I have been to Bayside a handful of times and almost always their Walleye fish tacos are amazing. Unfortunately our last time was a poor experience for our entire party. 3 of us had the walleye fish tacos and all of them were very fishy. Walleye has a very mild taste and i have never once had a fishy walleye until my last visit at Bayside. We made a comment to our waiter who began to tell us that Walleye is actually fishy tasting and that is "normal". He said that from his experience their walleye is always fairly fishy. Â Sorry I have had walleye over 100 times and I've never had a fishier tasting fillet. The waiter was not educated about the quality of their fish. Either the fish had gone bad or the oil they were cooking it in should have been changed. The waiters level of education on beers was poor also. He talked me into a pale ale that he said was actually happier than their IPA. Mmmm sorry it wasn't. I asked for a stronger hoppy IPA and he recommended the Pale Ale when in fact they had a double IPA which was much more hoppy. My second choice was their double IPA and it was phenomenal!
The sweet potato fries were still good and the dipping sauce that comes with the fish tacos is great. Another thing I do like about Bayside is their beer selection. They have a couple of local IPA's on tap. I'm a huge IPA fan and its nice to have a couple options. Many restaurants similar to Bayside don't have many micro brew options.
4 star atmosphere, 3 star service and 1 star walleye fish tacos
I will not come back! The food was only average and the service was so poor! My group waited for an hour to get our food and during that hour the waitress never stopped at our table to ask if we wanted more drinks or to let us know that the kitchen was having troubles. When the food finally came....it was only ok. I had the walleye sandwich...found 4 bones and it didn't have much flavor. Wish we would've gone across and tried Maynards! Yes...the view is nice...but not worth it for me!
Review Source:Of Fletcher's, Maynards, and Bayside, this is the weaker sister. Â Despite having the best location of the three, it is shoddy. Â They do serve strong drinks (yay!) but the barstools are falling apart and the bar does get a little cramped due to the layout.
Shawn's tip: Â They have a decent happy hour that closes the gap.
At least it doesn't have tons of bees like Fletcher's does.
Best view of lake Minnetonka anywhere! Huge deck seating and outdoor bars, the service can be slow at times but way worth the view! Love the breakfast burrito on a Saturday or Sunday morning and steak bites and fries for happy hour! Did I mention the best view of a lake in MN! Go here on summer days and frozen winter mornings... love it!
Review Source:I had a really great experience here today. After biking around 23 miles on the Lake Minnetonka LRT regional trail, it was nice to sit by the water and soak up the ambiance of the crowd. I will say, if you're feeling social this is definitely the place to go. The patio was crowded with everyone from families to young people. There was a live band playing nearby, so it was a little loud, but tolerable.
Note that Bayside does have hostesses to seat guests outside, so if you go, look for the large hostess stand to one side of the restaurant. We were greeted by a cheery young waitress, who seemed to be enjoying the day despite the huge rush she was dealing with. She wasn't overly hospitable, but did make sure to take care of all our needs. I wouldn't expect much more from a grill like this anyway, so it was nice that she did take good enough care of us.
My food was amazing! I got the bibb lettuce wraps, which came with seasoned pulled chicken, the most amazing grilled veggie assortment ever, sticky rice, and two crazy good dipping sauces. I'd never had bibb lettuce cups/wraps before, so it was fun to make my own. They were SO GOOD!! And healthy :)
All of the grill menu items that passed by looked really good, like the burgers and other sandwiches. I can't speak much about the salads, but they are huge. My boyfriend ordered walleye fingers, which were on the app menu, and they were not very good. They were breaded, but not crispy, and the walleye didn't taste fresh at all.
But I had a good enough time, and good enough food to myself, that it deserves 4 stars for today. Yay!
Don't bother with it. Â I live very close to this restaurant and really wanted to like it because it's conveniently located and in a fantastic area of excelsior. Â The reality is that this place is poorly managed, has sub par food, and deplorable service.
Their are a few decent employees but Kitty the constantly frowning manager makes sure to squash their impact. Â Bayside is like a dive-bar that doesn't have the requisite charm and also charges full price. Â
Go to Maynards if you want to be near the lake, and 318 cafe if you want good food in the area.
It's hit or miss with this place. The servers haven't ever been really that great every time I have been here but they aren't necessarily bad either. You can just definitely tell that there are a million other places they would rather be than at work.
The food is also hit or miss. My wedding reception was in Bayview and the food was wonderful (we did custom build the menu though). I know that it is the same lead chef but I don't understand why some items are absolutely disgusting (broiled walleye) and some are delicious (tacos).
If it were any place else, it would probably get two stars. Fortunately due to the beautiful scenery and the place this property holds in my heart, I can bump it up a notch.
Terrible service, got off the boat and grabbed a table, waited 10 minutes until the sever told me to see the hostess! Â There were no signs on the dock stating it was not open seating. Â Hostess was rude and would not seat us right away. Â There were 10 open tables at the time! Â Poorly managed restaurant! Â Walked over to Maynards, sat at an open table and was treated extremely well!
Review Source:When we arrived on Wednesday night, the host said the wait would be "20 minutes, tops". Â We were seated nearly an hour later. Â Fortunately, they have about 12 beers on tap, so we enjoyed a couple beers and a great view of Lake Minnetonka on a beautiful summer evening, which made the wait tolerable. The menu is limited, but the sandwiches are pretty good, Â The "muffaletta" is particularly good, while the burgers need better buns/rolls. Â The BBQ chicken finger appetizer was dry.
Review Source:Had a nice quiet lunch under one of the unbrella tables on the dock. They have a 1/2 sandwich and salad selection for $8.95. The Ice tea and pop is only $2 and there are free refills so you can stay awhile and sip a drink while watching activity on the dock. There are large carp in the water so be sure and save a few french fries to give the fish a nibble on the way out.
Review Source:Bayside's food is good with a nice deck/patio overlooking Lake Minnetonka (both support a rating better than 3). The only downfall is the clientele...the crowd is 25+ year old partiers. This is great if you spent a day on the lake drinking with friends. Lunch might be a better time to eat here if you are looking for a low key spot and want to bring the kids, but I haven't been for lunch.
If you don't mind the rowdy, drunk showy types...this is a great place anytime.
If you are not drunk and just coming off a boat on Lake Minnetonka, do not come here. The crazy drunk patrons ruined this restaurant for me, even though the patio is huge and the food was actually decent.
If you are planning to come here on a weekend, make sure you call ahead because if you don't the wait will probably be an hour and a half. Luckily, we called ahead and our wait was only 30 minutes. We took a seat at the bar, and I actually wished we would have stayed there. The bar tender was friendly and attentive and our appetizer came out lightening quick. Once we moved to our table, things quickly went downhill.
For starters, when we were seated the sun was glaring in my mom's eyes, so she politely asked our server if he could adjust the umbrella. His response, "Why don't you ask them," meaning the table next to us. How rude! I couldn't believe he would say that, and it definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. After that I couldn't stop staring at all the drunks surrounding us. I felt like I was at a carnival freak show. There were ladies fondling each other and making out, plus tons of fake boobs and too short shorts. Not to mention the sleazy 50-year-old men hitting on the 20-something ladies. Yuk. I wanted to get out of there quick.
Our food was actually decent, but could never make up for the poor service and questionable ambiance. I ordered the chicken tinga tacos and while the portion was a little small for the $14 price tag and they served them with nasty fake guac, the flavor of the chicken was excellent, with just a slight kick. My mom ordered the Hawaiian chicken wrap and it was also great. It was packed with tons of fruit and chunks of chicken and coconut.
Went over to Bayside with the precise purpose of having a [nice] breakfast. I went to their website and explored ahead of time and the menu looked good for breakfast by the water. They said they served until 11:30am. OK...we arrived. Because the parking sometimes takes a while to accomplish, we finally were seated ahead of 11:30am and the meals being consumed by adjoining tables did give us something to look forward to.
Then...the cold water on our expectations began to fall. The other posts citing slow service hold true yet. By the time we got someone to our table it was--wait--hold on--PAST 11:30am!!!!!!!!!!!!! Â The breakfast train had left the station....
Apparently there is NO room for negotiation for hungry foodies who arrive later than 11:20am--despite what they say. They wouldn't even let us order toast, since it isn't on the menu as an item. [[[And what would hold your BLT sandwich together with?]]]
TAKE NOTE--arrive early or you will find NO sympathy after 11:20am no matter how much you really, really want breakfast.
The Mimosa we bought [wanting something for our travel] wasn't worth the moolah. Pre-made OJ from concentrate and questionable bubbly. That too...took way too long to find our table!
"Not Great, But Not Bad Either"
Nachos are good, Pizza so so, Szechuan Green Beans Excellent.Food here is better than Fletcher's, but not as good as Maynard's.When you go here, you walk back & forth between Maynard's & here.You come to be on the lake, you come by boat, you come for the patio, the drinks, the people, & the bands.To see & be Seen, it is about Boating.It is part of the living the Good Life on Lk.Mtka experience.The Event center has great Wedding Food.
This is a fabulous outdoor bar on a summer evening. Good crowd, lots of outdoor seating, and huge outdoor area on the lake. We didn't have to stand in line either! It's also nice here for after work happy hours in the summertime.
This is a nice change of scenery from Uptown and Downtown where you have to stand in line for 15+ minutes to get to an outdoor area.
Great Location, Good Food, Slow Slow Service. Â This is a great place to spend a summer afternoon or evening. Â Just plan on spending the whole evening there. Â The service is horribly slow across the board. Â You will need to set your expectation for a slow dining expirence but hey you are on a great deck so don't complain.
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