Little Gem Restaurant — Restaurant in Indiana

This is my 2nd year working in the park. During the 2024 summer season I will say a lot has improved since 2023 service wise. The waitresses are wonderful and do pretty good considering for a few it is one of the first jobs under their belts. However, management, one manager in particular, creates a very toxic environment for us workers when we come in to get something to eat. "Red" as I will call him in this (as I do not know his name), complains about everything we do. From throwing a fit over us ordering extra sides (which we pay for), to complaining about us asking for to-go boxes to take home what parts of our meal (that we payed for) we did not have time to finish. We have a 30 minute lunch break, and often times it takes long enough to get our food that we are unable to eat it all. Our portions are shrank. When we get the salad bar he will still complain because our salad is too big. Every one of the DNR guys is kind and patient with the waitresses, despite them still learning and the poor communication they get from their bosses. I go there every day myself and have never seen any of them snap or even raise their voice at a waitress. Despite this, there are still claims from Red that we have made waitresses cry from being rude and mean, when I can only recall the guys encouraging the young waitresses and going easy on them when they are obviously stressed out. As of today we are no longer allowed to eat in the lodge because they no longer want to serve us. It feels as though there is a vendetta against the DNR workers, despite us always tipping the waitresses ~3/4+ of our orginal bill. I feel like we are baited into complaining about (honestly valid) things any customer would complain about, such as a long wait, contradicting statements about what special there is, forgetting pens and getting bills late, mixing up our orders or forgetting parts of it, and when we complain about said things they use our frustration against us and lead with the narrative that we are just hateful and rude, when we are not. It has become so that going in there is such a pain because no matter what we do we are criticized. It feels like Red is purposefully trying to drive us out because they technically "have to" serve us, so instead of refusing service they just make it as difficult as possible in a hopes we'll just leave on our own. I want to end this on the note that the waitresses are wonderful we appreciate them doing the best they can with the given circumstances. However, because of the toxic environment I will not be spending any more money here, on the clock or off, and will inform people I know personally to try and stay clear of the little...

We should've read the recent reviews..... We were seated around 8:10am. And it's all downhill from there.... Our waitress didn't get our drink order till 8:45, and that's only because I flagged down another waitress to go find our waitress who had magically disappeared. Then, our waitress didn't even take our food order till 9:10. We finally got our food around 9:45. We had to REPEATEDLY stop another waitress AND bus-girl to ask for drink refills, condiments, checks, to-go containers etc. The food was absolutely mediocre and bland, but at least it came out faster than the drinks. The atmosphere was terrible. The live musician was a good singer, but he was sooo incredibly loud, that nobody at our table could hear each other talk. It made for a nasty headache instead of soothing background noise. Our table also happened to be right by the kitchen doors... well, let's just say it's incredibly disgusting. All in all, this is so sad. We've come to this place for many, many years. It just seems to have become a run-down, tired, old attraction that needs renovated COMPLETELY. I won't even get into the disgusting, musty, dilapidated cabins.... Word of advice... go somewhere else to...

For over 60 years I’ve been eating at the little gem restaurant. It may of been named different years ago but the rich history of the park and the land come centered at this restaurant. They close between 2 pm and 4 pm during the summer to my dismay because I had been in the drivers seat all day driving and my room wasn’t ready yet so we went up to eat while we waited. The lodge manager offered to have us some take out food and that was a great gesture. We decided to wait till 4 pm. The fried biscuits and apple butter have been reduced in size but the quality of fresh fried dough smothered in brown sugar and cinnamon are better now than ever before. The rich dark oven baked apple butter cannot be beat anywhere in the world. Since Covid they haven’t had a buffet for lunch or dinner but still have a salad bar and soup bar. Both are able to be added to a meal for $7. The breaded tenderloin is a fresh chunk of loin pounded and hand breaded. The grilled chicken platter is a great option and the chicken is seasoned well and moist and juicy. Overall the service is wonderful and the food great. I’m looking forward to many years to...