What are the best-reviewed restaurants in Sun Prairie?

On Google, Salvatore's Tomato Pies shows 4.7 stars from 1,745 reviews and Gus's Diner shows 4.5 from 3,100. Gloria's Mexican Restaurant shows 4.1 from 945, El Patrón Mexican Grill 4.0 from 895 and Glass Nickel Pizza Co. 4.1 from 563. Ratings are one signal, so read the reviews for what each place does well.

Where can I get breakfast in Sun Prairie?

Gus's Diner at 630 N Westmount Dr. Google lists it open from 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and Travel Wisconsin says breakfast is served all day. Call (608) 318-0900 to confirm hours.

Is there good Mexican food in Sun Prairie?

Sun Prairie has Gloria's Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar on Prairie Lakes Drive and El Patrón Mexican Grill on West Main Street. Both are listed as serving beer and wine and taking reservations. Reviews of both are mixed, so check recent comments before you choose.

Which Sun Prairie restaurants are close to downtown?

Glass Nickel Pizza Co., Salvatore's Tomato Pies and Pizza Pit are all on Main Street, within about half a mile of each other. El Patrón Mexican Grill is about 1.2 miles west of downtown's Market Street.

Can I reserve a table at restaurants in Sun Prairie?

Google lists Gus's Diner, Gloria's, El Patrón and Salvatore's Tomato Pies as taking reservations. Call each restaurant to confirm, especially for groups and holidays.

Restaurants in Sun Prairie WI: Diner, Mexican, Pizza

A 1950s diner, two Mexican kitchens and three pizza places within half a mile of each other: where to eat in Sun Prairie and what to order.

Sun Prairie eats along Main Street, and the rest of the town drives to dinner. The restaurants in Sun Prairie that earn a visit fall into three groups: a 1950s diner on the west side, two Mexican kitchens on opposite ends of West Main and Prairie Lakes Drive, and three pizza places packed within half a mile of each other downtown. Choose the group and the choice of table gets easy.

Everything below comes from each restaurant's own website, local news coverage and the reviews diners have left. A review is one person's visit, not a verdict. Hours and prices drift, so call to confirm before you go.

Which restaurant fits which meal

Go to Gus's Diner for breakfast, Gloria's for a sit-down Mexican dinner with a margarita, El Patrón when you want a deck and a margarita closer to downtown, and Main Street for pizza. On Google, Gus's Diner shows 4.5 stars from 3,100 reviews, Gloria's 4.1 from 945, El Patrón 4.0 from 895 and Salvatore's Tomato Pies 4.7 from 1,745, so the diner and the tomato-pie restaurant draw the warmest reviews.

Gus's Diner: chrome, jukeboxes and breakfast

Gus's Diner at 630 N Westmount Dr is the breakfast answer, a 1950s-style diner open from 6 a.m. on weekdays. It sits about 3.4 miles west-northwest of downtown, out where the town thins into subdivisions.

Gus's Diner

The chrome exterior gives way to a dining room that Travel Wisconsin describes as 1950s inside and out, with a jukebox at many booths. The restaurant's own site lists eggs Benedict with hash browns, steak and eggs, corned beef hash, meat loaf with gravy and mashed potatoes, and a salad bar.

The Verona Press reported that the first Gus's opened in Sun Prairie in 2008 and that many of the vintage decorations were donated by local customers.

Google lists the diner open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and until 8 p.m. on Sunday, and Travel Wisconsin says breakfast is served all day. Google also shows no beer or wine, so this is a coffee-and-milkshake kind of stop.

Visitors mention huge portions, a soup and salad bar, shakes, pies and cake, and friendly servers. One reviewer in May found the checkout line slow and the cheesecake disappointing, so go for the breakfast plate rather than dessert. Google lists free parking and a menu for children.

Mexican restaurants: Gloria's and El Patrón

Sun Prairie has two sit-down Mexican restaurants worth a trip, and they sit nearly two miles apart on the west side. Both are listed as serving beer and wine, taking reservations and offering free parking.

Gloria’s Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar

Gloria's Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar at 2808 Prairie Lakes Dr is the family restaurant with the painted walls. The Cap Times profile in 2024 described murals and mariachi hats on orange and pink walls, with a turquoise bar, and said Gloria Trejo cooks while her family helps run the business. The Sun Prairie room is the second branch, after the family's first restaurant on Junction Road.

The same profile said the mole poblano is made daily from chocolate, cinnamon, sesame, nuts and peppers. Madison Magazine readers named the restaurant gold winner for Best Latin American in 2024.

Gloria's sits about a quarter mile from Marcus Palace Cinema, which makes dinner before a movie easy. Reviewers praise the steak tacos and the queso dip, and one Mother's Day visitor was handed a rose on the way out. Not every table has gone well: a July reviewer says a solo lunch guest was told to wait for a booth while other tables stood open, and a May reviewer found the sauces short on flavor.

Google lists Gloria's open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant's site also advertises catering packages for birthdays, corporate events and weddings.

El Patrón Mexican Grill

El Patrón Mexican Grill at 1303 W Main St is the closer of the two to downtown, about 1.2 miles west of Market Street. The kitchen lists steak fajitas, enchiladas, chimichangas and tacos made with birria, grilled chicken or carne asada, and tables start with complimentary chips and house dips.

Reviewers mention the outdoor deck, a white sauce served with warm chips, chimichangas and margaritas that arrive in very large glasses.

Opinion is divided on the flavor. An October reviewer called the food safe for people who avoid spice, and a July takeout customer liked the fajita flavor but found the steak dry and the floors sticky at pickup. Order the dish a reviewer praised and ask how spicy it comes. Google lists El Patrón open from 11 a.m. daily, until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Main Street pizza: three kitchens, half a mile

On Main Street you can compare three pizzerias on foot. Glass Nickel Pizza Co. at 410 E Main St, Salvatore's Tomato Pies at 121 E Main St and Pizza Pit at 330 W Main St all fall within about half a mile of one another.

Salvatore's cooks Trenton-style tomato pies with the cheese under the sauce and takes reservations, Glass Nickel has a patio, an in-house delivery team and a rebuilt dining room on the site of a former gas station, and Pizza Pit sells thin crust, gyros and take-and-bake pies. Salvatore's is closed on Mondays by Google's hours, and Pizza Pit closes between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., so a late Monday pizza belongs to Glass Nickel.

Anyone choosing among them for a date, a family table or a carry-out night should read up on the three-pizzeria comparison before ordering.

The rest of downtown

Not every restaurant in town has a listing here yet.

Downtown also has the Saturday farmers' market at Cannery Square, held Saturdays 7 a.m. to noon from May to October and moving indoors to the Westside Community Services Building from November. A gas explosion in July 2018 destroyed a bar and a pizza restaurant on a downtown block, and Glass Nickel now serves from a new building at 410 E Main St.

Planning a meal around the rest of the day

Dinner is easier to place once the day has a shape, and the daytime attractions include a dirt racetrack, an ice arena, a marsh loop and a rooftop bar.

Visitors who need a room can compare the in-town hotels before choosing which end of town to eat in.

As a map in words: the diner and Gloria's are on the west side, about 3.4 and 3.1 miles from downtown, El Patrón is about 1.2 miles out on West Main, and the pizza trio is downtown.

Whichever group you choose, the town makes the same offer it did at the start: eat on Main Street if you want to walk, and drive west if you want a booth and a jukebox.