The Joint - Tavern & Eatery — Restaurant in Aitkin

This bar and restaurant is in our area and it pains me to say, I will never go back. No restaurant is spot everyday but this one has ups and downs weekly. I would rather pay more for dinner than be subjected to the rude behavior I’ve experienced twice in the last 3 weeks. Tonight they had a chicken special. While I ate two of the three very small pieces they offered on my plate, the 3rd was dripping in grease and the meat looked rancid so I didn’t eat it. When the server came and asked how our dinner was, I quietly showed him the piece of chicken and told him I didn’t want anything but to let the kitchen know about it. It swooped it up and told me he was going to show it to the kitchen, he came back out and said there was nothing wrong with it and it was cooked. Again, I respectfully told him I knew it was cooked but it didn’t look “good”. He stood in front and of me in plain sight of other customers and ate it. Wow! I wanted nothing but what I got was one of the rudest experiences I’ve ever had. As we got up to leave, chicken dinners were arriving to the surrounding tables and they looked good. What could have been an opportunity to nicely apologize turned into a “I’ll never step into your establishment again.

Signed a customer that comes in twice...

MAN OH MAN. If you drive past this joint you better hit a u-turn, haha we did! Best decision of the day. We were in search for fish fry but we couldn’t drive to duluth or grand marais so with disappointment brewing we just drove home. On the drive i saw this place looked busy but didn’t think much of i, we drove by this big lake (millacs) i thought theres gotta be fish around here. Searched for one, found a couple with bad reviews, then spotted this one. Great reviews not far drive so we headed back. I couldn’t believe it was the place i saw on the way. Got in asked if there was fish fry “only fridays” how sad i got, but looked on the menu there walleye your choice of grilled, panfried, or deep-fried. Chose deep fried ooooh did that fill my craving. Forgot to take a picture, perfectly crispy, seasoned well, AND still moist on the inside. Oh i cant forget about the sweet potato fries, ordered extra crispy! And they have siracha, surprised us. There coleslaw is made fresh and lightly seasoned. The servers are very friendly even the people dining in. The restrooms are well kept. All in all this place is now in our go to stop on...

KEEP DRIVING!!! We were visiting from out of state. Had been on a long drive back down from Ely headed back to Mille Lacs Lake on 169. Most a the beautiful little towns along here roll up the side walks at 5pm in off season. The reviews on this place were good. Pictures of food looked awesome. We rolled in just after 8pm. Just pulling up to the place gave you "Dusk till Dawn" vibes and walking in was like a classic motorcycle bar movie where everything stopped when you entered, accompanied by glares from all the locals at your unwanted interruption. We weren't even offered a table...just told that kitchen closed at 8pm. It was obvious we were not welcome. In addition the place stunk to high heaven and I am sure we saved ourselves a bout of food poisoning. This was by far the most unfriendly part of MN we experienced. The reviews read like this was a great place. And no mention of kitchen closing early either. But I would say unless you are a local,...