraneous myoglobin bloody areas that I sometimes see in homestyle fried chicken. It's salted and seasoned well on the exterior. The chicken comes with a bread stick. It's soft, fluffy, and chewy and is brushed with an appropriate amount of salted butter to liven things up. For the side, we went with the wild rice, which was our first try of this dish on the trip. The wild rice is really interesting. It's all curled up and popped open. It has a texture that's really snappy and bouncy, kind of like a hot dog in snappiness, but with the bounce of beef tripe. The taste is nutty similar to barley. We were so enamored with the texture that over the next couple of days, we actually visited multiple grocery stores and trading posts to pick up the various types available to cook at home - cultivated, wood parched, air boat harvested, and wild hand picked. (4/5) Given the tiny size of the chicken, the half chicken meal probably only feeds one person. It was enough for us, though, since we were not that hungry. I was quite surprised at the quality of the food at Chocolate Moose. I expected most of the restaurants in International Falls to be Sysco-reheated-food type establishments, but Chocolate Moose actually makes at least some (maybe most?) of their food in house. Bathrooms - Two larger ones with multiple stalls. Food: [4/5] Service: [+] Other: [ ] Final Rating: 4/5

Tried this place because it was right next to our hotel. My frnvh toast and hashbrowns were great,…read morewife said they have the best oatmeal she's ever had!

SUPER friendly service!! The ladies working were so nice and so fast to help with anything we…read moreneeded. Loved the options of the books around the place - looks like a great place to hangout, grab some food, and hangout with friends! My guacamole toast was fine, nothing special but good for what it is! I had a simple iced almond milk latte. Would recommend if traveling through International Falls!

Slightly confusing on how the seating works when you walk in…read more.. I couldn't explain it again, so i won't try. The ordering process added to the confusion for me. Once you are past that.. it's a great place. As the name would suggest, there are books everywhere and that added to the overall fun of being there. Forgot what i had, but i enjoyed it. Really wanted to order a coffee for the road, but the line to order was pretty long.