travel plaza clearwater mn

About Clearwater Travel Plaza

Featuring legendary nelson bros. family name.

Clearwater Travel Plaza has been serving you since 1976, and they make it their business to ensure you are satisfied. They have built their standards on serving the professional driver and going the extra mile. You’ll experience Minnesota hospitality from the moment you step foot into the Plaza. When you’re at Clearwater Travel Plaza, you’re family. It’s no wonder their name is well-known and trusted!

Their Success

Their dedicated employees and loyal customers are the key to their success. Whether you’re a trucker, traveler, or a local, they will give you a million reasons to come back and see them again. In the short time that they interact with you, it’s highly likely that they will remember the details about your visit. They might even remember some details for next time including: your name, if you prefer a Mountain Dew or Coca Cola, and perhaps even a little bit about your family or hobbies. In fact, they’re so confident you’ll return, that they don’t even need to ask.

Clearwater Travel Plaza is a value and community-based company that is built on loyalty and understanding their customer’s needs. Their people are their brand, and they are proud of it1 You can expect superior customer service with a smile (and quite possibly a good laugh) at every visit.

When it comes to rest areas, the true intention is implied within the name.  To cease work of movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover. Clearwater Travel Plaza wholeheartedly supports relaxing and refreshing. They aim to make that possibility a reality with their travel plaza offerings that include dining, beverages, shopping, and more. They offer travelers a fuel punch card to reward their frequent guests and friends!

Enjoy an ice-cold beer, a glass of wine, or a handcrafted cocktail to complement your meal. Take advantage of the Happy Hour specials!  Nelson Bros. Bakery is legendary, and their Fritter Bread is the stuff dreams are made of. Our confections team bakes head-sized donuts fresh daily, plus other pastries, sweet rolls, cookies, cupcakes, pies, and muffins.

Go check it all out today!

Give Clearwater Travel Plaza a Call Today!

Plan a trip to st. cloud.

Need some help planning your trip? How about finding the best spots in St. Cloud? We’d love to help you get the most out of your time in our city! Our friendly representatives can answer your questions, offer advice, or plan the perfect St. Cloud trip for you.

 320-251-4170 | [email protected] |  Visit Greater St. Cloud

View  the Official  St. Cloud, MN Visitors Guide!

Want to know the best place to grab a burger? Or how about the must-see hot-spots in the area? Order your official St. Cloud, MN Visitor’s Guide for FREE and start planning your perfect getaway to Greater St. Cloud! Or view it online for quick facts and plans.

Click  HERE  to view/order yours now!

• Things To Do
• Places to Eat

Katie Detert

Just another st. cloud state sites site.

Clearwater Travel Plaza – Clearwater, MN

Nelson Brothers Bakery is known around the area for their massive donuts. The sign out front reads “donuts as big as your head.” They aren’t wrong. The first time I went to Nelson Brothers, I got a large chocolate iced donut – freshly made – and the most disappointing part of it all was that I couldn’t finish the whole thing. The donuts are made fresh daily, and with over 30 different kinds of donuts, pastries, muffins and more, there is something for the whole crew. Their website boasts that they make 1,600 donuts per day and around 2,200 on the weekend! Talk about a production.

Wendy – a spokesperson for Nelson Bro’s Bakery – was able to give me some insight into what it’s like working at the truck-stop bakery. They currently have 210 employees with about 150 of those working in the attached restaurant. At Clearwater Travel Plaza, they take pride in their employees. They have employee appreciation days several times throughout the year to show how much their employees are valued. Wendy mentions that in successful businesses, great teams are built, relationships are strong, and coworkers and customers can make life a lot of fun. While managing during Covid-19, Wendy stays true to her values. “The key is always treating others the way you would want to be treated, being patient and understanding that everyone learns at a different pace and has different skills they bring to the workplace. You have to have fun with them and the customers. There has to be disciplined learning and motivating, thanking and appreciation to create a successful business. With Covid-19, it just means you have to be even more appreciative to the ones still working and be even more sensitive to their concerns.”

Keep an eye out for specials and information listed on Facebook and Twitter and other Clearwater Travel Social Media. If you do end up stopping by, share a photo and tag Clearwater Travel Plaza . Happy Eating!

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Nelson Bros.

Popular dishes

French Toast

Wild Rice Sausage

Apple Fritters

Caramel Roll

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Location & Hours

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950 State Hwy 24

Clearwater, MN 55320

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About the Business

Nelson Bros. Restaurant, Bakery & Pub, MN Reflections gift shop (including Carhartt Clothing), a gourmet sandwich bar, homemade Nelson Bros. Take & Bake Pizza, ice cream, fudge, caramel apples. Holiday Gas Station & convenience store, Fuel Center, CAT Scale. …

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• 1 star rating Not good
• 2 star rating Could’ve been better
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Overall rating

137 reviews

I my quest for a great pastrami sandwich in MN this was 2nd try. They don't serve them in their restaurant but there is a sandwich and pizza shop in another part of the Nelson Bros. travel stop. Ordering a sandwich is patterned after the way they do it at Subway but the bread is sliced rather than long subway buns. So I order a toasted pastrami and I unexpectedly hear, "What kind of bread?" and then, "What kind of meat?", What kind of cheese?", "Do you want it toasted?", "What kind of sauce?", What kind of vegetables?" All the questions you would hear at a Subway. The results were pretty good. The pastrami wasn't hot or even warm but with the mayo, mustard and lettuce and banana peppers and the fact it wasn't on pumpernickel it approached being what I'm looking for more closely than my last try at the Crossroads. I'll give it a 7 out of 10. The result wasn't to bad. The bread

Toasted pastrami sandwich on multigrain.

my son and i stopped here after a weekend at the nearby scout camp. we rolled in around 930am on sunday. the place was busy, but we were seated immediately. as we were walking to our table, i did see someone having a blood mary with a small buffet of skewered items coming out of it. while it looked delicious, only coffee (aka "go juice") would work after a weekend of 5-11 year old kids running around yelling. the server took our drink orders - coffee for me, apple juice for the boy - and brought them quickly. now, i can't be certain if they always do this, or if she saw my fatigued state, but she left a full carafe at the table ((i'm guessing they always do this to save time). i promptly pulled out my emergency IV kit and poured it directly into my veins. the food - we both got biscuits and gravy and they arrived in a manner of minutes. it comes with eggs (we had over easy), hash browns, and your choice of bacon or sausage (we went with bacon). the biscuits and gravy was delicious, though i felt like the gravy could have used more seasoning. then again, i feel this way about any sausage gravy that i don't make at home. the eggs were cooked perfectly. the bacon was kind of floppy, and i prefer crispy. my son prefers floppy, so, i will disown him soon. the hashbrown were just your standard diner fare hashbrowns. i'm not a big fan of them in general, but i did try them for the sake of this review. they outside was nice and crisp, and the inside was just as you would expect. they also could have used some seasoning. the portions - we both had about half our order left, which made a good meal for later in the day. the service - just the right amount. our server came by often enough, but so often as to keep interrupting our conversations. price - biscuits and gravy were $13 each. with coffee, juice, and tip, the total was around $42. a little on the pricier side, but i also tip well. atmosphere - the restaurant is part of Clearwater travel plaza and it's just what you'd expect. nothing fancy, but nowhere near run down. they have a big fish tank that my son likes watching extras - there's some claw machines as you enter which cost $1 (you have to get tokens from the machine). as we were being seated, they gave my son 4 tokens ($1 worth). i thought this was kind of fun as we were leaving, we hit the bakery. they have a really big selection of sweets and breads. we opted for the giant cinnamon roll ($4.49). we had some when we got home and it was good, not great. good amount of frosting, but no overpowering. would like to have had more cinnamon/sugar in the actual roll though. we would definitely swing by again when we're in the area.

When you walk in, it's incredibly chaotic and very unclear where you go, what you do, where you pay, etc. so it was a jarring experience right off the bat. We ate in the restaurant, which was pretty dated. We sat at the bar and the bartender who was serving us was very kind and helpful. I got the Monte Cristo sandwich, which wasn't as sweet as you'd expect given its description. The jam it comes with was delicious and the French toast-like bread was really good. The highlight of the meal, however, were the delicious fries! After our meal, we went to the bakery for some sweet treats (that's truly the main reason this place is so busy!). The person behind the counter was super helpful and sweet. The selection was ENORMOUS as were some of their donuts! They have several billboards claiming they're as big as your head and they are not lying! When it comes to those huge donuts, however, they are not good. We got a cookies and cream and standard sprinkled donut. They were both super stale and bland. The sprinkled one had way more flavor than the cookies and cream one, surprisingly. The saving grace of our bakery selections was the cinnamon roll, which was delectable! Skip the donuts and get that instead!

This place never disappoints! I've been here several times . The food was good as always I had the walleye sandwich. It was excellent. It is a truck stop restaurant. .Expect to spend a little money, I think it is worth the money. The decor is for a dinner type restaurant and the service is excellent.

When traveling through Minnesota I don't know how you could miss the billboards-- ya know-- that one with the girl's beaming face behind the strawberry frosted sprinkle bespeckled donut? Yeah. That's Nelson Brothers-- and everyone knows about it-- and you know how I know that? It was PACKED at 11:00 am on Friday. The draw isn't the location-- it's essentially in a truck stop, and it isn't the ambiance-- it's the typical family restaurant deal. The draw is the food and the service! We were a party of 13, 4 of which were small children-- and our waitress handled our group with a grace and aplomb one should only expect from a seasoned stage actress. She was amazing! Patient, detail oriented, personable and attentive-- and fast. It was amazing-- and so was the food. Their claim to fame is something called "fritter bread." I got the fritter bread cinnamon French toast-- it came with eggs, hash browns and their wild rice sausage. The portions were huge-- easily enough for two people-- and that French toast! I see why that stuff keeps 'em comin'! The bread was like a light challa but marbled with cinnamon sugar, bathed in an egg custard then fried golden crispy brown on a flat top-- I slathered on the butter -- REAL whipped butter by the way-- and gave it a spritz of syrup-- it was like breakfast cake-- sweet, warm, and a little "wowww this is really bad for me, but it's so good I can't care about that right now," which is what I thought when I ate it all. The place was packed on a Friday at 11:00- so I'm thinkin' the joys to be found at Nelson Brothers is no secret-- but in case you were tottering on the edge of indecision, I thought I'd throw in my two cents-- and persuade you to give it a try. Nelson Brothers is good.

The food is very good, along with their baked goods. I want to share what they did to my grandson and his birthday. He was supposed to get a free meal but he had no ID to show it was his birthday. Look at the table of 6 people, gifts, cards, treats all in front of him celebrating his birthday. Listen to his family sing Happy Birthday and then management tells him he does not get a meal. Shame on them. My grandson felt the rejection from this staff.

Huge portions! Incredible food! Great service. Always a treat. The place was packed today, for Mother's Day! Was everything 100% perfect? No, but I still give it 5 Stars because they did an outstanding job with how overly busy they were. The biggest problem is trying to decide which yummy food to order. We will definitely be coming back again.

Breakfast on Mother's Day!

Food not as good as usual! Veggi omelette runny and bland. Service slow and greeting non existent!

Arrived at 5:00pm. After 30 minutes our food arrived cold and incomplete. Nelson's, you are better than this!! The restaurant wasn't that busy. This was our go to place but the level of service and the food quality continues to go down.

I love this place! Although it's always packed, it's worth the wait. On my most recent visit, I went for brunch and had a veggie omelet with hollandaise, a biscuit, and side of bacon. My partner had the French toast made from their in house cinnamon fritter bread (yumm-o!). The food was delish, and fit the bill for brunch fare. The ambiance of the restaurant is mediocre...I mean it's housed in a travel plaza just off the freeway. On your way out, be sure to check out their bakery which has many items to select from (pies, breads, donuts, sweet rolls, fudge, etc). Food: A+; Service: B; Ambiance: B

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Contact Clearwater Travel Plaza

We Want to Hear From You

Thanks so much for dropping by! We welcome your feedback on all fronts, and read every single inquiry that we receive. Your voice matters to us and we want to hear what keeps you up at night. Simply fill out the form below and we’ll get on it like a hotcake. Just like our 24-hour gas station is in operation, we’ll follow suit with that same time window and be in touch with you.

Do you have questions about...

We will ship jams, jellies, coffee and other non-perishable products.  Due to commerce laws we are unable to ship anything out of state.

Reservations?

We do not accept reservations. However, we have found sending a member of your group early has proven to assist in ensuring you will be ready to be seated when the rest of your party arrives.

Hours of operation

Restaurant & Pub, Fuel Center and MN Reflections Gift Shop Closed 6pm Christmas Eve through 5am December 26th

Bakery, Sandwich Bar, Take & Bake Pizza and General Store Closed 8pm Christmas Eve through 5am December 26th

General Store Open 24 hours Phone: 320.558.4277 | Fax: 320.558.6505

Fuel Center Open 24 hours Phone: 320.558.4282 | Fax: 320.558.6505

MN Reflections Gift Shop Open daily 8am - 9pm Phone: 320.558.4288

Nelson Bros. Bakery Open 24 hours Phone: 320.558.4278

Nelson Bros. Cutting Edge Catering Phone: 320.558.4273

Nelson Bros. Restaurant Open Monday - Sunday 5am - 10pm Phone: 320.558.2261

The Pub Open Monday - Sunday 8am - 10pm Phone: 320.558.4279

Take & Bake Pizza Open 24 hours Phone: 320.558.4281

Clearwater Travel Plaza 950 State Highway 24 P.O. Box 8 Clearwater, MN 55320

Phone: 320-558-2261 Fax: 320-558-2092

• Clearwater, Minnesota /
• Clearwater Travel Plaza, 950 MN-24

Clearwater Travel Plaza

Try nicely cooked rolls , hot sandwiches and rice soup . You can order good cinnamon donuts , cinnamon rolls and fudge . It might be nice to enjoy delicious beer . Great coffee is the right choice.

This restaurant is well known for its great service and friendly staff, that is always ready to help you. Clients of Clearwater Travel Plaza state that they found prices average. You will definitely appreciate the charming atmosphere and fancy decor. 4.5 is what this place received from the Google rating system.

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