Boathouse On The Bay — Restaurant in Sister Bay

I have never left a negative review in my entire life… I am extremely forgiving and hate to associate anything negative with someone’s business but unfortunately my experience here really called for an honest review.

I was really excited at first to visit this place but quickly became shocked by how rude the manager bartending was especially to a young woman. As someone who personally worked over a decade in the service and entertainment industry, I could not believe the unprofessional & aggressive approach this man felt entitled to towards a paying customer. The owners of this restaurant truly need to find a new manager with some self control or put him in the back so no one has to deal with him. I truly hope he treats the employees working nicer but I’m doubtful.

I was extremely exhausted from just traveling 12 hours and was waiting on a group of girlfriends to show up. Originally I was really excited about this place, I had my buzzer and ordered my first beer at the bar. Crazy to think this guy was the manager but he brought me a super full beer (which was nice) but after taking a few sips, I set it down and a little splashed out of the side of the glass. I was trying to be kind and clean up the little spill so the staff wouldn’t have extra to wipe up. I said very nicely “ excuse me, can I get a napkin”? It was not that busy at the bar at that time but the manager working behind the bar turned to me, got angry and aggressively responded “Pa!? Pa!? Pa!!? I was confused by his anger and could tell he was talking down to me but I still kindly responded “please”. He said “There you go!… He rudely tossed a napkin in front of me, said “People here actually have manners”. and walked away. I was especially stunned because this was my first encounter/impression of anyone in Sister Bay. A place I had previously heard was great and people were wonderful. I felt extremely unwelcome and uncomfortable. It was actually the biggest lack of manners I had ever seen from any bartender/manager in my entire life. I’ve traveled over 25 countries and lived all over the US and Europe. His approach was extremely classless, childish and unprofessional behavior of a grown man power tripping.

Luckily the server our group of girls had at our table was amazing, so kind, professional, timely and fun. I am leaving her out of this review because she is the complete opposite and I am so so thankful for the outstanding service she gave our table. She truly saved my experience here.

Unfortunately the prime rib I ordered was the most disgusting entree I’ve ever had, which is wild because prime rib is my favorite. I could not stomach/force myself to finish close to half of it. The sauce, the meat, the mashed potatoes all tasted worse than dirt. I was so sad! I didn’t send it back but I had to let it go to waste. I tried to add pepper and hot sauce to force myself to eat it but decided to quit because it actually felt like it was torture to eat it. I got chills later that night and felt like I had food poisoning.

I did try the Lobster Mac and that was good. Wish I ordered...

Party of eight seated immediately, which was great, but then no one came to our table for 20 minutes. We were ready to order and the server began taking our orders, but then immediately cut us off to tell us they're all out of whitefish and cheese curds. The whitefish is the whole reason we went to the restaurant, as it's Sister Bay in Door County and the restaurant is Boathouse On The Bay. Additionally, the server never informed us of the special, Halibut, that wasn't on the menu and wasn't visible on any signs walking in or out of the restaurant, but is something many of us would have selected after finding out the whitefish was all gone. Instead, we found out when she told two other tables after providing us with the bills. We were disappointed. We were also disappointed that a Wisconsin restaurant was all out of cheese curds.

Beyond this, two burgers were correctly cooked medium, one was overdone to medium well, the salmon was over cooked and dry, and the ahi tuna was cooked perfectly to medium rare. My wife asked to substitute vegetables (green beans and a few baby carrots) for fries, but the server didn't mention it's a $4 up charge. The fires and burgers were better than anticipated, but not what we wanted.

The kids' meals were so expensive we chose to have them split adult meals with one another instead, since the adult meals were only a couple bucks more than kids meals.

Overall, the service was bad and the experience was disappointing. Halibut would have been better than burgers, whitefish even more so. I wouldn't recommend eating here if you have...

Sunday, September 4th this past weekend, my wife, daughter, 5 month old grand son, and myself went to lunch at the Boathouse in Sister Bay, WI. We arrived at about 11:15 AM, fifteen minutes after opening. We were offered either indoor or outdoor seating, we chose indoor and were promptly greeted by our server, Paige. Paige was extremely friendly, professional, and attentive to us. Paige went above and beyond by offering to heat the water for our grand baby’s bottle, which was very nice of her to offer to help. We ordered an appetizer of lobster Mac, which was spectacular! My wife had the lobster roll which she said was amazing. My daughter had a cheeseburger which she said was very good. I had the red snapper sandwich special, which was so fresh! Generous servings of really good French fries to go along with each of our sandwiches! Two thumbs up from all of us to the quality of the food! We all had local brews which were excellent! We love getting to try new and local brews, which the Boathouse’s selection was really good! Along with the ice cold chilled glasses! Such a classy move having chilled beer glasses, my wife was thrilled! We finished off our lunch with a slice of fresh, in-house prepared Key Lime pie, (Paige’s recommendation), which was very good! Special shout out to Paige and her recommendations and amazing service to our family! We can’t wait to get back to Sister Bay, Door County, WI. and visit the Boathouse restaurant! Amazing, super clean, excellent views, excellent food, and wonderful service! 6...