The Lakely — Restaurant in Eau Claire

I love the Lakely! It is such a cool restaurant with a nice vibe and layout. I’ve been there many times and while everything has been good, it just hasn’t been “exceptional.” I really love their koldtbord more than anything. It’s a brilliant concept however they dropped portion sizes down considerably about a year ago and I wasn’t a fan of that. Our most recent dining experience left A LOT to be desired. We went for the Supper Club event and without going into a ton of detail, booking was an absolute nightmare. They need to fine tune that part of this event as it is severely lacking. This event was also one of my boyfriend’s Christmas presents and I am so disappointed I spent almost $170 (including tip on this dinner.) My boyfriend ordered the rib eye with mustard mashed potatoes and salad. I ordered the lobster with mashed potatoes and salad. Both entrees were grossly overpriced. The ribeye was about 1/4” thick and that may be exaggerating. The lobster was barely 8 bites of food. The mustard mashed potatoes were awesome. The salads were tiny, I think they’re served with more dressing than actual salad and our popovers came out at the end of the meal. Because of the thinness of the steak it had to be sent back for being undercooked as we’d requested medium rare and I’m sure a steak that thin is difficult to cook to order. For these prices though, they shouldn’t be this thin. For dessert we ordered the Schaum Torte and it was very, very bad. I understand the concept, even applaud it but it was a bad choice and our server should have explained what it was as I ordered it for the fancy name. The ice cream drinks were $13 and served in martini glasses! They made a killing in profits there. Our server did a great job but we would never do the supper club night again. While I have been there numerous times with girlfriends, this was my boyfriends first time there and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get him back there again. I think there is lots of potential. I’ve had Chef Nathan’s food in the past prior to his Lakely days and know he is a talented chef but I’m very upset about our supper...

We stayed at the Oxbow and decided that we would try eating at the Lakely that evening. They had a jazz ensemble that that was a bonus. Unfortunately, it was not the experience that we were hoping for.

Got there about 9:00 on a Saturday night. Plenty of open tables and we got seated right away. Then things went downhill from there. Our server took a while to acknowledge us, and get to our table. They took our drink order, and said they would be back with waters. 10 minutes laters she came for our food order. We ordered several different items. She came back in little while later and said that they were out of two items. So we changed our order. Then she came back again and said that they were out of those two items. So we changed our order again. Then we waited. No waters, no drinks.

At that point I went to the bar and told someone else that we were waiting for our items, and that our server might be having difficulty. We then relocated outside where it was a little more quiet, and we could talk. The rest of the service was provided by both the original server and the additional one (thanks Caroline).

The food was a mix of good, and okay. Since we ended up settling on items that they still had. Cheese Curds, Burger and Wings were good. The Chorizo Tacos were just okay.

Seems like the servers need better training or more help. Not sure I would want to eat here in the future.

ps - The stay at the Oxbow...

Editing to add that their response has turned me further away from this "restaurant". If you don't want people to expect restaurant quality and service, perhaps you should only be listed as a cocktail bar and not a restaurant. Seems like the owner has a sore spot for people comparing their restaurant to more successful models in town. After I posted my initial review, my husband also informed me that one of the wings he received was raw. Definitely won't be back.

I like the decor and the drink selections they offer! The wine I got was very good. I didn't expect to walk in to a sit down restaurant and have to order everything at the bar, especially awkward when you want a drink refill. The person that brought our food and drinks to the table acted like it was an inconvenience when there were only 2 other tables seated. The food was ok, but over priced and very limited menu options. First place I've ever been that has a menu offering for wings, but no buffalo (or similar) sauce. The hot honey was tasty, but not hot at all. Every other restaurant in town has figured out service and shortages related to the pandemic, so I'm not sure I believe it is the cause. For example, the Informalist has a similar model and their service is always stellar and menu options varied. This was our first time trying The Lakely and we will probably not be back. I'd heard a lot of good things, so disappointing it...