Maxwell's Beach Cafe

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!

I went to Maxwell’s beach cafe for dinner and the food was amazing. The people there were so kind and awesome too! I had the scallops and it was so good! One of the best dishes I have ever had! One of my friends had the pork chop and the dish was huge! The raspberry sauce and crepes that came with it were to die for! Also, the people that work there are super accommodating and friendly and our glasses were always full! I will definitely be going there again!

Great restaurant with perfect view of the sunset on the Lake. Filet was cooked perfectly at medium rare and went excellent with some whipped potatoes. Highly recommend any of the beef It is always great here. Will be coming back.

Maxwell’s is a true Okoboji gem! Not only is the scenery right next to the lake gorgeous but the staff takes obvious pride their food and customer service. Whether you are a local or a visitor, Maxwell’s is a must!

My husband and I have been going to Maxwells for as long as I can remember, first in the Emporium and now in the park. It is by far and away the best dining experience in the lakes area! When we heard new owners were taking over we wondered if the excellence in food and service would continue. We were there a month ago and were delighted to see nothing has changed!! Fabulous food and attentive service-we are headed there this week to celebrate our daughter in law’s birthday - congratulations to the new owners!

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.

We had the dinner on the patio and it was amazing! The food was absolutely excellent! I'm craving a return for the calamari. I also got the pork chop which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Beware that the menu inside the restaurant is different than outside. This is a review for the inside, which is billed as more of a "classy" and "upscale" restaurant.

The food here was permissible; not fantastic but not terrible either. I ate the Halibut which was crusted in macadamia nuts and glazed with some honey sauce. It also came with some bland spring rolls. Overall, the food was overpriced and took over 45 minutes to prepare. To top it off, the place had a mildewy smell, assumed to be from recent flooding. Ultimately if you're looking for good food at a fair price and at an upscale place, you may wish to look elsewhere.

Steak was served completely raw, could not eat it at all. Not only that but it was filled with cartilage. Service was bad- had to wait 40 minutes to get our ticket. Still had to pay full price after spitting out the food, talking to manager, and having to wait.

2020 Update below
Have 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.
Overall the food was overpriced and took far too long to be served.

UPDATE August 28, 2020

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me pretty well describes our latest experience with Maxwell's Beach Cafe.
We had not patronized Maxwell's since our very unsatisfactory August 2018 experience. We decided to give Maxwell's another try. Our mistake.
We 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.
All in all it took 90 minutes from start to finish a very medium $150 3- meal service despite an average number of dinners.
There are much, much better meal values and experiences in the Okoboji area. We won't be fooled again.