Cunningham's Journal On The Lake — Restaurant in Kearney

Had a reservation for my mother’s birthday for 7:00 on the 30th of June. We arrived early as we are from out of town, and we were happy to wait by the host stand and look at menus until our reservation time. When it got close to time, the hostess asked us if we would be okay with high top table because our reserved table was still occupied by other guests who they evidently were not allowed to ask to leave despite them being done and having paid their bill (I know this was the case because she said as much) I said a high top wouldn’t work because my mother wouldn’t be able to sit there comfortably due to her height and age. So because of this despite having a reservation, we were forced to wait. We were not seated until 7:35 and it still was not at our table because those people weren’t leaving and we ended up compromising for a smaller table (we were a party of 8). We got our drinks ordered and that part went smoothly and the drinks were amazing. When we ordered our food, we were told they were out of several things as we tried to order them(on a Monday night at 7:30?) Fine, so we ordered what we could. Our food came out at random intervals and the first entree served had the incorrect side. Was supposed to be fries, but was instead onion strips. Waitress was gone before my mom could say anything so she began eating her sandwich in the meantime. Then food started coming out from multiple different servers? Kitchen workers? I don’t know. It was odd and they were driving 5-10 minutes apart. Then our waitress finally showed up again and my mom mentioned having wanted fries and instead of just apologizing and saying she would get her a side of fries as soon as as she could, she took my mothers entire plate (she was eating her sandwich) waitress was gone with her plate for 2 minutes before she came back with her plate, all the same food still there and then told her she would have an order of fries brought out. I have worked in hospitality before and you don’t take away someone’s entire entree like that unless the whole thing or the main is incorrect, especially if they were eating… that was bizarre. The side salads that were ordered with our appetizers did not come out until we were all finished eating, entrees included (our server actively avoided us and eye contact every time she had to pass by our table and we were unable to tell her they were missing) as I said before we had random people serving us food and then if we had an issue it was “I’ll find your server” and then she never showed up. We didn’t even want the salads by the end and did not eat them. In my restaurant experience, a professional cook/chef/line cook times food to come out at the same time so people aren’t watching each other eat, waitresses serve their tables and make sure orders are put in correctly. Now I know mistakes can be made, places can get busy and the initial mistake of the onion strips instead of fries was very forgivable. Hell up to that point, we were all very calm and amenable about the delayed reservation (although it defeated the meaning and purpose of having one), but the that stacked with the continued bad service and overall chaos, we all left very unhappy. We paid because we just wanted to go home and I said I would reach out and deal with it later on. I left a private review when asked for one via email. The manager (I assume) Logan, reached out in response. They ended up comping 2/8 people’s bills. Four of us were paid via card (the same card) and they only comped half of that. Now I know the cash couldn’t be returned unless it was in person so fair enough, but bare minimum a full refund on that card and then a gift card big enough to cover the other 4 guests bills would’ve been appropriate. I made my thoughts known on this and was ignored so now I’m here. I’ve eaten here several times in the past and have never had an experience like this, but that evening was anything but a well oiled machine and of course it would be on a special occasion instead of a random...

Meh. Sat on the patio on a September evening. ★ First thing to mention: They had the flames going at the "tables" and the swamp heaters blowing. I couldn't help but notice the lack of ANY fire extinguishers within 30 feet of these items—basic NFPA code + DHHS Health code. Scary.

Lots of foliage on this patio, some huge neglected coleus and silver falls, etc. Lots of them were... "shaped"... in a way that clearly showed they had been scorched or burned by the fires they all leaned over at the edge of the glass. Also scary.

Also, those glass pieces surrounding the area where the pipe/flames are ARE NOT fastened to the tops of the... "tables"... in any way. They can just be pushed around or picked up, potentially having glass shatter in the fire; children touching things; flammable items like the menus igniting; etc.

★

Weird menu.

15 years in kitchen work and I've never seen someone write ”drunken chicken pizza" in that order, ever. More "over-50-white-male-owner deciding the menu from their completely unqualified ideas" bs. Otherwise typical of every other glorified burger slophouse. Steak and chicken and salmon and shi††y fries.

Ordered the hummus plate. Meh at best. Came with a few cucumber slices, celery stalks, julienned bell peppers(?! wtf?) and some pre-made pita. Not much at all for the price.

Our server was a total brobro and forgot a lot of things. An entire round of drinks, for one, that wasn't delivered until long after we'd all finished eating & pre-bussed our food, and someone else bussed it.

The fire was way too much. It was barely sweater weather, if you have leukemia or something.

We tried to ask brobro if we could turn it down. He said on or off but he'll go turn it off.

5-10 mins later, we stop another person to ask. He says he'll totally take care of it and leaves.

A few minutes later we snag someone else. He uses a walkie and calls something out to someone else. A few minutes later, the 2nd guy came back and used the tablet to shut it off for us.

Weird experience. Probably wouldn't go back. One overpriced vegetarian option (dairy and eggs are not VEGETarian things. That's lacto- and ovo- and ovo-lacto-vegetarianism) and an extra dining tax. I'd rather a park shelter with a cooler and my friends.

"Hummus" isn't even listed here as a menu item for me to recommend....

Update to a previous 5 star review, now downgraded to 3 stars: Great atmosphere. People of all ages. I've been here twice. My first visit while sitting on the back deck I had the trio of kabobs: grilled shrimp and pineapple shrimp and shrimp. It was $20. There were four pieces each on the chicken kabobs & three bacon wrapped shrimp on the third kabob. Three shrimp doesn't sound like a lot but they were decent size and they were really good. Everything was grilled so that made it extra tasty. A second visit I had a chicken wrap that was quite underwhelming. I took a photo of it next to my hotel key card (which is the same size as a credit card) to show how small this entree is. It was about 6 bites. Again the service was good but I was still hungry. Yes this was a main food item, not an appetizer. Considering it was $17 for a really small wrap that came with zucchini & bell pepper slices (which were tender and tasty by the way) they lose their 5 star initial review. On this second visit I also ordered a chicken quesadilla with extra grilled vegetables. I ended up with a quesadilla with chicken and mushrooms. The guy said the mushrooms are the vegetables. Then he thought about it and realized he simply forgot to order vegetables. He came out with zucchini slices LOL. I asked him what these are for and he said those are vegetables for the quesadilla. I asked him if they had bell pepper slices and onions and he said they don't. I believed him. At least the zucchini slices were good. When I got home I inspected my chicken wrap & noticed bell peppers slices THAT I WANTED ON MY QUESADILLA & THE BARTENDER GUY SAID THEY DIDN'T HAVE THEM. You'll realize he was wrong because you'll see them in the photo. The fact he nor anybody in the kitchen knew what vegetables were when I ordered my quesadilla is quite concerning. You're doing a lackluster job if you can't simply give a customer what they order. I'm wondering if I should even go back for a...