Marisa Brown of AllMusic gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5, saying: "In terms of what Dosh has always done, The Lost Take isn't drastically different: it's experimental instrumental music that hesitates to adhere itself too firmly to any categorization, but it's a consistent and interesting release nonetheless, and probably the best of his career."[3]
The Lost Take was named No. 7 in a list of the top 10 Minnesota records of 2006 in the Star Tribune's survey of Twin Cities music critics.[7]