We visited late afternoon on 9-15-26. We had some very good and unusual dishes. Service was fine,…read moreand delivery of the food was quick. If I have one complaint, I ordered a Caesar Salad. As I know it, one of the primary ingredients of a Caesar Salad is anchovies; yet I had to pay $3.00 extra to get 4 or 5 uncut strips. Not a deal breaker, but at the price of the salad, I don't think it was a necessary charge. In spite of that, if I find myself in Ely again, I will dine there again.

Stopped at Insula for lunch and a refreshing beverage. Eli, our waiter was very helpful with…read moreexplanations of drinks and lunch options. My cousin enjoyed a Cosmo and I tried the gin with cranberry juice. Both so refreshing on a sunny late summer day! We decided to try the cauliflower wings as an appetizer. The breading was very light and the cauliflower still slightly crunchy and were dipped in the Korean bbq sauce and served with a yummy blue cheese dressing. So glad we tried them! Food order included the bison burger with sweet potato fries and a steak southwest bowl with a spicy ranch dressing. The steak was cooked to perfection and the bowl was delicious! We've never been disappointed here. We will be back!

The food is amazing! Homemade soups are out of this world! The wait staff so warm and kind! Pizza…read moreis to live for! This is our go to place! Never been disappointed!!

This bar/restaurant was a great choice for dinner. We sat in the back where there are nice booths…read moreto allow conversation. I chose the bacon chicken ranch salad. You can have your chicken grilled or fried and I chose grilled. It comes with a warmed breadstick. All the ingredients were fresh. It was a nice lighter meal and a good portion size. We ended the meal with the chocolate lava cake with ice cream. It was quite tasty and presented well. Very pretty. Our server was amazing. She was so efficient and every request was done with urgency. So much energy. All the staff were welcoming. One gentleman had his water glass slip off the table and everyone came to help clean it up quickly. So thankful the Copper Nickel is open on Tue as so many other restaurants are often closed Mon and Tue in the area.

STAY Away! I know…read morewhen I read reviews, it's helpful to have lengthy descriptions of the food and atmosphere. But I'm just not willing to spend more time typing than the cooks spent cooking my food. We tried this place twice -- once for dinner and again for the breakfast buffet. Both instances, the food was barely tolerable and my entire family walked away hungry rather than continuing to eat what we ordered. The Tamarack is inexpensive but I suspect its the only way they can get people to eat there. I'm not a snooty eater -- I love Waffle House and iHop for breakfasts but even the Tamarack was able to make breakfast food unpleasant (pancakes were crusty, ham was fatty, oatmeal was nearly solid, fruit was from a can, etc. etc. Do yourself a favor and avoid. On the second day we managed to find the Vermilion Club for dinner and SuLus in Tower for breakfast...both a welcome change from the Tamarack

We ate both the breakfast and dinner buffet at this casino restaurant. The service was excellent…read more The omelet cook made one of the tastiest custom omelets we ever have had. All the entrees in the buffet were fresh, hot, and quite tasty. Only the bacon was overcooked, but a lot of people like it that way so it probably is not an issue. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Compared to the crappy expensive breakfast we had the day before at another local restaurant, for $5.95 this was a huge value! Compare that to your average mediocre-at-best chain restaurants. The dinner also was very nice with a large variety of fish, seafood, ribs, steak, chicken, etc. Everything we tried was very good including the fresh green beans. The salmon was excellent as was the catfish, the ribs were very good, the seafood was fried but of a good quality, the steak was surprisingly good, and the deserts were very very good. Nothing bad to say at all about this buffet for $11.95. The casino is just a typical smokey casino as you would find anywhere in the country.

What a beautiful, clean space - which seems to be half restaurant and half hotel. After a long day…read moreof travel we were starving and came in around 4 pm for dinner. It was busy on a Saturday night (of LDW). I knocked a star off for the speed of service. It was slow. It took forever to get a menu and drink, but the waitress apologized. We counted 5 people working but 1 girl was actually bartending, serving, and hosting. It was strange, it explained the long delay. I had the ginger soda mocktail and it was excellent! The sandwich was hot and tasty and the fries were cooked perfectly! Great place to grab dinner in town. It looks like the nicest spot in the area! Would highly recommend!

Took a few days to think this one over... honestly, our experience really put a damper on the…read moreevening. Arrived at 6, we asked if we just grab a table outside and were told yes. Sat down and waited. And waited. And waited. The surrounding tables were being served drinks, food, being checked in on. Not one worker stopped by our table for 20 minutes, even when the literal table next to us was being served. I should also note we had no menus. To give them the benefit of the doubt, we wondered if we should have grabbed our own menu from the bar. The bartender seemed annoyed by our request for a menu, but success, we can finally peruse a menu while continuing to wait. Other people sat at an outdoor table and were brought water... while we continued to sit. After +20 minutes, a girl noticed us and asked if we had been helped. We said no and she immediately apologized and said she thought the other girl had us. Honest miscommunication. We placed our food and drink order, but then waited 10 more minutes for water. Finally, at about the 45 minute mark we finally had a cocktail. Phew. I should note that tables who sat after us received food and drink before us. Kind of disheartening to sit for so long and not even get our ordered bumped? Overall, spent $75 and nothing was comped or bumped to be expedited quicker. Really wanted to try another drink but it wasn't worth the time wasted or $$$.

SUPER friendly service!! The ladies working were so nice and so fast to help with anything we…read moreneeded. Loved the options of the books around the place - looks like a great place to hangout, grab some food, and hangout with friends! My guacamole toast was fine, nothing special but good for what it is! I had a simple iced almond milk latte. Would recommend if traveling through International Falls!

Slightly confusing on how the seating works when you walk in…read more.. I couldn't explain it again, so i won't try. The ordering process added to the confusion for me. Once you are past that.. it's a great place. As the name would suggest, there are books everywhere and that added to the overall fun of being there. Forgot what i had, but i enjoyed it. Really wanted to order a coffee for the road, but the line to order was pretty long.

Definitely check out the menu, they have so many options! It was very quiet here over 4th of July…read moreweekend so we didn't need a reservation. But they do take them. We ordered the ribeye dinner which comes with your choice of potato and vegetable (Excellent)! Seared scallops fettuccine with squid ink noodles (Excellent)! We were given a loaf of bread with butter before our meal. We each had soup with our dinners. My fettuccine dish was very large and was only able to eat half. Our service was great as well. Highly recommend!

I agree with previous comments about past service and food issues. But this visit was a delight!…read moreThey have a new menu and a new chef, and the food quality is significantly better. I had the fried chicken handheld, which was perfectly cooked with a delicious crunch. I could easily eat two! Highly recommend trying it.

We arrived on a Sunday at 11 & we were given the choice of ordering off the menu or having the…read morebrunch buffet. After taking a look at the buffet we tried that. First of all there was a nice large selection of options, some breakfast items & some lunch options with some unique options such as Scottish Eggs ( Hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage & deep fried ). Everything was hot and very good while the crew did a nice job of refilling the containers when they were empty or getting low. We absolutely will come back next time we are in the area.

Driving through town, we were looking for a place for lunch and maybe catch a few holes of the…read moreBritish Open. The Northern Divide is in a golf clubhouse. The atmosphere is very 'northern MN', fireplace, stone, log cabin walls,... very cozy. I chose the soup and salad lunch special. Soup was chicken and dumpling. It was robust and service nice and hot with oyster crackers. Bit salty though. The garden salad was good with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers (onions as well but a bit too many of those). Croutons were soft and would be much better if they were crispy. There were lots of sandwich choices and husband had the Club which was good and served with kettle chips. Nice lunch. Service was excellent. Beautiful views of the course from the clubhouse.

When I was a kid, we went to the South Switch all the time. Now I'm hundreds of miles away and…read moremiss their burgers constantly. The thought of a South Switch burger makes me sad that I don't live there any more. Next time I go up north, I'll have to make it a point to go there. Best burger in MN.

Good joint Good food Staff very friendly a recommendation for sure if your in the arearead more

Excellent meal with a beautiful view of the lake. Probably the best French Dip I've ever enjoyed…read more The wild rice soup was very good. Highly recommend.

We popped in for a celebratory beverage and had a great experience. The bugs were too bad to sit…read moreoutdoors so we grabbed a seat at the bar. The gentleman who served us was super knowledgeable and fun to watch prepare our cocktails. All fresh fruit syrups made in house - the cocktails were amazing. I loved the Lime Tea. An excellent experience and we'll 100% be back the next time we visit!

Well maintained, super friendly owners, and fun MN themed course. Ice cream, sodas and t-shirts in…read morethe shop. Clean bathroom. We will be back!

This was about forced family fun time. We were on a weekend get away with our teenager. The course…read morewas clean and staff were nice. We laughed, we had fun, and we'd return again!