Chives Door County — Restaurant in Town of Baileys Harbor

Chives Restaurant In Baileys Harbor Rating = One star Food - Terrible Service - Great Our waitress was friendly, prompt and attentive. The food was terrible, actually repulsive. Before I ordered the Caesar salad I asked if the dressing was made with mayonnaise. They said no and that it was handmade, that was my cue that it was the real deal and going to be a treat. So I ordered the Caesar Salad. The waitress was very nice. The lettuce arrived dry! Couldn’t taste ANY dressing. And with an abundant amount of hard croutons, It was very VERY dry! I started choking because the dry crumbs went down my throat the wrong way. Eyes tearing, trying to stop coughing from the dry bread crumbs. When I composed myself, I asked for more dressing. She bought more...in an itty bitty cup. What’s this? Boycotting dressing? I put the very little there was on my salad. I am sorry I did. The dressing tasted horrible. I think they stopped making the dressing half way through it. There was no olive oil. No lemon. No garlic. No worcestershire. Some dijon. And tons of anchovies mixed w egg. Repulsive! Now I know why the kitchen was trying to skimp on the dressing. When the waitress asked how everything was, I didn’t even know what to say. I was speechless on how clueless the chef was. Then my second order came out. I ordered a small plate of smoked rainbow trout. The presentation was very impressive. It was pleasantly, artistically topped micro greens and chive flowers and a half baby radish. The rainbow trout was bedded on what seemed to be a phyllo dough biscuit which sounds pretty tempting in theory. But I am not sure what this mush was intended to be. The “biscuit” was a 3/8 inch thick and pasty. Was it supposed to be toasted or slightly crunchy? It wasn’t. It was very much unappetizing as paste can be. Disgusting to choke down! I had trouble finding the trout until I realized that the smoky flavor was coming from the trout that was about an 1/8 inch thin slice on top of the paste. I think they cut from the very thin trout tail. The chef didn’t bother to double layer the thin tail portion. Skimped on that too. Really looked forward to some smoked rainbow trout and some protein. The total quantity of trout made less than a forkful. I realized that I ordered a small plate so I am not talking about the portion itself. I expected the portion to be small. But I expected to have a least some trout. A huge disappointment. The micro greens that dressed the top were excellent. Then I had some creme brûlée. The top was nice and pleasant to crack. The creme had overtures of evaporated milk taste. The brûlée was set correctly. But it was obvious they used a torch to brûlée the top instead of a broiler. The creme was refrigerator cold under a warm torched brûlée top. A bit of a surprise to find very cold creme underneath. And a big dessert disappointment. Ceaser Salad = Zero stars. Smoked rainbow trout = One star Creme Brulee = 2 stars Filtered chilled water = 5 stars Presentation of food = 5 stars. Waitress service and promptness = 5 stars. Since both of my 2 main dishes were a total disaster, I give a generous one star overall rating. I expected a gourmet meal. It was the opposite. I left feeling sickened. I was charged for a gourmet meal though. We came before the dinner crowd, at 4:00 pm. We were the only people in the restaurant that were being served at the time. The problems in the kitchen were NOT related to being busy. Save yourself the disappointment and dine where they know how to prepare real gourmet food under all the...

Took my wife here for our anniversary. I’ve been to the Suamico Chives, but never the one in Baileys Harbor. Service was fine / nothing noteworthy. However, we were consistently covered in flies at our table (who wants to be sitting down for a nice meal swatting at flies the whole time?). Maybe close the patio door so guests don’t need to deal with this issue? If the dining room, where paying guests are eating, is swarmed in flies, what is the kitchen like?? Ordered the charcuterie board. ~$25+ We order a lot of these at restaurants. I can honestly say it’s one of the worst we’ve ever had. Hardly anything on it. One of the items they included on the board was clearly just to fill up space (never heard of it before, but it wasn’t cheese, nuts or meat). Chives mgmt - please go visit The Pearl in Ephraim and order their charcuterie board to get an idea for what it should look / taste like. Ordered the chicken. My wife had a soup and salad. For some reason it took 45 mins for the food to come out (place was half full at best). Waiter said the delay was b/c “the chicken is made from scratch”…what does that even mean? As opposed to what? Chicken was good, but nowhere near worth $38 for the size. Warm bread and butter were great, but I have to pay $6 to get more bread? Wouldn’t come here again, other than for drinks. I can’t quite figure this place out. The prices are high, which suggests it’s focused on fine dining, but there are bugs/flys all over the place, as if you’re camping. I get the sense that they’re more focused on making money (I.e. lackluster charcuterie board that probably costs $1 to make and they charge $25 for) then they’re focused on quality and exceeding expectations. Focus more on the latter, and the former will follow suit. I should note that I was impressed with the Chives in Suamico, which I know is under different ownership, but I couldn’t have been less impressed with this Baileys...

Its not that it was bad, just BORING. This experience reminded me that I was still just in Doot County. Its a tough market, people want to eat some place nice and brag to their friends, but it better not challenge anyone's taste buds. You don't want unsatisfied customers and I doubt you get many with your nicely plated dishes. I was so excited to eat here. I had only heard good things but I was disappointed with the food. I started with the mozzarella and tomato jam galette with carmalized onions and arugula. First, it was the size of a slice of school pizza. You know, the huge rectangle. And that is what it was, pizza on puff pastry with no flavor. Pepper, thyme, oregano....anything would have helped it. I wanted it to transport my taste buds to the French country side. But it did not. I couldn't even taste the carmalized onions. I asked about the Shrimp with Harissa and chickpeas. I think I worded my question wrong. I asked if it was spicy and was then told not to worry that the harissa is made in a way that is not spicy at all. I should have asked if it was nice and spicy, so he could understood that to me spicy is what i wanted. So I went for the Monkfish with mustard greens. The fish was cooked nicely, but the entire time i was eating it i was trying to determine if I had the fried whitefish by mistake. But then i would eat the mustard greens and realize it must be the monkfish. It wasn't bad, just boring. My husband's food was fine. He had the butternut & root veggie soup and the duck frites which were fine. But really its Door County, so duck with cherries should be a no brainer and the fries were the star on that plate. The specialy cocktails were delicious. I adored the chive butter and bread. The cherry almond bounce cake was surprisingly tast. Finally, our server was great. I just wanted...