The Boathouse

In reading reviews from a year ago, I see that absolutely nothing has changed. We were told the wait would be «very long» for both inside and outside seating. We didn’t put our name on the list. Oddly, there were several tables that were open, many that hadn’t been cleared from the previous diners. We were able to get drinks at the bar (two bartenders with one cash station) after a huge wait, then took our drinks to the second floor dining area. We sat at an empty table to admire the great view and were there for about 45 minutes. Not a soul asked us if we were being helped, or if we wanted to see menus. We figured because we didn’t officially put our names on the waiting list, we really didn’t exist. Again, many open tables in that area. Edgewater must not care one bit about Unilocal reviews because one year later, it’s still really sub-​par as far as service goes. We didn’t get food because no one would wait on us, but it doesn’t appear that we missed anything. Not going back.

The most beautifully situated shit show of all time. Staff cannot figure out what is going on no matter how many people are working. Endless confusion, inexperience and lack of decorum. Good cheese curds, though. And beautiful sunsets.
Just waited over an hour and the buzzer never buzzed. Trying to close my tab but a bartender who seriously must be stoned to the bejeezus is ignoring me. Thing is I think they don’t care about reviews, honestly, because it’s always plenty busy with their captive tourist and boater audience.

The atmosphere is great, quite and on the water. The food quality is not worth the prices. My fish sandwhich was bland and $ 2.00 extra for a salad of romaine and a few thin red onion slices?, not when the memorial union is down the street.

You’re paying for the view. And the view is spectacular along the shoreline of Lake Mendota. But don’t expect much value after that. I’m astonished that The Edgewater doesn’t do more to entice locals to come downtown, struggle to find parking in the most difficult area of the city to park, then offer no validation of parking if you parking in their über-​expensive parking garage… what am I missing? Is there enough convention business that locals don’t matter? The food and drinks are fine, but not cheap. Fish fry is tasty, but three little pieces of perch and slaw for $ 14? I’m all in favor of paying more for quality food, drink AND location — but The Boathouse isn’t really worth the trouble.

Love Love Love me do, the fish tacos… The tuna is cooked to rare perfection, the cabbage slaw just the right amount of kick. I typically would eat 2, but gobbled up all 3 because they were so delicious! The comp sides were also, well, complimentary and yummy.
Bonus:
The view of course, breathtaking. One of the few unobstructed water views while dining in Madison. Thank you to The Edgewater Hotel for keeping the land planner from placing the parking lot between our outdoor dining and the multi-​million dollar water view.
2^nd Bonus: You can invite your (well behaved) doggy. How wonderful is that? This is in a big/​small town that does not encourage doggy owners, to be, well, doggy owners…
3^rd Bonus, yes a 3^rd. Mathew, the server. He was awesome. He was courteous and attentive, but not hanging at my table ²⁴⁄₇ or trying to brush me out the door… I even offered my table if he needed it when I was finished dining, but he declined, noting there were still a few open tables… So I put my feet up and watched the boats sail in and out and in and out.
Lovely. Can’t wait to return.
My alias,
Stella

Aside from the view, it’s incredibly mediocre. Out of 75% of their appetizers, watched a bartender google how to make a sidecar, went 1 for 5 with taking our food to the right table, and forgot about a salad we ordered. This was all an improvement from last time when we were here and waited 20 minutes at the bar without making eye contact with anybody.

Great view, terrible everything else. On an uncrowded night I failed to make eye contact with a bartender for 20 minutes while listening to them fight with each other and tell others that they «can’t find beer glasses.» Another time I sat at a table outside for 20 minutes before our waitress greeted us.

Went to the Boathouse last evening for the first time. It was a beautiful day here and we thought it would be fun to eat out on the dock. The first problem was getting out there. My husband & I were with his parents and a friend (all in their 80’s). There is no elevator directly from the parking area down to the waterfront. One of the ladies has a difficult time with stairs so we had to go into the main hotel to the elevator, down 3 levels, then walk through a very long, winding dark tunnel, go down a few more levels and finally arrived at the restaurant.
Our plan to sit on the dock by the lake was immediately scraped when we went out there and it was over 80 degrees and there was absolutely no shade and they didn’t even have umbrellas for the tables. We went inside to the upper level. Despite being open for over a year, there was still plywood on the walls and open junction boxes that didn’t have the fixtures attached. The floor, walls and ceilings are all resilient surfaces so it was very noisy and hard to hear even though there were only a few other people in there.
Now for the menu, the selections were extremely limited. For an appetizer, can you imagine a can of sardines with a sleeve of Ritz crackers? The other selections were equally underwhelming — a few appetizers, a couple of salads, soups and sandwiches. The drink menu was very limited as well. Only 3 mixed cocktails, beer and mediocre wine. The best thing I can say is that the servers were very nice, but that’s not going to get us rushing back. After a less than satisfying meal, they charged $ 15 for parking! This is Madison, not New York.
If I could give it O stars I would. I think those giving it 4 or 5 stars must work for the company.

Went for the Karben 4 event. Living the #goldlife and enjoying the fantastic sunset views on lake mendota.

I can’t say anything about the food, but the WI beer selection is great. Really it is all about the view. it is amazing at lake level with a dock you can pull your boat up to. The prices were reasonable and the service was quick and friendly. A place to just sit and chill looking at the beautiful lake. The atmosphere was very chill considering it is in the Edgewater it is a relief. The rest of the place is beautiful, but very upscale. I can see it getting extremely busy in the summer season.

I don’t know what the others are talking about !! Our Servers where Great !! Drinks Where Great, its tough to make a Great Brandy Old Fashioned and they did !! Food Quality was Great and timely.
I was turned off because Parking is not validated. Thats kind of crappy for the amount of the dinner bill.

Huge disappointment. This used to be my favorite place in town. They have really ruined it. It has the potential to be so great which is what is so disappointing.
Seems to be just be the hangout for employees, even the manager stood at the bar the entire time we were there. We waited 10 minutes to first get waited on even though the manager and five other employees were just standing around talking.
Food is so so, not many choices and just ok.
I would not recommend this to anyone unless they wanted a drink and a good view.

Nope. Nope. No… Nope. Hey Edgewater you are so so so lucky you are on the water. You should shut your place down and sell it to food fight restaurants so they can make this a place worth going to…
Took 45 minutes to get chips and salsa. Took 1:25 minutes to get our food. There was 6 of us and NOT ONE person got the correct thing they ordered… All the Edgewater restaurants are so sub par. It hurts my head to think how you can not see how poorly run these places are.
The worst part is the management said none of it was their fault…

The waterfront view is the best thing going here, and the only thing that pushed my review to the 3^rd star.
Portions are small and the menu is fairly limited. Caesar salad drenched in dressing, and small for the price. Cheese curds were not good, which isn’t going to win them many fans. Overall fairly disappointing.

So I’ve been sort of on hiatus from writing on Unilocal but The Boat House has forced me to write. I’m going to keep this short out of the pure frustration i have. I expected such a reputable place such as The Edgewater would have wonderful dining at all its restaurants but that is not NEARLY THE CASE. I am a frequent diner to as many restaurants in Madison as i possibly can and this is by far the worst dining experiencei have ever had in Madison… Ever.
The service was extremely slow, it took forever just to get water let alone drinks, the drinks were way over priced, we never got silverware until the food was delivered and when we asked for silverware, it took forever to get a refill on water and drinks, it took forever to finally order food, only saw our server maybe 5 times out of an hour and ½ time we spent there, the food cane it with half of what it said on the menu and then the server tried correcting me saying «that’s usually all it comes with» (i was missing 3 items). The food was spectacularly mediocre, overpriced, and to top it all off there was extremely dirty silverware. I’m not one for one-​time reviews but WOW i just can’t help myself on this one. Madisonians will quickly learn not to choke here but unfortunately they will still doop the out-​of-​towners and leave a laying bad taste in their mouths snit Madison.
Simply: terrible

Yawn. Like the rest of the Edgewater, so much potential yet there are so many misses. We came for the view and the outdoor seating last Friday night. Both the plaza above and the outdoor seating at the Boathouse are perfectly situated to catch a summer sunset. Inside, the restaurant is two stories and does a good job capturing the lake… big windows facing the lake, dark finishes, casual with an upscale feel.
Where the Boathouse falls down is around service and food quality. When we checked in with the hostess to ask for a table outdoors, we were told there was one party ahead of us. During the next 20 minutes, we saw at least 4 open tables that never were filled. Summer is pretty short here in Madison and they need to do a better job with turning over the tables. Open tables equals lost revenue as well as peeved patrons that are wondering why they are even waiting.
The food is also nothing to write home about. We went with the crab cake sandwich (sans bun) as well as the peel & eat shrimp. I though the crab to filling ratio was on point but with a lack of a hard sear and a lukewarm middle, the cake was more of a mush. The fries lacked the Old Bay seasoning that the menu advertised. The shrimp were nicely sized and were decent. What was puzzling was the strips of romaine lettuce they were served on top of. What this just for presentation? A garnish? It looked clumsy. And this is my main complaint with Edgewater. The hotel strives to be more high end and I know with the room rates, valet ($ 15), and price of the food, it is looking to attract the clientele that can afford it. But with mediocre service and average food, it is missing the mark.

After finding our way down the unmarked area and finally finding the place we made our way into the bar. Waited 30 minutes for a table outside while we watched other people just go and sit down outside without stopping by the hostess stand.
They need a podium hostess stand outside on busy nights.
Subpar fish that was over priced. Unapologetic slow staff.
I get they have a great location but at some point you have to put out a good product.
Won’t go back until I hear from others things are changing.

Lunch on Tuesday, June 9^th, was a pleasant surprise. The weather was perfect for dining on the deck overlooking the lake and new pier now being constructed.
A good selection of well prepared sandwiches is offered at reasonable prices. I enjoyed the perch sandwich which was grilled to perfection. My friend enjoyed the chicken salad and also heartily recommends that. Despite being quite slow by 2PM, we received excellent service too.

This place just opened recently and my friends and I wanted to try it out. It was going to be about a 20 minute wait for outside so we decided to sit inside. We still got a great table with a great view (see pics).
The hostess sat us down and we waited a solid 7 minutes before our server got our drink order. We ordered our drinks and dinner worrying that if we didn’t, it might take a while.
We ordered cheese curds for our appetizer. They were delicious, especially with the spicy mayo.
I ordered the Boathouse Brat with fries. It came out hot and the fries were especially good. The fried onions for some reason tasted soapy. The brat itself was delicious and the large pickle it came with on the side was crunchy.
Overall, we had a good experience. My friends ordered the Waldorf Chicken Salad Sandwich and the Boathouse Burger. They both said it was good.

I’ve been anticipating the opening of the new Boathouse restaurant and bar and The Edgewater since winter and it’s finally here (official opening is a week out)!!! I attended a «sneak peek» event last night and it lives up to the expectations! The Boathouse’s two-​story space feels like you are on vacation in Florida. Interiors are nautical and casual while still classy. The views to the lake from the second floor are outstanding! The piers don’t go in until mid to late June, but will be well worth the wait! The main bar is on the first floor (ground level) and bigger than the previous one. The food was fantastic as well… we had crab cakes, phenomenal shrimp cocktail, chips and guacamole, and clam chowder which was all delicious and will surely be even better when served on the pier with a cocktail in hand!
A very welcome and fabulous upgrade to the lake… bring on summer!