Every summer, we spend a couple days on Madeline Island and it's a tradition we stop in Duluth for a day or two on our way home. Our cat always requests a whole smoked whitefish from Russ' near Knife River. Driving around eating a pizza, we were craving lamb and found this place. We weren't disappointed. Order the lamb and get a side of wasabi aioli to go with it. So delicious. We ate here twice. On our second visit, they didn't have any open tables, but they managed to fit us in. The food was great and service was too.

Absolutely wonderful cafe! So laid back and casual, but with a touch of sophistication. It's pretty much fine dining, only without the all the pomp and circumstance. The plates are served with the presentation you would expect to see at the finest restaurants. They have a great menu with a nice variety of dishes that are prepared with the best, and freshest ingredients. The handcrafted cocktails are wonderful. All the staff is so friendly and professional, and provide great service. This delightful restaurant is one of the best in the entire Twin Port's, and shouldn't be missed when visiting Canal Park.

The inside is tasteful and charming. This was the best meal we had in Duluth all weekend. The bread was baked fresh, the ingredients are all fresh and perfectly cooked. Each season the menu changes and I’m looking forward to trying more. The flavors and textures are all so perfectly combined. The chefs are excellent at what they do and the head chef designed a unique and tasteful menu. This is not an over priced meal, the quality goes above and beyond expectations of a $30/plate meal.

Came here around 8:15 on a Thursday night, sat on the patio and enjoyed excellent food from our server Sean. Would highly recommend for anyone looking for non traditional food in Duluth, flavors that actually excite! We had the duck tamal and sob noodles with steak — so good.

I the food was perfect!!! Apps, drinks, entree and dessert was all top notch. The server was super sweet. Remember to make reservations. We were lucky enough to eat up by the bar but they are busy.

The food was ok/good but way overpriced! We each had for brunch the pork belly hash with waters and it was $60.. service was great! Also one of the cooks in the open kitchen that you can see has a veeeery long beard and no protective mesh.. idk didn’t felt sanitary.

Delicate, simple, delicious, and enigmatic. This place leaves the taste buds wanting for more. There is a contentment only brought on by what seems like an eclectic mix of fusion and down home classic cooking. The bisque was delicious, the seviche sparked my pallet, and the duck tamale was cooked to perfection and balanced with a mix of the Minnesota wild. Definitely come here and bring a friend, it'll be a long lasting memory that will leave you wanting for more!

I had high hopes based on reviews. I’m not sure if it was just an “off” day or what, but it was a bad experience for my whole party and I. Our server was downright rude. I can handle mediocre food of the service is good, but we experienced neither unfortunately. The duck in the tamales was tough, undercooked and flavorless. That sounds harsh, but true. The calamari dish was okay. The green curry was good, but spicier than the menu and server mention. We got the ceviche as our appetizer (it was tuna this day) and it was incredibly fishy tasting. I couldn’t eat it. Presentation of the food was gorgeous, but it ended there. We dine out a lot. Sadly, I’ll never go back nor recommend to friends.

We had an absolutely fabulous meal at Lake Ave. Well done menu with amazing variety for all tastes. Good size portions, excellent cocktails. The flavors of the dishes were complex, well seasoned and creative. Excellent attentive service. Best meal I've had in awhile.

Absolutely phenomenal food. Delicious, fresh flavor, some unique flavors and combinations. The staff are also incredible. The vibe is similar to Duluth Grill, with quaint handmade coffee cups and delicious local coffee. Get the breakfast pizza!

Came in by myself and sat at the bar. The atmosphere is wonderful and everything is nice and clean. I love how much natural light is in the restaurant. All the staff were so friendly and nice to chat with. I was choosing between the wagyu(which I’ve had before and is the best in town) and the quail. The bartender suggested I try the quail because it is a more unique dish and I’m so happy I gave it a shot. So tender and juicy, while the sides were all cooked perfectly and flavorful. I had two different cocktails which were delicious. My bill wasn’t even very high. This is definitely one of the best restaurants in Duluth and worth paying a little more than some other places because of the quality!

I cannot say enough good things about this place. Came in with no expectations. There was a slight wait to order the food so they don’t overload the kitchen. I can tell you this, it’s definitely worth the wait. We sat at the bar and Rio was an absolute champion tending to us. The other woman manager was also fabulous. Great conversation, tips on the food and drink menu, honestly just the works. If you’re looking for good craft cocktails, this is the spot. I would have drank 20 ‘When In Doubt’ cocktails if I could afford it. Food was also amazing. Our party of 4 was beyond satisfied. Hats off to the chef. Will be coming back here 100%. They have something great going on here and I’m happy to have experienced it. Thanks to everyone there!

The waitstaff was wonderful! Went to brunch to celebrate our friends birthday and bachelor party. They were so nice and really made the stay enjoyable. Big portions, you get what you pay for! Would go again!

Wonderful! The food was delicious, waitress was kind, and drinks were great! My husband and I visited on our honeymoon and we are so happy we chose here. Food was fresh and presentation was incredible.

MAMA MIA THATS A TASTY BRUNCH! Okay but seriously, it was delicious and the vibes were perfect. All the staff were (was?) so friendly and made great suggestions. I enjoyed a Morning Schooner cocktail, which was refreshing and creamy at the same time. The pork belly hash was so tasty! I don’t remember what sauce was on top but it was so good! Definitely a good choice for a savory brunch. Thanks for having us! We had a great time!

Went here for bone marrow but the place apparently changes menus often. I serendipitously caught the last day before another menu changed and glad I did. The pork chop entree was enough for two. It took a bit of time to cook but worth the wait because it arrived tender, juicy, and perfectly seasoned. The service was excellent and the server was very helpful with well intended recommendations.

What a delicious treat on our weekend away. Great atmosphere and service was awesome. The pork belly, duck, and squid were all so good. Loved the plum pico with the duck

Lake Avenue Cafe has that creative and "that's original" menu food items. The staff and management were friendly and attentive. There are plenty of windows and an open view of the kitchen, so if you like to see and be seen, it's a win-win. The pickles dish we tried was a stretch for our taste pallette wish strong vinegar, salt, and earthy flavors within. The brisket sandwich had some thin outside pieces that were slightly overdone , so the bite stopped me from pulling the sandwhich away easily.

The steak was ordered rare, so overdone by the picture. But the flavor was great, so hard to demerit it too much. The cocktail was excellent too, as was the hummus.

Would like to give them another chance sometime. But after years of coming up north from the cities and seeing that they’re always booked and there is always a wait for a table, I thought the food would be much better than it was. The Thai Curry was a complete disaster. It was about 150 calories of veggies/noodles in a lake of about 3000 calories of sauce. Extremely poor quality, very unappetizing, and the tofu protein option comes out deep fried- for those who don’t already know, deep frying anything not only allows that item to be extremely low quality before entering the deep frier, but the very act of deep frying something is one of the biggest drivers of metabolic dysfunction in the world. So this dish could have been great but was instead a total bust and gut bomb. The service was fantastic, the patio and indoor ambiance was also lovely, but the poor quality of the food and high prices is reason for my low rating.

Absolutely fantastic experience! My husband and I made reservations last-minute for our wedding anniversary this evening. We were seated promptly and given water. The server was very friendly and quick to take our order. He did inform me that they were out of the mussels which was a bummer but we already knew what we wanted for entrees so we decided to skip appetizers. My husband had the steak pizza and I had the grilled squid and both were PHENOMENAL! Truly one of my favorite dining experiences of all time! The food was very flavorful and beautifully presented, it arrived fairly quickly and was hot and fresh! I’m really hesitant to try new things so the squid was a risk for me but it definitely paid off. I ate every bite of it and was too full to even consider dessert. All in all I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for something a little more unique and flavorful than your average restaurant!

Got the pork belly hash and it was very good. I did have to put some hot sauce on it for personal taste but nothing against the dish, it was very well prepared and plated. Service was very good as well, our bartender checked in consistently and made sure we were taken care of. Highly recommend.

A very unique menu! Some American classics with Asian twists to them. Many pickled items in the menu, if that’s your “thang.” Intriguing cocktail menu too. Friendly servers and a cozy yet chic ambiance. 👏🏼

We only wanted a light meal, so we ordered a side salad and a bowl of soup to share. They were surprisingly good and quite filling. We had a Mediterranean chick pea soup. We ordered the pineapple vinaigrette dressing which we really liked. Will come back for a full meal some day.

We had a wonderful experience at the Lake Ave restaurant. The host Brady was very accommodating and went above and beyond to help us out. Jamie our wait person was excellent and very friendly. We enjoyed a nice evening on the deck until rain cut it short. The food was excellent and we will dine here again.

We have never had a bad meal at Lake Ave and it's always one of our first food stops when visiting Canal Park. They can make a simple food like carrots taste like one of the fanciest, tastiest foods you've ever had. And their seasonal mocktails are always incredible!

I would certainly recommend the restaurant, but not the shrimp & grits. The ambience, staff and location are amazing. Plenty of great options on the menu and appreciate seeing more "foodie" places in the area. Husband liked the fry bread entree but felt the bread was fried too long making it hard yet chewy. I went for the shrimp and grits and while I finished my plate, wouldn't order it again. The grits were stiff and bland. Bland to the point I don't think even salt was used. If you've never had grits and had these for the first time, you'd probably never have them again. The shrimp Cajun seasoning was done well, but it was like the shrimp was pre-cooked, then cooked for this dish with the seasoning making it very tough and overdone. Like needing a sharp knife to cut through and what little pink was left was only in the thickest chunk. The cornbread was dry and to the level of nature valley crumble. The collards were cooked well, though the sweetness stood out so much only because there was not much other flavoring on the dish with the Cajun seasoning strictly with the shrimp. Again, I finished my plate, was just underwhelmed and would not order this dish again, but excited to try other dishes and find what they really shine in.

Small portions but overall very tasty and aesthetically plated dishes. Menu isn’t the most expansive but the expecting mother and kids in our group appreciated the mocktails.

We are so glad we went to the delicious Lake Avenue restaurant. I found it on either and was afraid it wouldn’t be good because it is in a pretty touristy area of Duluth. We were really excited to find that the food was fabulous and the service was great. The server recommended a chili that blew us away, my dad‘s wife had the best pizza of her life she said, and my partner and I both had the Ruben which was better than any Ruben we’ve had in a long time. It is a little more spend he then I expect in Minnesota but you are getting a really excellent quality of food, service, and atmosphere.

We had a delicious lunch here yesterday and enjoyed every bit of the food. The wonderful Cuban soup, the elote and the sandwiches were absolutely amazing. Food was fresh and service was phenomenal. Will come back on our next trip back to Duluth. Highly recommended!

Never have I ever had a steak as amazing as this waygu. These chefs really know what they're doing in the kitchen....not to mention they love to switch up the menu every week with new ingredients and made from scratch. The variety of meats and seafood they use is mindblowing and so unique. Everything from Mussels to rabbit to your comfort poultry and beef. This restaurant is way-too-guood!

Our waitress had the right balance of presence. The food was well prepared and plated. Don't feel shy to order some of the different types of foods they have on the menu. The curry pizza is definitely worth getting!

Amazing customer service! Amazing cook! The octopus was to die for. Our server was prompt and pleasant/ cheerful! We loved it from start to finish. Very story book for a winters outing in the north land.