Remington’s Restaurant and Lounge Spirit Lake, IA

August 30, 2008

We went to Terril to visit our family and we always try to hit a local favorite.  Lastnight we hit Remington’s in Spirit Lake.  It is one of the local favorites, we could tell that by the line out the door.  Remington’s

is located in the Great Lakes Mall.  It’s a nondescript restaurant front so you might miss it.  It’s a simple place with a big menu.  There’s a lounge area, a private party area and a main dining area.

When we walked in, it was warm and inviting.  I thought it a little strange that the staff were all wearing t-shirts or sweatshirts and jeans or jean shorts (albeit Remington’s tshirts and sweatshirts. )  It just didn’t quite fit the atmosphere, but that’s minor.  It added to the casual atmosphere.

The food was OK.  Not great and quite greasy.  We ordered a full order of potato boats which were slathered with cheese.  Undoubtedly my favorite part of the meal.  We also ordered the Onion Brick, one of their trademark items.  It reminded me slightly of a Kitchen Nightmares episode, but they tasted good.   The items that we all ordered were a Remington Burger, Tenderloin, and Custer’s Catch fish sandwich.  The Remington Burger came with cheese, onion, and mushrooms.  This was my order.  I assumed the onions and mushrooms would be sauteed, but they weren’t.  The fresh button mushrooms were cut and placed on top of the burger.  Which I would have been fine with even though they weren’t sauteed, except that it was then drenched in cheese sauce not real cheese.  Then the green onions were sliced and put on top of that.  It wasn’t bad, it tasted fine, but I expected real cheese, not cheese sauce.  That’s probably my biggest complaint.  The fresh onions, tomato slice, and fresh mushrooms turned out to be a pleasant surprise, but I couldn’t get over the sauce.

Andrew had the tenderloin with salad and though it was OK he said it didn’t have a lot of flavor.  The Custer’s Catch was a huge deep fried cod fillet topped with sliced almonds.  My sister in law had that and she said it was OK.

Overall, this restaurant was pretty good, not somewhere I’d be craving next time we visit, but an ok place to stop and get some lunch or dinner if you’re over there.  The prices were reasonable.  For two of us plus the potato boats plus two beers (they have Amber Bock bottles) the bill came to almost $30.  The waitress was friendly but they were very busy so she seems a little frazzled, but we still got good service.

I’d recommend this place for a weekday meal with the family – probably best for lunch or early dinner as it gets pretty busy after 6.