The Wharf

Nice location right off the Manitowoc River; very scenic as one can see Lake Michigan, the submarine and the city to the other side which was still in Christmas decorations.Very spacious and is a place for bands and other venues. Large garage doors for summer months when it gets hot and humid.We just stopped to see what it was.Not many people there when we stopped but another 15 people came in after.There were a few that also used the heated igloo outside to be more present in the winter atmosphere. Definitely a nice touch! I think this venue will become quite popular as it ages as it's still new.Great drinks and staff was pleasant.Didn't get a chance try any food, but what I witnessed looked good!

I came here for lunch on a Friday with my daughter. There was ample seating inside, but we got a table on the patio right on the river's edge. During our meal, we saw The Badger car ferry dock. That was a real treat. I ordered the Cuban sandwich, which is ham, pulled pork, Swiss cheese, and beer mustard, on a soft bun. The salty ham and smoky pulled pork worked well together. The beer mustard complimented the sandwich nicely. The price was reasonable, and the table bu rhe river was amazing.

I'm giving this restaurant two stars because it has beautiful views of the Manitowoc River and it's a very nice looking place. I ordered a mushroom and Swiss burger with fries, a side of cheese curds, and a soda. $30. No refills on the soda. I waited about 40 minutes for my food and in my opinion, the place wasn't busy enough to justify the wait. My burger was not good. The burger patty low grade meat, very thin, unseasoned, and had a slimy texture to it. No flavor to the Swiss cheese. The bun was hard as a rock and was not toasted. The burger was loaded with fresh mushrooms but they were also unseasoned and tasted like they had been soaking in water. The fries were decent but unsalted. The cheese curds were cheap frozen out-of-the-bag curds served with a raspberry sauce. I don't think a raspberry sauce goes well with cheese curds. No ranch sauce option. Overall I was unhappy with my experience here and will not be returning.

We came for lunch on a Thursday afternoon. Self seating but much of the seating was reserved for a 730 concert. We started with drinks with 2 friendly and helpful bartenders. To order food you need to walk over to the food window and order, no wait staff.My wife ordered a Door County salad and I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries (sides are extra). It took about 10 minutes for pickup. My wife said the salad was excellent with plenty of dried cherries, feta, apples, and candied pecans.My pulled pork was fine, but nothing special. The fries and slaw were delicious. It was nice to sit by the water on a warm day.One bonus: the restrooms were beautiful and very clean.

I've heard good things about this venue. As it is about an hour from me, I was just recently able to get the chance to visit (4th of July).There is a lot of parking available around the facility. Despite it being a busy holiday, we easily parked and found a table on their deck. The building has a cool retractable roof. It was open, allowing all the patrons to soak up some summer rays.While not posted (at least I didn't see), patrons go to the bar for drinks or to an outside window to order food. While skeptical of the setup, I found they had a good amount of staffing at the bar and in the kitchen. The wait for drinks was short and despite it being very busy, our food order didn't take long either.Since we spent the afternoon listening to a band, I had multiple opportunities to go to the bar. The bartenders were friendly, efficient and poured good drinks. There was even a large cooler of water for patrons to get water from at their leisure.Our food took a while to come out. However, I was told when I ordered to expect the wait. Our chicken sandwiches were hot and tasty. Our chips (crunchy) and salsa (cold) also hit just right.With a great location, excellent service and solid food, we will definitely drive to Manitowoc again to go to The Wharf.

My smoked salmon salad was tasty. My husband liked his burger and really enjoyed his mozzarella sticks!Thankfully we had great live music to listen to since the wait for our food was about 50 minutes!The band Annex was really fun!The outdoor space on the harbor is beautiful.

Great location! Love the outdoor space for summer afternoon. Enjoyed my Bloody Mary with lots of fun toppings. That was the highlight.Had anticipated correctly that it is sort of a tourist trap. High prices. Limited food selection. And limited is fine, if done well. Tried the Brussels with dried cherries, goat cheese & balsamic, but it was severely overdressed. It is a very good-sized portion, though, so plan for that to be your meal or share. Tried to share, but hubby was not a fan.Smoked salmon taco was a tasty morsel. And hubby enjoyed his shrimp taco & perch taco.

OK, hate to write a bad review, but here I go. I am a local resident who is THRILLED with the idea of The Wharf and the concept. We need something like this in this town. But it has lots of problems. Today I went with a friend to see a Beatles tribute group. It was a free concert, so we knew it would be crowded. The concert started at 2:30 pm. When we got there at 12:20, more than half the tables were reserved for sponsors. OK......I get that you have to give your sponsors something, but it was still depressing to see all those empty tables and not be able to sit down. We finally got a less than ideal table in front of the bar, in the direct line of traffic.In the meantime, we begin observing a guy "holding" a table for six (this was not one of the sponsor tables). He was the only person seated there for more than two hours. He sat on one of the stools and plopped his phone right in the middle of the table as if to say, "This is mine." That did not deter several people (usually a couple) from approaching the guy to ask of they could share the table. He always told them no. About five minutes before the concert started, his people showed up. UNFAIR. Management of The Wharf need rules to prevent this nonsense. I visited Al Johnson's in Door County last week and they will not let you occupy a table unless your entire party is present. It took an hour to get our food, but hey, at least we got it! They ended up shutting down the kitchen entirely for more than an hour. Wouldn't even take orders during this time. The other horrific thing that happened was when the first song started, I stood up to shoot an 11-second video. I was walking and holding my phone and an old man put two hands on the top of my butt and shoved me forward to get to the dance floor. I was in shock. People are so incredibly rude.

I have been here two other times but in the summer when it was busy, windows and doors all open with good weather so maybe I was more forgiving then, or maybe this place has changed.... This time I came a cold, November Friday night around 5:30 pm. We were able to seat ourselves right away, probably only 4 or 5 other tables/ couples at the bar when we first arrived. They were out of a lot of things - first was the Beer we wanted to order, that's ok we got a different one. I asked to add avocado to my wrap- no they are out. Ok no worries. We get our drinks about 10/15 mins later. Then about 45 mins after ordering the waitress comes back and told us they were out of the appetizer we put in. Ok at that point we will just have our entrees. Then our entrees come over an hour after we got there (probably closer to an hour 15), mine was lacking the cheese ingredient- they were out. I asked for ranch on the side- they were out. Not sure if it was more our waitress or the kitchen because she didn't give any reasoning or seem apologetic at all. Some of our annoyance could have been saved with better / proactive communication. Maybe this is the norm now? Pretty disappointed, but since this is an easy spot we'll probably be back (in the summer) and lower our expectationsIn summary: - Positives: ambiance, views, live musics, always has seating or bar spots-Negatives: were out of a lot of ingredients and dishes, wait staff apathetic, long wait time for food especially

Very disappointed! Asked for a side salad,no raspberry dressing. Asked for a shrimp taco, no taco shells. Asked a turkey bacon wrap, no wraps. She finally suggested a turkey bacon melt. It was good, but not what I wanted. This was our first time here and the place was nice on the water. Won't be back! Don't know how you can be out of so many items on your menu !! Also no ranch dressing!