Boathouse Lakeside Grill — Restaurant in Kenora

This place is not worth it.

30 minutes wait time to be seated. So we were like okay, must be a good place. Took 50 minutes for all of our food to come; 6 meals + 1 shareable. Two starters for two individuals came out around 30 minute mark. Server did not offer a high chair. Server ran after us to charge us the group gratuity. This was after we paid and already in the parking. Apparently the manager voided the group gratuity in the first place. Why? It is if the party is 8 or more. We have 1 infant who sat in his stroller. 1 toddler who did not order food nor high chair nor water. Literally just sat with us. So they considered the infant as someone that got their service. When there was zero. The server said after running up to us that the grat is for groups of 8 and then he looked and realized one is an infant and proceeded to say groups of more than 7.... Dude same thing. Asking for refills is a wait. Basically everything. Saw our server came out couple of times, after I asked for a container, which took him at least 10 minutes to get. He even went to our table again to check in on us. That another server came up and offered for a container. In our wait time, 3 different group of eaters left. One came before us. One at the same time. One came after us. We were a group of 6 adults and the group that came after us was a group of 4. They managed to arrive after us, order after us, but receive the food before us, finished eating before our last member got their food. I find difficulty in understanding why it was such a stark difference between us when the group sizes were not much different. Isn't it that the kitchen cooks the food based on the order arrival. The one that took the longest to arrive was the burger... A burger. The atmosphere is just meh, just a patio, pretty dirty. Narrow hallway. Would not say this place is accessible at all. Someone got sick after eating the lobster bisque. Someone ordered the steak sandwich. It was a thin slice of beef on a slice of toast. Small portion too. Sandwich.... Was not. Food was okay, not something to rave about. For more than $25 per order, you would assume the fries are wonderful and thick cut. Nope. Flimsy and tiny. It was like the store bought frozen fries from the grocery and called it a day. Costco fries are better.

I do not usually post reviews like this, but I feel like this is needed. At the end of the day, all 6 adults had the same thought in mind; not going back to this place, not worth it. Before posting this, I made sure I am not the only one who is bringing the same problem. And I looked, and not...

Incredibly disappointed with the staff and lack of service we were given. My friend and I had just got to Kenora and we were starving. We had heard really good things from this place from a colleague of ours. We walked in around 2:30 and the sign at the front said “Please wait to be seated”. So we did. We waited. And waited. And no one came to greet us or acknowledge us. Staff were walking back and forth (busy yes) but there was no one that was coming to greet us. I glanced over to the bar area where 2 staff members were chit chatting and being social with the bartender. They had seen us standing there, but nothing. There were open tables available and we were about to go grab one ourselves when a male server walked by and asked us if we needed a spot. We said yes and preferably inside. His tone was rather abrupt and it was as if he was annoyed that he had to help us.

He seated us at our table with menus and said quickly to give our server a few minutes to come take our order. Again, I glanced around and there were many staff on site, some open tables and still a few staff members chit chatting at the bar. I wondered why we had to wait for our server, but immediately dismissed the thought and figured someone would at least come by to take our drink order. 10 minutes went by. I saw another couple walk in at the door, get seated immediately and their server came over immediately. We were starving and didn’t want to basically chase someone down to do their job. It was quite clear that this establishment was not worth our time or most importantly, our money. So we left and walked to the Lake of the Woods Brewing Company, where we were seated within 10 minutes, acknowledged by our kind server and ate and drank with the satisfaction that we did not waste our hard earned money in an establishment that doesn’t care about the customers they serve.

A quick note to Managment: my recommendation would be to take a walk over to Lake of the Woods Brewing Company, sit down, order something, and just observe the great service the staff provide so that your establishment could learn and improve.

While I may not have had the chance to order any food, I am still confident with my 1 star for this review. The place looked really nice and we had a great table by the windows. Unfortunately, that is the only positive thing I could say here.

Good luck and I hope some changes are implemented in the...

New owner of Boathouse and it's still a great location, literally hanging over the Lake of the Woods. We got in no problem and seated right by the Lake, albeit still frozen ice, still a great view. The waiter was very good and provided drinks right away. Even found the last bottle of a specific wine for us and got it chilled quickly then served in an ice bucket. He covered most of the restaurant until it started to fill up. More staff appeared and everyone was served in a timely fashion. Service was prompt and the meals were good and nicely presented. Soup and salad were served very soon followed by the mains in a reasonable time. Two meals were right out of the oven a nice and hot. My steak was cooked perfectly to my order and nicely seasoned. A good cut of beef with lots of veggies and delicious mini potatoes. The peach and cherry crumble was excellent, freshly made and piping hot with a good scoop of ice cream. There is a small bar to sit at and in warmer weather theres a large deck with umbrellas over most tables to dine outside. A good choice for a meal on Kenora.

Update: Returned here August 2019 and was promptly seated. After 15 minutes waiting with 4 staff congregated around the till area and ignoring us, a waitress came in by boat, tied up walked in. She ended up coming to serve us as soon as she was in the door. A second waitress who was already busy with the outdoor patio came over to apologize as well, but we commented she was already very busy and we didn't expect her to serve us. Again the 4 are still standing around the till. When they finally did work, it was to loudly talk while folding napkins in a booth. Napkin folding is necessary but doesn't need that many staff. The problem I see here is there is no manager or owner overseeing the operation. The washrooms are not clean and waste cans are overflowing. Also chairs in the dining room showed lots of wear and some were broken. Maintenance and cleaning are not priorities it appears. The waitress we had was great, drinks came immediately while the meals came promptly and were both very tasty and hot. Finally one of the four by the till helped deliver our meals. Again issues are not with the hard working staff, it is with managing resources and keeping customers happy. We are locals and if we aren't satisfied, we will not recommend a substandard location to visitors when...