Captain Mike's — Restaurant in Kenosha

DO NOT RECOMMEND CAPTAIN MIKES IN KENOSHA!!!

After walking around downtown at the sculpture park w/ company, we looked for a few places to eat. We considered the tavern on 6th, but had been to captain mikes twice before with no issues and had the cider boys melon mojito on tap which was fantastic but tonight was the worst experience that unfortunately will led to me never returning.

We entered the restaurant sometime before 5:42 PM on August 11th, 2024. I looked at my phone as I sent a text to my sister at 5:41 and we were there before that.

We saw it was busy it outside by inside had almost every table open with the exception of one. We couldnt find any staff to seat us so we sat ourselves. Eventually someone came over with menus. We had placed a water order and asked if they still had the melon mojito on tap which they did not. We asked for a drink menu and receieved one promptly but after this all went downhill.

We had a party of 4 and my 7 month old. When the employee came back to take our orders looked over the menus and handed them in. I had asked about sweet potato fries as I have gotten them before and was told they didnt have those. Didnt ask us about drinks and we kept looking for him throughtout. Eventually we spotted him at the bar and he was making drinks (which was understandable as we thought he was the bar tender and gave him the benefit of the doubt). We had waited and waited and was 6:21 before we approached the bar to place our drink order that he never came back for.

We ended up waiting 1.5 hours to STILL not have our food or refill on our waters or our alcoholic beverages but they can serve a table of 6 gentlemen their drinks behind us and then their alcoholic drinks and check in on them multiple times. It was the same table whom was seated directly behind us and gave snooty remarks to "your child doesnt fuss much huh" as he was crying as he was hungry and thats what the avocado was ordered for to mash on the side.

Within that hour and a half our server never came back and when we asked another server going by were told “we all work together you dont have a server" we explained how we placed our refills and were still waiting on drinks and had even gone up to the bar.

at 6:42 our food FINALLY comes out and they serve 3 out of 4 of our party because there waiting on fries and other food. So now it’s acceptable to feed 3 people and have them be done before the last meal is made and even comes out? We sat there an extra 10 minutes (6:52) and 2/4 were already eating and digging in before she was even served. I let mine go cold waiting. I had also ordered the avocado on the side for my infant to mash that didn’t come with my burger on the side as requested-NO SURPRISE! And to flag someone down yet again was near impossible.

15 minutes went by and still no food for the 4th member of our party and the lady and her husband behind us were snickering because I had his stroller chair at the end of our table which I put him in to feed him but again the avocado never came. I left the establishment to put my son in the car and when I came back found out that my husband paid for that service! They didn’t take anything off!

I was outraged. They boxed our food and the server said “I gave him those drinks (our alcoholic drinks) for free because I forgot” and when I left to take him to the car they weren’t even served yet. So WOW.... you gave us FREE drinks that we didn’t even get to drink because we decided to leave because the lack of service.

I asked to speak to a manager and no shocker they don’t have one there! I asked for a phone number or way to contact them or someone i could call and they told me “they’re not going to come in just for you” I again stated that I asked for a number…then was proceeded and told to LEAVE and they refuse service. That’s a great way to deal with customer complaints!!!!! They did end up taking down my number which I HIGHLY DOUBT will get to upper management and then the story changed yet again and he then told me “they’re on vacation.

"best of...

Every summer since 2020 we travel from out of town to hit up Kenosha & Capt Mike's. Over the years, our opinion of Capt Mike's has evolved. Our most recent visit turned everything on its head.

On a slow afternoon, a dark hair bearded server sporting cow print overalls greeted us with a heavy dose of disdain and annoyance. We were familiar with this guy. He had served us before. And as in the past, he made it clear plebeian diners were not his jam. When it took us a hot second to choose a table, his cavernous sigh warned us to hasten our decision. From that point on, we tried very hard to be low maintenance. If other servers found us as insufferable (at Capt Mike's all the servers wait on you) they kept it well hidden beneath a rigid veil of indifference. It's not as if we expect wait staff to vibe like BFFs, it’d just be nice if we weren't made to feel like intruders soiling a sacred workspace. Overall customer service score: 1.5.

As usual, the mac-n-cheese & drinks were fine; the al dente macaroni was served with enough toppings to hide its Velveeta "cheese" base (we don't come here to be healthy). A Kobe beef burger ordered pink and without cheese arrived without condiments and as dry as a Sonoran Desert summer day. To make it palatable, we requested a side of mayo. A tablespoon sized serving netted us a $1 side charge. We don't recall if the fill-it-out-yourself-order-form stated mayo was a chargeable option, as ketchup and mustard seemed free. Given a gallon of Hellman's Mayo (yielding 256 tablespoons) currently sells at Restaurant Depot for $19.99, the calculated mark up for our little mayo side was 1182%. This kind of business strategy is one we imagine Mr. Krabs would gleefully raise his chelae to. Condiment conundrum aside, overall food score: 3.

Speaking of SpongeBob, with its dark paneled interior and a nautical themed exterior, this pub kind of resembles an inside-out Krusty Krab (but here all the servers are Squidwards). On the plus side, they have some outdoor seating. Overall atmosphere score: 3.5

Given the high cost of eating out, things like customer service, food quality, and dining experience all matter. And we honestly don’t mind paying for all. What we do mind is bogus charges and wait-staff battitude from a corner joint that served us a mid burger and chemical based mac-n-cheese.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a one-off experience, so we will no longer eat at Capt Mike’s or...

Our waitress that was assigned to us, I believe, she didn't want to serve us because of the color of our skin, and she probably thought we weren't going to tip her or something. We waited for 20 minutes to be acknowledged and to put in a drink order and it took around 15 minutes to get the drinks, then we waited an additional 15 minutes after the drinks were served to get menus, then we waited 25 minutes for the waitress to come back to pick them up and she NEVER did. We tried to stop a busing person and were snapped at by the buser that "we had to wait for our waitress to turn in our menu." So, we waited another 10 minutes and asked another waitress if we could just get our bill. She went told the manager, and he came over stressed and said, "Sorry, we are busy today, and you guys want your bill." He said that before we could even tell him the issue. I told him yes, we have been sitting here for over 45 minutes, and the waitress didn't come back and pick up our menus. He replied with the same message and then told us that for quick food, we could go to the food truck. 😲🙄 my friend and declined, and we asked for the bill. After he printed it and brought it back. Then our waitress shows up "like" was concerned after watching from way back and only coming over after we paid the bill. She did apologize. She told us that they were busy and we could get food from the food truck. I feel that she didn't want to serve us. I've gone to this restaurant several times and never had service like this. I watched this waitress serve other tables around us in a timely manner and was generally insulted that this waitress didn't want to serve us, and she didn't want our money. We were only 2 black people in the restaurant. I'll never force a business to take my money. I thought it was rude and hurtful that we still live in these times of judgment. She probably thought she wasn't going to get tipped. I always tip 20% because that is a hard job. But, I guess she was right because we didn't tip her because the service was horrible. I'm not sure if I'll...