Lake Minnetonka Restaurants You Can Boat To: The Dock-Up Dining Guide

Two spots are built for arriving by water, with real docking rather than a nice view of the lake:

- Lord Fletcher's Old Lake Lodge (3746 Sunset Dr, Spring Park) — its wharf seats roughly 500 people and can dock about 100 boats, on Coffee Cove between West Arm and Crystal Bay. This is the one everyone means when they say boat-up dining on Minnetonka.

- Maynard's (685 Excelsior Blvd, Excelsior) — a lakeside American restaurant with guest boat slips so you can tie up and walk straight to the patio, right on the Excelsior Bay waterfront.

If your plan is to leave the dock at home and pull up to dinner, those are the two I steer people to first.

6Smith and CoV are lakefront and beautiful, but treat them as patio-with-a-view rather than guaranteed tie-up-and-dine — my facts don't confirm public guest slips at either, so call ahead before you count on docking.

- 6Smith (294 Grove Lane East, Wayzata) sits in the Boatworks Building on the lake. It's a modern steak-and-seafood room; the beef is USDA Prime Angus, corn-fed and naturally aged 40 days. Reservations: (952) 698-7900.

- CoV (700 E Lake St, Wayzata) is on the downtown Wayzata shoreline serving coastal American wood-fired steak and seafood, with lobster guacamole as the signature. Reservations: (952) 473-5253.

One note for planners: Sunsets, the longtime lake-view spot at 700 Lake St E in Wayzata, has closed. Don't route your evening around it.

Boaters eat late, so Maynard's is the reliable in-season pick: Monday through Thursday 11am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to midnight, and Sunday 11am to 10pm.

That Friday-Saturday midnight close is the difference-maker on a long summer evening — you can watch the sun drop, stay for another round, and still make it back across the bay.

Lord Fletcher's is the year-round anchor. It has run since 1968, grown from the old Fletcher's Bait & Boat Livery, and it holds the DiRoNA award and the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence — so it's a destination in January, not just July.

The boat-up magic, though, is a summer thing everywhere on the lake. Guest slips and lakefront patios are in-season by nature; once the docks come out, you're arriving by car like everyone else. Plan the water route for roughly May through September.

Once you've tied up in Excelsior or parked near the Wayzata shore, some of the best tables are a block off the water:

- Layline (301 Water St, Excelsior) — seafood-forward New American fine dining that opened in 2024 from InnerBloom Hospitality and chef Daniel del Prado, in the old Gary's First Class Car Care. Dinner nightly from 4pm. Del Prado's group also runs Macanda and Josefina in Wayzata.

- Mirabelle (200 Water St, Excelsior) — elevated American comfort food from Jester Concepts in a historic Water Street building; dinner nightly plus weekend brunch Saturday and Sunday 10am to 2pm.

- 318 Cafe (318 Water St, Excelsior) — a Dogwood-coffee cafe by day and a live-music listening room at night; think prosciutto flatbread and a roasted beet and goat cheese salad.

- Birch's on the Lake (1310 Wayzata Blvd, Long Lake) — a Wisconsin-style supper club with its own experimental brewery, overlooking Long Lake just west of Wayzata. (952) 473-7373.

- Wayzata Bar & Grill, 'The Muni' (747 Mill St E) — running since 1947 and owned by the City of Wayzata, so its profits fund local streets, lights, and parks.

For a morning launch out of Wayzata, two newer counters are handy. Rustica Bakery and Cafe opened at 795 Lake Street East in November 2025 — its first suburban location, run by Jester Concepts, open daily 7am to 5pm, with pour-over from beans roasted by former Rustica owner Greg Hoyt.

Toastique (320 Engel Street, in the Promenade by Hotel Landing) opened in November 2024 with gourmet toasts, smoothies, and craft coffee all day — an easy grab before you cast off.