Countryside Restaurant

Stopped here for lunch today. Had their special, posted on facebook. A porkchop sandwich with coleslaw and fries. My goodness, the meal was to me five minutes after I ordered it. The few times I’ve been here it has been ridiculously empty. The food has been good, flavorful and reasonably priced. I like supporting the small businesses and this is one of them that I can get on-​board with. Thanks for the tasty meal!

Some call it a late lunch and others an early dinner. We say the early bird dinner specials are delicious. The broasted chicken is wonderful. Good olé home cooking.

GOOD CHUCKLES AT THE COUNTRYSIDE RESTAURANT!
Oh Yah! Definitely old school with a twist of laughter. Great chicken though, a bit exspensive. Still laughing about our recent take out order on last Sunday. Spent more than any chicken is worth (organic or not) for a 8 pc chix w/​2 sides. But that’s not the funny part, they have this old world need to you charge $.30 ea for every pc of plasic ware. Huh? What did u say? That’s right we fell right into the plastic ware trap cuz we were going to the park for a picnic that day. Never saw it comin!
That’s right people, just schlepping the chicks these days ant enough baby.
They’re upselling you on their beautiful plastic ware and they gottcha.
U could tell the cashier didn’t want the sale, but she’s compelled to ask for plastic ware funds as the policy states on the menu. I chuckled and made light of it as best I could but just couldn’t stop laughing. YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
I struggled with the whole conversation about buying plastic ware from a takeout restaurant. Money be damed, this was not about the money, it was about how completely absurd this idea is. Who could of concocked this scheme, management? Its too bad they don’t pics of them on their home page so we could actually and take bets on who thunk her up! Maybe it a candid camera deal or even better maybe it there just for the pure joy of laughter.
That’s it, COME IN FOR THE CHICKEN TOGO, COME OUT WITH A PLASTIC WARE A GOOD CHUCKLE!
But what out peeps, this old school plastic ware gig is still in play and u just might get caught laughing getting a side ache too. Chickens great, but the plasic ware story is even better.
Kudos to the management for continuing old school ideas are still hard at work.
!

My grandpa loves to go here because he loves the boasted chicken and having a cold bottle of Buddy’s Grape Soda. Countryside screams «MERICA» and reminds me of a small town, main street — senior specials lovin’ — with a side of pie kind of place. Countryside’s typical crowd tends to be full of senior citizens, farmers, rednecks and «husky» folks looking to leave with a satisfied and stomach. Countryside Restaurant’s food is greasy, salty, comforting and simple. I suggest sticking to chicken, ribs, potatoes, fried food and burgers. In other words, skip the Italian food and salads.
You have to go into Countryside with the mentality that you are simply going to make the best out of it, not having five star restaurant expectations. The walls are covered with farm murals, retro memorabilia and coated with oil residue. However, this «rundown» feel, gives the restaurant a little bit of charm that you don’t typically find in the over developed Roseville area.
I wouldn’t venture to Countryside on my own; however I truly enjoy how excited my grandparents get when I suggest eating here.

This place is still as wonderful as it was years ago! I am now fortunate to work in Roseville and was so excited to be able to order everything form the spaghetti to the broasted chicken. The staff and owner are so kind and fun. Please find this gem and try it, you’ll love it!

All these years, I don’t know why I never tried this place earlier. At least dining in.
I’ve had their chicken once way back in the early 90s when a friend chose this as her birthday meal for a sleep over.
Funny how memories and past conversations prompted me to pick this place.
Dropped in for lunch. Sign said, «Seat Yourself» so we chose a table in the back room by the big windows and green foliage view.
The dining room reminded me of somewhere my grandparents would have taken me back in the day. Complete with paper placemats. Lots of great old signs adorning the walls and in a charming way, not a cluttered over the top midwestern restaurant with a hokey store attached way.
J and I both ordered the broasted chicken meal, complete with two pieces of toast and homeade coleslaw. Chicken was very good. Nice batter, not overly greasy and moist as all get out. Broasting is the way to go. As explained by our server, pressure fried to keep the juices in. Indeed. It was so good we ordered a few pieces to go.
Hell, I might even have to become a fan on Facebook.
Yeah, the place may not be the classiest of places, but who cares. That’s not what we were looking for this trip.
Chicken is off the hook– good. Will defintely be back for more. My grandparents used to drive two towns away for broasted chicken. Looks like I might be doing the same.
Service was good and the gentleman who I assume was the owner was quite friendly and appreciative.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the Countryside.
The Countryside is a Roseville institution having been in business for over 50 years.
Its a sandwich and blue plate kind of place. The feature is broasted chicken. This is my go to item. How is the rest of the food? Don’t ask me because I will probably never eat it. Getting past the broasted chicken is a gastronomical impossibility.
The salads here are very basic but the blue cheese dressing is very good with chunks of blue cheese. They offer potato pancakes as one of the sides, which I prefer.
They offer some bottled beer here but I never bother. They have some nice soft drinks (1919 root beer as well as New Ulm’s Buddys)
The service was quick and the chicken tastes awesome fresh from the broaster.
The back room has a nice view of a little grove of trees. I prefer to sit by it if possible.
Stumpy the squirrel was working the bird feeders while we were there.
He says «Hi!»

Countryside is a great sit-​down restaurant if you want a more family-​oriented, more subtle environment than Perkins, Denny’s, etc.
I absolutely love their sandwiches and pie. The banana cream pie will blow your mind. You will never want to taste anything else ever again.
Wait staff range from nice to really awkward to rude. You might get a poorly prepared item, but that happens at restaurants. Just say something and they’ll fix it.

My co-​workers Andrew and Chris came walking in with a slice of banana cream pie and chicken breast sandwich they seemed to be enjoying it quite well. They suggested I try it out.
So I did… Mr. Rik

Get ready for a blast from the past, because when you walk into Countryside Restaurant, you’re going to be transported back to 50’s! Equipped with bountiful amounts of 50’s era material, you will at the very least be entertained with the setting. When I first walked into the restaurant and gazed upon the old dark wood booths, I fondly reminisced about lunch outings with my grandma, the look familiar to that of an old Bridgeman’s restaurant.
Yet there was something lacking here. As much as I appreciated the effort to maintain the 50’s feel in all it’s grandeur, the experience fell short of my expectations. The food was, well… mediocre. Although other aspects like value, décor, and staff friendliness may sway my opinion of a place, the food is main the reason I choose to dine out.
This place is famous for its ‘broasted chicken’. Broasted chicken… sounded like something that someone made up, perhaps a weird combination of baking and roasting? I had to get to the bottom of it… hence a Wikipedia visit. According to the site, broasted chicken is marinated chicken pieces that are then pressure fried, resulting in a crispy outside, yet moist inside. Basically a less oily and quicker way of pumping out friend chicken.
The verdict? Decently seasoned, moist chicken. The outside was crispy, but not salty enough; I’d rather go to KFC… and I’m not a huge fan of chain restaurants (although they have their moments). I was also disappointed in the grilled cheese sandwich. A staple of diner cuisine, their take on the sandwich fell short, it needed more cheese! The best part of the meal was actually the coleslaw — mustardy and slightly sweet. The service was good, my server was attentive and courteous.
All in all Countryside is a good family restaurant, but the food is not fantastic. If you’ve been coming here for years you’re going to keep coming back. I’ve tried it, and may try it again in the future… but I wasn’t impressed on my initial visit.

Grilled walleye good, The chicken was crispy, but over cooked and dry. The chicken was unseasoned. Coleslaw good, Salad iceberg lettuce. Liked the option of sweet potato fries. Too bad they were out of a freezer bag.

I have this thing about trying to do business with local folks. This is one of those places. Family owned, it’s been here since the early 1950s. Terrific chicken, very good Italian dishes and my favorite cole slaw.
Beware — not everyone is going to like the cole slaw, but I think it’s great!
Very friendly and accommodating staff and quite a value. Good food, reasonable prices. Love the sixties background music.

I have been to countryside restaraunt, many times, but never thought about posting it on Unilocal.The last itme i was ther, was for lunch, sunday july 5,2009.There is ample room to park your car, in the parking lot, which is nice. Countryside is a small restaraunt, but their food, is always consistently good!.I had the grilled cheese sandwich platter.(grilled cheese, with fries and a small side of cole slaw).For an extra 60cents, you can have tomatoes on your sandwich, and for an extra buck, you can have bacon. The service was fast&friendly, when i was there. Seems like this place caters to an older crowd… lots of senior citizens dome here to eat. Prices are reasonable, and they have daily dinner specials. All in all, a nice little eatery, that’s slightly off the beaten track. Well worth checking out!

To get to this place go in back of snelling ave on the frontage road via county rd. C or C2. If you need a cop, you’ll often find the Roseville police here. The specialty is broasted chicken (yes it’s fried, so if you want a healthy diet of more chicken, don’t try to kid yourself). I don’t think a couple of pieces of the #1 fried chicken in the state will kill you. Even if it does, there are worse ways to go. What it comes with varies between lunch and dinner. Sometimes instead of potatoes or fries, I’ll substitute their homemade baked beans. Sweet, the way I like them. I like the blue cheese dressing on the dinner salad. I also like the croutons, though neither is homemade. I was hooked on this place for awhile, and would make the drive from St. Paul once a week. For a variation I tried the spaghetti and meatballs. Really good meat sauce. In the warm weather (whenever the hell that is) I sit in the back and enjoy the view of the small park. It’s just really serene, not in an old coot kind of way either. I’m not sure what they have for alcohol, I just know they serve Mike’s hard lemonade. That means as opposed to soft, which is from a mix, nothing special. They do a huge take out business. Smartly, located on the other side of the restaurant. For a change, for my son’s graduation party in ’04, I wanted to do something other than the tiresome platters of cold cuts and wraps. I got the 50 pc. bucket of chicken and it was a hit, no leftovers! Lots of memorabilia on the walls from the 50’s. Really good piped in music from the 60’s.

Best Broasted Chicken EVER. That’s all I get there so can’t comment on anything else but the iced tea — which is, well, iced tea. My grandmother lives around the corner from this place and has been eating their chicken since the 50’s.