In this hidden gem of a town in N.E. Iowa (Decorah), lies a wonderful gourmet bistro and wine bar. Only 2-1/2 hour drive from the Twin Cities (St. Paul/Minneapolis), this is a great weekend getaway spot with so much to offer, including a beautiful Inn owned by the same owners of La Rana Bistro (see Palisades Inn - Decorah). The bistro offers a fresh ingredient ala carte menu as well as dinners complete. The original chef is back which is an added plus. La Rana is a friendly comfortable restaurant to hang out with friends or even solo. The bartender/owner Mark pours wonderful cocktails, especially his fresh margaritas. All the pours, cocktails and wines, are generously poured. You will meet many fun local people here as well and they even offer a special monthly music night. More under Palisades Inn . . . read more

Tomato basil soup with a grass fed chèvre burger. Quite good

This restaurant in large measure warrants adding Decorah to my list of potential retirement relocation destinations. Food was unique and flavorful . Not a typical small town bistro read more

A great restaurant in a charming, Midwest town. Excellent service and delicious food. The menu was small but offered something for everyone in our group. Somewhat pricey considering the location ($15 for a burger in a town of 8,000?) but overall, a cute restaurant and a good experience. read more

Intimate, romantic ambiance makes La Rana stand out in Decorah. Excellent food -- steak, duck, and quail entrees have all been perfectly executed. Great place for a date night! read more

My favorite place to eat in Decorah. Small building but cute and very good, unique entrees. I have never been disappointed. Little confused about the operating hours listed since they have been closed a couple of times when I have stopped youth - probably a fluke. read more

My wife and I dined at this restaurant 2 nights in a row, it was that good. From appetizers through desserts every course was delicious and well presented; visually pleasing but not overdone. The waitstaff was enthusiastic and the atmosphere was very pleasing. All in all an excellent restaurant that could hold its own in any market not just towns like Decorah, IA! Kim M read more

A MAZ ING! Everything from the small plate cashews and olives to my trout and his steak-perfectly prepared! Fresh squeezed juice for my pomagranete margarita-really this place does everything right-the creme brulee-best ever! read more

Nice space with bar seating a several tables. Partially open kitchen. Excellent beer selection with the local stars available and a small but broad wine list. Quench was outstanding. Sandwiches like homemade. Dressing on very fresh salad was excellent and the tomato soup really good. Three lunches no alcohol or apps around $50. Service was excellent - attentive without being intrusive. Nice place for lunch and I can see it would be crowded in evening. read more

When traveling through or visiting Decorah you must stop at La Rana Bistro! The staff is friendly and efficient and the interior of this bistro is unique. My wife and I ordered the chicken salad sandwich. It would have to fall into our top five category for chicken salad. The key lime pie was nice and tangy , but slightly over priced for the size of the slice. The veggie chips were something quite nicely different, better choice than French fries, at least for me. Bon Appetite. read more

Food was delicious. Service was not. We sat at the bar. It was full the night we ate there and once we had our drinks and placed our order, we waited and waited and waited. The bartender finally came and asked if we wanted some more bread. I am pretty sure that a burger, an order of shrimp bruschetta, and a salad should not take as long as we waited. Deborah is a very friendly place, but we did not find the staff to be very welcoming either. read more

We were in Decorah celebrating our Luther College son's birthday and decided to try La Rana. The food was good but I really thought it was overpriced. It was more expensive than it should have been at a "bistro". Our bill with tip was over a hundred dollars and we just ordered 4 meals, no drinks, dessert or apps. The service was just ok. We will try another next time. read more

Horrible experience, rude staff, ruined our dinner, will not go back The only good thing was the food read more

Thoroughly impressed. We drove down from the Twin Cities on a Friday evening to be, "wowed" at this small town bistro. We (I) are a bit snobby about food/drinks due to years in the industry and an experience pallet...this place was amazing! We had some great, very freshly juiced cocktails and amazing beer (Toppling Goliath is up the road!!!) with our meals. The lemon cream sauce penne pasta with apple/chicken sausage, Swiss chard, garlic, pasta and the fresh (local) lake trout meals were the stars tonight! Great and laid back (In a good way!) staff. Very impressed and extremely fair pricing. read more

Interesting menu. Not vegetarian friendly, but if you like red meat, pork, or fish then small menu with some unique options. A little expensive but reasonable for the style restaurant. I had beef tenderloin, sent it back as first presentation was bloody-red for medium-well. Second time around, excellent. Server was friendly & helpful. Hostess was bothered by incoming customers. Nice atmosphere, small but well done. Not sure what other options are in Decorah but will personally try another location next time. Not an inexpensive choice but consistent with atmosphere. I just can't get past limited menu for my dining companion, food prep, and the snobbish hostess who seemed truly bothered by people. Again, after 2nd try, my food was excellent. read more

From the twin cities and always love coming down to Decorah for fishing, a quaint town and La Rana. These meals never disappoint and everyone I have ever brought here comes away loving it read more

We were impressed with the quality of the food. The burger and rueben were awesome. Quick friendly service. We will definitely return if we are in the area. read more

Stopped for lunch with my wife and we were both wowed. Heading back to try dinner on our way to Rochester. Wednesday! I am expecting something special as lunch was fresh , perfectly seasoned and delicious ! We only had soup and sandwiches...!!! read more

I've found my new favorite at La Rana. The mushroom bruschetta is something I crave every night. The aioli, mushrooms and balsamic have the perfect balance. It's enough that I forgive taking the mac and cheese off the menu. read more

Had a great dinner here. Menu is based on fresh local produce, meats as much as possible - loved the trout with fresh tomato, corn and other flavors. Had a radish salad appetizer (some cooked), some raw - unusual but excellent. read more

We came to Decorah, IA on a spontaneous beer trip. Saw positive reviews avout this restaurant so we decided to have dinner there. The food was really good and the staff was really friendly. It's a gem of this town. read more

Had the grilled chicken salad and it was fresh and delicious. Kids had mac and cheese, which was homemade with penne pasta. Cute atmosphere and polite staff. read more

This was our second visit. Food and service was outstanding. We had the salmon daily special. A nice sized portion of salmon with rice pilaf, pea pods and cherry tomatoes. The fish was absolutely great. Nice seasoning and a great crust. Finished with strawberry crisp. read more

Small bistro in the downtown area with a limited menu, different than what is on the website. No mention of local farms or suppliers. I had the Shrimp Scampi dinner and my wife had the Pheasant breast with wild rice. She was very surprised to have a pheasant breast with a leg sticking out of it. The pheasant skin was soft, with some burnt char spots on it. The wild rice was swimming in liquid. The bread and brewed iced tea were great. We shared the Chocolate Pots de Crème that was excellent. The restaurant smelt like burning food inside. The wait staff seemed very rushed and unfriendly. With a small menu everything should be cooked, plated and served to perfection. read more

I was trying to reserve a spot for an anniversary party for Sunday and I know that they are closed on Sunday but I asked if they could make an exception for us since our friends love that place and they highly recommended it. We were willing to pay for the inconvenience that this might be to them. Here's how my conversation went with them: I talked to a person in the afternoon who listened to my request and said that he would ask the manager and told me to call in the evening and when i called i spoke with Joni who briefly spoke to me and disconnected within a minute without hearing my request. I called again and this time i got another individual who said that he is in a rush and cant speak to me and disconnected again. I was still WAITING for my answer. At this point, I should have stopped calling them but i thought i would try once more and I did. I spoke to Joni again and she mentioned that this was a bad time for them and they are not interested in serving us at all. This whole process should not have been so frustrating and they did not need to be rude. They could have been better regarding their customer service, i had waited all day to speak with them and their response was very bad. Poor customer service. read more

Great service. I have been waited on by at least 4 different individuals. Each one was top notch attentive and pleasant. Very good selection of beer and wines. Food off the menu is off course very good. And the appetizers are out of this world. Only thing I would change is the opening time of 5:00 pm. Would be nice to open a little sooner on Fridays! read more

Had terrible service. Staff kept swearing upfront of me while I was waiting for a table. When they finally went to seat me and my grandma, we ordered which was a "ok" wait time. After we got our food it was terrible and raw. Will definitely not be getting any of their food again. read more

On July 1st, I went to La Rana with my wife, parents and a family friend. All was well until my wife and I received our $21 Pork Tenderloin dinners. Both were extremely charred on the outside and raw in the middle (read red!). I notified a gentleman who was running around making drinks that my wife and I couldn't eat the meal and that it tasted burnt. He took the plates away and just a very bit afterwards, the owner/waiter/manager (Older blode haired lady with glasses) shows up with both plates in her hands and asks us what was wrong with them. I told her that they were burnt and that we couldn't eat them. She tries to tell me that the tenderloins were not overly cooked. I asked her to just please take the plates away and not we were not going to eat the plates. She doesn't even offer to re-do the plates and has the audacity to come back to our table 10 minutes later and tell me that she tasted the loins and that they tasted perfect and were not overdone. I asked her to leave me alone and she left the table. I've never seen such rudeness before in a restaurant. Never, ever going back. read more

What a surprise this little bistro was to us! We were in Decorah for a multi-day class at Vesterheim, and not looking forward to yet another meal at the hotel, we literally asked a woman on the street where to go for a good meal. She raved about La Rana. That was all it took. The first night (yes, we returned), our burgers were grilled to perfection (medium rare, upon request), topped with bleu cheese and other accompaniments, and included a nice batch of crispy fries. Dessert? Why not? Our server, who we believe is the owner, said she makes all the desserts, and recommended a sublime caramel apple tart. Of course we returned the second night, when I thoroughly enjoyed chicken marsala pasta (and I am not a huge pasta fan), and my friend loved the filet mignon tower. Dessert again---a piquant slice of key lime pie. We would have returned a third night, but the restaurant closes on Sundays. Decorah is a gem of a little town, but La Rana is the culinary jewel in its crown. We look forward to a return visit. read more

the food here is excellent and innovative but i think that its most under rated quality is that their dishes glasses and silverware were so sparkling clean that they seemed to illuminate our table which added a nice romantic ambience..the lack of smudges and blemishes on the plates was astonishing and was obviously a representation of the talented and hard working dish man who, by the way, was wearing what seemed to be a star trek themed chef's coat. In fact it wasnt until I commented on the coat and its "kirkiness" that my date and I, who I had never been out with prior to that night, became aware that we shared a love of star trek. And usually trekkies know not to bring up star trek on the first date and instead hide it for as long as you can. Anyway I'm getting off topic, the last thing ill say about the dish washer was that he was so good that i pondered the possibility that maybe he had captained a ship to the far reaches of deep space in order to discover the greatest and most intimate strategies and secrets to the art of dishwashing. And Oh my gosh was the food intricately delicious. read more