The Duck Pond Eatery and Beer Garden — Restaurant in Au Train Township

Wow - wish we had read the reviews before going to this establishment. But we hadn’t, and we were starving after coming into town later than we had planned. Still, nothing could’ve prepared us for this utter disappointment that is the Duck Pond Eatery.

As with other diners, this evening may have been the singularly WORST non-dining experience we’ve ever had as a family; NON-DINING because we waited for nearly two hours for food that never came, and were left on our own for a good chunk of that time to wonder what was going on with our dinner. No special orders, no substitutions - nothing at all out of the ordinary that could have caused the extraordinary amount of time we waited with incredibly little service and no food.

It was 20 minutes to get menus; and because we had an inkling that service was going to be challenging, we put our drink and food orders in at the same time. Once our server dropped off our drinks, it would be an HOUR before she finally came back and checked on us. But by then all of our blood sugars were well into the toilet, and our kids were beyond grumpy from the infernal wait with still no food. She tried to say that our food was delayed because they were very busy. But NO ONE as far as we could tell had their food either! So not sure at all what the kitchen was busy doing. I was struck by the fact that I’ve actually never seen an entire section of a restaurant with literally no one serving it and worse yet, no one eating. And as others have noted, several tables were even compelled to get up and get their own drinks at the bar inside.

After almost two hours with no word on an ETA for our food we could take it no longer, and finally got up to leave. It was 8:40 and we realized that we were in danger of missing any other opportunities to eat elsewhere, as it was nearly closing time everywhere.

On our way out, we ran into our server who still could offer no logical explanation for our lack of food and the non-sensical amount of time we had waited for said food at that point. Ordinarily, our family really likes to support food service industry professionals and have always been understanding and supportive if things are running rough on any given night. But tonight’s disastrous first-ever visit to this establishment is very...

ABYSMAL. The night started with my wife suggesting this place and saying that they had a Buffalo chicken sandwich, which peaked my interest. I read a few reviews online stated that the service was very slow, but figured since we were there at 3:30 in the afternoon, it shouldn’t be very busy. We sat down at our outdoor table, greeted by a swarm of flies in such abundance that a dairy farm would be embarrassed. Our waitress came and took our drink orders. I quickly glanced at the menu and saw no Buffalo chicken sandwich listed. When we asked the waitress if they had a Buffalo chicken sandwich, she said, “we don’t have ANY chicken sandwich.” Disappointed, I settled on a blue cheese burger. Almost an hour and a half later, I received my blue cheese burger; a charred middle school lunchroom patty topped with a thin, white covering of cheese that had absolutely no flavor and left me wondering what it started it’s life out as. I should also add that somewhere in there arrived an appetizer of chips and salsa that had apparently taken 45 minutes to dump into a basket and bring to our table, but that really wasn’t a big deal, comparatively. Our waitress apologized when she brought our food stating that “we really shouldn’t be open” and that the people working the kitchen were “a 16 year old boy and a guy who doesn’t know what he’s doing.” The staff has obviously been setup for disaster at this establishment. I feel horrible for them. Anyway, if you are a passer-by and give thought to stopping for a bite here, unless you want to be drunk by the time your food arrives, DO NOT EAT HERE. Trust the reviews stating that it is not the place to eat. It was so bad that my brother-in-law received his burger, took a bite, pushed it away in disgust, and refused to pay for his meal. I almost want to start a go fund me for the staff so that they can all quit and leave the embarrassment and shame that they have to endure every day they go in to work due to the higher-ups putting them in this position. Seriously, I would rather prep for a colonoscopy or get a root canal before eating here again. Then again, the flies were happy to have my company for two and a half hours, so maybe it wasn’t...

-The Duck Pond Eatery & Garden Review-

Horrible. Utterly horrible. Yesterday, me and some family friends arrived at this place since our original destination had closed. We came here and were told our food would be right out. Ended up taking over 1-3 hours and a little kid along with elders never got their food. The “spicy boneless buffalo wings” also weren’t spicy whatsoever & different then we expected. The soup of the day was the soup on the menu too & it was cold. We finished our cups of lemonade and they made us pay for refills and much more (we never ended up getting a refill-). They also, had more than half the things we ordered missing or gone. Didn’t receive our side(s) order(s) either…They made us re-order food 1+ hour after we had been waiting. Finally, after a long time of waiting & starving we left. With almost everyone at our table hungry. I don’t recommend this place whatsoever. It takes forever. Along with the appetizers which took FOREVER to come to our table! (Forever meaning we never got appetizers) so hectic all for just a bit of food that never came. It honestly seemed like we were waiting on the waitress/waiter. the only good thing about the place was the girl with blonde hair who helped us out in the end. So props to her for being kind and taking everything off of our bill. I truly hope she gets promoted soon/often. This is half the stuff that happened yesterday. Service is slow along with the food. Horrible food recommendations, etc. never coming here again. No check-ups, and more. Extra Info: There are no ducks ‘nor pond(s) It’s a bit expensive once you add up the total Not very clean but not too dirty They don’t clean off the tables/chairs (or at least, from what we/I saw) They forget stuff easily such as bringing in a tray full of dirty cups They don’t have desserts No B-Day celebrations And more P.S. I enjoyed reading the “Advice from a Tree” Have a great day / night! Please keep in mind this is/was a personal experience and may not apply to all customers/people that come...