Patrick’s Cedar Chest Restaurant And Bar — Restaurant in Crosslake

Nice patio, but poor service and underwhelming food. With all the positive ratings, I was pretty excited to check this place out. My first impression was that it was a bit of a dive bar, but not much different from any other bar/restaurant in the area. The patio overlooking the lake was quite lovely, though, and the chairs were nice bouncy chairs.

Where I was disappointed, though, was with the service. The waitress greeted us relatively promptly, but I asked for a beer and water, but only received my beer. When she stopped back again to take our order, I politely asked for water again. It was hot, and I was very thirsty. The third time she stopped by to bring the food (super salty cheese curds and salty fries), I told her, "And I'm waiting on that water still." She responded with a very curt, "Sorry, we're really busy," and proceeded to passive aggressively return with a pitcher of water and empty cups.

It was the 4th of July weekend, and I know they were super busy, but that doesn't excuse rudeness. I can forgive lax service, but the passive-aggressive response to having to be reminded 3 times to bring something that should have been provided when we sat down and without prompting was extremely disappointing.

As for the food, the appetizer came out with the meal, which was also kind of disappointing. I will say, though, the burger was pretty tasty, even though it wasn't what I ordered, though not surprising given the rest of the service. The battered fries, which were an uncharge, were pretty mediocre, though. I wouldn't order them again if...

Hands down the worst meal we've ever had at a restaurant. Four out of five of us had issues with our food. Two meals were completely inedible and had to be sent back. Three of us ordered burgers, and two came out overcooked with patties that fell apart into crumbles on the first bite. The fries were overcooked, under-seasoned, and barely edible. How do you mess up fries so badly?

But the worst offender was my so-called “steak sandwich.” What arrived was a thick, tough slab of steak that couldn’t be chewed or even cut through, served with four plain slices of Texas toast on the side. It bore no resemblance to a sandwich and was made with what felt like the lowest-quality cut of meat I’ve ever been served. I genuinely don’t know how a dish like that gets served to a customer. Me and the people at my table were absolutely baffled.

To make matters worse, we waited 90 minutes for our food with no acknowledgment from our server, while other tables seated after us were served first. Our server was gracious and did what she could, but the manager seemed confused and defensive when we raised our concerns.

We ate here a few years ago and had a good experience, but it’s clear the quality has plummeted. It feels like the kitchen is now run by someone with no understanding of how to properly cook a burger or a steak sandwich, and no shame in sending out food that's overcooked, under-seasoned, and poorly executed. If I could give this place less than one star, I would. Holy cow,...

I went to Cedar Chest on July 3rd, 2025 with my wife (who is paralyzed and in a wheel chair), my daughter (who was 8 months pregnant), my 4 year old granddaughter (who hadn’t eaten since breakfast) and my son-in-law. We got there around 6:20 PM and were told we would be served in about 40 minutes. A party of 7 arrived just before us and were seated first on the outdoor patio, we were seated near them on the patio. The waitress took their drink order and about 10 minutes later took ours. The party of 7 ordered their food and 15 min later the waitress took our order and brought our drinks. The party of 7 received their food, ate their food, had dessert and paid their tab and left and we still hadn’t received our food. It was now 8:10. We asked the waitress where our food was and she just replied “the kitchen was slow”. I think she forgot to put our order in since other customers came in after us and were served while we sat patiently and waited. My granddaughter was starving as were my wife and pregnant daughter. Finally after the waitress kept telling us that our food was almost ready for 40 min we decided to get up and leave. As I got my handicapped wife out of her wheelchair and into our vehicle, the waitress can running out and said “your food is ready”, it was now 8:45. I told here we didn’t want it. Rather then offering an apology, she demanded I pay for the drinks that we ordered. I handed her $20, got in my car and left. I will never go back to...