Ok, review #2! It's obviously good enough that we returned ... and honestly, looked forward to our return!! Food continues to be the high point-- fresh, high quality ingredients with a very competent cook on the kitchen. Service continues to be the head-scratcher. Our waiter, complete with baseball cap, (and this is an elegant setting), pretty much ignored us. Returned from his smoking break to deliver the check. We didn't mind so much as we were enjoying the people watching. Including the bartenders, which were better in that they did occasionally smile at the patrons. (They should take lessons from the hostess -- who was totally welcoming, smiling, and out the other waitstaff to shame.). However, as the witching hour of 9pm came, the bartenders shifted from drink making to serious focus on locking up the bar. They obviously are serious about wanting to be home for a 9:16 TV show. Net -- great food, great ambiance, waitstaff / bartenders still deciding whether they want to be there ... and don't come in for a late dinner and expect to be comfortable. I'll post after trip #3 (yes, definitely worth a return--in spite of my whining, still the best thing in the north woods. read more

Love this place! Long wait on Memorial Day weekend but plenty to keep a family busy with foosball, ping pong and an awesome Shuffleboard table. Food was excellent and service terrific. For big parties, I'd suggest locking down the 12 person table or splitting up the group. read more

Food menu was good american bar food. The beer selection is also decent. The complaints I have are around the service. I come from a tourist town myself and I can honestly say that when large groups of people walk into an establishment that doesn't appear to be busy (several open tables at 2pm on a Saturday) the servers/ hostesses should give a warm welcome. We were not greeted for a few minutes and when we were, and I explained there would be 10-15 of us, the servers eyes literally rolled, as if we were an inconvenience. We intended on having separate checks, which she explained wasn't possible and this made it even more inconvenient, but understandable. After she left we realized there was a larger group coming and it was as if she disappeared for 5 minutes so I approached the bartender who was extremely rude and snippy. Aside from the decent bar food and fancy bathrooms, we won't be back, we've had better service at a gas station hot bar than this place. read more

Dropped in while tromping through Eagle River's Wall Street. Had a few Old Fashioned while we waited for food. Santa Fe chicken salad and tenderloin blue cheese salad were a great change from heavy vacation food. Had some cool games on the patio to kill some time. read more

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Excellent food, drinks, and atmosphere.. If you're looking for something different around Eagle River this is your place.

We've been meaning to try this place for a while. So glad we finally did. Excellent space inside and out! Menu is great. Liked the food. Prime rib sandwich was really good and came with a side of horseradish sauce that was really nice. Tenderloin sandwich done medium rare and really flavorful. Beer menu is expansive and temping, focusing on local breweries. Friendly knowledgeable server. Only complaints: chairs outside are uncomfortable. Onion rings looked terrific, but lacked flavor. Could not taste the onion and the batter was tasteless. Great crunch though. Recommend this place! Hope to get dessert next time. read more

The tap selection was great. The cocktails were extremely good. The club sandwich was so damn good! Finally, you will not walk away hungry after eating the hamburger! Great job on food, bar and staff. Now, on to the non food review. Can a bathroom make you say "damn" I want this at my house? This one does. The bar is very well done. I am just plain IMPRESSED by this place! read more

Had dinner there last Saturday and looking forward to going back tonight! Outstanding service and the food is amazing

We went to the Craftsman last night and were seated right away, which was great! Unfortunately, no one came to talk to us for 10 minutes. We had to go up to the hostess station and ask if we had a server. We were told we did but then then manager came by and got our drink order which was great. A couple minutes later our waitress showed up and took our food order and then promptly brought our food in about three minutes. However what she brought wasn't what we ordered but she did not stop back until we were done eating. We tried to flag her down several times, but she seem to avoid us. The burgers were pretty good, but I won't be back to pay $56 for two hamburgers and two drinks with poor service. read more

Food was bland and overpriced. Service was awful. Don't waste your time or money. The barbecue sauce tastes of pure whiskey, if your looking to get a little tipsy from pulled pork this is your place. read more

One hour 15 minutes our dinner finally arrived. Pizza was cold. Tortillas were so dry they crumbled. Service is good. Decor is wonderful. Food... not so much. No paper towels in Women's bathroom read more

Interesting and delicious drink and food menu. The sliders, shrimp tacos and strawberry salad were all yummy. The blueberry mule was refreshing. Great place! read more

This place is, literally, a hidden gem in Eagle River. Lovely, relaxing atmosphere. Beautiful and immaculately clean space. The old fashioned(s) were delicious! I'd also highly recommend the cheese curds and anything that comes with their home made ranch dressing. read more

No hyperbole here. Might be the best bar I've been to, in Wisconsin. Lizards cherries garnish a real Wisco old fashioned. The game room is out of this world. The beer garden is gorgeous. And the food is very good. Matt is a great host and the bar is absolutely gorgeous. Live music plays on Fridays. read more

If Louie's Resurrection #13 is out we would greatly appreciate a like for like replacement for that. Great food as always and service was even better than normal. read more

On the advice of a "Local", my wife and I ventured into The Craftsman on Friday evening. The owner, Matthew, and bartender, Andrew, treated us well and told us the whole story of the long journey to create the establishment. Great atmosphere; Great craft Cocktails and even a great selection of draught beers! While I do love the typical up-north tavern, this is anything but typical. Do yourself a solid and take your sweetheart here... I can't say enough good things about it. read more

Our experience began with a bright smile and warm welcome from the bartender, Jack. The blueberry old fashioned looked and tasted amazing. The fish fry is the best we've had in years. Our waiter, Alan was friendly, efficient and attentive. Food, drinks and service were superb. Highly recommended! read more

The drink menu is above and beyond the norm for this area. Kudos for trying to be different and exciting. Great atmosphere! I really appreciate the effort to not be another place that just serves light beer and deep fried frozen things. The food is very good -especially the cheese curds. Service can be slow, (however, it was very fast for us pre-snomobile season during our visit) but consider how difficult it's must be to be busy for 2 months, dead for 4, busy for 2 again... And so on. Very glad to see new ideas happen in this town. read more

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We saw this eatery while exploring the town and after looking at the menu gave it a try. We got here at around 6:45 pm on a Thursday night. A stressed/harried appearing hostess said it'd be a 55 minute wait. No problem, we walked around town and then sat at the bar for a drink. Had great service there, plus an interesting cocktail menu (which I love). Got seated around 7:35 which wasn't bad. We sat outside and it was LOUD. Foosball table outside by the seating is a great idea until shrieking kids take it over. Ugh. The menu has tons of options, mainly meat-forward. Brittany provided EXCELLENT service. We each got a burger + tots. Food arrived quickly and was hot and fresh. And delicious! Would definitely eat here again. The only minuses were the noise level (inside was loud too and was only half full) and the hostess. She looked so stressed and was not friendly. Would definitely go back! read more

Great place, amazing food, friendly staff, Awesome atmosphere, quick food. Cool game room and good patio. A little expensive but worth it.

We went twice this last trip to the north woods...both times had Brittany as our server, she's awesome! Food both times was outstanding, great drinks, service wonderful, warm and friendly people. i read reviews that prices were high. they are inline with ever other restaurant in the area, inflation has hit food industry hard. We'll definitely be back! read more

This place is nothing short of awesome. Super clean - super cool. Food is really epic - candied bacon is over the top -try the craftsman burger amazing. Come here cool game room read more

We are so excited that this place opened in eagle river! They are great and responsible about food allergies, and their cocktails are excellent. The service is responsive, and the vibe is great. They have fun bar games and great outdoor seating. We will be back! read more

Great escape on a rainy day in the North Woods. Plenty of bar games to keep kids busy and parents happy while we enjoyed cocktails and apps. Hope this place is around for awhile. Great stop! read more

Party of four walk in Tuesday evening around 6pm. Plenty of open tables. Most of the tables that are sat are well into their meal or even done. I specifically saw an open table that seats six. The host comes up to us and tells us he has to see if one of the two servers will be able to take us. We all look at each other like "did he just say that?" We watch the host go up to one of the servers and it's obvious she doesn't want a new table to be sat in her section. Nobody wanted us. A family of four, two of which who live Up North. One who is born and raised. And I have been coming up here for 30 years. So basically we would be repeat customers for a long time. We even bought gift cards from them for our families right at the beginning of COVID because a new restaurant/bar in town that opens up at the start of the pandemic/shut down is not a good time to start. We end up just walking out. It was very obvious that it was a struggle for them to seat a party of four when they had open tables. Wanting to see the business thrive and not blast a horrible experience, someone in our party messaged the business/owners directly on social media. The incident was explained and told in a way to hopefully train the staff and inform management what happened. We would rather do it constructively than bash publicly on reviews. Well, we got a reply from the business and they proceeded to basically lash out at us and make us feel like we didn't just experience what we experienced. He carried on an argument in response to our message. It was already a horrible experience and then to get that response from the business after trying to help them? Train your staff. If you have open tables, every party that walks in should feel welcome and be sat with a smile. Choose wisely who responds to your messages/reviews. Customer service needs some work here. One positive for them, the interior décor is pretty cool. read more

Attemped to dine with an adult party of 4 at 5:45pm on a Tuesday. After waiting at the Host stand to be seated a female employee greeted us with "I'm not the hostess" and left. After some time passed the Host came up to us and stood there. No greeting. So we greeted him and said we had 4 and would like to dine inside. He says "eww well... let me see, we only have 2 servers and they're busy". We did observe there were plenty of tables and everyone we saw had food. All the seats at the bar were taken. The Host left us to talk to the Bartender and a server. We saw what we perceived as an arguement with arms waving and no smiles between Bartender, Host and Server. With that we decided we didn't want to cause the staff at Craftsman any more trouble and we got out of there. It's a service industry people! At least fake be nice to us, have us get a drink and then maybe we can forgive the slow service later. read more

We loved the atmosphere here! The homemade cocktails are amazing! I loved the cranberry mule! The cheese curds are a must!

This was a solid four stars but I do think eventually they will be five. I agree with other reviews that the service was a bit of a mess but the food and cocktails were really good. Every employee was very very kind and earnest but they were disorganized. I think it's just growing pains with a new restaurant and once they figure it out they will be five stars easy. We will be back! read more

Very disappointed in the waiting time for drinks and food. Beautiful place, hope the service improves.

great cocktails and food choices. so nice to find a restaurant that isn't just bar food or a supper club.

Very very good food. Cheese curds are a must! They will melt in your mouth. Helluva beer / drinks selection. Over 20 beers on tap. The only negative experience was they do not have pull tabs. I expect every Eagle River bar to have some sort of pull tabs. Btw the waitress was a darling, they didn't have the beer I wanted so she gave me a free one! Holla read more

The craftsman is an awesome restaurant in Eagle River with great food and drinks. The tots are awesome and the variety of drinks is very good. read more

This is the second time we came to The Craftsman - and we absolutely love their food - we drove from st Germain to Eagle River for that. They don't take reservations and wait is normally 30-40 min - which is not a big deal as they have games available. We came in yesterday and after waiting 35 min to get to our table, the waitress took our drink and appetizer order and after that we were told that 1/2 of the menu was not available as the Chef was sick and some items were run out. So she wanted us to avoid the trouble to order something they could not provide today. So our only option was pizza or burgers. We came to the Craftsman so we would have options besides burgers and pizza. While I understand things like this happen, they should have told us that before we put our name in and had started to order drinks and appetizers. Additionally, I ordered a mojito that was not drinkable and extremely sour and my husband got a martini that tasted like a man's cologne. Very disappointing. read more

Excellent fish fry. Best old fashion in town. We had great service from the waiter. Check was unusual though ...there were two tip sections: one section for kitchen tip and the other for server. Not understanding what that was about. read more

Excellent! We split a breakfast burger, truffles tots, and mushroom flatbread. Everything was well cooked and tasty. So glad we stopped here. We live about an hour away but will make this an Eagle River regular! read more

It's a Saturday night at 7:30, on April 24, not even summer, place is half full there are 2 customers walking in. You don't tell them there are 5 tables in front of you, you can't be seated to eat because the kitchen closes at nine. Saturday is your money maker. 2 people aren't a big deal . Went down the road to White Spruce Inn, seated immediately, Good food and drinks. Restaurant had a lot of people. We were not turned away. You need to train people to hustle and get the tables in. read more

We ate there last week for the first time. The truffle fries, Mahi tacos, and BBQ flatbread were all great. Excellent service too! We will be back soon. read more

Fun trendy relaxed restaurant/bar. Great service with even better food and drinks! The cheese curds were amazing, I highly recommend them! Can't wait for our next trip up north to come here! read more

The atmosphere was great, the service was non-existent. We were seated immediately,but it took more than fifteen minutes before one of the bartenders finally came out from behind the bar to get our drink order. When our waitress finally came over she was unaware that we had already ordered drinks and when my wife ordered the fish we were informed that they have any. The menu list the fried fish as their Friday special. We told the waitress that we were not going to order food and would just have our drinks. After waiting several more minutes and the waitress walking by several more times to get the bill for our drinks, I finally went to the bar and paid. When we walked out the front door the waitress, who was standing by the front gabbing with another server, decided to follow us out the door and ask me if I was going to pay for our drinks. I'm still establishment has lasted this long if this is the typical service you receive on a Friday afternoon. read more