CHAR Craft Steaks at Grand View Lodge

Jennifer Petrie

Nice place. A little more spendy than the average Brainerd area steakhouse I think but still will return for special occasions. Good service and atmosphere.

Ashley Gemar

One of the best dining experiences we have had in a LONG time! The food was incredible. The ambiance was wonderful. And the staff was fantastic (including the Chef who was a delight to talk to)!

Molly Price

Service was great, food was not. We ordered a really expensive steak dinner special and it made us both sick. Was super fatty and chewy, and tasted off. I rarely write google reviews, but was so disappointed by the food experience, felt I should. Only reason I'm giving 2 stars is our waitress was so great.

David Dubé

If you're reading reviews just post COVID you'll hear a mix of things. You should be aware that in the months of re-opening things are often up-in-the-air for how it'll go down. Note, not all restaurants are open to capacity and even with openings many have half or limited staffing to support all the patrons. Here's my take on much of it along with our experience at CHAR. (Any negative experiences that might occur while dining out usually leads to the rest of the expectations to deteriorate.) While on vacation we decided to find a good steak joint. Found CHAR on google and decided to make reservations. Shortly thereafter we arrived at Grand View and made our way to the Main Lodge where CHAR is located (took us awhile to figure that out lol). When inside, we did wait a short while for the host to arrive but were seated promptly once the host appeared. Upon sitting we noticed they were quite busy and during the time of others around us were being served we had already decided on everything we wanted (drinks and food). After about 8 minutes we were finally greeted by Jenny, whom apologized for the wait. She took our drink and food orders and headed off. We received our drinks about 10 minutes later after seeing several other tables receive their food - this was due to fewer than normal staff members and the overwhelming number of guests. Not long after, however, we received our amazing meals; Whole Roast Prime Rib, Lobster pasta, 7oz Filet of Beef, Salmon Special, and the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad. For sides we got the Minn Wild Rice Pilaf, Boursin Mac & Cheese, and the Wild Mushrooms. I personally had the Filet, all the sides and tried the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad. When it comes to the food, I have to say it was AMAZING! The ahi salad dressing was on the spicy side for those who don't like the heat, it may be too much, but I thought it was delicious. The filet, though, was by far the best steak I've had since eating at Delmonico's in NYC. To eat a steak that's to be compared to Delmonico's is saying a lot - go ahead and read about Delmonico's, you'll see. After the main course we ordered deserts. One was the Tres Laches, another a chocolate brownie/cake (more like a fudge) and the Tiramisu, all of which I tried. They were all good but in my opinion, the best by far was the Tiramisu. As I write this now I crave another piece! - I should mention that the chocolate brownie/cake was actually gifted to us by our sever Jenny because of the amount of time she felt we were left waiting - we didn't really feel that way due to the circumstances but we weren't going pass up on a free dessert either. Overall, the experience was great. Really the delay from being seated to having our orders taken was a bit longer than normal and the wait for our drinks after placing our order was longer than we'd have liked… yet after that we had zero service issues or time delays. Beyond those two minor things, everyone I was with was more than joyed we selected CHAR as the restaurant to attend. The service is good and the food is EXCELLENT! We will definitely be returning in the future and we hope to see you there!