Where can I get a Friday fish fry in Land O' Lakes?

The Bear Trap Inn (walleye), the Twilight Supper Club, the Gateway Lodge restaurant, the Pine Cone Cafe (all day, including perch at breakfast), Bent's Camp Resort on Mamie Lake and Asana Suka all serve one. Book the supper clubs ahead.

Do Land O' Lakes supper clubs take reservations?

Yes. The Bear Trap Inn strongly recommends them, especially in summer, and Asana Suka and the Twilight both take them. Solo diners can often find a seat at the Bear Trap bar.

What is open for breakfast in Land O' Lakes?

The Pine Cone Cafe opens early every day and serves until 2pm. The Local Press Deli does breakfast sandwiches and espresso, Forest Lake Cafe serves breakfast Wednesday to Sunday, and Sunrise Lodge serves breakfast year-round.

Is there pizza in Land O' Lakes?

Yes. Melanie Mae's Stage Stop on County B makes homemade pizza and calzones. It takes cash or check only and has an ATM inside. Forest Lake Cafe also serves pizza at lunch.

Which Land O' Lakes restaurants are open late?

Brew's Pub is open until 2am Monday to Saturday per Google, and the bar at Bent's Camp Resort stays open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Are there vegetarian options at Land O' Lakes restaurants?

Asana Suka has the widest vegetarian and vegan choices in town. The traditional supper clubs lean heavily on steak and fish.

Land O' Lakes WI Restaurants: Bear Trap, Twilight & More

Three supper clubs, a breakfast counter known for its chicken and dumplings, and a pizza place that only takes cash: that covers most of the Land O' Lakes restaurants, plus two lake-view kitchens out County B that are worth the drive. For a town of under a thousand people, that is a lot of good dinners.

The catch is the calendar. Most kitchens here keep short weeks, Monday is thin, and summer weekends book up. This guide sorts them by meal and by night, so you know where to go on a Tuesday and where to call ahead for Saturday.

The three supper clubs

Land O' Lakes has three supper clubs within about 3 miles of each other, and each one suits a different night: the Bear Trap for a steak dinner, the Twilight for the 1940s room and the salad bar, and Asana Suka for something newer.

The Bear Trap Inn

The Bear Trap Inn sits on County B about 1.5 miles west of downtown, with a fireplace in the dining room and a menu built around steak and seafood. The house dish is the garlic-stuffed tenderloin, and regulars order the bacon-wrapped scallops and the grilled shrimp risotto. Friday is walleye fish fry and Saturday is prime rib.

Dinner runs Wednesday and Thursday from 4:30pm to 8pm and Friday and Saturday until 8:30pm, per Google. Reserve well ahead in summer. If you are on your own, the bar usually has a stool. This is the priciest table in town, and vegetarians will find little to order.

Expect to spend $40 to $80 a person here, per Google's price band, which makes it the special-occasion table. Kids are welcome, with high chairs and a children's menu. If it is full, the other two clubs are both within about 3 miles.

The Twilight Supper Club and Sandman Lounge

The Twilight Supper Club and Sandman Lounge is on US-45 about 2.4 miles south-southeast of downtown, near the Wisconsin River headwaters wayside. The room is styled on the 1940s, the salad bar is all-you-can-eat, and the menu runs to ribs, walleye, lake perch and stuffed shrimp. The house Old Fashioned comes with a hint of maple, and the grasshopper is the dessert drink to finish on.

Google lists Tuesday to Thursday from 4pm to 8pm and Friday and Saturday until 9pm. The Sandman Lounge has music most nights. Reviewers love the owner and the bartenders and note that service can be uneven on a packed Friday.

The Twilight is the most traditional of the three and the easiest on the wallet, with Google's price band at $20 to $30 a person. It has a children's menu and more vegetarian choices than the salad bar alone suggests. It is also the only supper club open on a Tuesday.

Asana Suka

Asana Suka, on US-45 just under a mile southeast of downtown, takes the supper club format and loosens it. Alongside the fish fry and filet you will find salmon, pork chops and dishes like shadow ramen and Mexican schnitzel, with cucumber mules and spicy margaritas at the bar.

It opens Thursday to Sunday from 4:30pm to 9pm, has a fireplace and private dining rooms, and is the easiest table in town for vegetarians and vegans. Prices run $20 to $60 a person depending on how far you go into the wine list. Reservations are a good idea.

How a supper club night works

A Wisconsin supper club is a dinner house with a bar up front, a set rhythm to the week and no rush. You start with an Old Fashioned in the bar, move to the dining room when your table is called and stay for an ice cream drink like a grasshopper at the end.

The week has a pattern here too. Friday means fish fry, usually walleye or perch, and Saturday means prime rib. Book the weekend nights, expect to linger, and do not plan anything for after. That is the point.

Breakfast and lunch downtown

Breakfast in Land O' Lakes happens on County B, and the anchor is a cafe that opens before 7am every day of the week.

Pine Cone Cafe

The Pine Cone Cafe is at 4187 County B, open daily from early morning until 2pm. It is known for chicken and dumplings at lunch, the Land O' hash browns and skillets at breakfast, and stuffed French toast with homemade sausage gravy on the side.

On Fridays there is pan-fried perch at breakfast and a fish fry all day. The Ultimate Breakfast Challenge is a 12-egg skillet with hash browns and toast. No reservations, so arrive before 9am on summer weekends. Most plates land in the $10 to $20 range, takeout is welcome, and the same kitchen runs the Pine Cone Express food trailer for events around the Northwoods.

For a lighter or faster lunch, The Local Press Deli makes paninis, flatbreads and breakfast sandwiches on bagels or English muffins, plus a proper espresso bar. Its salads are summer-only, Memorial Day to Labor Day, and soup and half-panini combos take over in fall and winter.

The Sawbuck is the bakery, open year-round. Pick up something sweet for the cabin on your way out of town.

Pizza and a bar stool

For dinner without a reservation, Land O' Lakes has a pizza kitchen and a sports bar a short walk apart on County B.

Melanie Mae’s Stage Stop

Melanie Mae's Stage Stop is a family-run pizza place at 4283 County B, with homemade pizza and calzones, lasagna layered with ricotta, and Italian beef and meatball sandwiches. Dogs are welcome on the patio.

It opens at 3pm Tuesday to Saturday and at 4pm on Sunday and Monday, closing at 8pm, per Google. It takes cash or check only, with an ATM inside, so bring cash and save yourself the fee.

Brew's Pub is the late option, open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 2am per Google. It is a sports bar with burgers, fried appetizers, Wisconsin memorabilia on the walls, arcade games and a fireplace, and it sits right on snowmobile trail #6, so winter nights are busy with sleds parked outside.

Out County B with a lake view

Two of the best lunches in town are 6 to 9 miles west of downtown on County B, and both put you on a lake.

Forest Lake Cafe & Wine Cellar

Forest Lake Cafe and Wine Cellar is a country store and cafe about 6.6 miles west of downtown, with outdoor seats looking over Moon Lake. Breakfast runs to shredded ribeye steak Benedict and stuffed hash browns, and lunch to pan-fried walleye, potato pancakes, pizza and fresh-baked bread.

It is open Wednesday to Sunday from 8am to 2pm per Google, with a full bar, a wine selection and scooped ice cream. It sits right off the ATV trail, and dogs are welcome outside.

Bent's Camp Resort

Bent's Camp Resort is on Mamie Lake, part of the Cisco Chain, about 8.8 miles west-northwest of downtown. The Main Lodge bar and kitchen serve comfort food, cheese curds and a Friday fish fry, and you can arrive by road, by trail or by boat at the gas dock.

Google lists the kitchen from 11am to 9pm and the bar open late, until 2am on Friday and Saturday, with the bar closed on Tuesdays. In summer there is live music on weekends. The resort's live webcam over Mamie Lake is a good way to check the weather before you drive out.

Bent's Camp is the one place in town you can reach by water for dinner, and it makes a good turnaround point for a day on the lakes of the Cisco Chain.

Dinner where you sleep

Two of the lodges serve meals to the public and to guests. The Gateway Restaurant inside the Gateway Lodge downtown runs the supper club week: an all-you-can-eat shrimp boil on Wednesdays, fish fry on Fridays and prime rib on Saturdays. Out on Lac Vieux Desert, Sunrise Lodge serves breakfast year-round from 7:30am (Tony's Crepes are the order), and dinner from May through October for resort guests, with a 12-foot salad bar.

If you are still deciding where to stay, a lodge that feeds you breakfast saves the morning drive into town.

Down US-45 in Conover

The nearest restaurants outside town are in Conover, south on US-45.

Boat House Grill and Creamery is a barbecue kitchen with craft beer, wine and cocktails and seats indoors and out, about 7.5 miles south-southwest of downtown Land O' Lakes. A little farther, about 10 miles out, Burnt Bridge Tavern serves from a log cabin built after Prohibition and marked 100 years in business in 2021. Its kitchen runs from noon to 9pm, and it is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Eating out with kids

Every sit-down kitchen in town is used to families, but some make it easier than others. The Pine Cone has a kids' menu and high chairs and is the best bet for an early breakfast with small children. Melanie Mae's has a kids' menu, high chairs and a patio where the dog can come too.

At dinner, the Twilight is the most relaxed supper club for children and has its own kids' menu. The Bear Trap welcomes families too, but it is a quieter, pricier room, so it suits older kids better. For an after-dinner treat in summer, Forest Lake Cafe scoops ice cream until it closes at 2pm, so plan that one for lunch.

Groceries and picnic supplies

Land O' Lakes has no big supermarket, so cabin renters stock up before they arrive. The usual move is to shop in Eagle River, about 17 miles south on US-45, where the larger grocery stores are, and then top up in town.

For the top-up, The Local Press Deli does sandwiches to go and The Sawbuck sells bread and baked goods year-round. Pack a lunch from either for a day on the bike trail or at the Black Oak Lake public beach.

Where to find a Friday fish fry

Every supper club in town does a Friday fish fry, and so do several places that are not supper clubs. Here is who serves what, so you can pick by fish and by setting.

The Bear Trap does walleye. The Twilight does walleye and perch with the salad bar. The Gateway Lodge restaurant runs a Friday fish fry downtown. The Pine Cone serves pan-fried perch at breakfast and a fish fry all day, which makes it the only lunchtime option. Bent's Camp does a fish fry at the lodge on Mamie Lake, and Asana Suka keeps a signature fish fry on its newer menu.

Lenten Fridays are the busiest fish-fry nights of the year in Wisconsin, so call ahead in March and early April.

Planning around the hours

Hours here are short and seasonal, and the listing hours above come from Google, so confirm before you drive. A few patterns hold: Monday dinner choices come down mostly to Melanie Mae's, Brew's Pub and Bent's Camp. Asana Suka is closed Monday through Wednesday. The Bear Trap does not open until Wednesday.

Some places cut days or close for stretches in the off-season. If you are planning a trip around a dinner, check the restaurant's own page or call. For the rest of what fills a day here, from the bike trail to the headwaters, start with a day in Land O' Lakes before the dinner reservation.