Vannelli’s By The Lake

Their Sunday brunch leaves much to be desired. Tried it again and it wasn’t very good. It seems like a brunch thrown together with whatever they had laying around. Hate to say it, but not very good.
Pastries were harder than a rock.
Omelettes were likely from the Schwans Man
Pasta was super cold
Tater Tots– burnt
Bacon– swimming in a pool of grease.
Sausage — burnt
French toast, wilted and soggy.
Lemon bars were good and that’s about it.
Next time I will have to order off the menu which has some decent items.
Brunch not so much!

Usually Vanellis is my go to Friday night restaurant. I always get chicken tenders to go so I can feed them to my cat. Last time I went there it was very nice. The female waitress had a very nice booty. I got my appetizers and I got some chicken tenders for my cat. It was all good until I noticed some ginger kid standing in the corner of the restaurant staring at me. It made me very uncomfortable. He stood there for about 20 minutes just watching me. It also seemed like he kept whispering aloha snackbar under his breath. I then asked my waitress who he was and she said it was a dish boy. She also said that he helped make my tenders and he was just seeing if I enjoyed them. I explained to her they were for my cat.
I went home and fed my cat his tenders and he atE them very fast so he must’ve liked them. The next day my cat was acting weird so I brought him to the vet after some expensive work he threw up and after examining the cat puke the vet said that it was not chicken tenders. It was cat meat
DO NOT GET THE FUCKING TENDERS UNLESS YOU WANT TO EAT CAT MEAT I FEEL LIED TO AND CHEATED
But overall 4 out of 5 because of nice booty waitress.

Came out here to see the local band «Good for Gary» on the 3^rd of July. The place was packed but getting drinks was no problem at all. The bar staff kept cranking out the drinks. No problem getting food either, came out quick even though the holiday crowd was packing the place. Bathrooms managed to stay clean during the event, and I saw staff in there a couple times restocking.
The drinks were good, the food was good, the staff was very on top of handling a holiday type event with massive crowds. Very good job guys!

Normally I check Unilocal before going anywhere to dine and drink. However, I neglected to do so this time and almost as if universe were reminding me not to get complacent, I paid dearly for my mistake.
The outdoor patio was bustling with chatter, smiling people, and live music. However, to get a seat, WTF mate. I waited 5 minutes then asked a waitress who went to get the hostess. The same waitress returns as says «there is no outdoor seating you will need to go inside.» I then asked the obvious question, «how long of a wait?» She then looked around and said, «I can get that table cleared in 5 minutes.»
You mean to tell me you were going to send me inside when all I had to do was happily wait 5 minutes for outdoor seating in a gorgeous day?! I can see why she is t the hostess, though I do wonder where the actual hostess was, so did the line of folks behind me.
We started with drinks promptly, service was timely, even though they were very busy. The margaritas we got tasted like just the mix, unless your lip caught the salt, but if there was tequila in there, it couldn’t have been more than a few drops from the bottle. I sent mine back, but my wife was still willing to give the food a try to bother the staff about it. I got a fat tire instead. Ahhhh, perfect.
We then got bruschetta and cheese curds. When they came out my wife and I quickly noticed the volume of balsamic mix on the bruschetta, drowning in it. I love bruschetta so I wasn’t bothered cause I love balsamic too! However, after one bite, I can say I love them both a little less now. The menu clearly stated fresh mozzarella cheese and what we got appeared to be thinly sliced store bought looking cheese. It may have been mozzarella but I would have needed a food scientist to confirm only after sending away a sample for weeks of analysis. It was terrible. Cheese curds we said to be a favorite but they were also a dud. The deep fried batter was pretty flavorless. The wife tried both and wouldn’t touch the bruschetta again.
We paid for the cheese curds but the bruschetta was just terrible and the waitress asked after 1 hour if we were done with the appetizers, I then filled her in on our disappointment. unphased, likely used to the feedback, she came back with the tab for cheese curds, 1 margarita, 1 beer, less than $ 20. At least I didn’t spend $ 50 at this place!
We will never be back. Worth the drive to the Blaine area. And I learned a valuable lesson, listen to Unilocal’s warnings!

The food is always great here… they have the best hot club sandwich on ciabatta we’ve ever had BUT… the last two times we’ve eaten there it took far too long for the salad to show up and we were barely into the salads when the entrée appeared. Having been a restaurant manager myself, I asked the server if she or the kitchen prepared the salad. She said the servers did and that she was sorry it took so long. I’m not sure but it seems that there’s no manager monitoring the timing/​delivery of the food. They do also have a great happy hour. rating would’ve been higher if they got the service timing right.

While we had a wonderful server, our experience was rather horrible, on the other hand. We came for Mother’s Day. They said we couldn’t order off the menu (buffet only) until 5pm. They took the buffet down rather close to 3. Moments later a table was seated and ordered off the menu. The food was sub par, the explanation was weak. We are headed to pick up fast food.

Every time I go to Vanelli’s I think I’m going to order something other than the lasagna. But I can’t seem to get past the lasagna. This is the second time I’ve had the Lasagna. I always come back and order it. It is a lovely pasta goodness. My dinning companion ordered the broiled walleye. The portions are large. Go there and order the lasagna or the walleye. Maybe I’ll order something other than the lasagna next time…

Messed up our order. And I don’t know how you can mess up chicken Alfredo — but they did.

It pains me not to give Vanelli’s a 5-​star review. I love this place. It is my go-​to restaurant and we frequent there on a weekly basis. We almost always have spectacular service. They are always friendly and generally on top of drink refills and the like.
There are several menu items that are sure-​fire winners. The buffalo wings, baked pastas, prime rib sandwiches and burgers are almost always perfect. And they may have the best bleu cheese dressing around. There are a few items I would be wary of, though. The chicken marsala was one of the worst I have ever had (the waitress nicely told me after I complained that she would never order that there).
The only complaint I really have is the inconsistency. I think we have fantastic luck with the food because we are there so frequently. A newcomer, though, can easily stray into areas of the menu where, unfortunately, it can be hit or miss.

Place looks nice enough and the employees were decent, but the Jerk owner walks around barking orders at customers. Maybe the regulars find some humor in this, but as a customer I do not. I also watched him assault a service dog that came in, vest and all. Kicking the dog was his way of saying he doesn’t care about the service id or the law. I could not leave there fast enough, I would never want to put any money in that mans pocket.

Bartender was the RUDEST and nastiest woman I have ever encountered. Literally threw our drinks at us while being sweet to the man beside us. When asked for menus, without saying anything, threw one menu in front of us. Owner said he would come and find me to seat us, never did, offered to buy us drinks, never did. When we finally got our food, my dry chicken didn’t come with sauce which I asked for 3 times and received when I finished my meal.

This place is Allot Better than they get rated here with a 2 star review and only 6 reviews it almost looks like a bit of Sabotage going on from a couple mad ex employees or neighboring places that feel a threat but the three items we had were all real good I’m glad I looked past the sad 2 star review and made my own choice to have lunch here Great Meatballs and Sauce and the Mac n Cheese is real good too and a nice value too! Give it a try and you too will be writing a good review too

Enough with the fried food. They seem to never redo the menu. I miss the all u can eat crab leg night.

After reading reviews I was leery of going to our planned family supper to draw Christmas names. There were a whopping 5 of us. Luckily we got the end of 2 4 1’s happy hour (twice). The Appetizers were all great. We had stuffed mushrooms, deep fried meat ravioli and onion rings for the one in the group who’s allergic to cheese. Note: all of their sauces (pizza, marinara.) have cheese in them.
We were not in a rush. The bar was busy and more diners came and left.
Our table ordered a 10oz. ribeye, broiled walleye, chicken parmesan, raspberry spinach salad and I had the Italian pasta toss with italian sausage which lacked garlic and red pepper flake flavor in the sauce and was mostly pasta. The chicken was on an impossible pile of spaghetti. The salad was a repeat that had been enjoyed previously by my SIL.
The salad plates/​bowls were chilled. Not all entrees came out together and the sides of asparagus came out later also and were so huge, finger sized that they were obviously out of season and the two that got them only ate the tips :(
We chatted and spent 2 hours. I’d go again and try something else as, I was torn to begin with. Three of us needed to go boxes.
Our waitress was plenty friendly and went the extra mile to check out the sauces with cheese before they cooked the meatball appetizer that ended up being switched.
Two of us were bummed we went on a Tuesday because Wednesday is all you can eat crab for 23.95. I’m not sure if it’s a 2 or 3 star. I’m going with 3 because I would return.

This place needs to catch up with the times. Very slow service, sub par food, and the inside of this building hasn’t changed for 20 years (and 5 restaurants ago) Its such a great location and could create a fun night, but they put no effort into it.

Met some people who wanted to go to this place. The pro’s: great location. This place is right off of the park on the lake in Forest Lake. The inside is clean and somewhat of sports bar meets restaurant meets banquet hall. The service was friendly and helpful. The reason for the low marks was an impressively unimpressive meal. I had the baked rigatoni with meatballs and while it wasn’t foul, it was very blah. I thought it was on par with something I’d pour out of a can. Our next trip to Forest Lake we will be trying somewhere else.

Wait staff could not keep the tab straight. Super slow service.

They do not rate. My wife and I attempted a local night out by attending the comedy show they had advertised. We called two hours ahead to check on the details and they said come at 6:30 pm so you can enjoy dinner before the show. We were seated and allowed to order drinks before we were asked to return to the restaurant upstairs. On our way up, a waitress, performing her best chimpanzee imitation, came chasing us up the stairs calling after us. She yelled for us while spilling the drinks on the stairs and handing them to us. We then went to the hostess to state our case for a table and were subsequently seated. Our orders were taken immediately and we were left with the remainder of our drinks. We took our time and finished them. About 30 minutes after we were seated, the waitress returned to tell us that our meal should be up soon. 45 minutes after our order was taken, the waitress showed up with fresh drinks and sandwiches that would embarrass a Subway Sandwich Artist. We went to this restaurant for local entertainment which was a comedy show. We did not realize the joke was on us. If you choose to patronize this business, remember you were warned. Let your conscience be your guide.

Medicore food at best. service ok. Setting tired. meh
Ok value.
The table cloths are a nice touch.
This place would make a great bar!

Of the 5 times I’ve been there, I’ve never had more than a mediocre meal. It’s not bad but I always leave thinking, «meh.» The only reason I’ve been back is that our friends enjoy getting drinks there. The staff is equally as underwhelming as the food. It’s takes a long time between refills of drinks and at the end of the meal between handing a card over and getting it back. All I can say is that this place is just ok. I’d recommend walking across the street to Za if you’re looking for a better Italian and burger menu.