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Food + Dining
First Impressions

Galaxy Drive In

July 17, 2009

By Adam Platt

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Wagner’s is dead, let it go. If you can’t, you’re going to have issues at Steve Schussler’s exuberant resurrection of something or other on Highway 7. Galaxy is a themed iteration of a 1950s idea of futurism; it’s cheesy, corporate-feeling, occasionally fun, but it’s what we got. And face facts food freaks, were ol’ Schuss not willing to drop half a mil in a community minded effort to save St. Louis Park’s drive-in, the land would have been scraped and sold off, because the economics of a seasonal burger stand in Minnesota don’t make sense when building from scratch, and that is what the dilapidated Wagner’s required. The site was neither zoned for nor would fit anything that stood a good chance of making money.

That said, I’m not sure what to make of the various bronzed statues of beatific children, two huge praying hands squirting water, and various other bits of sentiment, but it speaks to the earnestness of the venture. Schussler spent many months scouring the towns for the right methods to bring back Wagner’s flagging food program, and at least in theory, the man seems to want to build the perfect burger. Early results aren’t worth going into, as the place was clearly still in panic mode, but there seems to be the bones here of good fast food and well-designed cooking protocols (please, brew the iced tea). The menu consists of drive-in style thin burgers, Vienna hot dogs and Polish, various fries iterations, broasted chicken, shakes, floats and such, and dog treats. A gas “bonfire” wards off the chill (if you decide not to eat in your car, but at a picnic table) and also works for make-your own s’mores. There’s a chess set on steriods which some toddlers were beating each other with, but regrettably there are no signs of all the board games and crayons that so austerely kept my kids amused back in the day. —Adam Platt

3712 Quebec Ave. S., St. Louis Park, 952-277-7777, galaxy-drivein.com (The website nicely honors the Wagner’s and pre-Wagner’s burger history at this location.)

Comments:

By Andrea on July 24, 2009 at 9:04 am:

My curiosity got the best of me and my family and I stopped by for a quick dinner. Big mistake. The atmosphere was wacky and fun and I was looking forward to a fun alternative to the corporate fast food chains. I generally don't eat at fast food places unless we're on the road and it's absolutely necessary. My husband ordered the dbl cheeseburger with toppings (it has a special name which I can't remember), I had the chicken sandwich and the kids ordered chicken tenders. I also ordered an old fashioned root beer. Service was painfully slow and it took some time before we even received our watered down pop. After another long wait our food finally arrived. The sandwiches appeared as though they were dropped and hastily put back into the paper containers. My chicken sandwich was prepared with the smallest chicken breast I had ever seen, topped with one piece of sickly looking bacon, a dribble of fried onions and some sad looking lettuce and a sliver of tomato. My husband's burger looked just as bad and with ketchup became somewhat edible. The chicken tenders were dry and run of the mill. We also ordered a side of coleslaw and fries. The $1.75 coleslaw arrived in a thimble and the fries were overcooked and appeared to have been sitting around for quite some time. Our bill arrived and I was flabbergasted that a meal that was worse than anything I've ever had at some of the big fast food chains, cost twice as much! The only bright spot was our teenage server who was very pleasant and attentive. My advice, stay far, far away. Don't be drawn towards this place because of the traffic and funky decor. I imagine that once everyone eats here once, traffic will end and it will die.

By DJN on August 22, 2009 at 12:02 pm:

Food way to plain. Service VERY bad. Only 14 places to park. STAY a Way. I will never be back.

By MCC on August 24, 2009 at 6:02 am:

The burgers were good, the cheese curds fantastic, and the atmosphere fun. I think they've overcome their growning pains.

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