CHAR Craft Steaks at Grand View Lodge — Restaurant in Nisswa

If you're reading reviews just post COVID you'll hear a mix of things. You should be aware that in the months of re-opening things are often up-in-the-air for how it'll go down. Note, not all restaurants are open to capacity and even with openings many have half or limited staffing to support all the patrons.

Here's my take on much of it along with our experience at CHAR.

(Any negative experiences that might occur while dining out usually leads to the rest of the expectations to deteriorate.)

While on vacation we decided to find a good steak joint. Found CHAR on google and decided to make reservations. Shortly thereafter we arrived at Grand View and made our way to the Main Lodge where CHAR is located (took us awhile to figure that out lol). When inside, we did wait a short while for the host to arrive but were seated promptly once the host appeared.

Upon sitting we noticed they were quite busy and during the time of others around us were being served we had already decided on everything we wanted (drinks and food). After about 8 minutes we were finally greeted by Jenny, whom apologized for the wait. She took our drink and food orders and headed off. We received our drinks about 10 minutes later after seeing several other tables receive their food - this was due to fewer than normal staff members and the overwhelming number of guests.

Not long after, however, we received our amazing meals; Whole Roast Prime Rib, Lobster pasta, 7oz Filet of Beef, Salmon Special, and the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad. For sides we got the Minn Wild Rice Pilaf, Boursin Mac & Cheese, and the Wild Mushrooms. I personally had the Filet, all the sides and tried the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad. When it comes to the food, I have to say it was AMAZING! The ahi salad dressing was on the spicy side for those who don't like the heat, it may be too much, but I thought it was delicious. The filet, though, was by far the best steak I've had since eating at Delmonico's in NYC. To eat a steak that's to be compared to Delmonico's is saying a lot - go ahead and read about Delmonico's, you'll see.

After the main course we ordered deserts. One was the Tres Laches, another a chocolate brownie/cake (more like a fudge) and the Tiramisu, all of which I tried. They were all good but in my opinion, the best by far was the Tiramisu. As I write this now I crave another piece! - I should mention that the chocolate brownie/cake was actually gifted to us by our sever Jenny because of the amount of time she felt we were left waiting - we didn't really feel that way due to the circumstances but we weren't going pass up on a free dessert either.

Overall, the experience was great. Really the delay from being seated to having our orders taken was a bit longer than normal and the wait for our drinks after placing our order was longer than we'd have liked… yet after that we had zero service issues or time delays. Beyond those two minor things, everyone I was with was more than joyed we selected CHAR as the restaurant to attend. The service is good and the food is EXCELLENT! We will definitely be returning in the future and we hope to...

Well, my wife and I went to enjoy our anniversary dinner here recently as Cru was closed.

First, my wife had looked online at the menu and decided to go here after Cru was closed because they had a lavender infused pasta dish on the menu that enticed her. When we got there the pasta was not on the actual menu offered in the restaurant...strike one...this is why we came here in the first place!

Second, I had a "14oz" ribeye that was served over 4 small pieces of asparagus...thats it...$50! When I got the steak, it was definitely NOT "craft"...it was cooked correctly but I struggled to eat it as it had a huge piece of gristle running through it and I ended up cutting, at least 3-4 oz away! Leaving me roughly 10oz of steak and four pieces of asparagus for $50!? Not worth it in my book. My wife had the seafood pasta and it was good but this is supposed to be a "Craft Steak" place! At least make sure the steaks you're sending out are "Craft"!! This term denotes excellence and this steak was not that...

Third, we liked our server well enough but service was very slow. While the restaurant had only a few tables being served when we arrived, we waited several minutes to get water and then longer to get our actual drinks, of which, mine was actually forgotten and I had to wait longer to get. Then we waited roughly 30-40 minutes for our food order to be taken and no fill up of our drinks. Finally another server came over with a pitcher of water to refill our waters. On top of the wait (which I can overlook because we were enjoying each others company and we found out later that their computer system was down causing havoc in the kitchen) to get a steak I can buy better, cheaper at Cub Foods and pasta we didn't really want in the first place...it was a disappointing meal.

For a very highly rated resort restaurant in the area and the price you pay, it was disappointing all around. We'll definitely look for someplace else to eat...

Stopped in for a dinner hoping to sit outside in the beautiful weather and it’s unfortunate that there’s no outdoor seating for this menu. You can sit outside for bar food. I’m sure it’s cozy in the winter if you like bad 80’s decor, plastic grapes draping over a wine rack. It looked very 80’s Olive Garden.

We ordered two overpriced salads hoping for the best. The wedge Caesar was just a little Roman, dressing and three flavorless croutons. The other wedge was the same, no bacon and extremely minimal. We also ordered Brussel sprouts that were just ok. We ordered the “wild” mushrooms that were just your everyday button mushrooms that had zero flavor, almost tasted canned. We stopped at the salads and didn’t bother to order anything else on the insanely overpriced menu. Overall I think grand view lodge is overpriced all around for an...