Maxwell's Beach Cafe

2020 Update belownHave dined here several times, this review is for an 8/27/2018 meal which is towards the end of the visitor season. Granted the Okoboji visitor season is very seasonal and dependent upon college/high school help, our last experience was unfortunately poor in nearly every respect. After receiving our drinks and appetizer, it was 50 minutes until our meals were served. Our food arrived just passably warm and the scallop entree had only three rubbery scallops among a pile of noodles. The salmon entree was very small. It took nearly 5 minutes to have a dropped fork replaced. On this night there were probably better dining experiences available for much better value.nOverall the food was overpriced and took far too long to be served.nnUPDATE August 28, 2020nnFool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me pretty well describes our latest experience with Maxwell's Beach Cafe.nWe had not patronized Maxwell's since our very unsatisfactory August 2018 experience. We decided to give Maxwell's another try. Our mistake.nWe were seated immediately but waited nearly 15 minutes for a server to appear for our drink order. Another nearly 30 minute wait until drinks appeared - such as 2 glasses of wine and a beer. We decided to immediately order - Colossal Shrimp, Halibut & Salmon. The dinner entree's were served after another 30 minute wait. However one dinner was missing a fork (captured when the salad plates were removed) and the replacement took nearly 5 minutes. That dinner then discovered that his baked potato was nearly stone cold and after mentioning it to the server no offer was made to replace it.nAll in all it took 90 minutes from start to finish a very medium $150 3- meal service despite an average number of dinners.nThere are much, much better meal values and experiences in the Okoboji area. We won't be fooled again.

We love dining at Maxwell's! The service is outstanding and the Chef Tim and the crew create terrific dishes. We love eating the specials because they aren't on the menu and they're always great.

Excellent service and food! The specials offered each evening are creative and amazing! The tuna and duck breast are fantastic. The bartenders are personable and make great drinks including many choices of Moscow mules. Highly recommend!

As I sat at the bar to eat, I had to ask my waiter not once but 3 times for a menu. We were basically ignored the entire time. The food was good but getting our ticket closed out was another thing. That took at least 3 attempts and then finally had to ask again for our ticket. Very poor service. But here is the other thing. The young bartender repeatedly ran his hands through his hair and made many drinks. NOT ONCE did he wash his hands. Nor did he clean down the bar! Disgusting especially in COVID times.

My husband and I have been coming to Maxwell’s for years, and it’s always been one of our favorites. Unfortunately, last evening we did not have the same experience that we’ve had in the past.nnThe food was good, but the service was lousy! Our server had a bad attitude and ran around the restaurant like he was overwhelmed, but was the only server that seemed this way, and it was not overly busy.nnUpon ordering drinks I ordered a apple juice for my son who was away from the table, and the server responded rudely “I don’t know who was sitting there! Do you want a large or what?!” I don’t know many adults that order apple juice to drink and there was clearly toys and children’s menu on the table!nnI told the server prior to ordering that we were out celebrating my parents wedding anniversary and wanted to make it a special night. He responded with just “okay!”nnThroughout the meal our drinks were never refilled so we had to drink water instead of our ordered drinks.nnHe never went over a dessert menu and never even offered us dessert! Not once did anyone ask (I saw both owners at the restaurant) how our meal was. You can’t charge Fleming’s Steakhouse prices and not have the service to go with it!