Shoreline Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Liberty Grove

The Shoreline Restaurant is located in Gill's Rock, Door County, Wisconsin. For those not familiar, Door County, located in the northern top of Wisconsin's peninsula, is a favorite vacation destination for many, attracting people from all over. At the heart of it all, is a place near and dear to my heart, the Peninsula State Park. Surrounding the park are several gorgeous, historic waterfront villages filled with tons of tourists, shops, restaurants and attractions. Gill's Rock is located at the very tip of the peninsula. The Shoreline Restaurant is part of a hotel, located next to some shops and the launch for the Washington Island Ferry. I have vacationed in the area many times, but this was our first time trying the Shoreline Restaurant. The view is beautiful...the waters and bluffs of Green Bay, the ferry coming and going, people fishing off the pier, and best of all, the sunsets. We arrived with no reservation around 6:30 p.m. The place was busy, but we lucked into one of the last tables next to the windows. Truth be told though, the restaurant is small enough and has so many windows, that I would think any table would have had a decent view of outside. There is an extensive lunch menu, consisting of baskets, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, salads, soups and appetizers. The dinner menu consisted of steak, chicken, pasta and quite a few seafood and fresh fish options, including some very tantalizing sounding whitefish (a popular fresh, local fish) options. Average price for dinner was in the mid to high $20's, which includes fresh bread, salad, veggie and choice of rice or potato. We happened to be on a tighter budget that night, so I opted for a lunch selection, the fried cod basket (about $13-14), which included coleslaw and choice of fruit or beer battered fries. The cod was smaller nugget shapes, with a crumb like breading. It was fine, but as a Wisconsinite connoisseur of fish fries, my preference is beer battered. The coleslaw was nice, on the sweeter side, vs. too vinegary. I don't care for melon, a majority of the fresh fruit offered, so opted for the fries. They were good, skinny and beer battered, but being fried, along with the fish, I only could eat a few. I also tried the soup Du Jour ($5) , homemade cream of mushroom. Delicious! My favorite part of the whole meal, along with, of course, the gorgeous sunset happening as we ate. My husband tried the Beet N' Goat Cheese (w/chicken) salad and loved it! We finished off the evening with a cocktail outside on the patio overlooking the water and the end of that beautiful sunset. I would say all in all, our experience at the Shoreline Restaurant was good. Great menu, tasty food, and fabulous view. My only complaint was with our server. Upon ordering my cod basket, which included that choice of side (fresh fruit or fries), rather than ask which option I wanted, he moved right on to my husband's order. I assumed it was an oversight and asked, "I have a choice of side , don't I?" To which he replied, "Oh, yea, but I just assume fries". Excuse me?! What?! He figured he could assume? And then as he delivered my cup of soup, he basically slammed it down on the table, nearly off the edge, as he ran by to another table. He did inquire if we were enjoying our food once or twice during the meal, but only as he ran by, pausing in mid run. I get that he was busy, but still...take a moment for good customer service. As an average, I give the Shoreline Restaurant 4 stars. Food selection and taste, and the view, 5 stars. Prices, 4 stars. ...

I feel bad writing this review. We were so excited to try Shoreline with the new ownership and menu, having followed them avidly on social media. Unfortunately, we felt disappointed by the experience.

The menu boasts interesting options, and we started with an old fashioned (which was delicious), chevre schmear, and bloody Mary shrimp cocktail. The presentation of the chevre was lovely, three pieces on a white rectangular plate. However, the garlic crostini was soggy, the chevre could have used more, and while the prosciutto crunch and crushed praline sounded magnificent, they packed the punch of sweet and salty flavor and didn't deliver as expected on the crunch. The cherry balsamic was flavorful but could have been further reduced to enhance that accent and give it a more viscous texture. The bloody Mary cocktail was delicious! The cocktail sauce was a fun flavorful variation on a traditional cocktail sauce, and the hummus that came with it was also tasty. It seemed to us that perhaps the appetizer would have been better served as two separate options as they didn't seem to go together thematically particularly well, although they were both tasty!

Next up was the Caesar salad. Our server was friendly and thoughtful, adding anchovies when they requested. The salad however was lackluster. While the romaine was fresh, and the tomatoes beautiful, the red onions were overpowering and the dressing did not deliver on the classic Caesar flavor.

Our server was wonderfully kind but the service felt rushed. We were still working on the appetizer and our salads when our dinners came out. The tenderloin was a lovely cut of beef but could have used a rest before being served and it was a bit too peppered. While excited for the horseradish mashed potatoes, there was more rosemary flavor than horseradish and disappointingly the rosemary was about all they tasted like. I love mashed potatoes and these just didn't make the cut.

My wife had the chili garlic scallop, something she had been looking forward to having seen it on social media as one of the chef's specialties. The scallops were a bit overcooked and the chili was overpowering and not crunchy over the delicate scallops, any lime flavor was overpowered to the point of being nonexistent. The lemon caper cream sauce helped balance the spice of the chili but was too salty. Accompanied by the sweet potato hash, the sweet potatoes had a lovely texture but didn't quite deliver as something unique or exceptional.

We both enjoyed the seasonal vegetables as a side but again, they lacked any flavor or presentation of something significantly interesting.

Last but certainly not least was dessert. I had the salted caramel chocolate torte (sounds delicious!!) and my wife had the creme brulee. The presentation of the torte was nothing short of pathetic. A mostly flat brown disc on a rectangular plate, no drizzle of caramel, sprinkle of salt, or garnish of any sort. The flavors were nice but the texture was almost tough and chewy. The sugar crust on the creme brulee was burnt and excessively thick, requiring use of the edge of the spoon to break through. That having been said the sugar crust was perhaps making up for the heart of the dessert as the custard beneath was near flavorless and had more a texture of whipped egg whites rather than a silky custard.

Overall, the view was stunning as always, but the menu seemed to lack a cohesive theme and the food itself did not deliver on justifying the price...

Arrived with out reservations on a late Saturday afternoon. Told about 45 minute wait & could have a beverage at the bar or outdoors. Sat outdoors as weather was beautiful & it seemed really warm & stuffy in bar area, no AC? Good selection craft beers, couple seltzer’s, cocktails, big wine selection.Our hand held buzzer went off approximately 45-50 minutes later. The menu was not too busy but had enough of a selection. Definitely more of a seafood menu, I think there was only 1 steak selection. My husband had the Thai vegetable chicken pasta dish which he was very impressed with the flavor. I had 5 berry salmon with baked potato. Entrees are all served with delicious sautéed vegetables including julienne carrots, zucchini, etc. The only thing I was not happy with was the texture & lack flavor of the salmon filet. I expected a tender, flaky piece of salmon but this was more of a dense filet. Maybe a different type of salmon then used at restaurant nearer to me?? Anyway the staff was very friendly, helpful & efficient. We would return if in the area.

6 years later- Arrived here without reservations but around 4:15 pm so we were seated right away. We chose outdoors again because of the nice weather. Shoreline is under new ownership for past 2 years and we thought the food was much improved. I had the pan-fried perch with sweet potato hash served with rye bread, yummy coleslaw and a broccoli/purple cabbage/cauliflower & collards mix. I had chicken tortilla soup & rolls served with a tasty herb butter. Good beverage list too. Definitely...