CHAR Craft Steaks - Grand View Lodge

We had the prime rib and walleye it was amazing, done perfectly last night. Au gratins and bread were excellent and our server Jenny topped off our perfect dining experience last night. The dining room is amazing.

Quite possibly the best dining experience we have ever had. Every single thing we ordered was perfect and our waitress was attentive and professional. A+++ place for a special occasion!

Steaks were fantastic and cooked perfectly. The staff is attentive and friendly. The property in summer is stunning, lovely flowers and comforting atmosphere. Worth the visit to the chocolate ox after for chocolates.

Had our pre-valentines dinner there, left full and with a great piece of cheesecake for later. 1000% impressed

Lovely place. It's like its own little town, just needs a pharmacy or grocery store! Clever serving of guests with buffets and gf, df and vegetarian options. Beautiful and serene, off the beaten path.

Jessica and Irena are amazing!! 5+ STARS. Thank you Network Centers for the absolutely outstanding evening! ♥️

Overall very good. The pork belly app was very tasty. Steaks were a bit overcooked but still tender enough.

Quinn gave incredible service and recommendations. Had a medium rare ribeye with bone marrow butter and a beautiful cab with a better crust than can be found at Manny's or Ruth's Chris. Also weirdly best dinner roll of my life? To get a better steak than this in MN I have to make it myself. Thank you for the experience Quinn and team.

Great experience for our anniversary. Do not skip the House Cured Gravlax! Possibly the best bite I’ve ever had!

World class Mother's Day brunch buffet. I took my wife to Char at Grandview Lodge for Mother's Day this year and she was very happy with the experience. Excellent food options, including seafood and prime rib. At one point the staff accidentally cleared our table when we went up for dessert and they promptly replaced my wife's mimosa with a fresh one, no charge. Great view of the lake as well. Highly recommend.

We loved our steaks. The sides were shareable and big enough for 4+. Garlic mash was to die for, sadly the Mac and cheese was not good, it was basic noodles with little cheese. The cheesecake was incredible and HUGE( $25.00) deff shareable as well. Great customer service. We made reservations. If you’re looking for a high class and ok spending $ this is your place.

It's the best of the best! It's our favorite fancy place in the Brainerd area to go to for amazing melt in your mouth steaks and seafood. Last time I got the truffle herb butter on the steak and it was to die for, I scooped every last bit into a take home container. Quinn has been our server a few times and he is the best! Always knowing the best thing on the menu and making suggestions. He's always very attentive and goes above and beyond to make our dinner special. Highly recommend for an anniversary dinner or a fancy night out!

Such a wonderful meal tonight for our anniversary—a pleasant surprise! Food and service were top notch. We had only been here once before several years ago, but made the trek up to Grandview since Char is one of few fine dining restaurants in the area open in February. Excellent service from Quinn, incredible salad with delicious homemade salad dressing (such an important detail!), and perfectly prepared filet Oscar with so much flavor. Oh-really wonderful craft cocktails too and a very tasty (and complimentary) pb/choc dessert in honor of our anniversary! ❤️ All in all a really great special occasion meal, easily on par (or better than) several of our favorites in the area. In fact I think Char may have bumped some of those places off our list. 😁 We will most definitely be back!

Easily the best steakhouse in the area. Iryna and the rest of the staff are incredible and the food is top notch.

Wow, just wow. We had such a great experience here. Jenny was our server and she was so friendly and genuine. Her recommendations were fantastic. We ordered crab cakes, prime rib, and walleye. We had enough leftovers for dinner the next night. We asked for the name of the chef on duty so we could complement him. Brentley, the food was amazing. Best dinner we've had in a long time. We went back for the breakfast buffet and that was so good too!

Wow is all I have to say. This restaurant is amazing, the food pretty much pure perfection from the cook on the steaks, seasoning, presentation, char has moved into my top 5 restaurants I've visited. The lobster and avocado toast was a great start, highly recommend. The boursin Mac and cheese is to die for. Steaks and prime rib were cooked perfectly, my ribeye was butter knife tender. They were even nice enough to give my dad and his wife a dessert platter for their wedding which we had earlier in the day at the chapel at the lodge. What a great weekend to spend celebrating!

10/10 overall experience. Iryna was an amazing server by recommending a wonderful bottle of wine, was very attentive, and personable. She checked with the chef on all dishes regarding our peanut allergy. Food was delicious, steak cooked to perfection. Overall, the experience was second to none. Would highly recommend.

We had one of the best dinners we’ve had in a long time at CHAR Craft Steak. Everything was absolutely incredible from start to finish. The lobster tails and filet mignon were top notch — perfectly cooked and full of flavor. The rolls? Amazing. And the carrot cake was truly to die for — the perfect ending to an already unforgettable meal. Our server, Quinn, made the whole experience even more enjoyable. Attentive, friendly, and on point the entire night. We truly cannot wait to come back. Such an amazing dining experience!

We had an amazing time at char. Everyone is friendly and everyone was enjoying their time. The special was amazing and we loved our food, every bite. Iryna, was our server, and was delightful! She makes you feel like you are at home and are dining with friends. She knows just what everyone needs. We enjoy dining at char every time we go. We look forward to seeing her every time.

Five stars for Char! The food is elite and the service is even better. Iryna took great care of us from start to finish. If you’re looking for a top-tier dining experience at Grand View, this is it.

The food was delicious and Quinn was an excellent server! However, steaks came in over cooked and the walleye had multiple bones. For the price, this should not be the case.

It was very delicious! There isn't a lot on the menu, so it might be hard for some people if they are picky. The service was great & the atmosphere was very calming and beautiful!

Nice place. A little more spendy than the average Brainerd area steakhouse I think but still will return for special occasions. Good service and atmosphere.

Excellent cuts of meat and fairly priced. Cocktail menu was so-so, and wine menu was also reasonably priced with enough variety to be content. They did great with 9 of us in the grip and the sides were also pretty tasty. Solid option for northern MN and one of the nicer restaurants on the Grand View property!

We all ordered the Walleye and it was quite good. Good sides included the mushrooms and spaghetti squash. The chowder was fine but not memorable. Space is decent. Service was friendly and accommodating. I think other restaurants on the property are a better option. But if you want walleye this is the place to go and you'll be pleased.

Char is my go to restaurant at Grandview Lodge. They have the best food and ambience of the entire resort. While it's family oriented, it's got a much better ambience and higher quality of food than the other food options. Great service, solid steaks, and definitely a good, solid meal. The 7 ounce filet was delicious and cooked perfectly!

There was nothing craft about the steaks. The New York Strip was over cooked and not very tender. The sides were mediocre. The steak bruchetta was good, the bruchetta bread was not toasted enough. This restaurant had a good concept, just had poor execution. When you spend 200 dollars on dinner, you expect the restaurant should know how to cook the food properly.

Weird to serve prime rib in a bowl. Made it hard to cut the meat in a bowl. Prime rib was good. The place they sat us was way too dark.

Service was great, food was not. We ordered a really expensive steak dinner special and it made us both sick. Was super fatty and chewy, and tasted off. I rarely write google reviews, but was so disappointed by the food experience, felt I should. Only reason I'm giving 2 stars is our waitress was so great.

Well, my wife and I went to enjoy our anniversary dinner here recently as Cru was closed. First, my wife had looked online at the menu and decided to go here after Cru was closed because they had a lavender infused pasta dish on the menu that enticed her. When we got there the pasta was not on the actual menu offered in the restaurant...strike one...this is why we came here in the first place! Second, I had a "14oz" ribeye that was served over 4 small pieces of asparagus...thats it...$50! When I got the steak, it was definitely NOT "craft"...it was cooked correctly but I struggled to eat it as it had a huge piece of gristle running through it and I ended up cutting, at least 3-4 oz away! Leaving me roughly 10oz of steak and four pieces of asparagus for $50!? Not worth it in my book. My wife had the seafood pasta and it was good but this is supposed to be a "Craft Steak" place! At least make sure the steaks you're sending out are "Craft"!! This term denotes excellence and this steak was not that... Third, we liked our server well enough but service was very slow. While the restaurant had only a few tables being served when we arrived, we waited several minutes to get water and then longer to get our actual drinks, of which, mine was actually forgotten and I had to wait longer to get. Then we waited roughly 30-40 minutes for our food order to be taken and no fill up of our drinks. Finally another server came over with a pitcher of water to refill our waters. On top of the wait (which I can overlook because we were enjoying each others company and we found out later that their computer system was down causing havoc in the kitchen) to get a steak I can buy better, cheaper at Cub Foods and pasta we didn't really want in the first place...it was a disappointing meal. For a very highly rated resort restaurant in the area and the price you pay, it was disappointing all around. We'll definitely look for someplace else to eat next year...

Overpriced, dinner rolls tasted like they were microwaved, half chicken dish was a Cornish hen which is a lot smaller than a normal chicken, and we had to send back a vegetable side bc it was soggy and tasted gross.. Also, they have a policy if you cancel a reservation they will charge you $75 per person or at least that is what was told to us. In addition, they still have their old pricing on google menu which seems a bit deceptive in my opinion bc the actual menu is mostly double in price, especially any steak, and don’t believe the quality is any better. We felt the pressure to go because of the cancellation policy and stuck with the higher inflated prices but with the same, if not less quality of food. We have been going to Grand View lodge for 5+ years and unfortunately it’s time to move on. I would consider these factors before going to Char.

Ordered the Seafood Platter. Normally I enjoy a wide variety of foods and restaurants. Was suggested to try this establishment and left in tears. The food was awful. Service was great if you come to have your water glass filled other than that terrible, server checked in once and left before we could mention how bad the food is. Will not recommend, waste of money not only left hungry but in tears as it was my anniversary.

Stopped in for a dinner hoping to sit outside in the beautiful weather and it’s unfortunate that there’s no outdoor seating for this menu. You can sit outside for bar food. I’m sure it’s cozy in the winter if you like bad 80’s decor, plastic grapes draping over a wine rack. It looked very 80’s Olive Garden. We ordered two overpriced salads hoping for the best. The wedge Caesar was just a little Roman, dressing and three flavorless croutons. The other wedge was the same, no bacon and extremely minimal. We also ordered Brussel sprouts that were just ok. We ordered the “wild” mushrooms that were just your everyday button mushrooms that had zero flavor, almost tasted canned. We stopped at the salads and didn’t bother to order anything else on the insanely overpriced menu. Overall I think grand view lodge is overpriced all around for an outdated facility.

Had a 6:30 reservation but the couple in front of us did not! So, we waited while the hostess checked to see if they could be squeezed in! No problem with that!! However, we then sat for 20 minutes never being even acknowledged!! Both servers looked over at our table at least 3 times each but never bothered to check on us or tell us they’d be with us soon…NOTHING!! We will not be back!!

Poor service. Poor food. The server was not friendly or hospitable and to me makes a huge difference in dining out. She did not check in to see how our meals were or supply us with basic utensils for eating. Our meals were gone before we got our side dish. No apologies. She drops items and runs from beginning to end. I almost thought it was a race to see how quickly she could leave our table to move onto another. And it wasn’t even busy! Also, DO NOT order the ahi tuna salad unless you like straight soy sauce for dressing. There is no need to address any issues with management unless you enjoy the response of “I’m sorry.” I’m sorry we spent money at your restaurant and wasted a nice meal with friends on our vacation. We sure wish Cru was open. That place is fantastic!! Or hit up Bar Harbor nearby!!

Steaks are terrible never cooked to order. chef must smoke a lot because everything is over seasoned

This was honestly an absolutely abysmal experience at a “high end” steakhouse. The only positive here was that our server was amazing. We were 8 minutes early for a 5:45 reservation, ordered drinks and entrees straight away and weren’t served our food until after 7:00PM. This is all on a Monday night and they were not busy - a few large tables but nowhere near capacity. Beers were good and cocktails were average at best. Nothing particularly creative or flavorful. We had a a steak which we asked for medium rare and it was completely raw in the middle. Had to send it back. The $90 steaks don’t come with sides - fine - but the sides are tiny portion sizes. The gratinated potatoes are just precooked hashbrowns with cheese - not sliced and au gratin. What an absolute disappointment. This was meant to be a special birthday meal for my son and it was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Go anywhere else.

Food was terrible and extremely overpriced. ($400 for 2 adults and 2 kids).Steaks were chewy and raw( not rare at all) with a lot of fat in it. Mashed potatoes and salad were ok. Service was good. Dont think we will be going back for a while.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I was absolutely floored with the poor quality of the steak. I requested my prime rib medium rare, and it came out completely rare. I like bloody steak, but this was…raw. Luke warm and completely pink through and through. When I got it back it wasn’t much improved, was more than half fat, and the meat was so chewy I had to spit out multiple bites from the areas I salvaged any meat at all. Four people in my party had to send their meat back, one completely over cooked. So confused, as this place seems highly regarded by many who left reviews here. Perhaps we caught the chef on a bad night!? Everything else was over salted and nothing to brag about.

Worst steak at a restaurant I've ever had. I got the New York Strip medium. There was literally 1/4" of burn, to the point where it was difficult to even cut the steak. This was followed by a practically blue rare middle. My wife got a well done filet. You would think this would be easy, but they managed to only cook hers medium. They then offered to throw it back on the grill, at which point it was basically unedible because it had the same level of burn. They never even apologized. There was also a drastic level of difference in the quality of service we received from our waiter compared to other tables he was serving. We were very courteous but much younger than most others there, so maybe that played into it. Sides were awful. A week later we went to Applebee's and ordered similar items to what we got here and every single one was better at Applebee's, and the price was 1/6 the cost. It was awful and not even worth Applebee's prices. EDIT: Tried to send an email in response to owner's reply and the email address provided was not in service.