Willy's on the Water — Restaurant in Big Lake

Update: original review below, but I wanted to add. Imagine being so disconnected from your customers that you reply to every review with some sort of excuse as to why your food sucks instead of making improvements and changes to your menu to create a better experience for future customers. The owner replied to my review giving excuses to how poor the food was and didn't take anything I said seriously. I've read through multiple other 1-2 star reviews and this person literally has an excuse for everything.

Oh boy...

I've been exploring the food offerings in the area moving to Becker almost a year ago. (See my other reviews)

Today we tried Willy's on the Water. I only tried it because I got a prepaid visa gift card from work and figured why not eat out.

Well first and foremost on the phone I explained I have a prepaid visa gift card and they said that's fine we will just need the number when you get here

I get there and am told they might not be able to take the payment because the system is stupid. I'm like okaayy??? The person on the phone said it should work. Anyways they tell me payment didn't go through, but then they said it did.

Anyways payment went through I grabbed food to go so I brought it home.

No napkins or utensils are included. The whole point of eating out is to not have to wash dishes afterwards right?

Why am I being so picky about everything? Well because this place is supposed to be one of the finer establishments in the area.

And location/atmosphere definitely would tell that story. It's a nice place to sit inside and eat that I can attest to even though I didnt eat in. The interior vibe/decur/ambiance, and the patio outside would have you think this has got to be THE spot to eat at. Unfortunately the food tells another story. Never judge a book by its cover.

The food is SOooo subpar.

What are you trying to be Willy's? There's Asian inspired dishes, burgers, sandwiches, wood fire pizza, tacos?

You can't be an ace of all trades. In this instance they aren't even a jack of all trades.

The food just wasn't good. Take your money drive 10 minutes west on hwy 10 and go eat at Charlie's Bar and Grill instead. Smaller menu, MUCH better food.

I got the willy's burgar (tasted like mcdonalds) wife got bang bang tacos (a tragedy to Mexican cuisines), i subbed fries for cauliflower. $2 upcharge for some boring cauliflower? Honestly should've gone with the fries, ain't nothing special about the cauliflower not worth the extra 2 dollars.

They gave my wife rice as a side with her tacos, and chips n salsa. Who's eating a huge side of rice with tacos? What a wierd thing to include as a side.

And if your gonna pack chips and salsa to go, put them in a seperate container. The heat and humidity from the tacos ruined the texture of the chips making them soggy.

Wife also got the wild rice soup (made from scratch) also was subpar. Rice were really small for some reason (usually wild rice is Long grain no?) Way to creamy andnl thick (also needs more pepper almost had a sweetness to it) chicken was overcooked (sticks to teach when chewing) I tried it and agreed with her analysis. I've had better chicken wild rice soup. It wasn't the worst but far from the best.

The only thing I really liked was the pork belly bites. But even then, the sauce felt like they just opened a bottle of teriyaki sauce and doused the whole thing with it. Sauce didn't feel special but I can't be mad at pork belly because I like pork belly.

Idk I'm just confused at the end of all this. It's not a place I'd drop over $50 bucks at again.

BEAUTIFUL location, yall need to tighten up the menu, and make it something real special. Hire a more seasoned chef. Find your identity! I could see this place being so much more than your average we serve every type of cuisines but not as good as if you were to actually go to a place that specializes in that cuisines type of restaurant.

I feel like there is an identity crisis at willy's on the water with what it's trying to be. Tone down the menu and find your character amidst all...

We have been to Willy’s a few times always been great they had a buffalo chicken dip that was great we moved about an hour and 20 minutes away so haven’t been back for a couple years well for Mother’s Day that’s all I wanted was that dip we drove there and they took the dip off the menu which happens whatever we ordered an appetizer in the 45 minutes from when we got the appetizer to when we got our food my daughter started getting extremely sick I had told the waitress when I ordered I wanted a dessert didn’t matter what it was whatever they had she insisted on the complimentary one I told her again it didn’t matter just put it on our order now and pack it to go so I got something… my food came out(I got the ribeye melt) they didn’t put the aoli on it and it was burnt it was so dry I couldn’t eat it I choked down half and left the rest she never came back at all to ask how it was to see if we needed anything nothing we weren’t even given napkins at all then the bill comes we sent our card back immediately it took her 25 minutes to bring our card back with no dessert I asked her if we were charged for it if not then don’t worry about it I don’t want to wait she said no it was complimentary hang on I said no that’s ok I didn’t want to wait any longer she said it will just take a sec then comes back 10 minutes later and says oh we didn’t bring it because that one was already gone they only had the other before I could say anything she was already gone. I called the manager today to tell him about it and got no remorse other than they were busy and that’s no excuse and if we come back be sure to ask for him he will come say hello…. I told him we won’t ever come back it’s not worth the drive to risk it not being good or having rude service… $70 meal and 3 hours round trip was absolutely a joke!! If your going to go in go when it’s slow because apparently they can’t handle it when it gets busy and their management does not care to make things right if you...

I went to Willy’s on the Water yesterday Cinco de Mayo. First time I have been there I walked to the back bar on the deck. It was very nice I thought oh this looks cool. I asked for a Modelo she did not have one and gave me a drink menu. I said well you can probably take Bud Light off the menu. This is where it turned bad. She responded why is that I said have you seen the woke agenda Budweiser is serving up she said what about it? They are pushing a lifestyle on americans. She said what about it and had this stone cold look on her face. I said the woke movement is is a movement america is not behind. She said what about it? again very stone faced I put down the menu and walked out. This was at 2:10 in the afternoon. I will never go back to Willy’s on the Water or any other Willy’s . This woke movement supported BLM and Antifa while they were looting and burning Minneapolis. Leadership better shape up Budweiser woke a sleeping giant. I was in the restaurant for a grand total of five minutes. Worst I have been treated in a public facility in years.

Ok so to get back to your response:

You are claiming zero politics ok I am not going to call someone something that they are not ….right, wrong or indifferent.

Bottom line, I walked into your place of business happy go lucky and left minutes later so disappointed, never did get a beer.

I have never looked at a server based on the demeanor and responses and decided that I absolutely am not going to reward this establishment with my patronage.

I don’t think I was treated unfairly I would expect the type of treatment I got from the TSA not from a company that is in the hospitality business.

Now that I have fired two rounds over the bow for effect we will have to agree to disagree and call it good. I am not a reviewer look around the web. This encounter just hit me...