218 Venture Bar and Eatery LLC — Restaurant in Park Rapids

To start, I hate that I even have to write this unpleasant review (as I am not a Karen by any means!), but after receiving the wrong food (to go) and having to drive back to get the correct food, hardly receiving an apology from the management, I feel I must say something. As a business owner myself, what we experienced was simply poor service. Last summer after 218 opened, we came to love the walleye fingers and homemade tartar sauce and often ordered to go so we can enjoy our dinner in front of the lake. This evening after a 3.5 hour drive from the cities, we looked forward to ordering some walleye fingers and called to place our order, the first time this season. We ordered 2 orders of walleye fingers with extra tartar, 1 side of fries, 1 side of onion rings. To our disappointment, when I got home with the food, we were given fish sandwiches instead of the walleye fingers. I called to get it remedied right away and the first thing they said was we could just keep them and I responded with if we wanted fish sandwiches, we would've ordered them. They said nothing after that other than sorry and that they would put down the fingers right away. I drove the 15 minutes back to the restaurant with the wrong food in hand and they again hardly said sorry and said I'd have to wait for the new order. Now, as a business owner, when I make an error, I remedy it and if my client has to deal with inconvenience I at least give them a discount or something. I certainly do more than just say sorry. Again, they did nothing but basically apologize under their breath as I walked out of there and again when I called to share my disappointment. I figured they would at least offer something for the inconvenience especially after such a poor experience. We would love to see you step up your game if you want repeat customers and referrals. Please do better 218...

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were immediately impressed by the exterior. Most of the seats were actually boat seats. Additionally, the main seating area outside was set up to look like a giant pontoon. The waiting area also offered a row of boat seats. But how was the food?

When we entered the building, I lost the theme of the place. Yes, there were still boating items, but they also had tennis rackets, car steering wheels and other items mounted to the wall. I lost that feeling of being on a boat.

The bar area was nice, and there was a game room to one side with some tables in it. We were seated in a dining area in the front of the restaurant.

Immediately, our waitress dropped off some containers of popcorn, a free appetizer of sorts. That was something I hadn’t seen before, but a fun touch nonetheless.

The menu isn’t large, which is fine by me. It wasn’t so overwhelming as some places. I wasn’t very hungry, so I opted for steak bites, medium rare, as did several others in our group. My wife ordered a cheeseburger.

Our food came out fairly quickly, and the steak bites looked delicious. But they weren’t even close to medium rare. They were well done. My son pointed out that it’s hard to do them medium rare, which may be true, but I’ve been to restaurants that have delivered them that way. I will admit, though, that the dipping sauce, some sort of chipotle sauce, was absolutely amazing. It wasn’t spicy, but had a wonderful flavor.

And most everyone said the same thing about the food. They liked it, but it didn’t really stand out.

Would I go back? I’m sure I would. I like to give a restaurant at least two tries, so I’m sure we’ll stop again when we’re in the...

We dined here on Tuesday, July 18, 4 days after their grand opening. The new owners have done a great job of remodeling. Very pleasant decor. We arrived at 5:30 and the restaurant was very busy. We chose outside seating (big mistake). Our server was pleasant and attentive as she could be given the number of customers she had to serve. We put in our orders right away, and enjoyed drinks while we waited, waited, waited for our food. I was ready to leave but just as I was getting up, the food arrived, one hour and 10 minutes after we ordered. The burgers were great, but we'd have been much happier had they arrived earlier. The unbelievable number of flies on the patio made it almost impossible to eat and enjoy the food. I have NEVER seen so many on an outdoor restaurant patio. The owners have to address this. There was no drink menu, the server had to show us what they had on her handheld device. No prices were given. I need to see drink prices before I order. I would say this place has growing pains and will likely get better. However, you only get one chance at a good first impression. Not sure if...