Boathouse Rotisserie & Raw Bar — Restaurant in Chattanooga

I arrived at the restaurant last night at 8:30 PM, well before the 10 PM closing time, only to endure a horrendously mismanaged dining experience. Despite being informed of a 25-30 minute wait, we sat at the bar for nearly an hour. A member of our 3 person party went and sat outside on his laptop while we waited. The manager told him he could sit out there. I told the host twice he was in our party.

After asking the bartender what was going on with the wait she went to the host stand and they finally seated us. I then see that they didn’t even bother letting us know that the other member of our party had already started placing orders. They just let us waste our time at the bar instead of seating us with him. When I asked why this happened the host said “she forgot he was apart of our party” and the other host said he was “bothering the waitress trying to order food”.

I’m sorry, is this not a restaurant? I asked to speak with the manager to have clarity about the situation. I also told the waitress and manager multiple times we were there for my friends birthday. When we wanted to place an order for dessert the waitress said we can’t because the kitchen is closed? There was no last call. No one said anything to us at all. And the time was maybe 10:10pm?! It’s her birthday obviously we want to order dessert. We had to get the manager again. All she wanted was a bread pudding. They then proceeded to “do us a favor” and bring us two bread puddings. The waitress said the manager comped the birthday girls and that I’d only have to pay for mine. Word for word. I never ordered dessert. We wanted 1 to share for her birthday.

The manager came out again with a horrible attitude. Explaining the restaurant doesn’t take reservations and the kitchen is closed and that he can take my dessert back and throw it away. We were actively eating our meal so why can we not order dessert?! It felt as if they wanted us out. We were not even at our table very long. He dropped the check and the bread pudding was still on it. I had to ask the waitress AGAIN to please take it off. Nothing on our tab was comped except the birthday girls bread pudding. It was the worst dinning experience I’ve ever had. We had a buzzer waiting for our table for an hour!! Then you want to cut our dinning experience short? The manger clearly has no experience or is truly just uncaring and bad at his job. He also made it seem as if the man in my party was “off” and overly intoxicated. When the manager is the one that got him a beer. If someone is “over intoxicated” then you don’t serve them more alcohol. Anyone in the industry knows this. He didn’t even dine with us. He went and sat in the car while my friend and I were trying to enjoy our meal. He said he didn’t enjoy the service or the way he was treated. From my point of view, no one at this establishment has any common sense and they do not care about their customers.

Everyone in our party including myself works in fine dining. We know excellent serve. This was far from it. Will...

I come here quite often and bring friends over when they visit. Let's start with prices, if you are looking for bargain this is not the place, don't get me wrong is affordable if you think about the good quality of the food that never disappoints. I come for the sea food, raw or steam oysters on a discount if you come Mondays. I have tried the Salmon salad more than once because I was given the choice on how to have it cook, salmon is one of those items that are very hard to get it just right!, I have the salmon cook medium or medium rare if you never tried it, give it a go. The basket of fries is one not to miss. I normally have a glass of wine so I would say my bill is usually about $40 to $45 including tip if I am on my own, with my other half is usually around $120 give or take. Raw Oyster, another item that is hard to find that still tastes fresh, clean and crisp, here you can find that. There is other options, burgers (salmon burger too), regular burgers, Mexican dishes and steaks and such. I still have much to try. Atmosphere, I have managed to seat outside almost every time I want, I prefer it since we are right there by the river.

Just one take on sitting inside is that because of the amount of tables and the acoustic, the music is always a bit too high, maybe dropping it a notch would be great, most of us go there to have a chat with our friends or family so, the amount of talking over the music can get a bit insane inside, specially because the bar is not partition separate and it seems like that side is alway at a higher volume.

The service I would say is 5 stars, everyone is so educated and cordial that it makes your experience much better.

Is always packed, I normally eat late so I find it less crowded between 3-5 pm, if you come at rush hour you can be waiting a while, I suggest if you have to wait go by the bar and get yourself a glass of wine and just wait while sipping and talking outside, wait time can be up to 30 mn during busy times.

Once you are done take a stroll along the river walk after lunch with your company.

This is a medium to high end restaurant so I recommend bringing business acquaintance to sit outside if weather is good.

Dessert options are all the typical north American dessert nothing extraordinary, I would love to see some lighter options to accommodate the paring of lighter meals. Maybe a fruit souffle of some sort, a French or Italian option like an affogato or a biscotti to add to an espresso...

My wife and I tried going here for dinner Wednesday, July 10, but the place was hoppin and it was an hour wait. The nice young lady at the Hostess stand suggested we try coming back between 3pm and 5pm, as they are usually not super busy at that time. We took her advice and returned the following afternoon at about 330pm. Perfect! We elected to sit inside as it was a little warm and we had just got off a Duck Boat Tour, so some cool air was nice. The restaurant was very cool and we really liked the atmosphere. They had a very nice outdoor area on the water with as many tables outside as there were inside.

Our server, Manuel, was very polite and engaging. We asked for suggestions on drinks, mainly about the Lawton 'rita. Manuel advised it was very good and mixed evenly after my wife told him she did not like overly sweet margaritas, as you so often find in many restaurants. She elected to try a sip of mine because she didn't want to have a drink sent back. Manuel smiled and told her you won't want to send it back once you taste it. He was right! It was probably the best margarita we have encountered in a long time! Delicious! It was also happy hour, so I ordered a 2nd one! If it wasn't for having to drive back to our Airbnb, we would have gotten a table outside, after we had finished our meal, and ordered another round!

Ok, as for the food we went to Manuel again for some advice, since I was having trouble choosing between the Voodoo Chicken and the Wood Grilled Shrimp. Manuel only had to say that the chicken at the Boathouse was VERY good, so I went with the Voodoo Chicken. My wife asked him about the Wood Grilled Quesadillas, but Manuel suggested she try the Stuffed Pablano, so she did. Both of our meals were delicious! Manuel knows what he is talking about for sure! Overall, we had a wonderful experience at the Boathouse Rotisserie and Raw Bar and will return the next time we are in Chattanooga. Give it a try and ask for Manuel's section! Remember, go earlier than 5pm because they do not take...