I have to ask all of these reviewers.... How long have you been a patron of "up North" or Langlade county restaurants and bars? My Outboards experience was above and beyond any of mine at any other restaurants up North. I have been a patron of the up north restaurants and bars for over 30 years. And all you yelpers have to get your expectations straight. You are not in New York City at Le Bernadin (Yes, I know a few things about restaurants). While no, you are not in NYC this place would give most 5 star restaurants in NYC a run for their money! This establishment is fabulous. When reviewing an experience at a restaurant I look for a few key factors to determine success. They are atmosphere, menu choice, staff friendliness and cleanliness. Let's start with the staff. I visited on July 2nd one of the most busiest weekends for up north establishments (if any of you frequented this area enough you would know this), and did I wait yes, however I was in good company and the staff was attentive. They let us know ahead of time they just opened, it would be awhile and if we were okay with that let me take your order. I had to call our waitress once or twice but she came quickly and was very helpful. Answered my questions and even talked a bit with my 2 year old. (Mariah you are a sweetheart.) Now for the menu and food. We had a party of 8. We tried various items on the menu. Cheese curds, to die for! Burger, very juicy and yummy. Brisket, best I have had and I have had a lot of brisket. Bacon Mac and cheese, the cheesiest. (those of you that are afraid of a little sauce should not be eating bacon mac by the way, don't you know that is how it is supposed to be made.) My 2 year old had the kids mac and cheese and kept yelling at me because I kept eating it! We also had a pizza as a side.. (Yes we are those people) thin, very crispy and tasty. So all in all the food was Awesome. Next atmosphere. Wow what a great job refurbishing the Bridge. These owners got it right. It has a touch of rustic up north feel, but with that boating theme most college kids appreciate. Love the kids area, my 2 year old kept wanting to watch the BEE movie they had on the TV. Also the outdoor patio was very quaint and comfortable even on a hot summer day. They were set up with a beer truck for the anticipated busy holiday. Did ya all go in the men's bathroom. Who would ever think of a Keg urinal! The ladies restroom was delicate and very nice. An up north bar with a changing table! What a relief. OK so for a big one on my list. Cleanliness. If you have been to some up north bars you know this often is a problem. You leave and you need a shower. Wow what a clean place. Staff was well dressed, bathrooms clean, and again the décor lends for this place to remain clean and tidy for years to come. So... New owners of the Outboards keep it going and I will keep it real. We "real" up north folks know what a great job you are doing and we appreciate your dedication to adding a high level establishment to the area. Hope you all have fun with your new venture, success is sure to come your way!! read more

My first time at outboards was so so at best. Food was so-so and the wait to get our meal was way too long. When we got there there was hardly anybody in the place and it still took us 55 minutes to get our order. The waitstaff gal was very apologetic about the wait and sure was interested in getting us to buy more beer but otherwise was pleasant. When we did get our meal everything was over cooked, French fries were mostly hard and my hamburger was closer to a hockey puck than anything else. They did do a good job of renovating the old Bridge Inn interior. We will give them another chance after they get their act together. read more

So as a parent with small children who wants to enjoy themselves on a weekend up north, you often don't have many options. So many places to get a beer and an appetizer and watch the game, but adding kids into the mix and that plan seems to go sideways. Outboard's fixes that issue and further more has great food and drinks on top of everything else. First off, the food is really good, the pizza is great and the toppings and ingredients seemed very fresh. The drinks were good, slightly pricey for certain things, but this would be my only complaint and its a very slight one for all you get when coming here. Our kids ate quite a lot of their food and went off in the little kids corner they have to play while we could still keep an eye on them. The service was great and quick, and I'll no doubt be back. I really wish that they had similar concepts in Madison, but this remains an awesome gem in Tomahawk and I really appreciate it. read more

Use to be a good place to eat maybe 10 years ago now it is not the same the food is horrible to say the least! Their staff is very unwelcoming and unfriendly I have given them multiple chances and am done wasting my money with them. They do not care about their customers just the money that they can make off you! read more

Husband picked up a cheese burger to go ordered it with catsup and mayo. Told them to make sure there was no pickle. They gave a cup of mayo on the side but not the catsup he had to use one at the bar and when he put it on there was pickle. When I bit into it the burger was way over cooked and the outside was very burnt. read more

Excellent food and service! Loved the shrimp tacos and huge side salad. Others in the group enjoyed the Parmesan grilled cheese and BLT, both awesome. The bartender was so nice and upbeat! Will definitely come back. read more

Clean and inviting. Accommodating for a kid even though it is a bar. Food was good, a little slow, but it was worth the wait. My steak sandwich was on the rare side but Good quality! read more

The portions are huge, but good. I recommend the Trash Can Nachos! There's also a great toddler haven.

Nice spot in town on the river. Very reasonable prices and the food was good! Would recommend one of the salads, my mom's looked great.

We have a cabin just outside of Tomahawk and were excited to see a new place that looked fun. Unfortunately, this place was very disappointing. It was fairly busy and I know they are new, but there is no excuse for waiting 1hr and 15m for a few burgers, sandwiches and a salad. Actually, one person in our group got a pizza that came out in about 20 minutes. He ate the entire thing and was done for almost an hour when we got our food. The food itself was fine. Nothing special, not too bad. Ironically cold for having waited so long. Oh yeah, and my wife ordered a sandwich with no mayo. She hates mayo and was very sure to get this point across. Of course it came with mayo, and we come to find out they actually charged her for *extra mayo* on the bill. Nice touch. They also double charged us for an item on the bill, which was removed. All of this would have been OK and we wouldn't have walked away so mad. We were having drinks with friends so how bad could it have been? We did however want to let the owner know of our experience. He shows up and says in an annoyed tone, "someone wants to talk to the owner?". We told him of the follies above and he immediately goes into excuse mode: it is busy, we just opened, holiday weekend. Defensive almost to the point of anger. No sympathy, empathy, or forgiveness. He offers my wife a fee bud-light since she literally didn't touch the mayo sandwich. A free bud-light for waiting for an hour plus and then not getting the correct food. I had to convince him that the meal should be free, to which he agreed. We talked to people around town about our experience, and to those who knew the owner they were not surprised. Apparently this guy has a reputation of being an a***hole. Next time we will just get steaks from the racist butcher at Poplar's and eat at the cabin. read more

Good food. Service was very good. They handled a big group very well. The Cuban wrap was good and the parmesean cheese fries were pretty good also. Drink prices were good also. I think we'll be back. read more

Our group of 9 showed up about 6 pm on a Saturday night and the place was packed. They still managed to seat us quickly and the service was top-notch from the get-go. We ordered two of the Garbage Can Nachos and cheese curds, all of which came quickly and tasted wonderful. Our entrees were served and the portions were huge. I just can't get over the amount of good quality food they serve for such great prices. This will definitely be a place we will return to time and again. I highly recommend! read more

Stopped in for a pizza because it's what we were feeling and it did not disappoint. Cool atmosphere on NFL Sunday. If we ever roll through this town again we will definitely stop. read more

The BLT is amazing. You can never have too many slices of bacon. Service was just as good.

We went in a friday night with a group of six. We sat outside, the patio was nice. We had read a few reviews and were expecting a long wait. We were seated immediately but it was a good long time for what we ordered, maybe 45 min. However our waitress was attentive and checked on us a few times and took drink orders, and there was little wait on those! The food was amazing. Most of us had burgers and they were awesome. Even the black bean burgers got rave reviews. One of us had the mac and cheese and thought it was the bomb. My picky daughter had a cheese pizza and loved it. We all had some (as it came before everything else...) and it was good. We will absolutely be going back (we have a list of things to try next) but will be planning for a long visit and bringing a designated driver (always) so their fancy drink list can be our appetizer! Bring something fun for kids to do if bringing them. Hopefully they can get more kitchen staff in the future. I gave them 4 instead of 5 stars because of the long wait. read more

My wife and I stopped there for a late lunch. There was probably less than 15 people in the place equally split between drinking at the bar and eating at the tables. The server greeted us quickly and gave us more than enough time to look at the menu. My wife selected a burger and I had the brisket sandwich special. It took a long time to get our food; we watched two tables that got there after us get their food before us. We weren't in a hurry so wasn't a big deal; however, I mention it because it is consistent with other reviews indicating the wait was long or the food wasn't ready when promised. There was nothing special about the food that makes me anxious to go back. The burger and fries was similar to burger and fries you can get at a half dozen other restaurants within a few minutes of Outboards. The brisket sandwich was smothered in sauce which hid the flavor of the brisket. It might have been the best brisket in the world but the sauce was nothing special. I would have ordered the sauce on the side if I had known how much they put on the sandwich. Bottom line - I'd go back and try something different if I weren't in a hurry. read more

Been there multiple times and never been disappointed. Grilled Parmesan cheese absolutely fantastic. Service was great. One of our top spots in the area as we don't live in Tomahawk. read more

Food was decent and the staff was awful. Waited 15 minutes after getting water for her to take our order. Food came fast so congrats for being able to walk with food at a moderate speed. The worst part was waiting for the waitress to take the check back. My mother made a joke of "bet she is taking a smoke break!" And sure sh*t, I walked outside to the car because I was tired of sitting and waiting and she was smoking a dirty ole cag! #bringbackthebridge read more

Went back to outboards figuring they should have some of the opening kinks worked out. One person at ou table still got thier soup after receiving their meal. I changed my itser from the grilled cheese to a bacon cheeseburger. Flavor was ok but very small for a 1/2 pound burger. It was more like a quarter pound. Wish I would have stuck with my original order as others said it was really good. read more

I heard they had all you can eat wings on Mondays so I figured they must at least have some average wings. I stopped by to check them out and ordered the 1lb boneless buffalo wings. Much to my dismay the wings looked as though they were taken right out of an appetizer box from Walmart. These wings just had the pre-packaged sauce on them, they had not been tossed in any sort of sauce at all. They were also soft. Now what I am saying is it seemed as though these wings were just tossed in microwave until hot. If you've ever baked/microwaved appetizers you definitely know the difference. I mean McDonalds chicken nuggets are of better quality. There was an average amount of wings here but for the price of $10 and the quality of wings there should have been double the portion! I'd rather eat McNuggets than these imposters. Now I could go up to 2 stars only because I have yet to taste the bone-in wings, but from a place obviously trying to be different from anything in the area(which is not bad) I expected the boneless wings to be a little more spectacular or different. Not a box of TGIFridays appetizers from any grocer in America. read more

My wife and I were excited to check out Outboard's given its location on the north side of the Wisconsin River directly across from Veterans Park. We visited for dinner on a Wednesday night and enjoyed the outdoor patio from which we could listen to Music on the River. The wait times for food and drinks were very disappointing, which is surprising given that my wife and I were enjoying the ambiance of the river location and the music from Veterans Park and were therefore in no hurry. The patio and inside seating were about 75% and 25% occupied, respectively, yet we waited more than one hour for our food. The food itself was fine, if unremarkable. The frozen margarita had very little ice and seemingly no tequila. An adjoining table with two couples also mentioned that they moved outside because of the house flies indoors. Perhaps Outboard's will hit its stride in a month or so but, until then, we will avoid it in favor of local establishments with better food and much better service. read more