School of the Wise

SOTW is a great place if you want to have good laid back conversation with a date or a friend. They have live music a few nights a week so check the website for the schedule. It’s hit or miss from that perspective. They have some great appetizers that are uniquely done and pretty damn amazing taste wise. I can’t promise it’s fresh made or anything like that but it’s a rare atmosphere.
Try the french onion soup, the artichoke dip and some of the deserts. Above all else, try a few unique brews or a nice glass of wine and enjoy the time with your friends.

Food is ok although not great and a little overpriced. Staff isn’t welcoming and you have the check on your table before you have finished eating.

Went here for a Sunday brunch. Food and coffee were excellent. Would like to see a bit of an expanded menu. Kids food prices were higher than average, but much better food than your run of the mill kids menu. A quaint little stop in the west metro.

Service was great and I enjoyed the blueberry french toast only thing I wish I had some butter go with my french toast. All together I enjoyed myself!

Fantastic food and beverage! I always stop in on Wednesdays when I’m in the area. Alex and Leah are consistently attentive and provide honest advice on what to order from the dinner menu. Look forward to Wednesdays and the great food and service I always receive!

SOTW is located in a darling neighborhood, but their food is less than mediocre. I ordered their house garden salad with «grilled chicken» and a drip coffee to go; the total came to ~$ 17. They microwaved the chicken which turned out to be rubbery, cold, and not cooked through. I was told they don’t have a grill after the fact (well they do for sandwiches). Not going back.

Great food at this hidden gem! The Mac and cheese is super delicious! We had a group of 10 and the service was outstanding abc everyone loved their meals! This is probably my favorite place in Victoria!!!

This restaurant can surprise you when you walk in, it’s more spacious than you would think from the outside. And their food is very good, I’ve had the baked spaghetti and wraps before and they were awesome. They had great coffee drinks too! And the servers are really nice. On two different occasions we had Alex for our server and she was very attentive and helped with recommending food to us.
I will be coming back and I always recommend going there.

I thoroughly enjoy School of the Wise. It’s a very nice restaurant with a stellar staff. The food has lots of variety and the restaurant is beautiful. The location is central and the servers and bartenders are really nice and always try their hardest. I enjoy going to School of the Wise for their phenomenal paninis. My personal favorite is the Elvis panini which I think I could eat every day! It’s a wonderful restaurant that I never regret going to!

In need to do some work in the Southwest suburbs, I found School of the Wise on Unilocal and decided to support this local Victoria institution. After a couple hours of work there, I left a bit disappointed.
I. FOOD
I thought the food there was A-​OK. I had a couple dishes:
*Soup of the Day — Manhattan Clam Chowder: The broth was tomato-​y without being overwhelming, and it had several nice slices of clams in there and other hearty bits. ($ 3.50)
*BBQ Chicken with Red Onion Pizza: Yes, you get an entire flatbread pizza to yourself, and it’s filling. BBQ sauce isn’t cloyingly sweet, and the chicken is good. Not sure if I would get it again, though. ($ 9.50)
II. SERVICE
For those that follow my reviews, it’s pretty rare that I ever express my frustration with service at a restaurant. In fact, I would say that I’m pretty generous in that department. However, I will note if I’m being blatantly ignored and not treated as equally as other patrons. How do I know?
–When I arrived, no host seated me and I had to sit myself. (There’s no sign that I saw stating this.) And when I thought this was the policy, a staff member sat others that came in after me.
–It took over five minutes, for someone to greet me and offer water.
–The dish for my entrée was never removed, and I had to bus it myself. I wouldn’t care if this was the norm, but when I see other patrons getting their dishes bussed, I have an issue with that.
–And when I did bus my entrée dish and ask for the check, the server rolled her eyes. (Rolled her eyes!) Wow. I just wanted to support this local business with my hard earned cash.
I will note, though, that the food did come out fast. No complaints there.
III. ATMOSPHERE/​DÉCOR
It’s quaint and inviting. There’s a small bar, but this eatery is better suited for small groups or families looking to do some business or to have a nice meal, respectively. I appreciate that their chairs and tables are plenty sturdy. There’s also one TV by the bar, so you can watch the game.
The men’s bathroom is also, err, interesting, since there are several cartoons of women showing their boobs. It’s very clean, though.
IV. PRICES
Fair, if not very affordable for the type of food you get.
V. OVERALL
I’m going to assume that School of the Wise didn’t purposefully ignore me because I don’t look like their clientele. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and give a very forgiving three stars. However, I don’t plan on ever returning, since I don’t feel welcomed.

I love these kind of places. Smells great the moment you walk in. Unique menu. Reasonable prices. Everything is fresh and homemade. They even roast their own turkey… which is phenomenal. Menu is mainly sandwiches, soups and flat bread pizzas. Tons of character. Great service. Owner was on site and engaging with customers. The also have a full coffee, wine and beer bar. The panninis and Cobb salad were excellent. Kids loved their sandwiches as well. Will definitely be back.

Very frustrated! Went in to have breakfast with our two kids. Sat and waited for 25 minutes with no help. Had to get our own menu and the severs continued to help people that came after us. We had to leave with no service

My review is for dinner. I ate here in mid April. I was staying in Chaska on business and found this place through Unilocal.The weather was nice so I sat outside.
My first star is for the location. This is a great little quaint area next to a lake (about one block away). The location was quiet and comfortable, especially for outdoor seating.
The second star is for the overall concept of the place. They seem to get what and who they are and deliver it. No frills, not fancy, just w drink place with some food.
The third star is for the selection of beverages. They have a decent sized menu without going over the top.
What’s missing?
One star is missing for the service. They were nice but lacked attentiveness. I was one of only a handful of people with what looked like three servers. The first young lady I talked to (blonde) wouldn’t look at me and walked away when I asked a question. Not the best first impression. The second lady (short brown hair) ended up being my server. Again, she was nice, not super attentive.
The final star is missing for the food flavor. I’m in town on business and ate by myself. Missing my family I went for the ultimate comfort food — shepherd’s pie. It was good. It lacked the umph… the flavor pop that I’ve had at other eating establishments. It needs a bit more flavor. The texture was great and all the basic ingredients were there. It just missed the pop of flavor.
Overall not a bad experience. Not great. Not bad.

Good cup of coffee, quaint setting!
I wish that the menu was more robust, and diverse. I meet people here often and it is a very good place for a cup of joe.

This is a really unique place, particularly for its location. It has a super trendy/​cozy interior, and some classy food options that you would expect to see downtown. A great place to order a bunch and split with the table.

Interestingly-​themed bar with lots of comfort food like soups and sandwiches on menu. Staff wasn’t very attentive or professional, however. It was a nice stop for passing through but I’m not sure I’d repeat the experience.

Great morning coffee shop and a place to meet for business over lunch. I don’t frequent it a lot during the evenings, but they usually have live music and a decent wine selection. Service can be slow at times when they get busy.

Stopped in for dinner for the first time this evening; we have been to the wine bar in Chanhassen a few times. The appetizers were passable: chili with cornbread and mini Mac-​n-​cheese. The entrees were bland; pretty much normal bar/​restaurant fare. The grilled cheese was missing the olives which were listed on the menu. The shepherd’s pie appeared to be made with frozen veggies. We also did experience an issue with the service and with the cleanliness of our wine glasses. When first served the glasses were severely water spotty. We noted it to our sever who took them to be steamed. When she returned, the glasses were still spotted and had something stuck to the outside of one of them. When we asked (apologetically) about the cleanliness, the server replied that it was the best she could do. We did ask again for clean glasses, and she took them back to be washed again. The glasses were still spotted on attempt #3. The server was visibly annoyed with us, she deposited the glasses on the table and left. The wine wasn’t poured for us but just left on the table. This was a situation that could’ve been easily remedied, but instead the server took offense. I really wanted to like the restaurant, but instead walked away dissatisfied.

Stopped for dinner tonight. The chili was delicious and the cornbread was sweet — I saved it for dessert. I had the antipasto salad with chicken. It had a lot of dressing on it — next time I will order the dressing on the side. The chicken breast was OK, a little bland. It really could have been so much more. Service was OK, but not great, the chili and the entrée came together, when i would really have liked the chili first, the iced tea didn’t taste right to me, so I sent it back, but they charged me for it anyway. I’d give it another chance, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit again.

Visited on a slow fall evening, and sat outside. It was A-​OK. Nothing more, nothing less. I ordered some sort of beef ravioli, and the BF ordered a sandwich. I wish I could be more specific, but it wasn’t memorable enough to have been stored away in my full-​of-​great-​food-​memories-​brain.
Beer list was decent. We may go back on a night where they’ve got some live entertainment, or just for beers, but I doubt it’ll be a place I ‘crave’ in the future.