Thirsty Turtle Brew and View Pub

My past experience here was a few years ago and it was not so good. When I heard there was a new owner I gave the Turtle another try this past weekend.
I will definitely be returning. The Hawaiian burger was very good, but could have used a little more seasoning. I ordered the burger medium, and it came out medium. The potato salad as a side was delicious, but more potato salad should be served as a side to a sandwich.
If you haven’t been here because of the way the previous owners ran things, give the new Turtle a try. If the burger was seasoned a little more and a bigger portion of potato salad served, it would be a 5 star review.

Very casual dining. Nice to enjoy basic food and the view of water. Menu is very limited but good. Craft beers are bottled but they had a few on draft that were good.

Definetley a bar type place, food was ok. The burgers were probably the best and I recommend string them. Prices were reasonable and the was nothing that really stood out. Plenty of boat parking. Our server was a bit slow and seemed like she didn’t want to be there. Cool little place to eat at but don’t expect anything amazing.

Great hidden secret on the chain. Had the siracha buffalo chicken wrap and it was spicy! Loved it. Plenty of outdoor seating available. Great even for kids and family.

There has been an unfortunate shift in this bar. Although it looks nicer now, the service was beyond slow. It took over an hour and a half to get our food. I ordered nachos, and they came with coagulated cheese that rivals Napoleon Dynamite’s microwaved snack. My husband only got the sausage and cheese cup. There really is no excuse for this. We have asked for our check twice, and it has been 20 minutes.
The wait staff keeps apologizing, and saying «They’re backed up.»
We used to come here weekly last summer. We won’t be returning.

It a very nice family oriented place to go for summer fun good food nice to eat on patio is the best see lake and beach boating and family picnicking very clean good service from restaurant to marine operation

I figured I would try this place since I had a gift certificate from
.
I ordered the breakfast angus burger with parmesan fries. The breakfast angus burger comes with cheese, bacon,& an egg all on a pretzel bun. The burger was very tasty & a bit messy from the egg. It was definitely different than a typical burger & tasted better also. The fries were the shoestring kind, I would have preferred them a bit thicker. The waitress Sandra was very upbeat & had refilled my drink very quickly. Highly recommend.

If I could give 0 stars I would. Went there last Saturday night and the service was terrible. We sat outside for 15 minutes without a server taking our order. The man waiting tables said he would be right out to take our order but he never showed up. He only had 3 tables to wait on! When we got up and left, he yelled over the deck railing at us as we were walking back to the dock. His exact word were, and mind you he yelled, «Where are you going? You know we are busy!» Yelling at your customer is unacceptable. This guy should be fired.
Also, they no longer offer their summer menu which had some unique items that were good. Now the current menu is very limited.
Save your money for some place else. There are much better places on the Chain.

The food is still good, service has improved. We’ve gone there several times this summer, much better experiences than last yr. But they have a new problem. Sundays they have a big crowd of people who hang out on their lawn partying and whatever. Anyway all that’s fine and good, have at it I say, but they run roughshot with their waverunners around Channel Lake, breaking boating laws and endangering people. Reckless, inconsiderate, discourteous bunch. We’ve seen the cops ticket/​arrest a few of them this year. There have been altercations with other patrons. They need to get rid of this crowd so the rest of the boating populus can enjoy the place. I feel they’re «taking over», as do many other boaters I’ve spoken with.

We really love the food here. The price is typical of the food served on the chain. The space to dock your boat is sufficient. We never had to wait for a space to tie off.
We sat at the bar when it was too hot to sit outside and the service was quick. The beer was cold and the food came out quickly. The food was really good, they got burgers served on a pretzel bun. Yummy.
We sat outside a couple of times and the service was much slower. A family sat across of us came just after us. We were being waited on (though slowly), but this family was not. They just got up and left after they received their water (they received nothing else). I don’t blame them. It was quite noticeable that they weren’t being served, but I don’t know why.
We will come back again, a really nice place to stop and have a bite to eat and drink a cold beer.

The food looked good, too bad we didn’t get to try any. You would assume a restaurant/​bar on the lake with a huge deck would have ample outdoor seating to maximize their sales during the summer season when people want to be outside. Wrong. This place has a beautiful huge deck with minimal tables with tons of extra «dead space» left on the patio. Here’s hoping the management reads this review and invests in some more outdoor seating before next season. We stopped by over the weekend and left because we didn’t want to sit inside in the strange, old fashioned dining room. Several other boating groups did the same thing. (Bar area is nice, but dark and set back from the lake a bit.) Bottom Line– Snag a an outdoor table early in the day to enjoy this place!

The Thirsty Turtle has recently been re-​modeled and in the process is more bright and inviting (see pics). Their dining area is also re-​modeled and can be reserved for private parties and events. Catering for your event is also available.
The Thirsty Turtle’s bar area has Five HD TVs, including a really big screen TV, plus plenty of space unlike some sports bars that seem too crowded.
There is a pool table, Internet jukebox, two outdoor volleyball courts and a bag toss area. The bar also sports a huge deck area overlooking beautiful Channel Lake (In the Illinois Chain of Lakes).
Fun drink specials such as «Build your own Bloody Mary» add to the party atmosphere.
Try their Angus Beef burger (Hickory smoked for 14 hours before cooking), «My Girlfriend’s Burger» (served on a pretzel roll!), the olive and feta cheese burger or the turkey BLT club burger (more than enough for the hungriest appetite).
The salads here are top notch too– far better than you would expect in the typical «Beach Bar».