Boat House Pub & Eatery — Restaurant in Kenosha

I've been to the Boat House a few times. Never really a "stand out" kinda place, but it was good enough that we didn't avoid it. It has some nice local flavor and it's usually easy to get a table.

One experience has changed all that. My son went into the Boat House looking for a job. He has a few years experience at a couple of other places, plus experience with food service at his university. They took his application, hired him on the spot, and asked to come back later that afternoon for training.

He was rather excited. He agreed happily, came home and told me all about it, then went back for his training and orientation.

He came home absolutely dejected. He told me that after he filled out all his paperwork and orientation, he took the trainer aside and disclosed to her that he was, essentially, autistic. He wanted to be transparent and honest with his new employer. He said that it never effected his work (again, he's worked in these roles before) but that he felt that he needed to be up front about things just in case they noticed anything about him.

The trainer then pumped the brakes on him, told him this could be a difficult and stressful job, and that he should really consider if he wanted the job or not. She told him to go home to think about it and call her later to tell her if he was interested.

As we talked about it, I was pretty ticked off. I asked how he felt about everything, and he was upset that he was honest and felt like he was getting punished for it. I said this really showed him the kind of people he'd be working with, and he agreed that was something to mull over. He slept on it, but decided he really wanted the job, as it was work he was both familiar with and liked. He called her that morning to let her know, and she indicated that she would need to talk to the manager to see if they were "comfortable" with it.

Five days later he was called and "fired". He was told "they were not comfortable" with him working there.

Thus the reason for my 1-star review. I'd give less if I could, but this would be the bottom. They don't seem to have a problem taking money from people on the spectrum, but they "aren't comfortable" with having those people work with them.

We will never set foot in the Boat House again.

My son has since gotten a better job with much better hours and pay. I felt I needed to share this experience so other people would know who they would potentially be dining with.

EDIT: I noticed an apology offered below this interview, and yet, there was not an apology offered to my son. I would think that if they were truly sorry and really focused on changing things, it would start with an apology to the person they wronged?

It should be easy enough, unless they've done this to multiple...

My husband and I ate here on Friday a few months ago and the service was sort of slow even though they weren't busy yet and the food was ok. We arrived just before 5pm and were seated right away in the dinning room. We waited a good 10 minutes for our server to greet us because she had the only other table occupied in the dining room at that time and it was a large party of 6 adults and 5 kids. Now why we weren't given a different server is beyond me but it definitely impacted the service we barely received. We finally gave our drinks and food orders at the same time because we weren't sure when she would be back. We were not "wow'd" by the food or service but we will likely give this place another try and try different menu items and drinks.

We both had the cod. My husband had the beer battered cod with fries and cole slaw. It was a huge portion of 3 good sized pieces of cod but it was served in a puddle of oil which was very unappealing and made the beer batter breading soggy also came with seasoned fries and the cole slaw was homemade and had dried cranberries in it which was something different and pretty good. I had the baked cod which was cooked nicely except for the odd looking seasoning on top that didn't have any flavor. My sides were a giant baked potato with butter and sour cream cooked perfectly and cole slaw both were good.

Another note while we were there the place was filling up with a number of larger tables. Since it took so long for our dinners to come out while we were eating we saw one of servers dropped half of family of 6 orders on the floor in front of them. The very full tray just flipped out of his hand as I saw he wasn’t balancing it correctly when he walked past us. Felt bad for the family, one half of the table had their order delivered by a different server and the other half of dinners were on the floor. That’s the only time I saw the severs and busers move quickly to clean up the mess and I heard servers apologizing.

Service needs work. Great location and great atmosphere with lots of menu items and drinks but the vibe is just off not sure why. All in all it was an interesting and memorable experience for our first time there and we do plan to go again and maybe...

Do not go here unless you want to feel UNCOMFORTABLE and DISCRIMINATED against. Me and my two friends came here two weeks ago and when we walked in we read the sign that says “Go to other entrance to be seated”, as we are walking in the WHOLE STAFF was sitting at the BAR watching us, nobody greeted us or asked if we needed help. We were WATCHED not spoken to. So as we make it to the other entrance, nobody is there. So, we sat ourselves. The WHOLE staff is STILL at the bar just looking at us and whispering, not tending to us. After about 15 minutes of us sitting with NO MENU and NO WATER, still nobody has approached us, the “Owner” finally comes by, with his eyes blood shot red, with his little hostess, and she threw our menus on the table and after he left she asked what did we want, TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. My friends and I stayed respectful and used our manners while she used none. She didn’t say anything to us at all, never told us to enjoy, never checked up on us unless she brought our drinks, she only said something to us when she seen I had a stack of cash and she was looking forward to having “change”. I cannot even name her because she never told us her name because her customer service was so bad and they had no intention on helping us. THE OWNER came by our table around 4 different times, each time being more uncomfortable. One of these times he asked what we were getting, we all referred to the food when answering and his response was “I’m talking about drinks the more important thing!” with a CREEPY smile. We were also informed that the employees were whispering about us amongst themselves, and secretly listening in on our conversations. After that we should have left because we did not trust anything that was served to us. Unfortunately we stayed, and gave them our money but atleast the food was tasty. TERRIBLE EMPLOYEES, somebody needs to look into the OWNER, and TERRIBLE ENVIRONMENT. I do not recommend unless you are their...