Blue Water Cafe

The Turkey sandwich with onion rings was fantastic. Great service was greeted by the owner. Would recommend as a must stop. Will come back every time I come to Grand Marais

Walking distance from Main Street - nice country up north feel - serving breakfast all day - average food quality but service was friendly and quick. Able to accomodate small and large groups.

Family friendly, staff were very pleasant. Sunrise angler breakfast - best walleye I've had in a long time. Worth a visit!

Want to first say this is not intended to harm but an opportunity to get better because the cafe has great potential. My wife and I had lunch on a Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm. We both got burgers (mushroom Swiss and blue cafe burger) and I got the soup of day (beef barley). It was so disappointing - we both took two bites of our burgers and a bite each of the soup. We asked the waiter for the check, within 5 minutes of getting our food - tipped 20% to be respectful. Recommend the brewery, fish market, taco shop and the raven before the cafe. Breakfast maybe a different story but definitely needs some attention on the afternoon options.

Fabulous service, great small town diner vibes and delicious food! The cinnamon rolls are huge!!

Just want to say I understand it was a busy Saturday, but we were basically ignored until a table became available. The young lady waitress did seat us. We didn't complain, understood it was busy. Our waiter didn't seem like he wanted to be there. The roasted chicken was very good, and the breakfast. The burger was fine until our guest found a bread bag tie in his sandwich. Said something to the waiter, and he didn't care. He said he would tell the kitchen staff. Didn't offer to cut a break on the bill or the fact it's a health hazard. Probably don't have to worry about going back.

The food is fantastic as always, but they’ve really expanded and filled in the menu. Absolutely delicious And even though we came in on a packed day, we still got fantastic service and our food came out at a more than reasonable time. Thank you!

Would I recommend? Nah, I'd go to my sister's place again before I came here. Had hopes for this place. Food was mediocre at best, service wasn't worth a damn. Spent $92.21 ($15on tip due to server watching the paying machine) on breakfast... YES ON BREAKFAST! All for less than mediocre service and food. Had 2 mimosas (which were nothing but orange juice) eggs Benedict with a side of sausage ( 2 pieces), bacon (2 slices), and 2 biscuits and gravy. Wife had ham and cheese omelet and a blueberry pie. Definitely wasn't worth it

Great corner place for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or to pick-up a giant cinnamon roll or caramel roll! Fast service, delicious food, very clean, and friendly wait staff. The cinnamon roll is warm, large, and fluffy. Perfect sweet to start with or after meals. I recommend sharing the cinnamon roll with another person as a lovely treat!

Classic breakfast diner fare. Had the portage omelette and Denver omelette, both were good. Service was fast.

I had the biscuits and gravy and my bf had the tent warmer. Food was delicious. Cute little place to eat breakfast in a great location

Awesome food, fast and friendly service. Has the swedish pancakes and sausage , very good and fluffy. Would highly recommend.

I stopped here about 1-1/2 months ago while visiting and had the most amazing experience. the hamburger my daughter ordered was so good she didn't even need ketchup on it. I ordered a chicken sandwich melt with pepperjack cheese, very thick cut bacon and cooked on an amazing sourdough bread. We upgraded cheese curds to our order for $2 each. such an amazing experience I couldn't wait to go back. I headed back to Grand Marais two days ago looking forward to the same experience but instead this is what I received. I ordered the same sandwich from the same menu which gave the same description of the menu item. When it came it was just chicken strips on a bun with the cheese with no bacon. I questioned the waitress who spoke almost no English so she sent out the cook. He said they had a new menu now and the sandwich was no longer on sour dough bread however, we were not told this when we ordered. When I asked where the bacon was he argued with me that it does not come with bacon but I explained it's on the menu. He picked up a menu to prove to me it's not on there but found out he was wrong. He went back to cook what I thought was a new sandwich which was not the case he through two slices of bacon in front of me in a bowl to put on my now cold and even drier sandwich. No mayonnaise or anything on this sandwich. The upgrade of cheese curds for $2 turned out to be a $10 appetizer cost. They didn't even offer a discount or anything for our inconvenience. How this place went from one of my best experiences to one of my worst ever I don't know but I won't ever be back and would not recommend them to anyone

Fantastic food: the omelettes, turkey berry sandwich, homemade soup and homemade pies. Breakfast all day. Fantastic servers and great location. Worth the stop in Grand Marais.

I don't understand why people don't care for this restaurant. The server was kind, food was really tasty, (especially since it's in Grand Marias a place not known for a bustling food scene), and the restaurant was fairly clean. Also, not crazy expensive for a brunch and I always appreciate Indian food.

It's a homey diner/family restaurant that specializes in breakfast-all-day, burgers, and pie. 75% of our party opted for breakfast food at 2pm. Unfortunately I wasn't impressed with my western omelette. It was a folded omelette with the ham and vegetables sprinkled on top after cooking, not integrated into the eggs at all. That was weird, but even worse the whole thing was unbearably bland. Basically no flavor at all from the eggs or veggies. On the other hand, the service was cheerful and attentive, and the rest of my family liked their food (pancakes, pancakes, and grilled cheese). I kicked myself for not getting a burger OR pie. What was I thinking??

The amazing people were super busy but they had a wonderful and nearly historic atmosphere & it felt like I was a part of history. I enjoyed all there food and highly recommend the Brosted Chicken. For $8 and 4 pieces of chicken? What is there not to love? Being able to sit there and take in the community and the fresh food and amazing music. I would say this a must when coming to Grand Marais. And Daniel was an outstanding water and did an awesome job serving our food and checking in on us. Thanks BWC for the wonderful memories!

Lovely place quiet, friendly, clean. We were not rushed and had a great breakfast. We will definitely go back for breakfast again.

Mediocre breakfast (lukewarm and unimaginative), can't customize omelet ingredients, dirty floor, server seemed bored.

The new Indian menu is amazing. Highly recommend. You can still get food off the old menu for breakfast and lunch.

We went on a super busy Saturday in July. Fortunately we were seated rather quickly. We were a party of four. We had prompt service. Good coffee. The coffee cup never went empty. All four of us ordered something different and everyone enjoyed their meal. I had the Swedish pantry which was very good.

Stopped by for lunch since they had walleye on the menu. Ordered fried chicken with mashed potatoes and the walleye basket. Everything was cold except the chicken. Not only was the walleye cold it consisted of thin strips of overcooked walleye. It was so disappointing. Won't be stopping there again.

The restaurant has a nice ambiance. It has a great location in downtown Grand Marais and is clean on the inside. These were the only redeeming qualities of our meal. My wife's omelette was inedible as the bacon and onions were almost raw inside her omelette. We would have told our waitress about this, but she never came to ask and I had to finally get our check by just standing at the counter until she walked over. I get good help is hard to find, but your kitchen should know what "cooked" bacon and onions looks like if you're a breakfast cafe and your waitress shouldn't act like she hates her job to the point of impacting your guests experience. Go grab an amazing donut from Worlds Best Donuts two blocks down or make something on your own, but don't waste your time or money here.

Cute little small town cafe, a little pricey but food and service was good. I will go back.

Swedish pancakes were awesome. Both my wife and I enjoyed our breakfast. Will definitely come back if we are in town.

Owner or worker there like my review from 4 years ago so they must agree with my post.

Today was our first restaurant experience since March 15 featuring real plates, cups and silverware. What a treat to have food served on something besides a disposable clamshell! Really good eggs with deep yellow yolks cooked perfectly runny served with thick slices of sourdough toast and hash browns smothered with gooey cheddar cheese and sliced onion - what's not to love? My only quibble (and it's a small one) is that I would have liked the onions a little more brown and crispy. Although breakfast was really great, the pie slices we took "to go" for later weren't as good. I had a slice of bumble berry pie that didn't have much flavor. Next time I think I'll skip the pie, but we will definitely return for breakfast!

Stopped in for breakfast before heading home. The food is as great. Sadly I cannot say the same for the coffee. The pancake was light and fluffy, the bacon crispy. Filling breakfast that lasted all day.

Great food and inexpensive. We've been here several times over the years and the food is always good. Nice variety on the menu and good flavors.

We drove 2 plus hours to specifically to have lunch in Grand Marais. What an absolute failure our meal was. I had hands down the worst Philly cheese sandwich with "wild rice" soup. Serving size was generous but the bun was literally stuffed to overflowing with a mountain of limp flavorless combination of peppers onions and some form of sliced meat! I could literally wring the juices out of my,HAMBURGER bun!! My soup was some form of barley with colorless tasteless broth! My wife has broasted chicken. It was seriously greasey but somewhat edible. This is my first ever yelp review and have always had the best experiences at mom and pop cafes but holy hell my meal sucked big time. Server was sympathetic and took meal off bill, thank you. I highly recommended they take this off the meal...

Fun mom and pop atmosphere! Great food! Definitely a must when in Grand Marais had it last time we're here and had it again!

We got breakfast to go. We ordered online which probably took longer than if we would have called the ordering in. We took it and ate at the beach. Everything was yummy but I think we were shorted our pancakes. (I don't want to say we absolutely were shorted because it looked like we should have gotten them per the website but it was confusing). My food somewhat warm but everyone else's food was nice and hot. Our view was fantastic. I would definitely visit again.

This place has changed a lot in the last ten years. It was one of my favorites but the locals don't even go there now. My husband got sick from the food he had and the service was disappointing. We won't be going back.

This is our go to family place when in Grand Marais. We go every time we are in town on a Friday for the all you can eat fish fry. They have really reasonable kids menu prices. Almost everything is made from scratch in house. Really is the family place to eat when in town. I have been going here since I was a little kid with my grandparents. They have one level of seating but they used to have an upper floor for more seating. If you want really good home food go here!

The staff was not friendly at all. Our food was cold when it arrived and one order was done wrong. They charged us to fix the mistake and when we pointed out the charge on the bill we were told that it was out of her (waitress') hands and that's just how it is. We will not be going there again! We paid $50 for cold, greasy food with bad service.

Dear Friends an the Blue Water Cafe, I appreciate your efforts to comply with reduced capacity. My observation was that corralling all of your customers on one side of the the restaurant and closing a section might not be the best way to do it. Your approach does little to decrease transmission and enhance social distancing. We got our food to go and enjoyed it.

I haven't eaten there in three years. Last time I received a badly prepared burger served by an indifferent waitress who, I suspect, had heard complaints most of the day. I ordered two different pieces of their locally legendary Pie Place pies and when I got them home, both were as stale as they could be. I've never been back. Caveat emptor.

This was our first experience for lunch. I had the roast beef sandwich which was very tender. My wife had the fish and chips. The best part were the pies. Crumbles Berry and to my surprise a very delicious Key Lime. The pies are made fresh daily.

Looks great for breakfast which they serve all day but the walleye basket was very good. I had French fries with jalapeno catsup very good and my wife had the poutine fries which were outstanding. Yes I had some of hers. The service was great.

Good breakfast and served fast. Like their coffee too. Popular as it was crowded when we ate there.

Me and some friends stopped for lunch and it was comically bad. We got 2 broaster chickens, a burger and a hit turkey sandwich. The turkey sandwich we called a prision sandwich. It was just turkey and bread. The bread wasn't toasted. The hamburger was way overcooked. The broaster chicken was good but one of my peices was completely raw in the middle. When I shows the waitress she brought it back after they just reheated the cut peice and it was dry and chewey. Lunch was terrible.

Another really good breakfast spot in the big city! Again a star just for having coke products! Love the omelette and hashies! Pancakes are tasty and service is very good!

Breakfast was simply wonderful. I can't pass up eggs benedict and i'm glad i ordered it here. Mmmmmmmmm!!!!! I had their cranberry wild rice bread too that was great. Hubby had "the viking": a 3 meat omelette with sour dough and hashbrowns. Ordered 2 pieces of pie. This was a to go order and i was miffed that instead of peach pie, i got apple pie. Luckily my pie was good. Hubby liked his maple pecan pie. Overall, great experience but again sticker shock. I rated it a 5 because the food was sooo good.

After the horror of our "complimentary" breakfast at the hotel (yeah, I know), this place was great. Cute joint, clean, lots of happy faces. Coffee was hot and basic good. Server was nice enough to let me halve the biscuits and gravy- still a good portion. And very good. Mom had a basic breakfast without meat, and she loved it. I'll return and recommend.

Great good and comes out fast. Server automatically added 20%as a tip which is annoying but the food and speed it was ready was worth it.

Very busy restaurant which is usually always a good sign! Very strange as when you come in there is a seat yourself sign...but states do not sit at a table that hasn't been wiped down...very weird and awkward trying to find a clean unoccupied table. We ended up sitting at a dirty table and getting told it hadn't been wiped down yet...just a very overall awkward initial interaction and first impression. Very small space with very crowded tables. I got ran into so many times, which made me feel like I was very much in the way...I ordered the fried wallet which was good, nothing spectacular, simply fine. My partner order the voyager omelette which had little to no flavor. Overall food was just okay and the overall atmosphere was just odd...

The server was quick and attentive and they catered to my food allergies very well. The food was unbelievably good and it wasn't too expensive.

A complete clown show. walked in when they opened both people working there seemed like they were angry about something. Took 20 minutes to get a menu and some water. Never did get anything beyond that because I walked out.

Have eaten here a couple times and it was bad the first time and mediocre the second. The first time I ordered the meatloaf and it was so gross- full of big chunks of stuffing cubes and way overtly sage flavored had to send it back! So we went back for the broasted Chicken they are known for and I don't know if we just got a bad batch but it was so dry and tough and stringy- terrible. The sides were ok that's why the 2 stars. Won't be back.

Excellent service, location and PIES!!! Was able to seat 8 immediately upon arrival! Excellent spot for families with kids. Had the walleye basket and it was top quality!

Such a quaint spot by the lake! I had the campfire scramble and they have GF toast!!!! What a find in a small town. Friendly staff! We will be back!

I hadn't been here in decades. I was turned off by the fundamentalist Christian owners, who had bible quotes and the fish symbol printed on the menu. However, I checked out the online menu & info and learned that it's been through two sets of owners since then. On my first visit I had the club sandwich which was very good, made with whole turkey breast and without the middle piece of bread, which is fine with me. I added fries later. I had reservations at first when I saw they had that weird coating on them but they were actually good. The coating was sparse. I will still suggest they switch to plain potatoes. The coleslaw is good too. The iced tea though was quite weak. On my second visit, today, I had the hot turkey sandwich with mashed and cole slaw. That was good too. I will go back on my next visit.

Attitude, runny under cooked egg whites, owner won't see customers, all exchange students. Good potential poorly executed & unhealthy. Instead of redoing order they replated my food & could care less. Server would get fired anywhere else but she was clearly an exchange student they were stuck with. Owner will NOT talk to any customers either. So unbelievable unprofessional.

We were hanging around the North Shore for spring break and tried different places for breakfast. I wish we went earlier in our trip because this was the best breakfast of our trip (about 30 minutes from where we were staying). Prices are similar to other breakfast options-- but the portions and quality are worth it. Comfortable diner food. So many options. Love being able to have fried fish for breakfast! Solid coffee. Great service. Street parking, easy to walk to. Would definitely recommend!

Cozy local cafe. We ordered their omelette (4 of us). And they were delicious. Did not try their pie but heard it tasty. BTW they don't serve Heinz ketchup

lots of childhood memories here. went here as an adult and was pleasantly surprised! the food has gotten better and the service is great. the lady who was running the cash register (i think the owner?) was so kind and such a lovely person. the breakfast food is fantastic and the burgers were huge. fries really good! definitely check it out! they are more busy this year -- so be aware. because they can't get any of the exchange students in this summer ... so tip well and be kind. the servers work all day long, starting very early in the morning.

This is a very popular place. I went on my last day for breakfast. I got the garden omelet. It wasn't overcooked and brown, but a bright yellow and equally colorful when I opened it up. Lots of colored peppers, onions, mushrooms. The hash browns were the star, possibly the best I had they were so buttery.I passed on toast. I just got water to drink. Mostly because all the water in Grand Marais is fabulous. Next time I'll go for dinner on a Friday and get the fish fry.