Turtle Jack’s Muskoka Grill

On sunday june 19^th, 2016, was at the cottage and deceided to drive to Port Carling for the afternoon, while there my Partner and I, thought wed grab a drink and snak. So we thought we would give Turtle Jacks a try. We were greeted, and set at a table on the patio. After 15mins of sitting there, nobody came over to check on us or take our orders. There was no lack of wait staff, that walked by our table, numerous times and three or four girls standing at the patio bar ignoring us… We got up in frustration and left. I guess we should have caused a scene, but did not want to disrupt the other patrons that were being looked after. Not sure why we were ignored, but hope it was not due to the fact we were a gay couple, this would not go over well in the gay community, I would love to hear from the manager as to why we were ignored

Went there with a large group to celebrate a co-​workers retirement. They were ready for us at the time of our reservation as guests started trickling in.
Our server was really good at managing the group, taking our orders, and keeping it all organized.
The food was good, above average, but maybe not outstanding. Presentation was nice.
I would go back.

I usually come here for the wings but I thought I’d change it up and try their burgers.
I opted for the ‘banhfire’ burger which was a turkey burger dressed up like a Vietnamese sandwich. I upgraded my fries to have beef, cheese, and sour cream on them!
The burger was tasty but a bit dry. It had cilantro in the burger and a pickled carrot slaw. The fries were delicious. I would stick to the wings next time

Excellent experience both times I have dined here with family.
Our server was Amanda both times and she remembered us too. She was very friendly and answered any questions we had about the menu. She checked up on us and made sure everything was good throughout the whole meal.
Ordered the Chicken Avocado Tacos with the Mac and Cheese. This is second time I’ve had the Mac and Cheese, it’s delicious and baked to perfection. The tacos were good but would have liked the option of soft or hard tacos.
Previously I’ve ordered the Bison Burger and it’s an amazing burger. It is fairly priced as the patty is made out of bison, chuck, bacon and mixed with mushroom. It had good flavours and it was juicy not dry; it was the perfect combination. I would come back to eat this again.
Overall, I had a wonderful experience each time both in service and the quality of food they have here. It’s become one of my go to places. They also have daily drink specials so check the menu for that!

Pretty good food, with amazing service! Came by on a rainy night with some friends, as we somehow decided on this restaurant. Had been here a couple times before, so knew what to expect.
Was welcomed right when we got in, and had to wait a couple minutes for a table, but the manager came to apologize right away! Sat down and our server greeted us and let us know about the menu. I wasn’t sure if I want the Coors Banquet which was on special, so she brought over a sample for me to try! Always nice!
I ordered the Bison Meatloaf, and my friends had the Bison Burger and Wings. All were quite good, but my Bison Meatloaf was delicious, as the meatloaf was nice and soft, and was wrapped in bacon! Everything is better with bacon. Wings were amazing, and the NY Butter Sauce was great. We wanted to try it, so the server gave us some on the side to try!
Overall a great night, but was made better with exceptional service from our amazing server! Definitely a nice location to sit and have dinner if you’re looking for some American food.

I’ve dined here three times. The first two times were decent dining experiences. This review though is reflective of my last and final visit. Unfortunately my last visit was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in quite some time. There are a few things that makes a dinner an enjoyable experience. The atmosphere, the food, the service, the price and of course the location. This restaurant failed in a few of these areas.
The atmosphere at Turtle Jacks is nice. It suits my tastes. The restaurant has low lightning giving the feeling of comfort, it’s decorated well and quite clean. No issues there. This location also has a nice patio that is covered. A perfect setting if the weather is just right.
The food was fair. In some ways it was decent, in others it was terrible. My wife and I had burgers, which were decent. My in laws had ordered the fish and chips. The fish was way overcooked, chewy and generally untasty they told me. The coleslaw that came with it was also chewy and lacked general taste.
The service was ok. Again not great. We were seated right away but had to wait longer than normal for our meals once we ordered. And after waiting for a lengthy time, my dinner was not brought to me. They had a «glitch» in the system and it wasn’t made. So they brought my in laws food and they ate their food only after I insisted they start without me. After 10 minutes my burger finally arrived. Although they gave me fries on the side to munch on while I waited for my burger, the fries that came with my meal were cold. Our waitress was nice enough but charged us for my meal. It was only removed from the bill by the manager when we asked for it for free. It should’ve been taken care of off the bill to begin with. The staff apologized a few times, sincerely. We weren’t terribly impressed though.
The prices are ok, and are par with other franchises similar to this style of dining. Location is good too. Just head a few mins west on 16^th Ave, west of the 404.
Overall. Don’t go here. Try somewhere else.

If I was in a position of power, I’d arrest this place for the service. Absolutely reprehensible. We’re seated, all’s fine until low and behold, we’d be like this for the next 15 minutes. In the front of the restaurant! Finally a server arrives, and asks for drinks. Not mind numbingly painful, but not respectable either. 5 minutes 33 seconds I timed. Next comes waiting for our orders. It took 25 minutes to bring the plates out, then another 10 for food! We had explicitly asked for salad with dressing on the side, and this «strange request» wasn’t noted. We ask if we can have another, and it would take 20 minutes! FOR A @#$%&%$ SALAD! Somebody get Ramsay in here! The Blackened chicken got the order right, but was quite a small portion. Chicken wings had no seasoning or flavor, just small badly fried chicken. Ribs looked like they were tanning for hours, small and remarkably dry. Kids pasta was fine, but lacked a substantial portion of vegetables for the side. I had the Bison Burger and while a decent size, tasted nothing like advertised. Tomato soup had soggy croutons and no cheese. But the worst travesty was the side. IF ONE DIDNT KNOW, LOBSTER MASHED POTATOES HAVE LOBSTER IN THEM, imagine that Einstein! Not a sliver of lobster in both sides, just «Mashed Potatoes». Nothing on em, just potatoes. A refill for water took another 15 minutes, but by then we were conditioned to the torture. Please, I beg of you don’t go here. I really wanted this place to be great, but hey, optimism is unrealistic at Turtle Jacks.
1.5÷5
Pros:
Atmosphere
Supporting the weak
Con’s:
Service
Food
Everything else that you need for a good restaurant

Is there a secret code for guys to take you on a first date here? I’ve been taken here for 3 different first dates– like they’ll come pick me up and just go to turtle jack’s with no warning. So it’s literally déjà vu over and over again.
Meh, I didn’t mind.
Turtle jacks has a dark and muskoka atmosphere; it’s a nice, cozy environment and I can definitely see why all the ladies men choose to take their lady friends here. The service at turtle jack’s is pretty consistent– never AMAZING but never rude. I remember once my date for the night and I stayed behind way after last call, and the waiters all put up the chairs (a sign meaning «.hey. you can go whenever now.») but they never rushed us out.
The food is ok. nothing to brag about but nothing gross. I’ve had their chicken fingers here, which was meh (I prefer mcdonald’s nuggets to be honest). I’ve also had their greek salad with chicken on top. Also meh, nothing memorable.
In the end, all I can say is this restaurant is ‘A-​ok’

Our dining experience was middle of the road. We ordered fish and chips and a pot roast sandwich. Both were rather well made and tasted decent. For the price, the sandwich was small in portion, yet it was sufficient to fill my BF up. The batter of the fried fish was good. It was crunchy and not too oily. The Haddock was bland though. Services on a Thursday evening was adequate.
Turtle Jack’s attempts to deliver a notch up over Montana. Food, decoration, atmosphere, services.

Always wanted to try this restaurant. Interior design is smart and elegant. We were greeted as soon as we step foot inside and were taken to our table. Our waitress was very attentive, enthusiastic and professional. We had the fresh quac and salsa with nachos to start and a classic burger, haddock and cold and tomato soup and ceased salad as mains. Portions are generous. Probably would order two dishes next time for us three. I’d say they are somewhere between Montana’s and Jack Astor. Would be back, I’ll try some desserts this time.

From salad to hot app to entre nothing was done right.
Salad is soft and sad, salty, really don’t understand how they managed to make salad salty.
We had cheese dip and wings as hot app. Cheese dip has no cheese… more like sour cream with salt. Lots of it, u can really taste the salt.
Wings are tiny, fairly crispy and ain’t too bad compare to other disasters.
We got steak. Overly done, dry, extremely salt, we ordered medium rear, it came chewy.
Wine is fair, alcohol pour is short, beer is watery.
Save your money go somewhere else. Too bad ain’t any option for negative star, giving this place a star is such a joke.

A regular here at Turtle Jack’s whether it’s a Friday or Saturday night. I love the ambience of this restaurant, especially with the heated fireplace once you walk into the restaurant. You are always greeted within moments of stepping foot inside but you can usually find me in the bar area. I only came here a couple of times for dinner but I have never been disappointed with the food. The Chicken Fingers and the Blackened Chicken on Naan are my go-​to dishes and I highly recommend them. I’ve also tried their Beef Barley Soup, which I’m obsessed over, when I want something to warm me up. As for dessert and to satisfy my sweet tooth, I HIGHLY recommend their Skor Brownie Obsession or their Fire ‘N Ice as it is to die for! I have yet to try any of their other desserts because I can’t get enough of their Skor Brownie Obsession. As for their drinks, the daily drinks specials are lacking a little. The specials that they offer on Fridays and Saturdays are not that great, in my opinion. If they had pitchers of beer or wine specials, I’d come on a daily basis. But I mainly come after dinner just to hang out and have a drink with some friends and watch the basketball games. The customer service here is phenomenal and being a regular, we always have the same waitress serving us, Julisa. She loves what she does, she’s enthusastic and friendly and very approachable. She’s also always on top of topping you off with another drink or anything else you may need to make your experience a good one. They also offer a TLC loyalty card, which entitles you to collect points so you can recieve a dollar amount credited to your loyalty card. All I have to say is, check out Turtle Jack’s cause everyone needs some TLC!

I’m pretty much a regular at the Turtle Jacks Vogell location. That’s the go to spot for the Crew. Central location to catch NBA games. The service is excellent, couldn’t be happier with the waitresses at Turtle Jacks. Food is pretty good and decent in portion sizes. My only and biggest complaint is the drink specials menu. They are awful! Especially for Fridays and Saturdays. Who wants Long Island iced teas to watch sports games? Like common… you can do better. I almost feel bad for your servers who are probably having hard time selling those kind of specials. Business would increase drastically if u had better drink specials. Believe me! @TurtleJacks @TurtleJacksVrd #TurtleJacks #AwfulSpecials #TerribleDailyDrinks Take advise from valued customers, Jimstar out!

Its lobster season and it seems like everyone has lobster specials on the menu.
Lobster grilled cheese sandwich $ 16.99 — when it arrived I said to myself «where’s the rest of it?» The sandwich was tiny, the coleslaw was even smaller and the lobster meat was mashed into pieces and very limited in portion. The week before I had a lobster grilled cheese sandwich at Jake’s on Main and everything there was huge. It was a triple-​decker sandwich with big chucks of lobster and a huge serving of fries or salad for $ 14.99. At Turtle Jack’s I was really disappointed with the lobster grilled cheese sandwich because Jake’s set the bar way too high but it tasted okay at least.
Lobster salad $ 16.99 — you can actually see lobster in this dish but nothing really to point out.
Service was friendly and relatively quick.

Turtle Jacks in Muskoka is great, has a beautiful patio and on a warm day is always packed. The franchised copies, such as this one, are comparable to all the Moxies /​Earls type places. It has a bar area with TVs and the menu is a mix of pretty much every cuisine.
They have a couple good dishes here. The wings are done very well. Fish tacos, not bad. A lot of the other food is very heavy and sometimes greasy.

Came here for a quick dinner on a Sunday night and was not impressed.
The service was SO slow. We waited at the door for a minute or two before a hostess showed up to bring us to a table. Then it look 10 mins for the waitress to come take our order, and another 25 mins till the food came. It wasn’t even that busy, there were only a couple of tables.
The food was alright. Nothing to write home about. We ordered the fish tacos, the Bison meatloaf and chicken wings. The fish taco had way too much lettuce compared to the other ingredients. Bison meat loaf was ok. Wings were ok.
When we were ready to leave, of course it took like 10 mins for our waitress to come by for us to be able to ask for the bill.
Probably won’t come back again.

I have love hate relationship with this place.
Boyfriend and I went here twice and swore we’d never go back. The service was horrible — slow, didn’t refill my water (very important to me) or any other drinks, took forever just to get their attention. The food… too dry, too salty, cold. My pasta was swimming in oil not once but twice. It was just horrible.
After a few months, we had no idea what to eat… maybe turtle club (as I so dearly call it)? So we went, and it wasn’t gross or slow.
Especially since I’ve changed my order.
I now order the four cheese chicken penne without the chicken. Instead I substitute it with the blackened basa fillet. It is so, so good. So good.
Since I’ve changed my order, they haven’t charged me extra for the substitution (which I’m glad. I’d raise a ruckus if they start charging me), and I enjoy my experience there so much more.
Go try it (if you’re not in a rush)!

A nice enough place… the moejito was really watered down. I had the pad Thai, not their signature dish, but I was not too hungry. It was OK, It just didn’t have much heat or peanutty taste as I expected. The sauce was also way too sweet for me. The other fellows at our table had the ribs, a burger, a silrloin steak and fish and chips and everyone was happy saying it was good. The burger was visually stunning as it was a tower of food. If it was up to me I wouldn’t come here often, but I did find it OK. 3 generous stars.

Turtle Jack’s is packed on Friday night! It was difficult even finding a parking spot in the little plaza it’s located in.
Here’s a summary of what went down:
1. Very dark inside — not sure whether they’re trying to give off a romantic vibe or trying to make it difficult for you to see what you’re eating.
2. My Blackened Basa was a little bit dry but went well with the potato purée and guacamole on top
3. Friend #1 thought that his Bison Meatloaf was way too salty.
4. Friend #2 thought that his burger was very dry
5. Friend #3 thought that her buffalo fingers were ‘meh’
6. Servers are very friendly and didn’t mind splitting bills for us.
Prices are similar to Jack Astor’s, Moxies, Montanas and Earls, but food was truly ‘meh’.

Dropped by Turtle Jacks on Wednesday during lunch time… had no idea what I want to eat or what I should be eating…
Then I saw the Wednesday Beer and Burger Specials… so for $ 13.99 you can pick any burger on the menu (of course I won’t be eating the basic one…) with a pint of domestic!
I usually try not to drink before sunset, especially the day after an Elite party! But I am weak, I just could not resist a special… so be it! Let’s drink beer!
Jalapeño Jack with Beer ($ 13.99)
— The patty was a little charred but not bad, at least the inside was not dry
— love the side choice of fries, salad or soup, which I choose the chicken gumbo to go with my spicy burger!
Services was good and professional.
Free Wifi and other specials every day! I might need to come back for the Happy Hour Specials: 50% off appetizers!!! and of course other drinks special too everyday!