The Boathouse Bar and Grill-Put-In-Bay, OH — Restaurant in Put-in-Bay Township

The Boathouse – Not Worth the Money or the Wait

We stopped by The Boathouse hoping for a solid meal and a relaxing experience, but it honestly didn’t live up to the hype. The place wasn’t busy at all, so I expected quicker service and a little more attention—but both the food and service fell short.

Let’s start with the food. I ordered what was supposed to be a fresh jalapeño burger, but what I got was a small, likely frozen patty—not fresh Angus beef—and just three mushy, pickled jalapeños under the cheese. It was definitely not the fresh jalapeño burger I expected. It took over 45 minutes for our food to come out, and it only took about 6 minutes to finish eating. For nearly $100 (for just four meals and drinks), the quality was nowhere near worth it.

The service left much to be desired. I tried getting our waitress’s attention at least five times—she clearly heard me but ignored me. I had to ask a different staff member just to bring hand wipes, and even then, it took another five minutes and more waving before they arrived.

My son got the spicy chicken sandwich and said it started out okay but turned bland halfway through. Another person in our group got a simple cheeseburger—just average—and someone else had a patty melt on sourdough with sweet potato fries, which also didn’t impress. We ordered two sodas, and three of us asked for ice water. What we got was tap water in a glass jar with plastic cups—no ice—while another table was served ice water in a proper pitcher with iced glasses. That inconsistency just added to the disappointment.

If I’m paying premium prices, I expect at least ice water.

To be honest, I would’ve had a better, more satisfying meal grabbing a $5 burger from Arby’s or Wendy’s off the island. I’ve had a better burger at Goat Soup & Whiskey than I did here.

They also tack on a 3% credit card fee, which I’m fine with—but what bothered me more was the receipt printing out suggested tip amounts. I personally feel tipping should be based on service, not pressure. We still left a $5 tip, which felt fair given the experience. If the service had been great, I’d have tipped more—but that wasn’t the case here.

For restaurant owners: printing tip suggestions on receipts can come off as pushy. Tips should reflect the experience, not a guilt trip. There’s no hard rule about tipping percentages—it’s a choice, not an obligation.

Lastly, the surroundings of the restaurant could use some cleanup. I noticed a broken screen door and a mediocre patio seating area. The weather was nice, but that’s about the only thing I can say positively.

Bottom line: The Boathouse was overpriced, underwhelming, and not worth the wait. I don’t plan on returning, and I wouldn’t recommend...

Not even worth a 1 star with the way me and my friends were treated by Kevin, the manager. There were 10 of us, we sat at a large picnic table outside. It was pretty tight so one of our friends asked the couple sitting at a large picnic table right next to us if two of us could sit at the far end of their table. They were happy to share. The couple ended up leaving before ordering but not because of us. We ordered and received our drinks and while the waiter was taking our food order Kevin comes charging out to our table yelling at us for running off his customers and that he was going to get a bad review on Facebook from them. 🤔 it didn't end there. He proceeded to kick us out, grabbing and having his staff grab our drinks right out of our hands. I've never experienced this type of situation in my entire life. We had just gotten to the Bay and hadn't even had a drink yet. We weren't being loud or obnoxious or anything to cause his reaction. We will never visit this establishment again and will make sure we pass the word of how they treat people. ...

Came here for dinner and drinks twice over the course of our weekend.

Bar is large, live music, comfortable and spacious area for socializing. Prices aren't bad on drinks at all and the overall atmosphere is generally upbeat and exciting especially as the night grows later.

Staff is pleasant as is those drawn to the boathouse. Always fun crowds. Very clean.

Sadly, the food just isn't good. We had a group of seven and this was the consensus of the entire group. Most got the burger, which was the most disliked. Dry burgers, hard buns. Steak and tenders were just OK. The fries were fantastic and we all agreed on that much, but, good fries couldn't salvage an entire party dissatisfied with food quality especially as it was our first choice of dinner at the bay. In addition the time to serve was wildly slow and it wasn't busy at all. This would have been less of an issue if the wait was for something of quality but it just wasn't.

We'd return to drink and hang out after hours or to watch live music but we would likely choose elsewhere for our food options...