Cancel

Open app

Search

The Thirsty Whale

3.3 (172 reviews)
Closed • Closed
Updated 3 months ago

The Thirsty Whale Photos

THE THIRSTY WHALE ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Live music
Casual
Touristy
Moderate noise

You might also consider

More like The Thirsty Whale

Recommended Reviews - The Thirsty Whale

Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
Yelp app icon
Browse more easily on the app
Review Feed Illustration

Reviews With Photos

The Whale with fries! Love the crust on the fries!

Great place to enjoy a meal with a view! We arrived just in time to take in the water show along with our meal!

Table view @ Thirsty Whale!  It can't be beat!!
Kimberly D.

Let me tell you why I love Thirsty Whale: - You will not find a better spot for food and drinks on the water. (See the picture of the view from my table. Usually, I eat outside, but today was overcast and rainy. Inside was just as gorgeous!) - Great menu! Fish sandwiches, burgers, chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese, salads, soups, curds, wings...something for everyone with added Thirsty Whale flair! The French fries are delicious. Crisp, fresh, and flavor on point! - Generous sauce sizes!! Seriously! I never have to ask for extra sauce, tarter, etc. They just get it and give me more than enough! - Fun drinks with a generous pour and fast refills on non-alcoholic drinks. - Last but not least: Alexa!!! Seriously, we love her! Meet her and you will love her, too. Please tip her well! We adore her and need her fun, fantastic self to be there every time we go!!!

Carmen W.

This place has the typical North Woods fair. Chicken sandwiches, burgers, and fish. The bonuses are you can drive or boat to it, they have a game/arcade area which can be fun for all, and the outdoor seating is right on the lake. All of the food and drinks were tasty we all especially liked the pretzels and Thai shrimp.

Lisa H.

The wild rice clam chowder soup was amazing! We sat out on the deck and had fabulous lunch! Service was fast and friendly.

Sad fish sandwich

See all

Photo of Tim T.
0
44
11

9 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

10 months ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

8 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

9 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Brian S.
23
40
104

10 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of No N.
0
44
16

11 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 3
Thanks 1
Love this 2
Oh no 0

8 months ago

Excellent prices, food quality, water side table and view, plus Linda the best and most efficient server. You will like it.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

9 months ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

9 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

11 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

10 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 1
Love this 2
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 4
Thanks 2
Love this 4
Oh no 1

10 months ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Robb D.
16
91
7

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Delicious food all around. Very affordable. Amazing view. Great customer service. Family friendly.

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Angie M.
4
69
302

11 months ago

manager was awful, condescending towards all of the women in my group even the adults. worst time of my life.

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 1

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of gloria m.
1
120
14

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

5 years ago

Helpful 5
Thanks 1
Love this 3
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Liz F.
59
7
0

2 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 1
Love this 1
Oh no 1

2 years ago

Always crowded, always fun. Wonderful bloody Mary's with chaser beer. Great tshirts. Terrific porch in good weather. Loud inside fyi.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 2
Love this 3
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Beautiful outdoor dining area looking over the lake. Very reasonable pricing. Food was delicious and served by attentive staff.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Dan L.
0
65
4

3 years ago

Perfect spot for drinks and pub food on the lake. Impossible to not have a great time with friends.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Connie N.
18
33
15

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

Page 1 of 5

Ask the Community - The Thirsty Whale

Verify this business for free

Get access to customer & competitor insights.

Verify this business

The Boathouse - Ahi tuna wrap

The Boathouse

3.6(254 reviews)
0.1 mi
•$$

To start with, the place is very cool on the inside. It has an amazing antique bar, and just as the…read morename says, boat memorabilia everywhere. The staff was terrific, too. Our server, Leah, was very pleasant and met our every need. I'm extremely picky about tartar sauce and she brought me out plenty to try and then when I loved it, more to enjoy with their excellent fries. I thought it was the best I've ever had in a restaurant. We all enjoyed our meal and my daughter loved her Fettuccine Alfredo especially. My walleye sandwich was incredible, too, especially since that tartar sauce was so phenomenal. One thing that really caught my eye was how hard the hostess was working. I don't think I've ever seen someone of her generation with such an amazing work ethic. It was kind of fun to watch her do her thing. If I had a company of my own locally, I would definitely be working to hire her. I didn't get her name, a d she looked awfully young to own the place. She acted as if she did, however. Amazing!

Off season = under 30 min wait with a great drink !!…read more Came here for the fish fry. It did not disappoint!! I will say my kid ate his weight in the breadsticks and cheese appetizer. A great Wisconsin staple. Husband and kid both got the fried cod. I got the broiled (so happy for that option as I love fish just can't do the breading). Everything was hot and delicious. Baked potatoes were delish and huge !! The bar has a great selection of tap beer and I also had a great cranberry vodka (from northwater distillery) that had a little spice to it with diet sprite (thanks for having diet!!)

Photos
The Boathouse - Nice looking back-bar.

Nice looking back-bar.

The Boathouse - Lure salad with salmon added (divine!)

Lure salad with salmon added (divine!)

The Boathouse - View from dock

See all

View from dock

Otto's Beer & Brat Garden - Beer cheese soup, a bloody with a Cow sidecar.

Otto's Beer & Brat Garden

3.6(149 reviews)
0.1 mi
•$$

Don't often visit German restaurants. I have to say I was pretty pleased with this one. I had the…read morebrat with a side of potato salad. It was very sizable and delicious. The service was very good and it was fun to watch the waitress come to the table with three big mugs of root beer in one hand I won't say it actually made me feel like I was in Germany, but it was a lot of fun. They have outdoor seating in the back but we ate inside. Totally worth the visit if you want something different!

We unfortunately had a really bad experience and hadn't even made it to getting our waters yet…read more.. what a disappointment after my husband had grown up going to Minocqua in the summers and was so pumped to finally try Otto's, as he had never been yet. You know that red flag feeling you get after you're seated and no server acknowledges your presence? That was this place. And it was actually the second red flag. When the hostess seated us in the outdoor garden area she informed us it would be 45 minutes until food came out. Interesting information right from the get go. Our group of 5 was puzzled at this....many tables had just cleared out and it seemed that there was plenty of servers and bussers working to handle the amount of customers. From there it just went downhill even further. We ended up finally talking to someone asking if we could switch tables to get out of the direct sun. It took them WAY too long to clear the table they told us we could move to. In the meantime, no one had yet come over to at least give us waters. Once finally at our new table and acknowledged by a server, we put in our drink orders which we kept to waters only because we were at this point questioning bailing. After many minutes of waiting for our waters and never receiving them, we called it quits. We got up and told the server it's been too long, and checking the time it had been 20 MINUTES WITH NO WATERS. The last and worst nail in the coffin was that my mom had a view of our server who had in fact filled our waters towards the back of the garden area and then set them on a tray....and then....was just standing around. Literally. We also witnessed a busser moving at incredibly slow speeds and other servers seeming "busy" but not sure with what....There was absolutely no reason for the delays we experienced. We think the only explanation for all this was that there are simply far too many inefficient workers. Or workers with no sense of urgency or awareness to help one another out. It was quite sad to witness and should be even sadder for the business that they missed out on a customer, and in turn receives a bad review. What a bummer. Will never return.

Photos
Otto's Beer & Brat Garden
Otto's Beer & Brat Garden - Ham and Bier Cheese Sandwich with German Potato Salad

Ham and Bier Cheese Sandwich with German Potato Salad

Otto's Beer & Brat Garden

See all

Norwood Pines Supper Club - Flight's of Ice Cream Drinks

Norwood Pines Supper Club

3.9(200 reviews)
1.9 mi
•$$

Make reservations ahead of time. We tried to get in here twice and I guess the 3rd time is the…read morecharm. Note that they have downtime in the fall so be sure to check their hours in their website. Upon entering the parking lot you feel like you're entering an enchanted forest with lights and an outdoor fire pit greeting you. We were warmly welcomed by the hostess and we were immediately seated. We were out kim an addition which had ample windows facing out to the lighted trees. Our waitress was very attentive and we were started with a relish tray. It was skimpy compared to what you use to get at supper clubs but appreciated as a comp. We received our meals with a comp loaf of bread. I'm GF so passed on the bread. My husband said it was average and appreciated. He had the prim rib and I had a tenderloin steak with mushrooms and garlic mashed potatoes which the first couple of bites in the end was chewy but as I moved to the next bites it was very tender. I enjoyed the Hungarian mushroom soup and my husband enjoyed his clam chowder. We were too full for dessert and I took 1/2 of my meal home to enjoy for lunch the next day. We didn't try any cocktails. We would go back to try more menu items, maybe something light so a dessert could be enjoyed.

Beautiful venue The food is uneven and the menu never really…read morechanges I'd recommend sitting outside with a cocktail and an appetizer

Photos
Norwood Pines Supper Club - Real flowers on the table.

Real flowers on the table.

Norwood Pines Supper Club - Edgar

Edgar

Norwood Pines Supper Club

See all

Outback 51

Outback 51

2.7(28 reviews)
2.2 mi

We had SO much fun at Outback 51! We went during the day, around 4:30, so it was empty enough that…read morewe were able to go in the corner and social distance at our two tables. I had to knock it down a star because there were literally ZERO Covid precautions. We're from the city and used to wearing masks everywhere and we walked in with masks on and everyone looked at us like we were crazy. Not even the bartenders or servers were wearing masks even though there's a state mandate. Other than the safety aspect, it was genuinely a great time. Everyone was very friendly and there was live music and karaoke. It was definitely a small town dive bar feel and was an absolute blast. We were mostly there for drinks, but we did get the spinach and artichoke dip as a snack and it was delicious! There was also a really nice patio out back that had games.

Ok, I've seen many advertisements for this bar and grill. I've wanted to try it and had my…read moreopportunity the other night. What a mistake. I'll just tell you this. If I would have seen this before eating I would have walked out. The men's restroom is across the hallway fron the kitchen. Cases of canned goods were at the end of the hall just a few feet away. The men's room was atrocious. A large open garbage can was there for used paper towels. It was only a quarter full yet half of the floor was covered with the used paper towels. Thw worst part of it is that in a corner of the room was a big puddle of urine. It smelled so bad in there. The mens room was obviously frequented by the half dozen drunk patrons at the bar. They didn't bother us or other patrons in yhe dining area but their banging beer bottles on the bar, extremely loud conversation and occasional chanting should have proved that their service should have been cut off. But the blonde bimbo bartender obviously saw nothine but more tips with more beers. I give this joints a Minus 5. Never again for the Outback on 51 in Woodruff WI.

Photos
Outback 51 - Hand cut french fries - Outback 51, conveniently located in Woodruff Arbor Vitae WI Hwy 51

Hand cut french fries - Outback 51, conveniently located in Woodruff Arbor Vitae WI Hwy 51

Outback 51 - Bloody Mary Outback 51 - conveniently located on Hwy 51 Woodruff / Arbor Vitae WI - it's on the way

Bloody Mary Outback 51 - conveniently located on Hwy 51 Woodruff / Arbor Vitae WI - it's on the way

Outback 51 - Outback burger

See all

Outback burger

The Thirsty Whale - bars - Updated May 2026

Loading...
Loading...
Loading...