Delicious philly beef burger and homemade chips. Had a sweet iced tea in a quart sized canning jar ! Friendly staff and great service. Nice and clean. read more

We are on a 3000 mile road trip and have been so disappointed in the choice of food options - chain restaurants are so awful! The Elbow Room was exactly what we have been yearning for: small, family owned, quaint, friendly with excellent food! We had breakfast and the hash browns were crispy, the sausage and eggs delicious and she GRILLED our English muffins! Go here!! read more

Going Downhill, the service is not consistent and the food size of a getting smaller. A new owner tries everything but forgotten what made the restaurant a success . Sadly it's days are numbered read more

The outside doesn't quite match the deliciousness of the food inside. It was a little out of the way because there was construction on 8th street and James making it hard to access. When we arrived however, we were greeted by a friendly staff. We ordered the hamburger, fries, a BLT, and a homemade cheesecake. The BLT was just what we wanted: nice and toasty with a juicy tomato and perfectly prepared bacon. The hamburger was also delicious! The homemade cheese cake was superb with a nice coat of strawberries and strawberry jam:). read more

My buddies and I stopped in passing through Albert Lea. Great burgers. You can tell these aren't the Cisco kinds (unlike the chicken strips) and are hand pattied. Prices were very cheap. My only complaints would be they seemed to be closing at 2pm on Saturday and the beers we ordered were 3.2%. Otherwise, I thought the waitress was prompt and courteous and the good extremely tasty. read more

I don't even know where to start! The hospitality of the place is phenomenal! It is a family ran restaurant and you can definitly tell that they put time and effort into making their customers happy and feel welcome, and that their food taste good and is appetizing & just the overall expierence of The Elbow Room. Love, Love Love!!! Highly Recommend. Side Note: Always looking forward to see what their meal of the day is going to be! :) YUM. read more

Great old school burger joint. Follow the waitress ' recommendations of what to order. She was spot on . Patty melt, Dick's limey burger, tots and mac and cheese wedges. We had a great lunch. read more

The Elbow Room - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Albert Lea, Minnesota

Friendly, prompt, fresh, and piping hot! The food was great too! Seriously, great spot with great service. It's a very standard NoIa/SoMn menu, but we really enjoyed the experience. Good crowd and good location. read more

The food here is great and so is the service the food gets served to your table pretty fast Elbow room is known for there burgers and they have a wide selection of burgers that are all good I would recommend this place for anyone read more

Fantastic. Accommodated our huge group of baseball players and parents for lunch with no warning. We hadn't realized so many families would arrive, and if we had known we would surely have called ahead. But!! The staff kept welcoming us as our numbers grew with enthusiasm. Beverages came so quickly, food just a quick and the burgers were flavorful and delicious! The grill in there is top notch. This is the epitome of a joint. Wood panel walls, worn formica tables, big open classic grill, bottled beer and cans of pop. Old but super clean. There is clearly pride in ownership here. At the end of our visit our awesome server came out with a box of suckers for the boys. She was so nice! Don't miss this place. It's certainly not fancy but they are doing it right! Thanks Elbow Room, from Burnsville 13 AA. read more

A cozy, little slice of small town life. This compact diner is a throwback with classic greasy spoon dishes done well. I loved the classic patty melt with tator tots. Don't come looking for healthy fair, bit if you want some deep fried deliciousness, this a good pick for lunch. read more

This was an awesome find! Small space but big on personality and great food! We appreciated the bottles of soda as we were traveling and very convenient to take with us! Our waitress was very nice, had a great smile. I had a gyro, very good! My sister had a steak sandwich and also enjoyed it, my honey had a cheeseburger and really liked it. read more

Elbow Room is a very appropriate name for this restaurant, very very small. Sodas come in bottles, grilled chicken sandwich was tough and dry. Double burger was not the size of a real double burger and it's a la carte. Staff was plenty friendly but took a long time to order and receive food. For the quality and service $40 was a ridiculous price for the 3 meals. read more

I have a special place in my heart for The Elbow Room. Sure, it's a tiny little dive, with nothing to speak of for parking, but I have a lot of happy childhood memories of walking to this little hole-in-the-wall with my grandparents for lunch. The burgers are simply the best you'll find in town. In fact, I haven't even found a burger in the metro area that makes me as happy as the ones I've had here. Circle bacon on the bacon cheeseburger so that every bite is bacony? Genius! read more

Stopped here on Fourth of July weekend during a long trek through southern Minnesota. The Elbow Room is a little off the path of the interstate, but not going to the chain fast food stuff is pretty high priority. This is a little place that looked a bit divey, but it's clean and has clearly been there for ages. It's also clearly family owned and operated, so that was cool. The burgers were very good, and they were friendly. This is a good stopping point if you find yourself with hunger pangs on I-90. read more

Fantastic burgers and a very friendly staff for this great hole in the wall. 3.2 beer but you are not there for drinking. Food all made right behind the bar area and limited seating. Have specials such as prime rib and stuff on Friday and Saturday nights. Never tried them because you come here for one reason.....the awesome burgers. read more

This used to be an amazing place but it's gone way downhill since the original owner died. The steaks used to be great! But now they are not. It's so sad because this is where we used to go every Friday night for prime rib. If I had any advice it would be to shorten the menu and do really great with fewer things. read more

Have the patty melt. And the tots. With yellow mustard. Great food and friendly staff.

Great little place. And when I mean little, it's little. Built in 1950 this little quaint place is definitely been around for a bit. It's old and worn down but that's where the story gets good. I'm sure they have added a few items in the years but they still get their food and prepare it like in the old days. Hamburger is brought in daily so never frozen and ohh my are they worth it. It's an old school place that hasn't lost its charm in the years. Last thing I'll say is when we were done eating there was an older man hanging around us which turned out to be the owner since 1972. He wanted to make sure the kids got their tootsie pop before they left. All kids need a tootsie pop to finish up a good meal. read more

On our way back from our son's college visit to St. Olaf. Great little spot just off 35. I had the Egg Burger with Peanut Butter and Bacon (very tasty). Boys had cheeseburgers. Nothing fancy on the appetizers, but everything warm and such a friendly server. Will definitely stop back on the way to or from Northfield! read more

Wow...Awesome burgers and onion rings. Great tiny slightly run down place. They are usually the best. This place is no exception. Better burger than Five Guys, and I love Five Guys. read more

I got RAW CHICKEN FINGERS. When they came they looked really good, not going to lie. The breading was crispy and golden. Then I bit into it.. and it was chewy. I tried picking around it and then I peeled back the breading and it was RAW, PINK CHICKEN. absolutely disgusted. Didn't eat for the rest of the day and never went again. read more

BEST SERVICE I'VE EVER RECEIVED!! My family of 8 came in and there was only 1 worker. Rachel did everything we asked for and more! She was friendly and got our food out in less than 15 minutes! Very hard working! This place will not disappoint! read more

Just a small hole in the wall but great food. Service is quick and friendly. Good selection of food.

I am from the Chicago-land area and I have had my fair share of great food, but the burger from the Elbow Room was the best I have had for the price. I highly suggest any traveler on I-90 or I-35 near Albert Lea, Minnesota to STOP for an Old-Fashioned Real Hamburger. The fries were cooked to perfection as if they were cooked just for me. I plan on stopping at this place anytime I am within an hours drive for the rest of my life. read more

This place was so wonderful!!! Yes, it's small and, yes it's frequented by many regulars, but everyone is so friendly and the staff should be in roller skates for as quickly as they move. Best story, I was having a very bad day and suddenly had to switch my order to take out. My waitress gave me the bill and, she & I quickly realized that the total of $16.66, superstitiously, isn't good for the rest of my day. As I was trying to do math to fix my luck, she gave me a new bill!! Plus, everyone is correct when they say the cheeseburger is really great!! read more

They have some pretty good food but they take very long to make it. No wonder why it's called the elbow room because they don't work fast, it's like they have no elbows! read more

Called for delivery said it be about 23-30 mins took 1 hour to be delivered. When we got our food it was so cold we had microwave it. Hamburger bun was soggy, nasty fries , chicken patty was rock hard since we had to microwave our food read more

Great little hole-in-the-wall diner. Hand patties burgers. Double looks HUGE. My husband had a cheeseburger and I had a patty melt. We shared the skinny fries. Everything was excellent. Really friendly. $12.80 for what I mentioned earlier plus a small glass of milk (tip extra). read more

If you are traveling through Albert Lea, take a little time to go out of your way to a little corner dive with some of the best hamburgers you will ever eat. The service was fantastic and everything we ate was delicious. From the deep fried cauliflower to the chili, everyone loved their meals. The server even went out of her way to create a bouquet of suckers for our daughter's birthday. We will definitely eat here again if we are in town! read more

We are driving to Alaska from Michigan and was sick of fast food so I yelped some ma & pa restaurants and I'm glad I did! This place had the BEST mac n cheese wedges I've ever had! Also great local feel with nice people, will definitely plan this in our next trip even if it's a little out of the way! read more

This is great place for a burger, however the delivery staff are not very prompt and blamed the establishment for his delay. Also, he did not bring the entire order. read more

Stopped in for a quick lunch today. Found on Yelp based on good reviews. The previous reviews are spot on. Little place, family run and friendly. Bacon, mushroom and Swiss burger was great. Bacon was cut round and covered the whole burger. Bacon in every bite, can't go wrong with that. Also shoestring fries were good. Add a glass of water and $7.95 out the door $10. Good value. read more

We stopped here on a road trip from Washington and were impressed! Great service, delicious food and great prices! We came with our 2 children, ages 3 and 1, who devoured the buttermilk pancakes. American breakfast done right! read more

As we were traveling on our cross country trip, we sought out an eating place for lunch. This place was close and easy to find and every bit as good as others had reviewed. Hubby really enjoyed his chili and I my fried chicken. We love finding good, local eateries with home cooked foods. read more

Excellent hole in the wall place. Delicious burgers & fries. We also tried the special which was vegetable beef soup and a grilled ham and cheese. Under $14 for 2 people! Highly recommend! read more

Do not stop here if you are not willing to wait an hour for food. FOUR tables came in AFTER us, ordered, ate and left before we got our food, and there are only 10 tables in the place. The two girls running the place are obviously busy and overworked, however the table next to us asked if they were understaffed today and she said, "no, it's always like this." Tips for a good experience: if you want to eat right away sit at the bar- those people get to order and eat right away; order when the waitress there, she will not come back to you- I literally had to get up and tell her we wanted to order when she didn't come back (and I did patiently wait and try to flag her down for 20 minutes); the tables will not be bussed in advance and you will not be greeted when you come in- the custom is to come in and stand by a table so that they will come and clear it. What about the food? The food was good. Worth the wait with a small child? No. Another thing parents should know is that that there are no high chairs or booster seats which is not a big deal, but for a place that says 'good for kids' on the reviews it's worth mentioning. Perhaps good for kids who are a little older and not hungry when they come in. We stopped here while traveling based on other yelp reviews, but we will not return. read more

Charming little spot for a quick meal. Stopped on our trip south from Minneapolis on a snowy day in January. We were greeted warmly and enjoyed a couple of delicious burgers. Service was outstanding and we loved the local feel. Highly recommend it! read more

Such a hidden treasure! Don't let the location and appearance make you waiver! This little "hole-in-the-wall" joint is the best, they always are! The burgers are the best around! They also have several different options that are equally as wonderful, but the burger is my personal favorite (and what they are known for!) If the food isn't enough to bring you in, the cheap prices are sure to! read more

We stopped on our way to Minneapolis, small local place, juicy flavorful burgers, friendly service.