Very sad to Pit the Norske Nook in Deforest, WI

The Nook is a justifiably famous bakery/restaurant in northern and western WI. I’ve been anticipating the opening with excitement for nearly a year. Until now the closest outlet was a 2-1/2 drive away. I’ve actually made that drive more than once to get their famous pies. Now I’m less than a half hour drive away from the new storefront.

There’s one piece of good news – their pie remains wonderful – yum yum!

The bad news …

First, as wonderful as their pies are, buying them is is really … annoying I suppose is the best word. If you buy a whole pie, you pay a $7/per pie deposit for the metal pie plate it’s baked in. If you’re driving half way across the state on a special trip for their pie, it’s for practical purposes a surcharge for their already pricey product – hard to have a reasonable expectation of getting your deposit bock.

2nd, the food quality was poor, at least for the breakfast I had. The pancakes were … grainy? … chunky? I believe the batter was not thoroughly mixed and didn’t cook evenly, leaving little nodules of uncooked batter all through the cake.

And the service was abysmal. They somehow managed to lose most of my order. For some reason the waitress delivered my side order of bacon first, and told me the pancakes would be along in a minute. But they weren’t – they didn’t show up at all until my sister was nearly done with her meal and I got up and went looking for mine, because our waitress was nowhere to be seen. I flagged down someone else and reported it, and a manager ended up coming by the table to ask what it was I ordered. This despite the fact that my sister’s whole meal, including her pancakes, was delivered in whole at the start. Oh, and my sister the coffee drinker mentioned that no one came by during the whole meal to check whether she needed a refill. It seemed to be a rather slow day – there were numerous staff standing around seemingly idle (except for our missing waitress), so they surely were not swamped at the time.

Finally, the building itself is badly designed, and they built it new – they didn’t get stuck with a previous owners bad design. There’s a very large counter to display their baked goods, and it forms part of a narrow corridor leading from their entrance to their dining area. And people are lined up at the counter browsing for and buying pies. You can’t get past them to go sit at a table, and you can’t get past them to leave once you’ve finished the meal. There’s no other route, and it took me several minutes just to get back to their door.

Ok, it’s new, but it’s been opened more than a month so it’s not like these were opening day breaking-in problems. Such a disappointment!

Tellwiddem!

This sounds like something the Fire Marshall should hear.

That’s a good point. I would hope there’s an emergency exit from the dining area, but to be honest I didn’t look for one.

I shoulda looked at Yelp before going – it has quite a few terrible reviews already.

I’ve never been to this place, but it sounds like a lot of the problems are just because it’s a new location for the restaurant, and lots of people (like you) are eager to eat there. Once the novelty wears off, it will be much less crowded (resolving one of your complaints). And the crowds may also be the cause of poor food quality. (Plus as the new kitchen staff gains experience, the quality should improve.) I think some chain restaurants bring in experienced staff from other locations to work with the newly-hired crew for the first few weeks.

The place wasn’t crowded, though there was a bottleneck in the corridor I mentioned. And I don’t think that particular issue is likely to be resolved anytime soon. It’s built into the building layout.

As for the rest, I hope you’re right. I just emailed their website to alert them, if they don’t already know, that their new place is getting terrible reviews (including mine), and hoping they will sort out their problems.

A 2-1/2 whatevers drive for PIE? Look, I’m fatter than the next guy (except when I’m in Wisconsin) but my distance limit for pie is 2-1/2 miles. Don’t you have an oven?

This part I don’t get. Wash it, stick it in the cupboard, throw it in the car for your next trip six months from now. Doesn’t really seem difficult.

2 1/2 DAYS’ drive is worth it for a piece of Norske Nook pie.

Hopefully you can come up with an excuse for a drive to Minneapolis – it’s a short (yet confusing) detour off I-94 on the way from Chicago or Wisconsin.

This thread is depressing in a “wasted potential” sense. But good news in that I can still get a great slice o’ pie without driving as far!

Minneapolis? Isn’t that the podunk town across the river from the Jewel of the Northern Mississippi? It’s hard to imagine I was born just a few miles (and a river) from actor James Hong. I’d love to hear his real accent; probably more talking about ice fishing on White Bear Lake and “Ya get your buck yet?” than the stately Chinese elder we’re used to. Anyway, Norskies can’t bake. Bohunks, they can bake!

Boyo Jim must live in Wanker County.

Do they have rhubarb pie? Otherwise wasted.

I like reading threads like this because they’re pleasant reminders that there are enough people who live in the midwest to support a pie store. Two pie stores, even.

It’s also a weird insight into perspectives. I’ll routinely spend three to four hundred bucks on dinner for two, but wouldn’t think of driving a couple hours for pie. Be very grateful that I’m in the area every once in a great while and make sure to stop in, sure, but making a special trip is way out of my monkeysphere. But I can’t distinguish why I’m willing to do the former but not the latter. No consistency is good consistency.

Yes. I’m looking for a list of their pies online, but haven’t found it yet.

Sounds like the same issue I noticed at their Rice Lake location this summer. Pie selection and dining payment is at the same place, but the display case extends from the pay station back towards the dining area.

2 separate lines/stations would work so much better.

Service was so so as well.

Even enough people to support bad pie stores. There’s a Madison store called LMNOPies which makes pretty lousy pies, but they’ve been around for years.

How you doin’?

Interesting. In Osseo they have 2 separate store fronts directly across the street from each other for their bakery and restaurant.

I googled “Jewel of the Northern Mississippi” and got replies like “Davenport, IA” :confused: … do you mean across the river in Wisconsin? (Hudson’s nice and arty…) Or across the smaller Mississippi as it winds through the city? (West St. Paul or Coon Rapids, MN?)