The Boathouse Cafe

I’m so sad to say it, because I wanted to love this place, but it was awful. It’s in such a great location, so at least we had something pretty to look at while waiting more than 20 minutes for our lemonades, but man. I’d like to give it another shot, but this place was a joke when I visited. There was only one other table there and lots of staff, but I had to ask a second time for our drinks after waiting about 20 minutes for them, and we still waited a while longer after that. The food was nothing I’d ever come back for either. We asked for our check, and waited another 20 – 30 minutes before anyone finally emerged with that. The wait staff was very friendly, but it couldn’t make up for how unbelievably slow everything was.

Beautiful location, delicious food. AWESOME burger!

Holy shit! What is going on in this place??? I live near by and have been in half a dozen times now and for the life of me can not figure out why it takes a minimum of 30 minutes to get breakfast. Especially when there are only a handful of customers. Every Goddamn time I have to ask for the butter/​jam that is clearly on the menu. No salt/​pepper on the table (i wouldn’t need if the cooks seasoned the food) You also must ask for ketchup/​hot sauce (also wouldn’t ned if the food had any flavor) All I want to do is get some breakfast here people!!! just came from there and I’m so fucking livid right now I can hardly put my thoughts into words. 2 eggs, potatoes, toast with butter and jam and a goddamn iced coffee! I order the same thing every time and getting it is like pulling teeth! hour and a half we were there today! They didn’t charge us for our coffee but my guess is she fucking forgot. Like everyone else in the hood, we were excited about having something besides a taqueria to choose from and I have been patient and given it multiple chances, but after today thats it, I’m done. They say that 90% of restaurants close in the first year… and this is the perfect example of why. People with zero restaurant knowledge opening one and fucking it up! Great location, practically captive audience, and they will fail. The menu has no real focus, the cooks are hacks, the staff have had zero training and the owners have no leadership skills. Selling someone elses doughnuts is not a business plan that will carry them through the lean times. Good luck ladies… your gunna need it!

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when I came here one morning while walking my dog. I had heard about it and decidedly to give it a try. I got the ham egg and cheese breakfast sandwich which came with a nice side of fruit. I was afraid it was going to be the typical humboldt park omelette sandwich, which grew up on/​love, but am a little tired of. This was a nice runny sunnyside egg on a slice of ham on a nice roll. Was awesome. Definitely gonna come back and give the rest of their menu a try. Overall im happy that this spot has a real menu rather than halfassing the food and relying on the cool location.

Since this place just opened I dont like to have too high of expectations but I must say the food was great! Now, there is more to a place then food alone and where they need to step it up is the service. I would have to give it 1 or 2 stars for service but being new, I dont want to ruin its overall rating. We waited around 10 mins before someone came and asked, ‘do you know what you want’ — I just dont understand what happened to some people in the service industry. no, ‘welcome’ or ‘is it your first time here?’… or ANYTHING besides what you get asked when you want up to the counter at McDonalds. This is not fast food, so I expect to as very least be welcomed and perhaps told about the food, etc. I do not think this is too much to ask. Even at most fast food joints they at least say, Welcome to Subway!
Once we ordered, the food took a while but whatever, the scenery was nice. but she never came around again to ask how it was or if we needed anything else. After a while of being done eating we had to flag her down for the check and she didnt even ask if we enjoyed, etc. Just a poor showing to a couple of really smiley fun loving patrons.
Anyway, the salmon was great as well as the veggie burger. so we will let these guys get organized and def make it back.
It’s got probably the best view in the city outside of downtown rooftops or beach view restaurants… you just cant beat the beautiful oasis that is the Humboldt lagoon.

This place gets 3.5 stars.
5 stars — view, ambiance
3.5 stars — food
2 stars — service — friendly but slow
We had brunch around noon on a Saturday with our two year old. We ate outside because of the gorgeous weather and the ability for our squirmy toddler to run around. It was not busy by any means, but the service was slow and inefficient. Lots of tables around us had not been cleared.
We ordered our food, asked for water. Water did not come until the food came, which took about 20 minutes. Kind of a long wait considering it was not crowded. A couple sat down near us, and they left after 10 minutes because no one came to their table to serve them.
When the food finally came, it was good, but not great. I had an omelette, which was $ 12. It did not taste like a $ 12 omelette. The jam and toast which came with were actually quite nice. After we were nearly done with our meal, our waiter came to tell us about the donut specials. I would have rather heard about these before I ordered and ate my meal, but whatever. Maybe they consider donuts dessert.
They only have 3 high chairs, which is a bummer. Not enough for this very family-​friendly place.
I really want to like this place. I’ll probably come back (because it’s so nice to sit outside) but with lowered expectations.

So great here. Such a hidden gem inside of humbolt park that you would not know about. Great views of the pond, the park, and surrounded by flowers. So nice and relaxing.
Menu is good too. Try the grilled cheese and egg sandwich.
Service is also friendly and fast.
And…It’s byob. So come now and bring your fave drink.

What better way than to spend a 90+ degree day eating al fresco at the Boat House Café! 12pm weekday lunch. Got seated straight away at an umbrella covered table. Amazing view of the lagoon. Erin K was a great server who gave us water and menus as we were seated. Lunch menu is a little limited. There were a few vegetarian items so I ordered the grilled portobello mushroom burger. The grilled onions were great! French fries were crunchy & not greasy … dill pickle was a bonus. There were 2 veg salads that looked good and a grilled cheese with fruit salad I saw @ next table (looking quite edible). Love that dogs are welcome … fun to watch nature. Want to come back & try the brunch menu. Check out the inside … nice and cozy. In fall the BHC is opening the upstairs for additional seating.

Boathouse Café has a lot of potential: a great location, good food, and the staff is really nice. However, a nice staff isn’t enough to overcome amateur-​hour service issues.
First off, it seems as if the staff rotates taking tables, rather than each one being giving a section. This means when it’s busy they can’t really keep track of who’s waiting on who – either you’ll sit there with no one approaching your table (because the staff assumes someone else already took the table), or you’ll have more than one server try and wait on you. My advice? Assign sections and stick to it. Much less confusion for everyone.
We sat outside (as did everyone else that morning) rather than sit inside. It was pretty close to when they opened so it wasn’t too crowded yet. Our server approached us with menus and took our beverage order, then came back a short time later to take our food order. So far so good.
I ordered an omelette with three ingredients, and my husband ordered fruit and granola, as well as two eggs. He asked about the choice of toast, the only options were white, challah, or ciabatta. He chose ciabatta. I noticed the waitress didn’t write anything down.
A few minutes later she comes back and asks me to repeat my order, which I did. If you’re not a seasoned server (she clearly was not), it’s probably best if you write things down if you can’t remember.
Then we waited. And waited some more. The outside tables were filling up fast. It seemed as if no one had their food.
We finally got our food… after about 35 minutes. And of course my omelette was wrong, and the potatoes that were supposed to come with my husband’s eggs were inexplicable replaced with a salad. We pointed this out to our server, who asked if my husband ordered potatoes. He had to point out that menu stated they were served with the eggs. She apologized and asked if he still wanted them. I chose to eat my omelette as is because I sure didn’t want to wait another half hour for my correct food. The toast was most definitely not ciabatta. I’m pretty sure it was Wonder bread.
To make up for the long wait, she gave us an apple fritter on the house, so that was nice. She was always friendly and tried to do her best, but man, I’m pretty sure she may have never waited on tables before in her life.
We also noticed that people who arrived at least thirty minutes after us were served their food only about 5 minutes after we got ours. Why did we have to wait so long while their food was served in a reasonable amount of time? The world may never know.
The food was decent, nay, good. Everyone was nice. The view is lovely. I think I’ll wait a bit to return though. They really need to polish their service.
I truly wish them well and hope they improve their service, because this place has a lot of promise.

This was my third trip to The Boathouse Café. I was so excited when this place opened. Finally! A place to sit, relax, and eat in Humboldt, my favorite park!
The first time I went, I sat down at a picnic table. My dog got water right away… and then no one came back for half an hour. There were only two tables and ours was the only one without food. When someone finally did come, we were given the menu, we asked for our drinks, and the drinks didn’t come for 15 minutes. My friend ordered one of the pastries, which we watched as it sat on a plate, ignored, for another 15 minutes. My friend finally just went inside and grabbed it herself. The wait staff seems extremely young, and if I had to venture a guess, they are the completely-​uninterested-​in-​working-​at-​a-​restaurant young family members of the owner. This is Chicago, hire a professional staff, they are everywhere. Chalk on another 20 minutes for the check, you’re looking at 1 ½ hours just to get iced tea and a ready-​made pastry. The pastry was delicious, but nothing I would wait 1 ½ hours for.
However, I chalked this up to it being a new place. After all, it was beautifully situated and I walk my dog there all the time. As a waiter myself, I know how stressful it can be to open up a new place. I decided to give it another try. This time I actually went inside to order an iced coffee. They said they were out of iced coffee, so I ordered an iced tea. The waiter ROLLED HIS EYES and sighed hugely. It took fifteen minutes to get an iced tea to go.
Today was my third and, I am sad to say, FINAL trip to The Boathouse. I sat down, my dog got a water bowl immediately (dog service was ²⁄₂). Then I sat down to write. After about 20 minutes no one had taken my order yet, and I witnessed the manager/​owner scolding his young waiter for not waiting on someone else for the last 30 minutes. After about ten more minutes the (I’m assuming JUST legally able to work) young waiter finally asked me if I wanted anything. I asked to see a menu… twenty minutes go by and no menu. Finally, the owner/​manager who had given us the dog bowl in the first place, came and asked me if I had been waited on yet and when I told him no one had, he called over a young lady who seemed to be in charge of the even-​younger waiter and asked why no one had waited on me yet. This girl, whom I had never spoken to and assumed was a customer because she had been sitting at a table chatting with people the whole time, said, «No, I asked her if she wanted anything and she said she didn’t.» It was certainly bold to lie in front of both your manager and the customer you are lying about, I will give her that. I usually try to stay pleasant, because like I said I’ve been there and you never know the day your server has had, so I said, «Well, that isn’t exactly true. I asked for a menu from the young man, and never got one. I have never spoken with you before. I would really just like a menu and and iced tea.»
I have never received a death stare quite like that lol. The manager very quickly got me a menu and my sweet potato fries came out quite quickly, but without their aioli. They took a whopping dollar off of my bill. The manager took care of it quickly, but was about 40 minutes too late stepping in.
If I could offer one piece of advice to this owner, it is to NEVER hire family. They will run your business into the ground and not lose a second of sleep over it. They’ve already lost you at least two customers that I know of, not including myself. I was very excited about your restaurant, but there are many other places I can spend my money that have exceptional service and are cheaper for better food.

Enjoyed the ambiance of sitting on the patio for lunch. Beautiful setting in the park. The people that were working there were kind and attentive-​you could tell that they cared about doing a good job. The lunch was decent and acceptable-​I had a veggie burger. It wasn’t anything exciting and could have used a special sauce or some cheese for pizazz but it was still good. Now, the clincher for what took my review to 5 stars: THE DESSERT!!! Apparently they have a pastry chef from France who is obviously very talented. I had the most outstanding chocolate cake with raspberries! It wasn’t too sweet and it was divine perfection! I wish I had bought some slices to go! I’m really looking forward to coming back to try out more of her creations!

A beautiful early Saturday morning visit here and I don’t regret it. It had an exquisite view, fantastic relaxing atmosphere and the meal was satisfying. The hostess greeted and seated me immediately. The plate I devoured included, 4 French toast wedges with a coconut drizzle and a dab of strawberry on the side. While Complimented by a savory cup of coffee.
I wanted to try the glazed infused donut but I was told they had not been delivered yet and they would be delivered within the hour. I would have given them 4 stars if they had the donuts, I so desperately wanted to try. Hey u can tell a lot about a place from their donuts !!
I will return because the food was flavorful, ambiance was relaxing and it was definitely worth my time and money. My next visit will be during the evening and I want my donut!

It pains to me write this review because I was so excited about this place. An amazing location, with a great view, made even better on nice sunny days. Unfortunately, the food is just ok and the service leaves a lot to be desired.
We walked here with our dog via the 606 on Sunday looking forward to grabbing brunch. There was no host stand, just a sign that said to seat yourself. Luckily we found the last umbrella’ed table and sat down. Maybe it would have been better if we hadn’t.
15 minutes until anyone even acknowledged our existence when a bus boy came by with waters. He was under the impression that we had already ordered (but then wouldn’t we already have had our waters…)
21 minutes until the server finally showed up with menus AFTER I finally went inside to see if anyone would actually come to our table.
After 40 minutes from the moment we sat down (I only know this because I checked my phone when we got there to see how long the walk from Bucktown took), we got our mediocre french toast and breakfast sandwich. There was nothing really wrong with the food, but it wasn’t anything special. I could have easily made both at home, minus the cost and walk.
Really what got me about the whole experience is the fact that nobody cared that tables are waiting so long for a menu, drink, food, etc. I had plenty of time to observe other tables and see that their experiences seemed pretty similar. The only thing I can think of is that the owners hired waitstaff that had never worked at a restaurant before. (I have and I know how it can be when things are busy, etc. but it was not busy while we were there and no matter how busy it should not take a server 21 minutes to come see their table!)
So, so disappointed. The 2 stars are for the location and dog friendliness. The only way I’d come back is to pick up a coffee or pastry to go.

Best view, great food. Erica is the hardest working GM in Humboldt Park and surrounding communities.
Must try for any Chicago resident. Don’t be afraid to drive from all sides.
Recommendation is the burger! Yes the burger. Just try it!
Keep up the good work.

Stunningly sited next to the Humboldt Park lagoon, we had a delicious and well-​prepared lunch. I ordered the veggie burger topped with plump and juicy mushrooms and my husband had the Monte Cristo. We left not a bite. If service was lagging it was improved by our charming server. Music was a kind of Caribbean-​jazz mix which was delightful and just increased my enjoyment. I could have stayed all afternoon along with the very happy babies and leashed dogs also enjoying lunch. A dish of water was brought out for one very satisfied pooch. Lots of free parking! I’m coming back for those gorgeous doughnuts.

Delicious brunch! With the highlight being their French toast. Yum! I also had to order their grilled cheese sandwich, which was not part of their brunch menu, but they still made it for me (I had read some good reviews on it and had to try since I LOVE anything cheese). My husband had the burger and he enjoyed how juicy and tasty it was.
Also, the service was outstanding and we enjoyed having brunch with a nice view of the lake.
CPD was there patrolling to insure everyone was safe (we know of the concerns most folks have with this park has and we are all for safety first). I’m glad we visited and will be back for sure. This place is another example of the area transformation slowly but surely we are seeing in the area.

Perfect location and beautiful views. Stopped in for brunch on a Saturday. Food was delicious and staff were super nice and excited to be there.
Their pastry chef is from France and holy cupcake did all the treats look amazing.
I was also excited to find out this place is open YEAR ROUND and building upstairs seating for the cold months.
Perfect place in my favorite Chicago park to stop in for a meal or for some coffee.
Also very dog friendly and lots of seating so good for groups!

Beautiful spot, great service, and had a tasty and unique grilled cheese with onions and apple. Also the fruit cup actually had fruit I like: strawberries and blueberries. Plus they charged my phone.

I’m so excited to have this in Humboldt Park! Beautiful outdoor location with seating that overlooks the lagoon. I’ve stopped in several times for coffee and a snack and have not been disappointed. They serve Glazed and Infused donuts, have a full coffee/​espresso menu, homemade pastries, and some entrée dishes on the menu. I especially like the jamon, juevo, and queso breakfast sandwich. They also have a nice, spicy chai latte that you can get hot or iced.
The owners and staff are very friendly and remember my coworkers and me each time we stop in. It seems like they are still working out a bit of the workflow kinks, but that will improve as they get more time under their belts.
Great new Humboldt Park café!

Amazing location and view. Such a great idea. Service is a little spotty, hopefully they get it figured out soon. It’s BYOB for now, which is great, apparently they’re working on a liquor license.
I had the grilled cheese with apples and onions with fries and everything was delicious. It was grilled cheese though, so hard for it not to be.
They also serve breakfast and dinner dishes that sounded good. So far so good, hopefully they fix the service issue and this place sticks around.