Mauston Park Oasis Restaurant – Mauston, Wisconsin

The exterior of the Mauston Park Oasis Restaurant is “nothing to write home about”, as my mom used to say. The restaurant is attached to a gas station…and a motel…and a bar. It’s basically a one stop shop…for almost anything. And that became even more apparent after we walked through the door. And the first thing I would do if I owned the Mauston Park Oasis Restaurant would be to change the name, since a restaurant is only a fraction of what we found inside!

It’s also a BAKERY. (Check out that pie…Oh MY!)

Or how about a cream puff! (At 6:30a.m.? I think I’ll pass…)

But Wait…There’s MORE.

The Mauston Park Oasis Restaurant is also… A CANDY STORE.

(Maybe some Creamsicle Fudge for breakfast will trip your trigger…)

And since we were in Wisconsin, I wasn’t too surprised to see…

A CHEESE SHOP. And A MEAT MARKET.

And even though it was only 6:30a.m. the “restaurant” had already put out samples of many of the products in they sell…but I must admit it was one of the few times in my life that I didn’t dive right in. (Even I have my limits!)

When we FINALLY made it into the actual restaurant I was pleasantly surprised at the “log cabin” vibe. (It reminded me of my many trips to Alaska in my previous life as a travel agent/cruise specialist.) The decor gave a cozy feeling to the various rooms in the restaurant.

And the long counter looked like a perfect spot for lone travelers to enjoy a meal and to strike up a conversation with one of the many servers who were already at work, anticipating the crowd that would surely be coming soon. (As I said, we had arrived VERY early so we had the place almost to ourselves.)

One of the first questions I always ask at breakfast is whether the corned beef hash is homemade. The answer is almost always…NO. But this morning, at the Mauston Park Oasis Restaurant the answer was YES! So, of course, that was my choice. And since the restaurant is also a bakery, I added some marble rye toast to my order.

The homemade hash was somewhat of a disappointment since it was quite greasy, and the toast was really only warmed bread. (I’m not sure that bread saw a toaster.) My meal was OK. Not great…but OK.

Now..back to the name of that place. The more I think about it, the more I’m not sure where to start.

And maybe that’s exactly the way the owner of the Mauston Park Oasis Restaurant feels.