The Little Oven

No credit/​debit cards accepted, so blow the dust off your check book or use the ATM by the front door of you’re not a habitual cash carrier.
My husband and I used to frequent this spot more often for breakfast, but the weekend morning wait times started to wear on us. 20+ minutes for a table, 30+ minutes to order and get food, then waiting to get the check? We typically call ahead now and get breakfast to go.
The food is typical greasy spoon, so delicious and satisfying, but don’t come looking for turkey bacon or anything healthy. Coffee comes in your own pitcher – one of my favorite features – and sometimes they feature mimosas with breakfast.
We’re not frequent dinner guests, so not much to say on that front. The BOGO pizza deal is fantastic, and another tip: you can request one uncooked to pop in the oven another day

Did a takeout here for the first time. Ordered the chicken Alfredo and it was not as good as I expected. Threw away more than half of its content. I’ll probably never ordered that again. But the bread sticks were delicious! I’ll be ordering more of that though! And aside from that, the service was really quick. Only took about 5 – 10 minutes for the wait time.

When we first moved to this area, we couldn’t get enough of this place. The portion sizes are amazing; you’d always have something for the next day’s lunch, and the breadsticks are delicious.
However, the last year or so, this place can be very hit or miss. Sometimes it’s spot on and other times it’s only so-​so. I also recommend checking your bag BEFORE you leave if you’re ordering take out; our order seems to only be right about half the time. (Usually it’s because they’re missing something)
Overall, for the price it’s a good place, just make sure you have cash or check.

The first thing to know is that it is a cash only business. They do have an ATM, however.
We ate in. It is a very small place but the server was great. Friendly and helpful.
Portions are huge! Price per portion size is very inexpensive.
The chicken parmigiano was very good and the pasta and sauce that are part of the meal were excellent. The bread sticks were so yummy! The onion soup was very good.
I look forward to trying more things here. It is hard to find good Italian food and this beats Olive Garden!
I have not had the pizza.

I absolutely the the portions for the price. Always have plenty for leftovers. Normally about a 15 min wait but worth every minute of it.

The service and food was amazing. Me and my girlfriend went for Breakfast and I got the Dixie plate and everything was cooked perfectly. I have to repeat that the service was outstanding. I will come back here many more times.

This is the most food I have ever gotten for the money. Even the wine was inexpensive! The dining room is very small, but we did luckily get the last spot. Might be hard to get a seat on weekend evenings.

Me and my boyfriend went there for dinner and we order the steak. It was cooked well to our perfection and didn’t disappoint. The place looks small and could maybe use an upgrade. But other than that, the service was good.

I have eating here for as long as I can remember, will always be a special place for me. Best lasagna of my childhood. Pizza fit for a king!

Great server, terrible food. I’ve been here plenty of times for breakfast and pizza over the years. The food seems to get colder and undercooked every visit. The server was excellent, wish I could say the same about the food.

The Little Oven’s pizza is delicious and cheap! This is my favorite place to order pizza from. You will not be disappointed.

We live down the street and this is one of our go-​to spots for good food. I’m pretty convinced they put crack in the pizza sauce because it’s impossible to get enough. The 2 for 1 pizza carry-​out deal is great if you’re having people over, just make sure to order ahead because the wait can be rough. Wish they took credit, only cash so come prepared.

Fantastic pizza. This place smells exactly like what you’d want a pizzeria to smell like too. My absolute favorite place to go in St. Paul.

I love this place! Pizza is great, often get pizza to take home to eat. If you are dining in, their Italian food is good, however their American food, eh-​not so great, but that’s to be expected from an Italian restaurant. Always busy and good luck finding a parking spot.

For being a East Side establishment it’s a wonderful, local place where you leave full. Food is good not great…

Had a chance to eat lunch here with a friend, recently, and realized I’ve never reviewed it. It’s good, though, but there are a couple of things you should know before you go:
1. They have popovers, though they aren’t listed on the menu. You can get them as a substitute for bread with a salad or other dish, or just get them as a side. All you have to do is ask.
2. They take cash, not credit cards. While it is possible that they have changed that, they still have the ATM machine in the waiting area.
They also have lunch portions of some of their pasta dishes, if you don’t want a big meal. Truth be told, unless you run marathons regularly, you will probably need to box up your leftovers. And you will want to, because they are tasty.
Breakfast items are served until 2 PM, if you have a craving for some eggs for lunch.
Understand that this is a small place. If you go for lunch, show up between 11 AM and 11:30 AM so you can get seated quickly, otherwise you’ll be waiting.
This recent visit, there were only two waitresses that I noticed for the dining room, so service was understandably slow.
We started with salads, which were romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, Bermuda onion slices, cucumber slices, and shavings of cheddar cheese, with dressing on the side. The dressing amount was just right, and the lettuce was in good form, not watery.
We opted for popovers as our side bread, and they came piping hot, which lets the butter melt just fine. They were a trifle over-​done on the outside, and I’ve had that happen a few times before, too often for it to be mere chance, which is the only reason I give this place four stars instead of five.
My companion had fettuccine Alfredo, which she greatly enjoyed. I had a special personal pizza, a lunch item, which had grilled chicken and asparagus on a red pepper pesto sauce, and it was very tasty. I had to save half of it, though, because that personal size is still 8″ in diameter.
Neither of us had room for dessert, but in past trips I’ve found dessert to be very enjoyable.
If you are in the neighborhood and craving Italian food, this is a reasonable place to go. Just get there early and don’t be in a rush!
I should add that I have had food catered by the Little Oven, and it was wonderful. I think they may have a group space in the basement, too, but I don’t know for sure.

I’ve driven by this place a bunch of times so we gave it a try last night. It smelled good, like an old school pizza joint and I guess you’re supposed to stick with pizza?
I got a house salad w/​sad iceburg lettuce and shredded yellow cheese with a couple little cups of light colored, slightly foamy oil which I couldn’t bear to put on the salad.
My main course was a pomodoro pasta– the tomato and garlic and basil part was good but the pasta was super overcooked, almost soupy.
The one bright point– the breadsticks were amazing, especially with the garlic butter.
Overall I was disappointed and am unlikely to return.
btw portions were huge!

Three stars for A-​OK!
My 4-​year-​old daughter and I stopped in, waited a few minutes on a Thursday morning. The place was packed with mostly Silent Generation folks in same-​sex groups chattering gaily. I missed the «Sock Eye [sic] Salmon» Lenten Season special on the menu and ordered the $ 9.95 Farmer’s Breakfast. Somewhat bland shredded potato, melted orangey cheese topped with a quarter dozen fluffy scrambled eggs, with fairly generic wheat toast. Definitely not for those with artisan tastes. I wish this review covered the salmon omelette, as that appeared to be much more of a specialty. My little princess got an excellent Mickey cake and a superhero grape juice kid’s cup for about three bucks – and ate a lot of what I couldn’t. Coffee very average but passable. I plan to return for something a little more worth my while on the limited side menu.
One small sour note upon leaving was the huge yawning open dumpster in the back near the parking area. One detail this place ought to attend to as part of the whole experience. Bring the family, bring cash or check – because as of March 2015 they still don’t take plastic. Odd.

Greatest place to eat on the Eastside. Benny going there for years and the food is the best! Fair price and the portions are HUGE!!!

Had the day off and figured I’d meet up with my best friend for lunch, naturally this place gets the nod. I grew up in the area (east on Minnehaha a bit) so The Little Oven and I have met before.
**THIS IS A CASH ONLY PLACE** ATM is on site, but, you’ll pay for it.
Small parking lot, so plan to park on Minnehaha or an adjoining residential street (overflow across the street as well, but it fills up fast).
Take our seat and get waters right away, Gayle doesn’t pressure us one bit as my friend and I are playing catch up on life events. We throw in an order for a cheese pizza as an app and split the Chicken Ravioli Florentine.
In the mean time, garlic bread sticks and a salad arrive. Not a bad little hold me over until the main course comes out. Salad was fresh and crisp, good house Italian dressing on it, and not drowning the veggies. Bread sticks were amazing. Cannot say one bad thing about it. Solid salty garlic butter on the little guys that were quickly, and without mercy, devoured.
Pizza gets brought out shortly after and with my first bite I hit the flashback machine to all the times I’ve had this incredible pie before. Perfectly done. Cheese is bubbly, has a richness with salt to it and is well propotioned. Crust is spot on. Not too thick, not too thin, not over done and supports the top portion just right. And the sauce… you’ll be hard pressed to find a better red sauce in the state. Just a solid, sweet-​salty red sauce that works perfect and doesn’t over power the pizza.
Shortly there after the pizza is wrecked, pasta shows up. Ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach, asiago white sauce, angel hair pasta and some grilled chicken. Oh yeah, some fungus to top it off! My favorite part of this dish is that the sauce isn’t your typical overly rich, heavy white sauce. We’ve all had this before where it’s overly creamy and feels like you’re eating a salty heavy whipping cream. This, not at all. Very light, good asiago salty flavor, great garlic to it and a hint of olive oil. Perfect for the dish. Pasta was done perfectly, tossed well, and the ravioli themselves were as flavorful as it gets.
Even after the lunch was done, Gayle was great in keeping water filled as we kept chatting and having a great time reminiscing.
Makes me pretty pissed at myself I haven’t been back here more often. But that aside, a great lunch place to meet up, share some laughs, indulge in some incredible food, and get well taken care of by the staff.