Rusted Crow on the Lake — Restaurant in Belleville

Upon entering the Rusted Crow, one might be charmed by its rustic décor and quaint ambiance—a place where the promise of hearty fare and a serene view could soothe the soul. Alas, our afternoon at the dirty little birdie took a dramatic and hairy turn that we won’t soon forget.

We eagerly placed our order, simply hoping to indulge in one of life’s great pleasures: a deep-dish pizza. Visions of the Chicken Pesto with Bell Peppers danced in our heads as we waited for its arrival. What we did not envision, however, was our pie being garnished with the chef’s finest follicles.

Imagine our collective astonishment when, upon slicing into this much-anticipated masterpiece, we discovered not one, but two hairs baked into the very crust of our first pieces. The kitchen was 0-2, just like the Houston Astros against the Detroit Tigers in the American League Wild Card Series.

After graciously listening to our humble complaint, our server verified it wasn’t merely a strand of cheese; in doing so, she was quite literally able to lift the slice off the plate by pulling on the strand of hair. As someone nearing the inevitable onset of male pattern baldness, I’d like to know which biotin supplements the cook was taking to produce such deep roots.

Lauren, bless her heart, handled the matter with the utmost patience and professionalism, a shining beacon in an otherwise dim experience. However, the kitchen manager—whom I can only assume moonlights as a burglar, given their apparent fondness for robbing people—decided we should bear half the financial burden of this follicular fiasco. We were stunned, nay, stupefied, by the audacity of this demand. Pay half the cost of a pizza we barely touched, and only after embarking on an impromptu forensic analysis of its uninvited garnishes? Surely, this must be some form of culinary performance art.

Fearful of receiving yet another hair-raising entrée, we declined the offer of a replacement pizza, though not before briefly considering requesting a lint roller with which to inspect it. The decision to charge us for food we didn’t eat was, at best, a puzzling interpretation of hospitality.

The kitchen’s laissez-faire attitude toward basic hygiene left us scratching our heads—both metaphorically and, after that pizza, literally. We left with a bittersweet taste in our mouths, eerily reminiscent of Head & Shoulders.

Stars: Two out of Five—one for the server and one for the memories.

TL;DR: We received food with the cook’s hair in it, and they still made us pay for it. We’re disgusted by the experience and...

Today was my 3rd visit to this restaurant and my last. The first two experiences weren't bad but tonight was an entirely different atmosphere. Waitress name: Katherine M. (Katie is what she called herself I believe) I met with 2 friends who happened to make it there before I did. Once I arrived the waitress came to the table and IMMEDIATELY I knew something was off but I didn't say anything. She gave me zero eye contact, very short, and her energy was just unpleasant. I didn't say anything but my friends pointed it out. They told me she was not like that until I arrived. I was the only black party at the table so I was really hoping that wasn't the reason but as the night continued so did the obvious disrespect. After waiting a very long time for our food (we didn't even get appetizers) it was dropped off at the table by another party. Our waitress NEVER ONCE came and asked how our food was or if we wanted refills on our drink order (which she got mine wrong). So finally I stopped her and explained to her my food was cold and her exact words were "are you kidding me blah blah blah" and my response was no I'm not. We shared words and then she said she would get a manager. She took the food and went to the bar area and decided to discuss the situation with another coworker instead of getting the manager. So I approached the bar area and asked the worker she was speaking with if she was the manager and she said she wasn't and walked away. So I then asked my waitress to speak to a manager she then lied and said she was the manager and when I asked her for someone else magically a man named Joe came to the table who was the actual manager. I explained to him the situation and he apologized and he informed me she was not a manger (because I asked). He was nicer then her but to be honest he was dismissive and kind of short and his approach was a bit aggressive. I dont feel he took my complaints seriously and I truly dont feel he cared. I will never return and for those who plan to go here in the future make sure you don't have Katherine M. AKA Katie. She was absolutely unprofessional and she seemed to only not like me. Not to mention she asked my party several times after the incident if they were good or okay but still did not acknowledge me. It's 09/12/2025 and we are still dealing with nonsense like this. I'm still in disbelief that this is how my night went. She was just not a nice person. I'm so disappointed. The Rusted...

So let me start out positive. The front door paddle and wood ski art work is really amazing to see. The instruments on the ceiling are very nice. The tables are comfortable and it's just generally nice inside.

Now for the not too positive. I ordered a ribeye and cesar salad. I'm kind of a steak guy, this missed the mark by a lot. It's the closest to sending a steak back I've ever been. The cut was very fatty, more than you'd want for a ribeye, this was excessive. The knives there are obscenely dull, I was shaking the table trying to cut a very soft rare steak..so weird. I explained this to our waitress and she got me another knife, also dull.. I've literally never encountered this in my life LOL.

Now the salad dressing is just plain not good, it's just not. Our waitress even agreed she doesn't like it either. My Blue moon tasted off somehow and lastly the table had a harsh sweet chemical smell from being cleaned. It was very strong and lingered more than half our meal. I had to ask for a moist towel to wipe it off. Seems like a strange complaint but smell affects taste it this was having a real impact.

The service was "Ok". Things just seemed to generally take longer than they should, this must be why our food arrived warm and not hot. I imagine the kitchen works pretty quick but the front of the house isn't keeping up I'd guess despite seeing multiple waitstaff and runners they just seemed behind while having empty tables in each section, like I'm trying to say they weren't slammed and now I know why. I imagine their customer base is 80% people who have never been there before.

When our meal was finished, or rather we just kind of stopped eating our waitress came to clear the plates and made no note of the large portion of steak left on the plate and despite the other issues we had we were given a bill for the full amount.We did briefly and politely discuss all of the issues when she was clearing the table. Taking the beer off or comping our appetizer would have been a nice gesture. When I paid I tipped our waitress as she is not necessarily responsible for nor could she have prevented all of the issues we had.

All in all given the half hour drive I don't see us going back, as I see management has never responding to any of the reviews, good or bad so it would seem they are not interested in either improving or reaching out to customers who've had a less than great experience so I do not see any improvement in...