Wilson's Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlor — Restaurant in Ephraim

I’ve been to Wilson’s before and always had a great experience. I don’t really care if a wait is long or if the workers seem busy and don’t give outstanding customer service. I get it. Today I brought my sister because she had never been and I wanted to show her one of my favorite places in door county! We were directed to find seating on the patio (because we were going to order food along with ice cream). When we walked over, only four tops were available so we sat down. Shortly after, we saw a two top get their check and leave so we asked the server if she would like us to move to the smaller table so they could accommodate a larger party at our current table. She said yes so we happily moved to the smaller table (we have both worked service industry so we get it). We quickly decided what we wanted and placed our order. The server wasn’t all that friendly (we weren’t even introduced so I don’t know her name) but we assumed she was busy and didn’t think anything of it. We get our rootbeers and they are literally plopped down in front of us to the point of spilling over the side. We kind of laughed it off, but she didn’t apologize or even try to clean it up. Again, whatever, maybe she’s feeling rushed. Then our ice cream comes out, she also plops that down on the table causing it to spill over the sides as well! At this point we haven’t really had any interaction with our server. She drops the items and leaves. We assume she’s busy and think nothing of it. Then we notice that every other table is being treated with the typical server kindness. She’s making conversation with every other table but ours. She SETS their items down gently on the table, seems generally friendly and attentive. The complete opposite of how we are being treated. We finish our food (I would like to say the food is good and the ice cream portions are more than generous! And ofc the rootbeer is the best) and are sitting there waiting for her to come check on us so we could ask for the check. We waited for about 5-10 minutes while she stood by the server station talking and laughing with her coworkers. Not even ringing anything in on the POS. Then goes to several other tables and asks how everything tastes and small talks with them about her life before finally coming to us and asking if we want our check. I’m not sure why we were basically ignored the whole time we were there, but we walked in with a good mood and were polite to her, but left feeling like we inconvenienced her in some way. The difference in treatment was obvious and offputting. I wish I could come up with a reason for why this happened (we were accommodating to the business needs, knew what we wanted to order with no issues, and we were polite, didn’t sit at the table for too long etc). Wilson’s is great, I always enjoy myself there, I just hope that every table in the future will be treated with the same...

Coney dog with cheese and French fries is bland and a waste of money. Fries come with the coney but they are coated with coney sauce that only taste like a cooked bland bean; so the fries were inedible for me and cold too. The root beer is average for homemade. I’m a sprecher lover. Also patio full of bees; which is ironic since they added screens to help decrease the bees per the history menu. Weirdly , no dogs allowed on the outdoor patio! Also NOT BABY STROLLER FRIENDLY inside or outside. Unfortunately as first times we were shouted at soon as we entered the door of the diner with our sleeping infant in the Donna Stroller ( it’s a car seat with wheels attached and can be converted to stroller). No sign on the door about it and no hostess outside to inform us either. They were very rude about it even when he collapsed it down into a car seat they said we couldn’t have it inside. So we attempted to go to the patio and they yelled at us to go back out the front because it was a service area to the side door; if it was a service area they didn’t mind people going in and out of it to get to other booths, outdoors, or to the restrooms. Then once on the patio the waitress started to inform us of the no strollers on the patio rule when the woman from inside come out yelling about how we needed to put our infant in a high chair. We should have just left but I love old dinners. My husband didn’t order food since he was upset that we had to take our sleeping baby out of the car seat and take it back to the car. When he returned she was of course still sleepy and upset and she wasn’t her typical easy going self. The root beer was good but the bees were an issue so I used napkins and a hair tie to try and help. Then the coney came and it was so deflating as it tasted like a plain baked bean. No flavor. So due to the hospitality and then over priced bland hot dog we skipped the ice cream that was $$$ pricey. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone with young children or dogs. Maybe they have something else good. Our waitress was kind and tried to apologize and thanked us for understanding and cooperating with the stroller/car seat rule. You could tell she knew how rude the woman was from inside the store to us. It felt like she was chasing after us to be sure we weren’t served with a baby car seat. We also ate at 3pm on a weekday so it wasn’t crowded and the car seat fits under the table with its wheels like a chair. It’s. Ery compact which we love. We do recommend the Ice Cream Factory as a better alternative to a long time running diner with ice cream.

Also they have plastic straws which was odd for being on the lake; so not environmentally conscious. Also the napkins are in a cute dispenser but you end up with so many trying to...

I was really looking forward to trying this place out. It looked and sounded great. Unfortunately it was unexpectedly closed on a Thursday the first time we tried to stop but we made our way back over the next day and went inside to order. A server said we could order ice cream or find a table. I said we were getting ice cream but we're going to eat it here since I was planning on sharing a sundae with my wife and the kids wanted floats. They said to seat ourselves so we went outside to find a table.

The ones under the awning on the side were full so we sat at one out front and waited. After awhile when we hadn't seen any servers I decided to order inside at the ice cream counter and then just bring it outside.

The young man behind the counter asked me what he could get me and I ordered the floats for the kids. When I mentioned I also wanted a sundae he told me he couldn't make it to go but that I needed a table. I told him I had a table. He replied I needed to order from the table otherwise he could make me a one scoop version, it's supposed to have three scoops, of the sundae in a to go cup. I again mentioned that I had a table right out front and that we hadn't seen any servers out front. He replied I had to sit on the side patio to order. When I told him it was full he just shrugged and said I would just have to wait for a table before i could order.

So I left. You can order ice cream from the counter, but apparently not all ice cream. You could order and eat it outside but only if you sat at the correct tables. I found this ridiculous so we went to one of the many other venues that served ice cream on the peninsula. Maybe we will try again next...