The Boathouse - American restaurant in Minocqua - 305 W Park Ave, USA

First-time customer. The place has a beautiful view of the lake. We wentbat lunch time in a Saturday. We did not wait long for our food, but a little longer for drinks and refills. We were a bit shocked that tap drinks were $7. It's a bit pricey compared to other establishments in the Northwoods. We were going for my birthday and heard they had good steak. Unfortunately, steak was not on the menu unless you wanted it on a bun. So I went with it. I was not impressed with the texture of slimy fat and soggy bun in the same bite. My hubby had a chicken sandwich and loved it. He would order it again. Fries were fresh and tasty. The decor was nice and the bar was amazing architecture. Used the bathroom. It was pretty clean.. until you look at the disgusting garbage can. It's one of those you have to push the lid in to drop your garbage. I just washed my hands!

Thursday night we came here for dinner. We made sure to get here early because last summer when we came, it was booked several hours out for a table of seven for us. We had a short wait. I will say, as someone I love is a recovering alcoholic, you had ABSOLUTELY NO N/A beers on your menu whatsoever. Please consider getting N/A options for those that don’t drink soda and or alcohol. Also, my other sort of complaint is when you have a large party like us, consider giving two cheese platters rather than one to a group of seven. If we came in as a party of two, we would have gotten the same cheese spread and bread. We had to ration out a tiny 7 inch piece of bread with seven of us as well as a small serving of cheese spread with a large basket of crackers. I am so glad I ordered my steak rare. It came out medium rare but it was DELICIOUS! I could have cut my peppered tenderloin with a butter knife it was that tender. I did laugh though when it came out, knowing a 6 oz steak isn’t that big, but my baked potato was bigger than my steak. It looked like a mini football on my plate. Server was attentive. Was a little dark where we were sitting which was hard with a baby but no other complaints!

On a Wednesday afternoon, at 2pm, if you don’t want fast food, there’s not much to choose from in Minocqua. This was a last minute decision, seen the building and swung in. Upon first impression, they are not very handicapped accessible. I literally needed assistance to cross the parking lot and up the stairs. If you were in a wheelchair, there’s not a chance that you could get in. The game’s downstairs definitely got my child’s attention, the view caught mine. The food was mid. Pretty basic. The best thing I tasted was the tarter sauce. Asked for crab cakes for the appetizer and they never showed up.

So happy to see The Boat House is still in business and doing well. I have wonderful memories of this establishment when my riding buddy and I spent an evening here when traveling on our motorcycles after attending the 💯 anniversary in Milwaukee for Harley-Davidson. Today I found in my vest pocket a matchbook that brought back a flood of memories. I’ll definitely return if ever I get back to Wisconsin from my home here in Northern California.

Fantastic spot. Great food and service. Clean and inviting. I felt lucky to find this place last minute for dinner.

This was a very good place to eat. The food was very good, the service was excellent, & it had a nice ambiance to the place. The restaurant overlooks the lake which is nice but that is also why I can't give it 5 stars. If it would have had an outdoor patio it would have been perfect! The weather was 70° & sunny which made it the perfect day to done outside. The bar below which we were told is owned by the same restaurant owners supposedly had an outdoor patio but it was closed so we couldn't move down there & enjoy the day. With a name like The Boathouse & sitting on the lake I just expected a patio. Everything else was really good about our group's experience. I would definitely eat here again but only on a day with less than ideal weather.

We were told that our wait would be 45-60 minutes. We went to the bar for a cocktail - first round was excellent. We sat near the entrance and heard the newly trained hostess tell new arrivals that they would be seated in 20-30 minutes. We then began noticing that new arrivals, with no reservations were seated before us. I approached the hostess and she told me that the wait staff asked her to seat larger parties first. I questioned this and then she insisted that they had arrived before us. Not true - we were there and saw people coming in. We decided to get another drink. Mine was wrong - a Tom Collins made w oranges - it looked like and tasted like OJ. I returned it and the new bartender said she made it correctly but asked if I wanted a new one - I said, no, I would like my money back. She did return it but threw it at me and said she was just doing what she was told and was very rude. The hostess told me that they would not seat us until a table for 2 was available. She got an experienced server who confirmed that we would not be seated until a table for 2 was open. We expressed our frustration and decided to leave. Very disappointing experience.

We finally were to have lunch at The Boathouse. Every time we've attempted to eat there the line has been too long. So, this time we got there at 10:55am, which is 5 minutes before they open and we got seated at a table overlooking Lake Minocqua right away. The view was fantastic and so was the food! My wife tried the Grilled Shrimp 🌮 Tacos and loved them. She said they are now officially her favorite meal in Minocqua. I tried the Cajun Cod Fish Sandwich 🥪 with fries and coleslaw and loved it too! We both agreed the coleslaw was surprisingly good! The fries were just average 🍟, but good enough. Our daughter had a side of Cheese Curds 🧀 with ranch dressing and loved them! And not to be forgotten was the Margarita on the rocks, which my wife ordered and said was the best one she's ever had!!! I tried it and it was amazing! I think they put a touch of sugar in it because it had a sweet flavor unlike most Margaritas. So, if you want to avoid the lines, try arriving at The Boathouse 5 minutes before they open and you won't be disappointed... I've attached pictures of the restaurant and our food for your perusal.