Tally’s Dockside

Twice the cost and half as satisfying. Ever paid $ 12 for a walking taco? Here’s your chance. A fist full of Fritos, baked beans, fresh onion, pulled pork and sour cream. If the size had been larger or the price had been smaller, I’d have been satisfied. Instead, we felt cheated and hungry after paying for two orders.
A better option is to order a $ 9 sandwich (several options, including pulled pork, brisket, cubano, etc.) which includes a side of beans, slaw, chips, corn, or potato salad. Their baked beans are good — and the ‘Howling the Blues’ sauce has good flavor with only a spot of heat, despite the promise of ghost, habanero, and serrano peppers.

Went in with a co-​worker after work for a drink. I grew up on the other side of the lake and oddly enough have never been to this place. The patio is pretty small but does sit right up against the water with a beautiful view of the marina with boats right in your face. That’s about the only thing going for it though. The patio wasn’t nearly as beautiful. They only had 8 or so plastic tables to sit at and the patio was filled in with rocks.
The service was the worst part of the experience. We sat at a table for 5 – 10 minutes before being helped and we were one of the only groups of customers in there. When a server did finally come out he was very unhelpful. we asked him a few questions about their drink list and he clearly didn’t have a clue about anything going on there. I then asked if they had a beer list and he wasn’t sure and had to go check. He came back a few moments later with one. After we ordered our drinks he was never seen again. Someone else came out and delivered our drinks. We had another friend join us and we had to flag them down before they would come stop by to take her order. She ordered a mojito which may have been a mistake because it took so long for them to make it. What are you growing the mint back there?! We finished our cocktails and naturally nobody came out again so we had to go inside to tell them to drop off the bill. When he did arrive I began to dig through my wallet to pay in cash. He stood there awkwardly right behind my shoulder while I was counting my money. I told him I would just leave it on the table but that wasn’t a hint enough to give me a moments privacy while I was paying him. The servers could use an hour of training because it seemed like everyone there had never worked there a day in their life.
On top of the bad service was the incredibly overpriced drinks. The prices seemed just all over the board. A pint of Summer Shandy will run you $ 6.50, Liftbridge was $ 8.00 if I remember correctly. Other IPAs on the menu that are more expensive are only $ 5.50. We had 3 drinks and our bill came out to $ 25. Smirnoff was $ 7 Jerimiah weed was $ 7.50 and the mojito was $ 8.00 which seemed like the most reasonable price out of all three. As nice as the view is it’s not enough to make me break bank on a couple of cocktails. I didn’t try the food but If it takes that long to get a drink I don’t even want to know how long the food takes.

Wen’t here on a whim as I had dined at Acqua several times and was in the area. It’s just a confusing place, we ordered a few of their weird hot-​dogs and it felt like we were doing something that everyone who knows better wouldn’t do. The hot-​dogs were pretty gnarly, just sloppy and done in a way that clearly shows it’s not the main focus of their business. That would be alcohol, and I assume their food goes over much better after 19 beers, which is most likely the only time anyone orders it.

When we showed up for our reservation we realized that the only boat left had no gauges or radio. The young man working told us we got the only boat without music so he would waive the 10% damage fee. Upon returning the boat we mentioned it to the person running our card when the owner, Jan, became immediately argumentative by raising her voice and telling us absolutely not. She said they don’t advertise their boats to have radios and then demanded us to tell her which of her employees told us we could have a discount. We were surprised by her abrupt and sharp reaction to our inquiry so we told her we didn’t feel comfortable getting a young man in trouble. I tried to explain to her that at this point the $ 30 discount was unimportant but her rude reaction and complete lack of any attempt at customer service was shocking. She seemed fueled by the situation and made my group feel like our current or future business was of no importance. We had planned on eating and drinking at her little restaurant but of course went next door and spent over $ 200. Her employees whispered to us that this is typical behavior for her and I feel bad for the young adults she employs as she is an extremely terrible example of how to run a business. As the face of her business Jan is a disservice to Tally’s. No one in my party of six will return and numerous more people we come into contact with will be told about her behavior. Within minutes she made a group that paid $ 360 for a boat feel like our business was as valuable as garbage.

Went to Tally’s on Memorial Day. They were out of every tap beer except Miller Lite but still encouraged us to sign up for their «60 beers of summer tour.» They had a decent bottle selection but bottled beer here is pricey at $ 7. Our waitress couldn’t recommend any of the bottles or answer any of our questions about the drinks.
Ordered food which comes from the BBQ place across the street. It was ok, but again, they were out of several items that we tried to order.
Great view but disappointing experience. It was $ 50 for the two of us for two beers and a mediocre meal. It took over an hour to get our check, and it wasn’t crowded.

Ok, they’ve earned their star back! We went back again for another outing on White Bear Lake.
This time we were taken down to the boat by a staff member and given a run-​down over a checklist where the guy made sure everything was in place, gave us instructions on operation of the boat, checked the fuel tank, and guided us out of the slip the boat was anchored to. All very well done, and a nice professional touch. I liked seeing him check things off a list.
The boat performed just fine. We got the regular boat again, bust this one had a larger and updated anchor. It was roundish in three sections. It was rock solid. Everywhere we anchored to fish, we had no trouble at all. The anchor bit in and held us in place. Very happy with the way it worked.
So thanks Tally’s! You’ve restored our faith in you!

keith and jan have done a fantastic job with this place! boat rental, music nights and good food !