Following suggestions from numerous people on this site and from the Minnesota Monthly Burger Kings list, Kim and I headed down to King’s Place in Miesville, MN before a long hike (2+ miles plus creek wading and hill climbing) to check on a geocache of mine in Dakota County’s Miesville Ravine Park.
We arrived before noon and sat at the end of the bar so that I could get shots of the grill and rest of the restaurant. While I was writing about the menu I was asked by an older gentleman behind the bar if I was planning on opening a restaurant. Everyone on staff was busy prepping food or making drinks. I did see someone quickly scarfing down a meal and heading straight back to work.
I took forever looking over the menu. It’s honestly really difficult to pick a single burger from among what seems like a never ending list of tasty sounding murder patties. After asking the waitress what she liked best, I agreed with her and went with the Bases Loaded which is described as bacon, cheddar, swiss and pepper cheese, jalapenos, sour cream, and salsa for $5.00. The Bases Loaded is one of their most expensive burgers which range in price from $2.75 to $5.00 for the original size but you can make them 1/2 lb for $2.50 more. Kim almost immediately decided on their Knight burger which is topped with bacon, cheese, mushrooms, onions, lettuce, tomato and mayo for $4.35. The house specialty is the King Burger which is proudly displayed as being priced at less than $6 even if you get a side of fries. If you’re not a tasty murder type, they have a variety of other items available including chicken dishes between $6 and and $6.75, a variety of standard sandwiches priced from $5 to $6.25, salads in the $7 range, and some pizza for less than $7. An excellent bar food menu that’s extremely reasonably priced. In addition to the burgers we also ordered some sides. Kim went with their seasoned fries and sour cream for $2.95 and I chose the battered green beans served with ranch for $5.75 after Kim suggested them to me knowing I’d probably like them more than she ever would.
I ordered a Hamm’s (which I had never tried before) and sat at the bar taking photos and watching them grill burgers with heavy iron keeping them on the grill, much like Junior’s Grill, while toasting the buns as the fryer did its thing. Our order was up in less than 10 minutes and arrived at the bar quite simply with the towering burgers speared with a toothpick to keep them together and were set alongside baskets of our fried choices. My “Bases Loaded” was fucking excellent. The jalapenjos were spicy and the rest of the burger near perfect. While they didn’t ask how I wanted it done it was just under medium and just a bit above what I’d consider medium-rare. While not how I’d normally like my burger done, it was so messy with the salsa and sour cream that it ended up fine for me today. Kim’s Knight burger was also tasty but I thought mine was far better. She didn’t bother to taste mine so she can’t say but when I asked how it compared to Bucky’s Diner, House of Coates, and Juniors she said she wasn’t sure about Bucky’s but it was much better than House of Coates (I completely agree), and if it was just a bit bigger (perhaps if she upgraded to the 1/2 lb?) it would have been better than Junior’s too. She did say that it was well worth the trip and one she’d be more than willing to make again. I am in full agreement! I have a feeling we’re going to drag Josh out here on one of those chilly fall days for some beer and burgers.
The sides were good with my battered green beans and ranch taking the top place of any fried side I’ve ever had, including my favorite fried green tomatoes at the State Fair! Kim’s waffle fries with seasoned sour cream was good (the seasoning was great even with the green beans) but it was no match for the green beans. While I was eating them, one of the guys behind the bar asked what I thought and I said they were great. He said that when they first came up he wasn’t quite sure how he would like them but he seemed to agree that they were pretty fucking tasty. While my first words were “green beans” (honest truth), Kim is not normally a fan but these she was happy to scarf up!
When King’s Place was rated one of the best burgers in the state, they weren’t kidding. Overall, King’s Place comes highly recommended from both Kim and I (as well as plenty of others on the site) and I can promise you that we will be back, braving the longish drive, for more. It’s good enough that I suggest that you go out of your way to get down there and try them. Even though we have eaten burgers elsewhere, this place has it all: a wide ranging menu including 30+ burgers, a full bar, and a staff of friendly people who make you feel right at home even though you are clearly not from anywhere near Miesville. Yum!
Address:
King’s Place
14460 240th St E
Hastings, MN 55033
Phone:
651-437-1418
Grill Hours:
Closed Monday
Tues – Thurs, and Sunday: 11 AM – 10 PM
Fri – Sat: 11 AM – 11 PM
See all the photos from King’s Place on Flickr here.
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August 31st, 2008 at 6:24 pm
My sentiments exactly on Kings. Awesome Awesome Awesome.
BTW–Chianti Grill’s Sunday Brunch is very good–I’m sad to hear dinner doesn’t pass muster. I’ll head to Stephano’s again!
August 31st, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Kirk, sorry to break it to you but Stephano’s has gone way down hill.
August 31st, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Dang.
August 31st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Oh, and the Miesville Park is pretty cool–the last time I was there we went to King’s as well. Nice combo trip…
August 31st, 2008 at 8:33 pm
my husband loves kings. i’ve never been, but now i’m hungry.
August 31st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I would say your review or Kings is right on the mark. One thing I would point out, for those of us in the south metro, if you dont dilly dally on the way, its actually no farther to Miesville than to anything north of St Paul or Minneapolis in terms of time. I thought it was a pleasant drive.
As a side note, for those wanting to sight see on the way, Highway 50 from Farmington over to Miesville is a great little trip. You will first pass the Cambodian Center for Buddhism (or some such name). It is on the North side of the road, and includes some sort of temple that is so out of place as to make me unsure of weather I should laugh or be impressed. Its really kinda pretty sorta cool. A few miles farther you will pass some trucking company that has a 20 foot tall statue of a boy in boxer shorts/swim trunks. Wierd. And a Viking Statue. Wierd. And a giant gorilla statue. Really really wierd. There is also a very old (150 years I guess) Catholic Church in New Trier that is kinda cool looking.
All of the above sites would be my defenition of dilly dallying, but it makes for a great adventure on a nice late summer afternoon.
August 31st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/07/08/temple/
September 1st, 2008 at 7:14 am
Chad, I love the guy in yellow shorts and the temple although I didn’t go that way yesterday because MN-3 is closed at the golf course. Instead I went out CR-46 to 52 and enjoyed the freshly cleared underbrush around UMore‘s structures.
I really need to get out to take pictures at the site now that everything is cleared.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:12 am
My favorite is the Bishop Burger. Pepper Jack Cheese, Ham, Mushrooms, Onions.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Last time I checked, King’s is closed on Mondays. Check before you go.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Duh, never mind. I see now that Bill has all that info covered.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:42 am
Glad you feel the same way as a lot of us do about Kings. My son and I visit there every weekend during the winter on the way home from Welch Village and it is usually an hour wait to get in. Our few visits there this summer when we went to a Mudhens game never fails to disappoint. Will have to try the green beans though on my next visit, have always done the fries with the sour cream.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 am
Scott, I would guess the season is over at this point, but would you know where to find a Mudhens schedule? I asked at the bar and they did not have one. I drove around the stadium and could not find anything, and I searched online a bit, but everything I found was for previous season. We would like to make a trip out of a game and dinner at Kings, but having a hard time figuring out when they play.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
Chad, try here: http://www.miesvillemudhens.com/schedule2008.html I would guess they are done for this season as of Labor Day weekend (there were a bunch of signs up wishing them luck) but they should have the 2009 up sometime in the spring, eh?
September 4th, 2008 at 8:02 am
You can prepurchase tickets for next year by going to the main page http://www.miesvillemudhens.com/index.html. you can get a block of ten for $25.00. So for $2.50 a ticket for the game and then having a burger at Kings you can’t ask for a better summer night for the family.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Truly awesome
September 14th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Made it to King’s again a few days ago. Since the last time I was there, they must of added 10-12 more burgers to the menu. It’s getting really tough to decide what to order.
I decided on the “Stealer” with the 1/2 lb. upgrade and it was an excellent choice. The Stealer has a jerk sauce on top, along with a sour cream type sauce on the bottom. Magnificent!
Wish it was a bit closer, but it’s always worth the trip.
October 29th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
[...] tops their competitions’ offerings. If Asian isn’t you thing, why don’t you try King’s Place who not only serve burgers but do so as an art form by offering over 30 of them — which are [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:23 am
Finally got around to trying out this place I’ve heard so much about. Shortish jaunt, about 25 minutes, but well worth it. All those burgers, too many choices, but I ultimately went with (sorry can’t remember the name, maybe Bull Dog?) the one with a fried egg, cheese, bacon and a hot dog. I’ve had burgers with fried eggs on them before, but never a hot dog. It was either that or the Bases Loaded but the hot dog was intriguing so I went for it.
It didn’t disappoint, the hot dog works for some reason, the burger itself was maybe a little overcooked for my taste, about a medium well. I prefer medium or even medium rare, at least some pink please. But it was still enjoyable. And darn cheap, 2 burgers, side of fries and season sour cream (just okay), half order of corn dogs for my son, and 3 pops for $25 including tip.
Maybe not the best burger I’ve had, I’ll put in in my top 15 though. I’ll be back to try some of the other creative choices. Obviously if you like burgers, you need to have this place on your list to visit.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Bill –
I made it down to Miesville today to meet my brother for lunch. Hes a regular here and I wasn’t all that surprised to find out the Bases Loaded was his favorite as well, and hes had almost every one on the menu.
With that I had to try it – and was not disappointed. I found it went excellent with a fine domestic light beer.
I’ll definitely be back…
Chad
May 20th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Chad, glad you enjoyed it. I changed your name (seeing that you use the full thing for your Twitter account) just so you won’t be confused with another regular poster that goes by “Chad” as well.
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Hey, can anyone tell me if King’s is “kid friendly”? I’ve always heard great things about their burgers, but not sure if I want to bring a 9 and 6 year old into a bar.
Thx.
May 24th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I have been there a handful of times, and taken my two year old a couple times. We have never really been at a peak time, and as it was in the fall and winter, I cant say how overrun it becomes with bikers, but when we were there it was fine for kids.
Its a small town bar. Burgers, beer, etc. The baseball diamond is across the street and a couple hundred yards down the road, and there is a playground for kids right by the ballpark as well. I would think it would be a fine place for kids, again with the caveat that I am unsure how busy they get in the spring/summer with baseball and bikers.
May 26th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
I have a 9 and 4 year old and would not think twice about bringing them into King’s. I think during the spring, summer. fall months you will always see a half dozen motorcycles in front of the King’s but they are there for the food and a cold beverage as it is in a great location for bikers to stop on a scenic ride to Hastings, Red Wing, Wabasha, Winona etc.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
i don’t think we’re talking hells angels here. i think it’s the weekenders off on their river runs. i don’t have any young kids any more, (darn), but i’d probably bring them.
bb
May 27th, 2009 at 7:41 am
I don’t have children but I have seen plenty of them inside on my prior visits. IMHO It’s pretty much like any sports bar you’ve been to but with much better food :-)
May 27th, 2009 at 8:26 am
If you are comfortable bringing your kids to Applebee’s, Buffalo Wild Wings or TGI Friday’s you are fine bringing them to King’s.
May 27th, 2009 at 9:54 am
if you’re really worried, make a recon run this sunday!
bb
May 27th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Went to King’s earlier this evening with the wife, and a 2 and 5 year old. I was even dressed like a suburban yuppy with a polo shirt and sandals. The bad ass bikers are harmless.
The battered green beans were fantastic as always.
Tried a new burger, the “Capture”, topped with corned beef, sauerkraut, and some sort of special sauce (thousand island?). Deee-lish!
August 2nd, 2009 at 5:21 am
King’s is a great place to take kids. I have been there when the whole back end is full of Little League baseball players. The earlier comments are correct about the bikes. This is far from a “biker bar” but I have never been there when there were no motorcycles out front. (when I was younger, mine was out there). With a little luck on most weekends you will see some pretty nice classic cars too! The burgers are…well if you’re there you know. Great!!! Which brings me to why I was on this site in the first place. Does anyone know if the menu is online anywhere? When it’s crowded, sometimes you feel rushed and just order the same thing. As long as I’ve been going there, there are still so many burgers I haven’t tried yet!