• Iron Seared Fresh Water Prawns garlic herb crust, tomato scampi butter, white cheddar-herb mash $20.75
• Apple cranberry cobbler with chai ice cream (shared) $5.95

I know hotel restaurants are notoriously bad, so when we go to them our expectations should be fairly low. In this case they were and I was still disappointed.

The shrimp were cooked to the right temperature, but they were very salty. The cobbler was presented in a cute little cast iron frying pan, but it was burned to inedible on the bottom.

The service was ok, but not great. Other tables seemed to be having a worse time than we, since the manager came out to talk to the two I could see and offer them free dessert.

Even without considering the price, I think it deserved a poor rating, but adding that on top, it most definitely deserved the poor rating.

• Strawberry & Brie Salad grilled watercress, Arugula, honey glazed hazlenuts, cider-poppyseed dressing $6.50
• Tornado Farfalle Pasta chicken, crawfish, corn, scallions, peppers, spiced garlic cream $15.95

Firelake was awful, awful, awful. The strawberry brie salad was insanely average - the fresh strawberries could not save the bland brie (even for brie) and uninspired dressing. The chicken and crawfish farfalle was among the worst pasta dishes I’ve had in months, maybe years. The sauce was this thick, heavy flavorless cream sauce that sucked any flavor out of the chicken and crawfish that might have been there. If you’re going to dare to serve crawfish in Minnesota, for Pete’s sake, make sure it’s the best crawfish in the world, not some frozen shadow of its former self. Some unknown vegetables drowned mercilessly in that sauce. Finally, the apple cranberry cobbler was something I’d be embarrassed to serve my mother-in-law (really, I like my mother-in-law, that’s why I’d be embarrassed).