Belleville Bait Shop Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Belleville

I must say I have never been treated the way I was tonight, in my entire life. My friend and I were on a road trip heading back home and we asked a girl wheres some good food nearby. She told us to go to the bait shop. We arrived and the host seemed really confused and walked into the kitchen and about 2 minutes later, walked back out and then sat us in a back area all by ourselves. We definitely felt secluded, in a bad way. We both ordered waters. Then my friend asked our server, Jenna for recommendations. She suggested the pulled pork mac n cheese. I got the walleye with mashed potatoes and gravy and a side salad with bleu cheese. Our server asked me if I'd like my salad first and I said, yes please. Welp fast forward maybe 10 minutes later and she brought all our food out, apologized that it came up to quickly to get the salad out first, dropped it all off, and said enjoy. My friend took one look at her dry "pulled pork" and couldn't bring herself to eat it. I started eating mine. The dressing tasted like ranch with chunks of bleu cheese. I couldn't tell if the mashed potatoes were instant but they definitely didn't look nor taste like fresh ones. The walleye was bland, and lacking of any flavor but I was starving so I tried eating it. About 5 minutes passed and our server came to ask how was everything. My friend apologized and stated Im sorry this looks so dry and unappealing, I can't eat it. The server offered to get her something different and my friend declined. The server took the food and then proceeded to the end of the bar where her, the bartender/ manager, and the kitchen manager started staring at us and talking about us. The kitchen manager who was dressed in plain clothes and drinking at the end of the bar walks up to our table and says "hey so um what was wrong with the food because I personally made it?" ( Which was a total lie. He was inebriated and sitting at the bar the whole time.) My friend stated she thought it was bbq pulled pork and he interrupted her and said it was. She said well it was so dry it looked old and unappealing. He said that dry food isn't an excuse, they would pack it up for us but he wasn't taking it off the bill. We both looked at him in shock. I've worked the restaurant industry for almost 30 years and I have never, ever heard someone speak to a patron in that manner! I pushed my food away seeing as my appetite was completely ruined and my friend told him she Was NOT paying for something she didn't eat. He started to argue and got aggressive especially for approaching two females in the manner he did. I asked him what his name was and he responded "don't bother with that", went to walk away, then turned back around and said Carter's my name. He said I'll send the owner over. We waited for a few minutes, saw no one was coming, so we got up and asked the server at the host stand to speak with the owner. The bartender comes up to us and tells us he's the manager. His demeanor was defensive from the start. And he goes on about how this is a small establishment and they don't take food off. Also, it's our fault for ordering something on a suggestion. He said he tasted it and it wasnt dry. We again stated we weren't paying for food she didnt eat and that was made wrong. He tried bargaining and saying he'd take half off and pack it up for us. We responded saying no and how he just stated that he ate some of the food why would we want something he stuck his finger in and ate??? About 2 minutes goes by and I paid for my food even though I barely touched it, he took hers off the bill and we left. I don't know what the owner thinks is going to happen with this many complaints about the exact same thing. I have never been to a restaurant that screws up your food, blames you, and tries to force you to pay for it. I hope the server doesn't get in trouble. They were all walking around on eggshells. It was very clearly a toxic and abusive work environment. I think it goes without saying we won't be back. But clearly, the owner...

We decided to give this place a shot, having just opened a few weeks ago -- we normally like to wait until the kinks are worked out. Seems to be the case here but I do hope a few things change as they get into the swing of things.

My mom and I met up here around 7pm on a Monday and were able to find parking near the entrance. She has a cane and a bad knee, and unfortunately we weren't able to notice any handicap ramp to get her up the medium height curb. Seems like an oversight, I didn't bring it up to the manager but it would be a benefit not only to customers but also to bands that might come play on the ample stage.

Place has a nice hometown bar feel, minimal recessed ceiling decoration and put to good use by having a giant projection screen up and behind the stage, easy viewing for anyone to see over low tables, high tables or booths.

The menu is about what you'd expect of a bar, We opted for a pizza and were able to get 2 toppings split 2 ways, and the owner kind enough to let us do this and not charge us for 4 different toppings. The pizza crust is excellent, a classic round and light crust that i'd love to see with a choice of some spices like seasame seeds or butter garlic. Toppings were very plentiful too and cheese very melty. Only other critical point was no ability to get extra sauce on the side (ranch was offered and appreciated though!), and the sauce that was on the pizza was decidedly a little too safe and mild.

Would i get another pizza here? Yeah, i think i would - maybe with some peppers on it to compensate for the sauce, but definitely a good starting point.

We also shared a side of french fries as an appetizer, it was a good portion that we ate all of. Nice, crispy and perfectly fried.

Next time i'll have to try the wings, i was tempted to just give everything a shot and come home with a buffet, but i'm guessing there would be good reason to combine a couple of the appetizers as a combo platter. Going to have to come back to try the smash burgers too, maybe on a night they've got live music.

Overall this is the kind of place I've felt Belleville has lacked for too long - a decent size, locally owned bar (with actual bar hours), a good size menu and a stage large enough to get a small band going. I can imagine people using space outside in the warmer months, though i have no idea if that's in the cards or not. Great start to a place I hope to see only get even better.

Overall a 3.8/5...

Ordered some food a few weeks ago.. I believe it was 20 wings get home open the wings and maybe two 3 deep There was two wings with a piece of hair. I took a photo of the wings and the hair I called up to the restaurant Bait Shop hey this is such and such I just ordered there was Hair. I have a photo oh I’m so sorry. Let me take your name phone number. You can come pick up those wings next time. Thank you so much. I called today weeks later ..to go pick up said wings. I was greeted with an attitude from whomever answered the phone asking me well who took the message and how many wings I said I could not remember she said hold on. I gave her my phone number. I don’t see it. Oh yes, I do. You can pick it up in 15 minutes. OK thank you. I drive to pick the wings up. I’m greeted at the door. Hello you’re here to pick up your order, the young lady is going to get it OK thank you she comes out of the back with a bag and proceeds to go to the bar to talk to them like I’m not standing there. She finally turns around and doesn’t hand me the bag sits the bag down on the damn counter and says you had the wings right then the nice lady says would you like some sauce? The other lady says oh no it’s ranch in the bag. I didn’t even look. I’m already tired from work I get in my car something said halfway home open the bag there was no sauce and guess what I ordered 20 wings. There were five wings in that container they will never ever again get my business. That is not how you...