Sherwood Forest

Amazing food, service, and atmosphere. Not to mention it's in the best area in the Brainerd Lakes

First time here and found out Sherwood North only opened 10-days ago as the new owners took over this historic property. Wow! We have been staying in the area for 4 days and had been to numerous restaurants in the area. Hands down this is the best that we have been to. We started out with appetizers. I had the Pickled herring platter with pickled vegetables and crispy bread and pâté. The herring was two different ways and was accompanied by pickles, pickled onions and carrots and crispy bread. The pâté was the richness needed to cut through the acid in the pickled vegetables and this plate was extremely well executed. It was the first time that I had seen pickled herring on a menu in the United States. I looked up the menu online and saw this item and made the decision to have dinner here based solely on this appetizer since I have never seen it outside of European countries. The second appetizer we had was the Brie Brûlée Board. It featured toasted Brie Cheese, Crocotini Crackers, dried fruit, nuts and jam. The Brie was perfectly toasted and the jam was absolutely delicious with the right amount of sweetness to complement the cheese. The mildly acidic olives provided the perfect balance point to counterbalance the sweetness on the board. The third appetizer was the Popovers served with honey butter and bone marrow butter. They were steaming hot and absolutely delicious. We actually used some of the jam from the Brûlée board and combined it with the honey butter and it was insanely good (I would ask for some jam it goes so well with the popovers). The popovers are a MUST HAVE! For a main course I had the pork chop with Apple horseradish glaze. This is honestly the best pork chop I have ever eaten. The bone in pork chop was perfectly glazed then grilled and it had just the right amount of char to allow the glaze to sear on the outside. It had a dash of sea salt which provided just the right amount of brininess to offset the sweeter glaze. Upon cutting into the pork chop it was cooked to perfection. It also had just the right amount of fat to add that essential flavor to the profile of the chop. Finally the pork chop was moist and succulent. Often large chops are over cooked and dry and that was certainly not the case with this chop. Having eaten at some of the best restaurants in the world by renowned chefs where the pork chop is my goto main dish this beat every one of them hands down. This dish gets a 10 out of 10 stars in my book. I honestly don’t know how or if it could be improved because this is pork chop perfection at it’s finest. My wife had the shrimp linguini. Normally you find that a lot of restaurants over-pasta linguini dishes where it overtakes the sauce and the protein. At Sherwood North it was the perfect balance. With the sautéed shrimp cooked to perfection combined with fire roasted tomatoes, spinach and parmesan each complemented each other in perfect balance with a light butter wine sauce it was the perfect portion size and cooked impeccable well. Again combining an acid element with the roasted tomatoes cut through the richness of the sauce and parmesan. She complemented her dish with a nice glass of New Zealand Sauvignon blanc to make a perfect paring. Not only was the food spectacular but we had impeccable service from Emily who was very attentive and had great recommendations. The owners also stopped over to see how our meal was on two different occasions. First Angie stopped over and told us how they recently took over the property, gave us background on the historic nature of the property being on the historic register. She also said they had been open just 10-days and then Paul stopped by to check on us as well and was super nice telling us how they came about opening. This place is absolutely fantastic. If your looking for a romantic place for dinner in an absolute piece of eye-candy historic local lodge-style architecture you cannot go wrong with the ambiance, service and food executed to perfection at Sherwood North!

The atmosphere at Sherwood is beautifully rustic. Big trees, quaint cabins, and a warm fire surround you. We love sharing appetizers/small plates family style. The cheese curds are absolutely delicious and we always get at least one order. The staff has always been kind and helpful. We will definitely be visiting this great log cabin restaurant again.

Went here tonight for our 1 year wedding anniversary and had such an amazing experience and service from our server Shayla. Highly recommend the scallops, prime rib and cheese curds. If you get Shayla as a server it is an extra bonus!

Establishment has done a very good job of distancing tables for everyone's safety. Place was clean and inviting, staff was friendly and helpful. Stopped in and had an appetizer along with dinner and dessert. Everything was served fresh quickly and very well put together. Dishes had great flavor and wonderful presentation. Would recommend them anytime!