Buoy's Eatery & TakeOut

Excellent pan fried fresh fish, great greek salad, wedges AND they pay staff a living wage so tip is included in the price! Perfect!

Edit: Dropping the star rating because of the disappointment before leaving. I asked for a few napkins, and the woman who took the order at the front commented to me "Are you leaving soon? You've been here for 4 hours. We got busy and you were sitting here. " LOL WOW. First of all, it was just under 3 hours. We ordered an appetizer, 2 mains, a dessert, and two rounds of drinks. Yes, it got busy, but we were mindful of that, and there was always one table available, and if it wasn't, there was only a few min wait.

We intended to order food for take out for later in the evening, and wanted to come back another couple of times (for shorter visits lol), but we've decided to spend our money elsewhere. Limited number of restaurants and a small town, so they can get away with it. But it's not the ONLY restaurant so we're good.

Also, if we had to tip, we tip really well, so maybe they wouldn't have cared. I left a small cash tip on the table and the attitude seemed to change when she saw that. Interesting.

Original review:
Amazing little Marina side spot. Food was delicious and service was friendly. Catch of the day was whitefish, and the Cajun seasoning is so yum. Chicken club was tasty. And the cold artichoke dip to start was really nice. Oh, and the cheesecake was good also. Pricing is fair; they do not prompt for tipping.

The patio is dog friendly fyi:)

Went here with friends for a wonderful lunch in August. Staff were great! I had the chicken pesto pasta. The best pasta meal I have ever had! Still remember months later. Keep up the great work!

Atmosphere, fun
Service, satisfactory for take out
Food, POOR AT BEST. The taste was ok but mainly tasted bread. I ordered the BBQ Chicken club. One slice of dry chicken, maybe 1/8 if 1/4 inch thick, a slice of bacon, a little lettuce, it says tomato on the menu but I didn't see any, melted cheese I guess and a dab of sauce all on a nice thick bun. TASTELESS and overpriced at $14 dollars. The other 2 meals, a pazzerotti and a pasta, ALSO A BUST! Perhaps eat in is better? I WON'T order take out from this place again without checking quantity first.

Food was excellent! Had the Cajun rainbow trout burger, husband had the key west seasoned one. So. Damn. Good. So fresh and cooked to order. Great location with awesome views too. Went back and got a piece of the pumpkin cheese cake, very delicious, not too sweet.

The city boy in me says:
For the price, the quality and toppings of the pizza was not a good value at all.
It was decent. But when compared to large (basic) pizza chains, this place seems lackluster.

The hungry Manitoulin Island boy in me says:

Mmmm pizza. Expensive.but mmmm

I only review critically bc I think this place can do a lot better!

Also, it is not appropriate for the lady behind the counter to ask "Would you like to leave a tip? " On a take out order. Leave that part up to the customer and DON'T put a person on the spot! Lol.

This place is so awesome! Perfectly located right near the water, it has a great atmosphere. Our server was fantastic - taking care of several tables at once with ease and providing such personalized and friendly service. We tried three different pizzas and each one was very tasty. The key lime pie was to die for, it's a definite must try! We will be coming back on our next trip to the island without a doubt.

My pizza was delicious. Ordered Bonnyeville, substituted olives for green peppers with no problems. Such a crispy fluffy crust and the topping were fresh. And the lady I ordered from was super friendly ;) Highly recommend. And they're patio is open.

Delicious food, including GLUTEN FREE options (pasta and pizza - my daughter really liked the pasta but we didn’t try the pizza). GF is hard to come by at restaurants on Manitoulin (for understandable reasons) so this was very much appreciated. Friendly service and everything tasted so good.

Chosen on a whim and what a good whim it was! We had the catch of the day and it was sooo good, we regretted not getting 2 pieces. While we were there we kept smelling the made from scratch pizza and it smelled divine. We are going to make a special trip back just to try the pizza.

Location is excellent with great views of the marina. Food has hints of "home cooked", which was great. Lots of healthy options including locally caught fish. Excellent local beer selection, but somewhat limited (4).

Rich operates a decent restaurant, but just stay away from the pizza. It's brutal.

The hours of operation, especially during the summer months, are just abhorrent. Closing at 7pm, and not even open everyday, I'm starting to think he wants out of the business, so it's understandable. No business owner operates a business with the intention of making less money than the business is clearly capable of making.

But I digress. It's just more of the same up here on this island. Many businesses operate like this, and I think it's just the mentality in general up here.

But anyway, to the good-the Greek salad is TO DIE FOR, and you should get it, no questions asked. I think Richard is the only restaurateur I've seen in recent times that actually uses real olive oil, and not a canola/olive oil blend. Props for that.

My suggestion: Someone should buy this place, and demolish it because the venue sucks. Build a nice 'finer' dining venue with wrap around patio seating, and open at 7am till 2pm, then close for prep until dinner service at 5. Hit it hard from 5-11 and Bob's your uncle.

The business owner is obviously not interested in doing it anymore. Closing at 7pm during a very busy post-covid summer is just nonsensical, when there are groups of people looking for dining past 7pm with NO FREAKING VIABLE OPTIONS in this town. When you have literally zero competition, I'm just flabbergasted at the attitude. Or hire someone to do it for you, take your cut, and pay out a salary. Call it a day.

But the food is good enough to make up for all of this bureaucratic nonsense.

A must when you are visiting the island. We always come here for pizza and pulled pork. Absolutely delicious. Buoy's only uses fresh local ingredients. We had our small dog with us so we were able to order our food and go eat at the picnic table near the waterfront. Can't wait to come back again next year!

Ordered a Canadian eh pizza, it was very fresh but was somewhat bland. Given the lack of choices in the area it's worth trying, just don't expect authentic italian pizzeria joint pizza. Also a little pricy but to be expected given the remote location i suppose.

Had a reservation at 6pm and they got us in around 6: 10 which wasn't too bad considering we had a large party of 10 for them to accommodate and the patio isn't overly large. Ordered the "Catch of the day" which was Whitefish. Cooked and seasoned to perfection. Greek salad had right amount of feta and olives and went well with the fish and some lightly roasted potatoes. Owner and staff were very friendly, knowledgeable and a pleasure to meet. Some others members of our group had the pizza and said it was really good as well. Clean washrooms too. Will return.

This is our favorite place to eat! Food, service and atmosphere are second to none. Beautiful views of the marina and Gorebay make it the perfect outing. Can't wait for the 2021 opening.

If you expect Italian food in the clean and neat environment, this is not the place. The waiter had a loose masks which fell off frequently and food was not good either.
Complete disappointment

Our hosts at the Twin Peaks B&B recommended Buoy’s Eatery and TakeOut in Gore Bay and since all their recommendations were spot-on so far we made a dinner reservation on Buoy’s patio.

As we checked out the many glowing reviews it became apparent that our choice for dinner was already made. Almost without exception reviewers recommended the pizza. All that was left for us to do was decide which of the pizzas we were going to order. See below for our choices.

Service:
Another thing most reviewers commented on consistently was the service at Buoy’s, with an emphasis on friendly and helpful. And we can offer the same rave reviews on that front. Our server was excellent: relaxed but efficient; effortlessly funny; and, knowledgeable and honest about the menu. You couldn’t really ask for more.

Ambience:
The patio overlooks the Gore Bay marina, and also provides a beautiful view of a portion of Gore Bay itself. Combined with the relaxed service, and the stunning weather we enjoyed for our visit, this made for a fabulous outdoor dining experience. And, an after dinner stroll out onto the marina’s breakwater is highly recommended. You get a stunning view of the Bay’s outlet to the North Channel, and a beautiful panoramic view of the town and the marina.

Food:
When we arrived the patio was busy and almost without exception people had ordered pizza. So, with the reviews’ recommendations confirmed we sat down to agonize over which pizzas to choose. In the end we settled on two 12” pizzas (we’d been hiking all day and were famished). The Bonnyville (double pepperoni, extra cheese, tomatoes, green olives and bacon) and The Max (shaved roast beef, garlic butter, fried mushrooms, red onion, marble cheese and steak spice). We also ordered two side salads: a Caesar and a Greek. The salads were good, with in-house made, delicious dressings and fresh ingredients (with the exception of the canned black olives on the Greek). But each one was missing just a little something. In the case of the Caesar we missed having more, and larger, croutons. And in the case of the Greek there could have been more Feta cheese - and real olives would have gone a long way.

The pizzas are really good. To be clear, if you’re looking for Neopolitan or artisanal style pizza you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re looking for straight ahead Canadian-style pizza with quality toppings cooked to perfection (and quickly - we were amazed at how quickly our pizzas came out) then Buoy’s is going to make you happy - and full. With our side salads we were stuffed (we could have easily settled for two 8” pizzas but sometimes we just have to overindulge now and again).

Price:
Two 12” pizzas, two side salads, two tall cans of Okanagan Cider, HST and a healthy tip totalled just shy of $100. Money well spent; we’ll definitely be back the next time we visit Manitoulin Island.

As a sole vegan venturing on Manitoulin, l was well taken care of by their staff and relished my meal. Highly recommend this place.

Cozy & friendly place with delicious food. Tried their fish and pizza, both were amazing.:) highly recommend

Last day for the season. Limited menu, we had some awesome pizzas. Young lady with tattoos was a great server. We only give that far north once a year, but will definitely be back!

Pizza! Just try the pizza, amazing! Closed for the season now unfortunately but will be open again next year.

It's okay to visit this place for a dining. But it's expensive because this place is in a main location of the tourist spot.

Restaurant is comparatively small with other restaurants in big cities.

I have ordered a full rack ribs but received a half rack ribs with a price tag of 25$ (Which was okay but we can go for full rack ribs in cities at this price - just a comparison of the price and qty)

BBQ ribs was so tender and delicious though

The location is unbeatable. The food is all locally sourced and made from scratch. Nothing deep fried here. Delicious and healthy food. For the gluten intolerant, there are GF options so you can enjoy a delicious pizza.

Loved everything about this location. The people were super nice, the atmosphere very relaxing and pleasant and Richard makes the best cup of coffee in town! Thank you for the warm welcome the great good as well!
If in Gore Bay this is the place to go!

We loved it here. Great food and service. The nachos pizza and dessert were amazing. Definitely will come back here next time we are in the area.

We all had pizza and nachos. The pizza was very good with quality ingredients. The nachos had layers so you didn't run out of topping. Very good. Dog friendly patio made managing the dog we had super easy.

The view of the bay and beverage selection was excellent. We had sandwiches, and the chicken club was very tasty. Fish was ok. The side of potato salad was SMALL. The portion should have been bigger for a $14 sandwich.

The only thing better than the amazing food was the service - I have a lot of food allergies that make eating out very difficult, but our server was emphatic that they are happy to accommodate. I had a truly wonderful meal that met all of my needs and satisfied a craving for fresh-caught Georgian Bay whitefish! The restaurant is spotlessly clean, the staff are very friendly and welcoming, and the music is quiet and classy. On a lovely day the patio can't be beat, but the few indoor tables are very nice and the artwork displayed is eclectic and fascinating - all seems to be from local artists. Well worth a visit while on the Island!

Well located in Gore Bay. Service was awful. We had the displeasure of being served by Chelsea who was anything but friendly or professional! She was even sarcastic when we asked about the fish!
We ordered fish with the assumption that it came with roasted potatoes but that was not the case, came with boiled potatoes.
Won't go again!

Excellent service, good food, a little pricey for what it is but there aren't a whole lot of choices in Gore Bay so it is what it is!

Fantastic find. Location is beautiful and relaxing. The food has that homemade look and taste. The pulled pork is absolutely amazing!

Fish is beyond fresh and tasty. Pizza is perfect with great toppings hand tossed crust and old italian eatery style. Philly Cheese steak sandwich was a hit! Only reason it's not 5 is there's no.

Buoy's gets 5 stars from me. Three of us went on a weekend in July, we were seated quickly on the shaded porch overlooking the marina (beautiful view). The waitress got to us very quickly to take drink and food orders (who btw was very friendly, and kind). Be advised this is not fast food, it takes time as they state: everything is made from scratch. However, the food came out very quickly and our order went in with four other orders! Great selection of local beers, something for everyone. We had the 'Anger' burger, bacon cheeseburger and fish burger which was served with potato salad instead of french fries (so much more summery, and lighter on the stimach) and we were not disappointed. Burgers were juicy, flavorful and a perfect lunch size. We were all very satisfied, not too stuffed to follow up with a walk down the boardwalk. Will definitely be back!

Ordered two large pizzas and when we got home and opened the boxes what we had was two medium without the double cheese we had ordered, they lost a customer.

Good, on the water, nice view, very clean, friendly, local restaurant. Lots of locally sourced items.

Service is good at times and then other times is rather slow. Was seated for almost 10mins before the server came