Canoe Restaurant & Tavern — Restaurant in Center Harbor

I'll start by saying we won't be returning. There are too many other good restaurants in the area that care about the customer experience. We went in on a Saturday night at 7:30 and there was only one other party in the dining room.

We had such high hopes. I had been wanting to try it for months.

We try calamari in every restaurant we go to that has it on the menu. We ordered theirs and it was small rings well fried, and it would have been very good except for the fact that it was drenched with an asian chili sauce that made the rings ultimately soggy.

I ordered one of the specials, a 4oz filet with a butter poached lobster tail. I couldn't resist. I love butter poached lobster. I make it at home and it is alot of work, par cooking lobster taking it out of the shell then poaching. Their's was a small split tail, with the meat still attached to the shell? Butter poached? Really? Not in my experience. The filet has a strange taste and smelled bad and it wasn't a seasoning. My companion tasted it and agreed. I told the manager, who took it back to the kitchen but never returned. He did ask me if I wanted something else when he took it away, and I declined because I didn't want to wait, and has pretty much had lost my appetite. He never came back.

My dining companion ordered the braised short ribs with polenta. The ribs had good flavor but were dry and there was no sauce or braising liquid with the dish.

We decided not to get dessert, and were surprised that we were not at least offered a comped dessert seeing how I sent my steak back. I had one bite, Mike the other. It was still on the check when we got it. Never a word or offer of a reduction in the check. $29.00 for something that bad was inexcusable.

We should have gone to Lago...

This is solely based off of our visit on NYE. Canoe was doing a price fixed menu, and also warned in reservation confirmations that it was a hard 1.5 hour time limit for parties of 2. Which was totally fine with us. The price fixed menu seemed extremely high, but we had high hopes given friend recommendations to go here. The waitress forgot our first course (the amuse-bouche) completely, we had to remind her and ask her for it. The kitchen clearly crashed, as we were there for 2.5 hours and each course took 30+ mins in between each. We were offered bread at one point but she never brought it, again, I needed to remind her. My partner ordered a bourbon he had had before and noted to her that it tasted off, but the situation was not rectified nor did anyone come over to chat with us about it. He ordered a half bottle of wine instead, and was charged for both the bourbon and the wine. My first two specialty cocktails came out great, the third came out looking and tasting very different. I told the waitress, she said the bartender had been making it wrong prior. The food was good - My partner got the Wagyu strip and said it was delicious. My filet was overdone and mashed potatoes were cold, but by the time we were checked on it was a bit too late to say anything. They did not appear to be slammed either - many tables around us were open the entire time we were there. Overall, it was not worth the hype and price-gouging/money for NYE - it gave off as if they were playing pretend fancy for the night, and the staff from front and back of house just could not handle it. We hope to return and have a better experience when it is the regular Canoe menu on a...

This is a lovely restaurant in Centre Harbor, New Hampshire. They have a shuttle service that will pick you up at the marina & whisks you to the restaurant. This enables you to drive to the restaurant by boat & not have to walk the uphill 4 or so blocks to the restaurant. There were 7of us in our party & we had reservations so that as soon as we arrived, we were seated. We had 2 servers who were attentive but not overbearing. There is an indoor & an out door seating area. We opted for the outdoor area which was under an awning & surrounded by hanging baskets of flowers. Very appealing, as is the indoor space that is decorated in a rustic fashion, think old canoes & paddles with a huge bar area with high tops available for seating & drinking, waiting or eating. My husband ordered the Kobe beef meatloaf with homemade mac & cheese. Both were large servings, enough for him to eat for dinner & then take home maybe half of it. The meatloaf was a little overdone, but tasty & the mac & cheese was delicious. I had beef tenderloin tips with French fries & asparagus. The tenderloin tips were large, tender & perfectly cooked in a hearty sauce. The sides were also very good. Everyone enjoyed their generous portions so no one ordered dessert. As soon as the bill was settled, we took the shuttle back to our boat & had a wonderful starry night boat ride back to our island. A wonderful dinner experience from...