Boat Club Restaurant — Restaurant in Duluth

Update 4/25 in response to owners reply There was no rude or disrespectful behavior toward your servers. They were overwhelmed, had no room in the warmer (which is what the food runner stated to our server) and brought the food out minutes after we received our salads. We told them to take it back. Two minutes later it came out again. Again, we refused the food - there was no room on the table and our salads weren't even half finished. It was appalling. We have been to this establishment many times and were always thrilled with the quality of the food and the service. This time it failed. So, it almost hurts my heart to give this place a one star (or less) review. We made a reservation to celebrate my parents' 60th anniversary tonight. We sat down, ordered wine and drinks, and said yes, we needed another minute with the menu. When the wine came, we ordered - an appetizer for the table, salads or soup for most of us. We waited an inordinate amount of time, and then they brought the salads and soups. We asked about the appetizer, but evidently it was forgotten. We chose to just skip the appetizer and enjoy our salads. However, about three minutes later they brought the entrees. I said we weren't ready, we were not even a quarter of the way through the salads/soups. They took the food away and not even two minutes later, someone else tried to deliver the food. Again, and yes, a bit more irritated, we sent the food back again. THIS IS WHERE IT GOES WRONG. The owner, Jeff Anderson then came out and asked if there was a problem. We said, absolutely, we haven't even had half of our salads and the entrees have come out twice. The timing is off, we are not accepting this food yet. Jeff Anderson then said that the restaurant's timing was perfect, despite the fact that our half eaten salads and half finished soups were still in front of us. He then said that he couldn't guarantee that the food would come out again.

Are you serious? Four out of five of us are less than half way through our first course - after the appetizer was forgotten - and this is his response? As insulting and offensive it was, we immediately rose to leave the restaurant. My father, who's 60th anniversary we were supposed to be celebrating, refused to leave before paying for the wine we had drank and the salads that we had eaten. He asked for Jeff Anderson who wouldn't come out of the kitchen and the manager said that the bill was taken care of. My father tried to pay and was quite insistent, but was dismissed.

The whole encounter was offensive and completely unacceptable. This is the only restaurant my elderly parents have been to throughout the pandemic and this treatment was shocking and unexpected. I would certainly look elsewhere for an...

We made 6pm reservations for New Year's Eve. We were not familiar with the area and the Fitgers complex did not offer optimal signage so, despite arriving on time, we lost about 20 minutes finding out that the valet parking was for hotel guests only and then we made our way to the hidden-around-the-block parking ramp followed by a long walk through the maze of shops to find the restaurant.

When we reached the host stand 20 minutes late, we were immediately informed that our table was still available but there was another reservation for that table at 7:30... implying that we were already imposing on others by being late.

Our table and the dining room were lovely and our server was very pleasant. I visited the restroom and it was clean and in good working order.

We were given a special dinner menu in addition the usual menus. We decided to order the special 3 course dinner for two for $99. We chose the arancini appetizer, the lobster entree and the dessert sampler. We asked for the dessert to be brought in a box since we felt pressured to get through our meal quickly. We ordered cocktails that were delivered promptly and were perfect. Our appetizers were also delivered promptly but they were barely warm, despite being deep fried.

Our lobster tails were brought out before we had a chance to finish the appetizers. The food was barely warm but tasted good. The menu had not mentioned any side dishes, so I was not able to ask for a substitution for the mashed potatoes (I'm allergic). My partner had ordered a dinner salad, which was brought out awkwardly several minutes after the entree with an apology as our server had forgotten it. When we were almost finished eating, our server brought a basket with 2 cold popovers and butter.

Our water glasses were not refilled until we received the check, along with our boxed dessert (pictured), exactly 40 minutes after arriving and a full 30 minutes before the next guests had reserved our table. We were never offered a second cocktail, I assume due to the rush.

What we thought would be a special holiday dinner on our getaway to Duluth became an awkward, fast-paced, overpriced dinner. My partner happily filled out the comment card that came with our check and dropped it off on our way out. We felt like we should apologize for taking up their valuable time. Maybe this place is more fun on a normal night. I'm afraid we'll...

A nice restaurant with some quality control issues.

I have been to this restaurant twice now, most recently last week. There is a lot to like: The ambiance and decor are classy, it's right on the lake, the service is helpful, and the food is usually delicious. However, there have been a couple of exceptions as far as the food is concerned.

I had no issues with the food on my first visit. The popovers with honey butter they bring out before your meal are a definite highlight. I got an appetizer special of fried mussels or oysters, I think (it's been a while now), with an Indian spice blend and naan bread. Super tasty, and the naan bread was fresh and well-made. The entrée I had was also great: A walleye dish with sweet potato purée and roasted vegetables (again, my memory is hazy on the details, it's been a while).

On this most recent visit, there were a couple of issues with the food, one of which was pretty bad. The entrée I got was a parmesan panko-crusted lobster with wild rice and roasted vegetables. The rice and vegetables were nice, the béarnaise sauce on the dish was phenomenal, and the flavor of the lobster was good, but it was pretty overcooked and rubbery. It was still an enjoyable dish overall, but that part was slightly disappointing.

The biggest issue I had was dessert. It was a chef's special pumpkin meringue pie. The pumpkin filling was smooth and light, and the meringue was a neat addition. It wasn't just plain or vanilla; the meringue itself was flavored with something. Amaretto maybe? I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it did add some interesting complexity to the flavor profile. The crust was the problem, though. It was straight-up raw dough, and not just on the bottom either. The entire crust from the edge to the tip was completely raw. Rather unfortunate, because if not for the crust, it would have been a neat little dish. They obviously should have blind-baked the crust, and the dish honestly should not have been for sale that night. They should have waited to run it at a different time once that kink had been worked out.

Overall, it's still a nice place to eat, but there's room for...