Dock Of The Bay Steak & Seafood Grille — Restaurant in District Municipality of Muskoka

I’ve had a long-held belief that restaurants with an attraction or outstanding view tend to falter on their food quality. This relative newcomer to the Gravenhurst dining scene impressively shatters this theory.

The view of Muskoka Bay from their dock is magical but make no mistake, it’s the icing on the cake of your dining experience, not a substitute.

From starters to the desert, with one minor exception, the dishes ordered were well prepared, using excellent ingredients and attractively presented.

Our fellow diners ordered a Shrimp Cocktail ($16) and Grilled Calamari ($15), which they raved about. Sticking to the classics their main courses included, Spicy Chicken Puttanesca ($26) and an 8 oz. Striploin ($30) with seared scallops ($16).

My partner started with the House made Thai Vegetable Spring Rolls ($14) filled with Asian vegetables, coconut, rice noodles and sided with a sweet chilli lime dipping sauce ($14). The three well-sized rolls were crunchy, well filled and quite tasty. The dipping sauce had an authentic and welcome kick to it.

As a lifelong fish lover, I was looking forward to and wasn’t disappointed by their Muskoka Smoked Trout Spring Salad ($15). It was a pretty eclectic mix of organic mixed greens, house smoked rainbow trout, poppy seed goat cheese croutons, sweet yellow & red peppers, pickled cabernet onions, cucumber ribbons and rhubarb vinaigrette. The main protein attraction was lightly smoked which avoided overpowering the delicate flavour of the locally sourced trout. The so-called “croutons” were a delightful display of the chefs’ innovation. He rolled goat cheese into tiny spheres and then coated them with poppy seeds. Dressing for this salad should have been more restrained, but otherwise an outstanding dish.

One of our entrees was their Vegetarian Eggplant Melanzane ($15), featuring olive oil fried eggplant layered with red onions, Roma tomatoes, bocconcini cheese and basil. Although the dish contained an ample amount of well-textured and nicely cooked eggplant. Although I thought the amount of both tomato and cheese were lacking, my fellow diner found it had lots of cheese and too much tomato.

I could not resist the piscatorial main course special of Grilled Copper River Sockeye Salmon ($28), that arrived over a bed of Jasmine garlic rice with grilled corn jalapeño salsa and sided with green beans. I asked for the fish very lightly cooked, as I find too many restaurant kitchens over cook it more often than not. My fish arrived cooked on the outside and nearly raw on the inside, perfect! The fragrant jasmine Thai rice was a welcome alternative to the usual bland and odourless white variety. Chef Darren’s salsa had a wonderful balance of minimally sweet with a kick of spice. A superb rendition of a sea-sourced protein that is far too often cooked with malice.

The water’s edge location of this establishment offered a fantastic view of the long weekends’ fireworks. Unfortunately, we could only enjoy our seats for a few minutes and then ducked for cover to flee from the assertive mosquitoes, behind their floor to ceiling netting on the back half of the patio. We then moved again, this time indoors, for dessert seeking visual relief from the glary outdoor lighting.

Dillon, our server had a wonderful attitude, cares about his guests and was quick to correct any errors or missed items. Soon after we arrived he introduced himself and added “I’ll be taking care of you this evening”, a promise that he worked, diligently throughout the evening, to keep.

The White Chocolate Crème Brule ($8) is the only homemade dessert. Their well-executed custard has just the right texture without being too eggy. A fine sugar crusted indulgence to close a great dining experience!

Although the restaurants’ own menu describes Dock of the Bay as a casual dining experience that would only apply to appearance and the friendly laid back approach of the servers. In terms of food quality as it pertains to taste and presentation, its truly serious first...

So, to end a beautiful weekend !! I've decided to take my wife and my 2-year-old son for lunch at this place.

My son loved the lake, he was very happy to play by the dock with his mother. While he was playing outside, I was able to get us a table by the patio, while on our way to the restaurant, he started to throw a little tantrum cos he still wanted to play outside, the receptionist then approached me and said, " IF HE'S (MY SON) GOING TO CONTINUE CRYING, HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO ASSIST/USHER US TO OUR TABLE AND RECOMMENDS US TO STEP OUT OF THE RESTAURANT AND TO DEAL WITH MY BOY'S TANTRUM ". I guess he did not want us to disturb other guests sitting. Maybe?

The restaurant (while on our way in) in my observation was about 10% occupied with a 0/zero/empty dining. So I'm not pretty sure if that approach was even necessary

Now this is a fact and I'll let you decide or think for yourself about what would you do/feel if the reception you get is similar to ours. Like all parents, we do have tricks-up-our-sleeves for certain situation/s that can be deployed to remediate a situation and I was able to get him in quietly with no issues.

Now, that we were sitting at our table, my son enjoying his math-show, we were then welcomed by our waitress, her name was Mercedes, and to be fair she was nice to us.

Now Muskoka in general is a beautiful place, so nothing is new to me when it comes to scenery/view as I always go out here and ride motorcycles with my friends.

I was informed that the crab cakes and calamari were good, so I went ahead and ordered them. But truth be told, it's pretty average, or maybe less. It did not hold the level of expectation that was imposed on us right from the time we were told to exit the restaurant to deal with my son's tantrum.

My wife had the octopus ink pasta, again, very upsetting/disappointing.

For myself, I ordered a cheeseburger with fries to share with my boy, and even that was very upsetting, I wouldn't even consider throwing that burger to the lake for the fish to eat! That's how bad it is ! Too freaking dry!

Altogether, our bill came up to $140 (which as you may already appreciate that I'm not happy to pay but I did) plus the tip so it went to about $160. Mercedes our waitress was nice, so giving a little extra made us happy, BUT THIS RESTAURANT, DID NOT AT ALL MAKE US SATISFIED OR AT THE VERY LEAST WELCOMED.

Instead of wasting your time in this restaurant, go to Boston Pizza which is conveniently located across their main entrance instead, you'll spend less, same atmosphere and probably we'll MAKE YOU leave happy.

Or, maybe don't go here if you have your kids with you !!! LOL, just kidding, we all get defensive when it comes to...

Highlights: Excellent service 90% on the food Excellent customer service provided for my husband's birthday Fantastic location Will go back as soon as we are in the area again!!!!

Details of the experience It was my husband's birthday yesterday and he did not really make a decision of what he wanted to do until Friday (day before) that he wanted to go to the Antique boat and car show in Gravenhurst and then out for lunch. I was scrambling at that point to find a place that first off took lunch reservations. I called FIVE restaurants before I was recommended Dock of the Bay. I called them and the woman who answered the phone was hesitant to take a reservation at first because of the boat and car show being right next door, especially because I wanted a table over looking the water. When told her that it was my husband's birthday she was amazing! She took my name and the reservation began I wanted Processco at the table when we arrived - DONE I wanted a romantic table overlooking the water - DONE I wanted a peace of cake for him at the end of the meal - DONE and I might add done with such grace and glamour my husband was truly taken aback and he ate every bit of it as it was soooo good. The food: I ordered the grilled calamari (squid). I am ex-professional chef and I know how hard it is to grill calamari without it being like eating an eraser. it was! But! I will tell you that when I told the server that the flavor was there but it was really overdone he immediately went into action even though I said he didn't have to. He insisted to bring me a replacement. The second plate was better but not great and when they say on a bed of arrugula they mean 4 pieces not a BED, but I am a very harsh critic. My husband had the open face prime rib sandwich and absolutely LOVED IT. He ate everything on his plate which is rare for him and told me that it was the best prime rib he had ever had. If there was more than a 5 rating I would be giving it as this restaurant for being out here in cottage country GET's IT!!! We live out here (Parry Sound area) so we know how the restaurants out here in the summer take "advantage" of the situation once the tourists arrive but this was amazing. Thank you to the whole team at Dock of the Bay but especially Dylon, his Father and Mother who manage the restaurant and the kitchen for being patient with a hard critic and making my husband's birthday one he said he will always remember. WE...