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Bar & grill Bar Breakfast restaurant Cocktail bar Lunch restaurant RestaurantDescription
Welcome to the Thirsty Otter! Thirsty Otter is a bar and restaurant with a spectacular full menu, full bar, outside patio bar, indoor dining area as well as a large patio dining area.
We feature the famous Otter Burger along with many other delicious menu items, weekly dinner specials, and of course our fabulous drinks!
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Reviews
Jonathan Kuntz
★ 5
Source: Google
Holly S
★ 5
I’ve eaten at The Thirsty Otter a few times now, and the food never disappoints—but the walleye sandwich is hands down my favorite. I’ve had it twice and it’s just as good every time—perfectly cooked, lightly breaded, and full of flavor. You can tell it’s fresh and made with care, not just another frozen fish sandwich.
The atmosphere is exactly what you want from a lakeside spot—casual, fun, and welcoming whether you’re coming in by car or boat. The staff is friendly, service is quick, and the drinks hit the spot after a day on the lake.
If you haven’t been yet, go for the view and stay for the walleye sandwich. It’s easily one of the best meals I’ve had in the area!
Source: Google
Colin Cassin
★ 5
Great cheese curds!
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Kathy Asmussen
★ 4
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Ralph Holbrook
★ 5
Great food! Good prices. Great service - Thanks Sydney!
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Howard Bell
★ 4
One of the best places to sit, enjoy an adult beverage and take in the lake. Food is good but you’re here for the lake.
Source: Google
Joshua huppert
★ 5
Source: Google
katie kreidler
★ 1
If I could rate them a zero, I would. Probably the worst service I've experienced at a restaurant ever. Servers are inattentive. Had to find someone after we sat for awhile. Had to constantly get up to get refills on water, pop. Server was forgetful. Once our food got to the table server never came back...had to go find her again. Tables not bussed. Food was not good. Low quality. Burger didn't even taste like red meat. Was cooked like a hockey puck. Chicken Philly was all bread with a few chunks of overcooked chicken breast. Floors were sticky. Ughh....will never be back. Only saving grace is you can see a little slice of Balsam Lake as it sits in a bay.
Source: Google
Kristin A.
★ 1
Waited 15-20 minutes with no service. I had to ask the bartender for menus and still no one came over to help us. Very disappointed!
Source: Google
Cocaine “Coke” Gallmeyer
★ 5
This was our 2nd time having dinner here and we absolutely love the food and the friendly atmosphere. The beautiful view from the deck is a bonus. Friendly staff and great food. Recommend trying it out. We'll definitely be returning soon.
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Brad Wester
★ 5
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john guider
★ 5
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Shari Š
★ 3
Lobster/shrimp “street” taco was flavorless and greasy. They were flour rolled up soft shells and no one could eat them. Atmosphere is great. Service was fine.
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Beverly Fanello
★ 5
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Patrick Sura
★ 4
Fun place at lake
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Korte Muhle
★ 3
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Christine Drew
★ 5
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Paige Olson
★ 5
Super cool tiki bar on the lake! Cheers!
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Whit Fackler
★ 5
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Karen Boatman
★ 5
Great food and service. They even made me an Olive 🫒 burger and it's not on the menu.
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Stephani Henson
★ 4
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Ann Zimmer
★ 1
Terrible service. Waited 1 1/2 hours for our food. Food never came. Waitress checked us one time and never came back. After waiting 1 1/2 hours we left without eating. The manager came running after us saying we did not pay our tab. We had a Diet Coke and a beer. There was no on to pay! Don’t waste your time!!
Source: Google
Byron Jelen
★ 5
Relaxing, entertaining, cost effective way to spend an evening.
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Wayne Smith
★ 4
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Lois Dalaska
★ 3
Great place to go and sit outside. Wait staff was cute and friendly but forgot to get my fries with my sandwich, didnt see her after our food came and could of had alot of tables. Mediocre experience. Have been there before will probably go again . Bloody marys weren't the best either. No salt on glass as they were plastic. No glass on patio.
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Jordan Flagstad
★ 5
Stopped in for a quick refresh with a group. They weren't quite ready to open but opened up to help us out. Thanks!
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Victoria Beussman
★ 5
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J Trehtel
★ 3
The food and the view are absolutely outstanding.The service is lacking.It took us an hour to get our food after we ordered and we had to go get our own drinks at the bar because the server never came back.
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Nick Wilcox
★ 4
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Jay Zamzow
★ 5
Great food, good atmosphere!! Stop in and enjoy!
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Eric Kube
★ 5
Sat on the patio. Great service I love that you can make an appetizer into a basket for $3
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Peter Breimhorst
★ 5
Waterfront view is beautiful. Food was great, service too!
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Mike Bowen
★ 1
Horrible service
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fishconsin Lange
★ 5
Best fish fry in the area, bartenders are cute, friendly and people have fun!
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Kevin McGuire
★ 3
We rode the motorcycle in, sat out front looking at the lake. We were 10 minutes to 4 and our waitress was done at 4. Our replacement waitress was not very observant, she didn’t come back to see how we were doing till we had just a couple bites left. Drinks were empty. My wife went to the bathroom and she said everyone just stared at her inside. So I went, and it was really weird, all eyes were looking at me. Just very strange and uncomfortable. Must be a bunch of locals. We will go elsewhere.
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josh franklin
★ 4
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jodi dehn
★ 5
Love this place. Really good Bloody's. Generous portions. One of our favorite places when out on the bike.
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Laura Whittet
★ 2
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Sandra Johnson
★ 1
Horrible. Food took a very long time to get, the bartender was drunk. Drinks got weak
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Lance
★ 1
Do you like a extra tuff "spicy"chicken sandwich? How about a flavorless cuban sandwich? Super duper extra salty waffle fries? Or maybe even a server that never checks on your table? How about having a 15 minute wait to get your bill? Then this is the place for you. At least my bottle of corona sunbrew was good.
That's why it's called the "thirsty otter" not the "hungry otter".
#microwaved
#flavorless
Source: Google
Raymond Wold
★ 5
I enjoyed the space and the food very much, thank you.
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Justin Warner
★ 4
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Jeremy Anderson
★ 4
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Jordan Averbeck
★ 1
This place is going downhill. I used to love the servers but don't recognize anyone anymore.
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Nicole, Ben and the ZOO!!
★ 1
Food takes forever, and extremely over priced.
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Daniel Woolson
★ 5
Closest atmosphere to a beachside bar in the Caribbean.
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David Johnson
★ 5
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Chuck Norris
★ 5
Great place. Great service
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Correct Decks
★ 5
All you can eat ribs! Thursdays are something to look forward to again!
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Rachelle Ireland
★ 5
Friday night fish fry is delicious 😋 Generous portions and quality is spot on. Service and atmosphere is cozy and friendly ✨️
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Steve Connors
★ 5
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Gregory Runk
★ 5
Great bar, with good food.
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Michelle Hamilton
★ 5
So fun!!
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captain burks
★ 5
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Jeff Hartman
★ 5
The walleye sandwich was amazing. We will return during warmer weather to enjoy the patio.
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Kellie Meisner
★ 4
Nice on the lake.
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Christina Hipenbecker
★ 5
Service is always amazing, no matter the season, and they have a very large selection of food/beverage choices.
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DENUCCI OUTDOORS
★ 4
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Ashley Kammerude
★ 5
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cole “ratman” Ratajczak
★ 4
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Michael Mechelke
★ 4
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Ted O
★ 4
My favorite place in Balsam Lake. The outdoor seating is what keeps me coming back. It would be nice if there were more options for vegetarians. If you offered Impossible burgers or beyond meat for my vegetarian wife, I could eat there even more often!
Source: Google
Charena DuCharme
★ 5
We've stopped in the past during the summer on our bike for a break. We only ordered beverages and a snack which were great.
Yesterday, we stopped for lunch. WOW! The food was fantastic! The bartender/server was so friendly, attentive, and gave great suggestions. We ordered the Signature Otter Burger (w/ Waffle fries which were a lil' too salty but good & Seasoned Sour Cream and also had the Chicken Tenders (w/ Buffalo & Ranch sides). YUM! Highly Recommend!
Thank-you so much for the yummy lunch! 👍
Source: Google
Carlene Johnson
★ 5
Huge proportions!!! I had the walleye sandwich. I love the outdoor space in the summertime. I liked it when they had booths inside better and separate bathrooms v. Unisex. New owners as of June they really jacked the prices up. Waitress smelled like pot like skunk. They don't serve lunch until 11:30 not kidding. Only breakfast so had to to sit to order lunch for 35 minutes just to place an order. Also, they need to change the fryer grease badly. I was there 2 months ago and same problem. Fries and tots very greasy. I used to love this place & went there for Valentine's Day, but had gotten really expensive like Minnesota restaurants. Made me wonder if the owner isn't from there. The beer prices and drink was like Minnesota prices. Lunch for 2 should not be $63.00. I will try it again someday see if improvements have been made. Docs has great food and reasonable with an outdoor patio just not on the lake.
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Monty Grinager
★ 4
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Justin
★ 4
This place is fun and lots going on in the summer months, and you can boat there. Yes, the boat there has docks, that's merica. Good food and drinks and relaxing and couple slots and that damn quarter game it always gets me.
Source: Google
Kevin Kall
★ 1
Update to below review. Pay attn to food quality. Previous review gave 4+ stars. not same today.
I don't write this to scare you off. You should always go try the food yourself. But maybe use some discretion.
This place has new owner, which means in reality all reviews should be disregarded. As owners change, so maybe does staff and food quality, both in good way or bad. Getting to the bud, the owner may have kept the cook.
Last time I went hear was a few weeks back. Not sure if they still have it, they served chicken and beef with gravy. This "special" costed and may still cost $15. It consisted of something meat-like put between two slices of raw bread and gravy SMOTHERING it. Does this owner hate customers?
You may cook beef yourself, which is tender and flakey. This was hard and thinly sliced stacked up in maybe 6 to 8 slices. It was not that kind of beef but maybe a type of Salsbury steak or something. It was 100% lean, no fat, all the same brown color. Bread was normal. Also were mashed potatoes which were good. Gravy was fat-laden and it thickly covered the entire meal. If you lost your gallbladder, you know what will come next after consuming this. It was lukewarm as was also chicken gravy meal my friend ordered. $30 for these two. I could get 4 huge pizzas for that and they would last me over a week.
Also ordered $8 or $9 side of cheeze curds which would be hard to get wrong. Along with two drinks, 2 person meal cost over $50!! I've been to a few others you can see I reviewed. They could feed three people with decent food for a bit over $50.
Owner also bought place next door, Indianhead Support Club which was a real nice place to eat. See my review. I won't ever set foot in this or other ever again until another owner takes over of them both. Don't want to chance of wasting money there as well.
Granted, I could have complained and get meal free or something. I'm from MN, I have to be nice, no complaining. Server was very nice. Didn't want to upset them.
Last time place was busy/packed, was summertime. This time only two couples were there. Maybe word was out already.
All I have to say is imagine Chef Ramsey coming into your place. Would you put that special in front of him? sure, you may if you hate Chef Ramsey. Maybe instead you should serve top notch food and not something served in a prison not that I've ever been there.
as mentioned, I welcome everyone not to avoid Thirsty Otter and go order the special. See if my review matches yours.
They do have a canoe on ceiling and some things around on the walls. Decor reminded me of Tippy Canoes place in Osceola. That place can feed three for around $50 which you won't regret.
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Thirsty Otter is always busy for people like to collect and hang out with others. I went there with three people I know to discuss things we've covered before but over different menu choices.
This time I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich which was not your ordinary cheese sandwich with two slices of bread but had three slices with two different cheeses and chips which can be upgraded at a cost fries or waffle fries. We also ordered cheese curds which by restaurant standards seem to be a small amount.
The grilled cheese was grilled and cheesy. If you're looking for a grilled cheese there's a place on Highway 8 more Westward which was way better. Look for that review. The cheese curds were cheese curds just a small amount though seems like a half an order. I had the rest of someone else's waffle fries and those were very good the regular fries okay. The drink selection is standard bar Fair. Lemonade is some canned something which is nothing to write home about.
We sat outside and it was noisy even outside so if you're hard of hearing you may want to bring some hearing aids or sit close.
Never got a chance to look at the dessert menu it was never offered.
The waitress we had was very friendly and stopped by occasionally to refill drinks. Nothing was missed in the order which is what to expected.
Source: Google
Jennifer berning
★ 5
First time visiting and we will be back. My husband had the nachos. They had great flavor. I had the Bruschetta chicken sandwich which was very excellent!
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Lemuel Porter
★ 5
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joe jones
★ 4
The patio was beautiful. The service and food were excellent. The music was just added bonce.
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Michelle Nelson
★ 4
The menu is great. Love the view. The service was decent. It was a Sunday evening so.... The food was good. My only complaint is the blackened chicken breast was not the type I would consider blackened, BUT it was a big juicy chicken breast. I loved the pot stickers, and my partner finally got his club sandwich! We'll go back to try it again!
Source: Google
Charli King
★ 5
New owners since the last time I was there! It's much lighter and brighter. And the food was great! I love the ideas of daily specials. The new owner even came over to make sure we were enjoying our visit!
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Nick Smith
★ 5
Please bring back the original otter burger.
Edit: the original otter burger had wild rice and cream cheese in the middle.
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Michael Langlie
★ 4
Great spot on the patio to take in nature's beauty
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L Horgan
★ 5
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J C
★ 5
Definitely good place to go.
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Becky
★ 5
Perfect stop along a scenic drive for a meal by the lake. Great view and the staff are very friendly. Had the Otter burger and waffle fries and would definitely get it again.
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Brendan L
★ 5
Was actually suprised how good the food was. Burger was fresh and fries were hot! Overall great bar food and environment.
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Cathy P
★ 4
Sat on the patio which overlooks the lake. My food was excellent
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Ginny Zuercher
★ 5
The staff in this restaurant went above and beyond to get a large group seated on the patio. Service and food was great. Staff very friendly!
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Dan Olson
★ 5
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MELANIE VANGUNST
★ 5
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Kerry Koepp
★ 5
Good food, good service
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Chris Devine
★ 5
Awesome patio overlooking the lake! Great service and great bar food!
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Roxana Lopez-Elowson
★ 1
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Amber White
★ 1
We went for breakfast on Saturday July 6th. We know it's a holiday and they are busy, however after not getting our food after 2 hours we told our waitress, who was great, to cancel our order. She went to tell the kitchen and we could see her getting yelled at. When she came back out she said she couldn't cancel it because they started making it but couldn't tell us how much longer. She went to get her manager. Her manager looked at our table and walked the other way. People who arrived an hour after us were getting their food. The waitress was great, but the other staff was terrible and unprofessional.
Thank you for your response but we did not receive any food so she did not comp anything. We paid for our drinks and left as well another large party.
Thank you to the owner for talking to some of the people in my party. His willingness to have the conversation and make everything right was very kind and professional.
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Albin Peterson
★ 5
Super!
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Susan Runquist
★ 5
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Jodi stoik
★ 5
Good variety of menu options, fair prices, and friendly staff
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Jessi Glaser
★ 5
Great food, fun music and friendly staff. We heard about this and decided to check it out, we'll be back!
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Travis Neisen
★ 3
This place is a great place to stop by next to the lake with good food and the best Wisconsin cheese curds. However, I don't like the atmosphere of bars, but that's just a personal nit-pick of mine. The service was mediocre, not too fast or slow.
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AI BOT OF RREDFLGS
★ 4
Not bad
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Lori DIECKMAN
★ 3
blackened cajun chicken was a chicken breast with some bland seasoning sprinkled on it not flavorful at all ,they add surcharge if you use your credit card, always makes me wonder what will happen when we go to a cashless society
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Michael Fournier
★ 3
Great atmosphere, very friendly bar tender. Food was ok, my chili was lukewarm and had celery in it. My wife said her chicken sandwich was good.
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Joleen Lanjevin
★ 5
Nothing like sitting on the deck on a gorgeous day
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Mackenzie Hoffman York
★ 5
Went to the otter for a drink after a long day of work, the bartender Kris was phenomenal and also got my food out to me so quick, the cowboy bites are a must try. 10/10 would recommend stopping in I know I’ll be back for sure.
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Ethan Tyler
★ 5
Great service! That dude Kris is baller! Much love!
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Camryn Hanson
★ 5
Great food and crowd! The bartender was super kind and entertaining to his customers. Cowboy bites were amazing!!!
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Ken Lewis
★ 4
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Justin Peterson
★ 1
I had dinner with my family at the Thirsty Otter tonight.
They weren’t overly busy and we were willing to wait for an outside table so we asked inside about wait time, etc. The inside bartender was rude and of no help.
Within our party of ten, three orders were made incorrectly. One person (with a shellfish allergy) was told to order a salad because the kitchen wouldn’t use a separate pan to cook him a burger. And another person’s shrimp was served to them raw. Fried, breaded shrimp that was completely uncooked inside.
The waitress apologized for the mistakes and she was tipped, it wasn’t her fault. But overall a really disappointing experience in customer service, food quality, etc.
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kevin nygaard
★ 5
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Stephanie Harling
★ 2
I wanted to have a great birthday lunch for our granddaughter but waiting over 10 minutes to be served and over an hour for our food is very disappointing. Our waitress checked on us once. Atmosphere is great but we will not be returning.
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Rick Brusewitz
★ 4
Very good food. Extremely busy. Waitstaff couldnt keep up.
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Michael McGreevey
★ 5
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Denise Evert
★ 5
Jordan is the best !!!!!
We love Chris too but I mean really it’s Jordan she dbomb
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Jordan Meierhofer
★ 5
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Eric Semborski
★ 4
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Pam Sherrard
★ 5
Good service, good food! The patio has great lake views.
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eric eichelt
★ 5
I have eaten here many times. The food is always excellent, the service is always great, and you can’t beat the atmosphere.
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Stephen Butenhoff
★ 5
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Maynard Jacobson
★ 5
It was a Saturday so the patio was kinda busy, but the weather was nice, so we expected it to be busy. The shrimp skewers were amazing, and so was the patty melt.
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Betty Gunderson
★ 5
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Candy Wheaton
★ 3
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Parker Mattsen
★ 5
Only had drinks tonight and watched Timberwolves with the boys but it was cheaper than MN, definitely going to stop by and have food in a couple months when I'm back in Wisc.
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Jane Gudim
★ 4
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Alan Bergman
★ 4
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Bill&Lynne
★ 5
Great view, great service, great food! (I requested my walleye without the bun, & it was yummy!)
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Dane Watrud
★ 4
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D. Thomas Griep
★ 5
I little short staffed like everywhere else.
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Kenny Miller
★ 5
Great stop for food and drink in Balsam Lake. Beautiful new patio overlooking the lake!
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Marlo Fritz
★ 4
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Monica Bernd
★ 5
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Ruth Ernat
★ 5
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Treven Gearhart
★ 5
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DJ
★ 5
The Otter Burger is the BEST and so is their Bloody Mary. They never disappoint. I'd go every week if I lived closeby!
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Nene Heider
★ 4
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Jazzy
★ 5
Excellent Bloody Mary!
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Shelly Stowell
★ 5
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Carrie Van Genderen
★ 5
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Tiffany Emerson
★ 4
Went for breakfast and drinks with friends and we were very pleased. Food and drinks were both really good. Bartender/server was pleasant and efficient. Definitely would recommend!
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Michael Goossen
★ 5
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Austin Housh
★ 5
This bar has always been a great summer spot to stop at. Feel free to pop by when in the area its got a great vibe!
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Reba Bryant
★ 5
Always friendly staff and food is amazing! Hubby loves the bloody mary and the outside patio overlooking the water is a beautiful view!
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Chase Hancock
★ 5
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Mary May
★ 5
Wonderful staff. Only pizza served tonight though.
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Daniel Johnson
★ 2
Few menu options. My wife's cheese curds were burnt and solidified. Waitress never brought the coffee I ordered. Football Sunday and all but one TV were on college sports ESPN U.
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Jess Santiago
★ 5
Super stoked to have stopped at this spot. We celebrated a wedding the night before and needed a little hair of the dog. Breakfast was delicious. The drinks did not disappoint. Our bartender was awesome. Extremely patient with our drunk (and obnoxiously charming) friend, but also fully open to a little bit of back and forth banter with him and our party. Highly recommend.
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Thomas Owens
★ 5
Two Mondays in a row. Great getaway from the cities.
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Punished64
★ 4
Good food, as most places are, they are short on staff.
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Jason Franzen
★ 5
Nice atmosphere.great waitresses. Food was great.fair price.
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Ray Huffman
★ 5
Got the Friday fish fry,very good and more than enough food.Tiffany was our waitress,she just started, she's very personable and making sure you have drinks,great experience.
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Jeff Skarda
★ 4
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Chris Peltz
★ 5
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CMT
★ 4
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ManOpeace
★ 5
Hell yeah
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Jim Rieck
★ 1
Fried burnt food!
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Christopher Gaiovnik
★ 5
Awesome everything!
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Andrew Leverenz
★ 5
Excellent stop on bike ride
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Dan Hendren
★ 5
Tricky nikki. BEST BARTENDER EAST OF THE ST CROIX River
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Andrea Smith
★ 5
Had a great night of Bingo and a beautiful sunset. The crowd there was fun, and the staff.super fun!
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Jan Johnson
★ 5
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Dan Andersen
★ 4
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Kenneth Bencker
★ 3
Our party of 4 waited over 30 minutes just to get our appetizers (it did not seem busy at all). The cowboy bites and the brewhouse bites apps were really good! We ordered a reuben w/waffle fries and seasoned sour cream, a mushroom & swiss burger w/waffle fries and seasoned sour cream , a bacon cheeseburger w/fries and a philly w/kettle chips. We didn't get pickles with our food like it states in the menu. Of the 4, I wouldn't recommend the mushroom and swiss as it was a little bland. Also, I don't know what they put in their seasoned sour cream, but it was not good (none of us liked it at all). Our daughter's boyfriend lives nearby and goes here a lot and he was very surprised by how slow the service was.
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Phil Leibfried
★ 5
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Ted Ricci
★ 2
Food was good but it took 30 minutes to get our app, then an 45 minutes later we were talking led they lost our order.30-45 minutes later 3 of our 4 dinners showed up, I had to wait15 more minutes for my food. Good food but poor run in my opinion. They did take 20% off but not how we wanted to spend our ENTIRE evening. Not sure if I would ever go back or recommend it.stay away from patio if you don’t like cigarette smoke while you eat.
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Crystal Huffstutlar
★ 5
Even though it was a crazy busy day and they were short staffed, the food was well worth the short wait. And the server was excellent!
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Judy Foster
★ 3
For individuals who like to sit on /at high tables and chairs or on an outdoor patio its a good place. However we waited for abot 10 minutes for the waiter to bring us menus and were told itcwould be 1 1/2 to get our food. So we left.
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Ron Rudquist
★ 5
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earl erdenberger
★ 5
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Cindy McDermond
★ 5
We were there for the Tuesday night shrimp special on a beautiful night on the patio. They were really busy and short staffed as almost all places seem to be these days. We were still treated to good service. A bit slower than normal, but we understood how busy they were. Food was great as usual and our server was very nice.
Source: Google
Victoria Heichel
★ 4
Had the taco bowl! I had the option of chicken or beef, the chicken did not disappoint! Yummy!
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Barbara Lunde
★ 5
Mandy was a great server! Food was delicious. We will be back.
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Susan Rudquist
★ 5
Beautiful place to spend a summer afternoon with friends and good food. 👍
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Kristen Jakobitz
★ 3
My family visited for the first time on a Saturday for dinner and won't do that again. Food service took 2 hours! On top of that, the two people who had ordered their burgers medium got them well done. We won't be rushing back.
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Frank Biagi
★ 5
Great atmosphere good food at a reasonable price.
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brad horning
★ 5
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Christopher Wilson
★ 1
Been to the Otter often over the years. The last couple of times the service has drastically diminished. Tonight we waited over 25 minutes on a refresh of our drinks. We had to finally walk up to the bar to request additional drinks. Our dinner was supposed to be out quickly and we have been waiting an hour since we ordered. It will be a while before we come back.
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Jim Reeve
★ 5
This is a nice stop overlooking the lake. The service was great. She was taking care of the outdoor patio and bar.
The food was delicious, I had the Walleye Sandwich. Plus they have a nice selection of beers too.
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matt baker
★ 4
Loved the deck and view, some drunk patrons chain smoking wasn't ideal when eating with kids but was a nice flashback to the 80s as a kid. Service was fantastic and food was great.
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Doug Ahmann
★ 3
Somewhat disappointing first visit to this place. Wanted to love it, because the location is amazing. Kris the bartender was on top of things, but the kitchen let him down. The food was warm’ish when it arrived after a LONG wait. My sirloin was tasty but tough, and the jumbo shrimp were really good. But they would have been excellent if they were hot. Had tots because they ran out of baked potatoes. Tots weren’t fully cooked. My buddy had wings, and said they were very dry and not much flavor. Also very small.
If you’re a smoker, this is probably the place for you. Unfortunately, it was very uncomfortable for us non-smokers sitting outside at the bar with all the smoking up wind across from us. For that alone, I probably wouldn’t go back. But maybe that’s the crowd the owners are going for. It’s still a free country! Good luck Thirsty Otter. And keep up the great attitude Kris.
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Mary Ahmann
★ 3
Kris was a top notch bartender!
What I didn’t like was the smokers at the bar. Really? This is a beautiful location. Beautiful bar. Fun environment. Cool little stage. Why do they have to tarnish it with cigarettes? Weird.
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John Falzone
★ 5
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Barry Peterson
★ 5
Fun place to stop for a drink. They have minnow races in the summer during the 4th of July weekend.
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Ted Snaza
★ 5
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Reg Destree
★ 4
Food was good and price was great. Service was a bit slow, but they were very busy. Just happy they had a seat.
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David Mowry
★ 5
Waitress and staff were awesome. Food was really good to.
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Nicholas Bickford
★ 4
Hello to everyone near or far that has come to Wisconsin, either driving through or just boating through welcome to the Thirsty Otter.
If you are looking for a Good place to meet up with friends or family, then this is a great Spot to enjoy good food and drinks with live music on certain days. Besides the parking lot being almost always packed, it's a good time to just sit back and enjoy people's company. If you are in Wisconsin you have to get the cheese curds it's a staple and a must of this state. The burgers are good but what makes it even better is their bourbon sauce on the side, everything tastes better that way. Everything was delicious and as it should be for a restaurant. If you are driving through the town of balsam, stop in and grab yourself a bite to eat you won't regret it.
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Deb Courts-Brown
★ 4
We just stopped in for a little bit, but the server was super friendly. It was nice to be outside by the water. We hope to come back sometime and try the food.
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ted vittori
★ 5
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JOE AUBIN
★ 5
Really enjoyable place.
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Kathy Grubbs
★ 5
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Jamie Sellers
★ 5
We had dinner, I had the salad with steak and my steak was cooked perfectly. My fiance had the otter Burger which he said was great. We played bingo it was a really fun atmosphere and the employees were really engaging! Will be back again for sure!
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Greg Sheehan
★ 5
Great lake side patio! I will be back...
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Mike Nelson
★ 5
Always a great time. Nice young lady singing. She was great!!
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Megan Sarchet
★ 5
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Roger DeSpiegelaere
★ 4
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Chad Reynolds
★ 5
Fabulous little lake bar and grill. Great food and great outdoor bar! Highly recommended!
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Daniel Chilefone
★ 5
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Kelly Waterman
★ 5
Walleye Sandwich, the only thing I ever order and will always order because it’s SSSSOOOO GOOD! I’ve only been here during the lunch hour, which sometimes can be fairly busy but I would imagine more busy in the evenings and weekends. Wait staff is friendly, busy, and informative that they’ll be right over (and she was!). Food came out fast, same with the bevies. Overall, love this place and the setting. Will always be back for the walleye, maybe I should try something else… maybe not :-)
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Austin Rodrigues
★ 5
First time back this year for their ‘Walleye sandwich with chips (fries)’ and we were not disappointed. Visited at lunchtime and it was not too busy, great service and no mosquitoes. Definitely recommended if you want a delicious freshly made meal.
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Tim Car
★ 3
What happened to the Otter? There used to be an otter mascot.
Great eggs benedict!
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Phillip Vaughn
★ 5
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Gary Hager
★ 5
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Jill Haarsma
★ 5
Fantastic meal -- order the Otter Burger, you won't be disappointed! Cheese curds are great, too!
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Laura Wistrcill
★ 4
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Mary Stokes
★ 2
The Thursday night Rib special are delicious 😋... the sweet potato fries are very good also
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Heidi Borel
★ 5
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Allison
★ 5
Oh gosh, where do i even start? The food has been great every visit and we tend to visit a lot! The bloody's are great and the mojito's are refreshing. The atmosphere and bar are fun and tropical. Overall a wonderful restaurant with wonderful staff! Have fun trying to spot the hidden otter :)
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Tom Boe
★ 5
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G K
★ 5
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