Evergreen Restaurant

Stayed in the Grand Ely Lodge to get out of town. Loved the lodge. And the restaurant was in a beautiful setting within the lodge. I expected but also didn't expect more from the food. A Small town in Minnesota probably doesn't have chefs that have worked in high-end restaurants. I ordered the steak topped with shrimp and parmesan. The shrimp is obviously not going to be fresh. It's what should you expect in this area. But it also was not a high quality product. The steak was medium well even though I ordered it medium rare. I did make the server aware yet she laughed and did nothing about it. No discount no new steak. Nothing. Then she proceeded to tell us how she shouldn't have got drunk before work. Thought she was being funny but her service lacked because of it I believe. Anyways, worth of visit. My girlfriend liked her walleye and we enjoyed being there overall.

Ps. The dirty martini was delicious yet lacking olives. One olive. Come on. I need three at least.

We stayed in the lodge for 4 days and ate here for dinner 3 out of 4 days. We really wanted to like this place but we were just disappointed. The first day we had amazing appetizers. The stuffed crab mushrooms and chicken wild rice soup were amazing! We ate breakfast here 3 out of 4 days as well and the breakfast was awesome every day!

Unfortunately, that was it though sadly. Au gratin potatoes, stuffed walleye, steak, curly fries, pasta, fried clams, fried shrimp, they all lacked seasoning. Not to mention the fat on the steak wasn't even rendered. We ordered the chicken wild rice soup 3 times. The first night was great, the second night tasted just ok, and by night 3 you could tell the soup was simply "leftovers." Fried clams lacked actual clams and was mostly breading. Fried shrimp again had no seasoning.

The staff were always the greatest though. Super friendly, attentive, just awesome people!

The view of the lake is quite breathtaking this time of year. Fridays and Saturdays I would highly recommend reservations as it's quite busy and they fill up.

You may be asking if we didn't like dinner then why did we keep going? Well unfortunately, this time of year in Ely, hardly anything is open in town unless you want Subway or Domino's every day.

Like I said, due to the staff and the views and breakfast, we really wanted to like this place. But after trying almost half their menu, we unfortunately were left disheartened.

Highly recommend this place for breakfast, the atmosphere, the staff, along with the views. But food-wise for dinner could be a lot better.

Thank you for having us and being so sweet to our family. You have a great set of staff!

Our server Kimberly told us the wild rice soup was what they were known for, and after getting a cup, I totally understand why. It is that good. Everything our group had was delicious. Our server was great. The view from the dining room was nice.

Wow, very, very tasty and yummy food. We ordered buffalo wild wings , Thai chicken salad, and chicken burgers, juice, and tea. Excellent view 👌