The Float House — Restaurant in Hope

The only reason I have rated the experience a 5-star is I cannot rate it 10+ stars! We just returned from dining at The Float House. In my humble opinion, we had the most spectacular restaurant dinner we've enjoyed in a very long time. My cousins live in North Idaho and we're visiting. They picked the restaurant as it is one of their favorites. Back home in Columbus, OH, I'm known as a fairly decent cook, but first and foremost I'm a foodie when we travel. Life is too short to have a mediocre meal!! The food prepared by Eddie and the staff in his kitchen thoroughly impressed me. So let me tell you about the experience. The ambiance at The Float House is fabulous. We dined outside on a lovely late spring evening. Danielle was our lovely server and did a good job answering our questions and making suggestions. Her service was excellent and she checked on us from time to time to see how we were doing. Audrey is a doll and she seated us and later took our photo outside the restaurant. Now for the food...we started out with the calamari which was delicious. No mini squids and rings, these are meaty calamari fingers! The sauce was delicious. We also had a rosemary buttered baguette with garlic, accompanied by whipped bleu cheese, incredible smoked onion jam and pickled tomatoes. Throw carb counting to the wind and order it!! My husband loves pork and the grilled pork ribeye dish topped with a corn relish and served with green beans and smashed potatoes was perfect for him. The smashed potatoes are absolutely delicious. My cousins chose the blackened salmon salad and a nightly special of rib eye steak and smashed potatoes. She didn't choose to have green beans as she cannot eat legumes. I had the other nightly special of Ling Cod with garlic scape pesto, lemon beurre blanc, pickled tomatoes and scallion rice and perfectly prepared green beans. OMG!!! It was incredible and I am not exaggerating!! We enjoyed the "adult" version of Huckleberry Lemonade with Tito vodka. Dessert was creme brulee and a blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream. We may not be back this way soon, but if ever we are, we are definitely going to dine at the Float House. Good job Eddie and the staff of...

Beautiful Setting, Great Food — But Service Left a Lot to Be Desired !!! Worst ever actually…

The Float House has been a well-known spot on the lake for many years, and I was excited to check it out, after 45 years :). The location is great — right on the water with a lively marina atmosphere. While the view is somewhat obstructed by boats, it still has a nice lakeside charm, and we were seated at a lovely table right at the water’s edge. I was taking pictures of the good size fish in the lake. My grandkids would love to see…

The food was excellent. I really enjoyed the pulled pork sandwich and huckleberry lemonade — it was refreshing and not too sweet, which I appreciated. Overall, the menu delivered!!

However, the service was so DISAPPOINTING that it overshadowed the entire experience. (I even woke up the next morning with it on my brain) When we arrived, I was standing directly in front of the hostess stand with my cousin beside me. The hostess ignored us, Turning instead to assist a party that had just walked in behind us. Only after we spoke up did she barely acknowledge us, but even then, her demeanor felt dismissive, as she said OK and immediately turned back to the other three behind us!

Unfortunately, the poor service continued. Our server seemed uninterested in us from the start, gave minimal attention, and even walked away while I was mid-sentence!!! After taking our order, we didn’t see her again until it was time to pay — and even that was left to a QR code on the table. The busser also avoided interaction despite our efforts at light conversation. It left us feeling unwelcome and overlooked. -mind you this is after their lunch rush so they can’t say it was because they were busy. I was impressed they had 2 bus people.

This isn’t the kind of experience I’m used to, and I rarely leave negative reviews — especially when the food is good — but this visit left a lasting impression, and not in a good way.

There are other lakeside spots in the area that offer beautiful views and warm, attentive service. Next time, we’ll be heading to Pearls on the...

Stopped in for dinner without a reservation on 02 Jul 24. We were seated while the hostess was nearly overwhelmed with table assignments because a fast approaching local rain storm forced her to close the patio seating. This time of year, reservations are almost mandatory, and our suspicion was they do their absolute best to accommodate returning customers with what might be standing reservations. One couple walked in after is, claimed they had a reservation for four people, and they were seated at a table for four by a window. We noticed that t once their appetizer arrived, their other party members had suddenly canceled (frown face here). Anyway, we were eventually seated but in a rather noisy section along a main traffic area (ugh) at a table along a corrugated wall. The acoustics were a bit much because the center bar crowd were yelling and laughing, but there's no TV screen, so it was just drunk stuff. Normally, we try to avoid places where boat people hang out. There's just some level of arrogance that goes with boat ownership, especially higher end vessels. Okay, the server Roxie was great although I think she had to wait to get food from the kitchen until the servers for the reserved table regular party people got theirs. I could see how this played out. "They go their calamari already, we order before them, where's ours?" For drinks as well, the regulars got at least one extra ounce poured in their wine glass than what my wife received, and at $10 a glass, that bites into the experience. I ordered a draft, the menu said unfamiliar brew "light lager", since I was driving, and my beer arrived with a wedge of lime? Later the receipt said "la cerveza $6" but there was no indication that beer would be Mexican otherwise I would have ordered the IPA. No good beer needs a lime or an orange slice. Wife ordered the Steelhead, I had the "airline chicken" entree, and both were exceptional in appearance and taste. So for one one, one cerveza, one calamari, one steelhead, one chicken, out the...