Schmidty's Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in La Crosse

Update 2024-04-03 The restaurant has now been under new ownership and management since the 1st of the year. We have visited a few times since then. For now, my rating stays at 4.

Update 2023-07-16 I'm adding a star back in, going from 3 to 4 stars. Service has gained a bit of traction since my last review. That's good to see! From circa summer 2022:

Historically a favorite worth 5 stars. Bit by bit they have been slipping for a while now . First I'll go over the current positives, then the negatives.

Over all the food quality is fairly good. One of the few remaining places to have a soup and salad bar!

And now some negatives.

Used to have 2 soups, now just 1. The longer the soup has set out, the colder it is. It's as if the warming plate it's on is off or not working. The last few times the temp seemed to me to be maybe around 100 deg. F or a tad more. Not only is that unappetizing, it's also risky for causing food poisoning When the fresh pot is put out though, it's piping hot. Prices have risen to where I'm not finding as much value as in the past. Yes I understand inflation is up and staff probably cost more than previous, but even factoring that in I think it's the case. Value for money is of course subjective, but in my estimation I think they push it a bit over the line in some cases. For example, one of the cheaper items on the menu, a grilled ham and cheese plus 1 side is around $11 if memory serves. Yeah I don't expect to get that for $5 anymore, but $8 would seem more in line. They seem to take family friendly to the degree that becomes generally unfriendly for pretty much everyone else. As a case in point, we were there once when a young child (high chair age) was literally screaming and shrieking at ear splitting levels, repeatedly and over a prolonged time. It was one of the worst examples of it I have ever encountered and that's saying something. We finally asked the waitress if they could resolve the problem. Well, after management was consulted we got back word that no they were unwilling to ask the offending family to tone things down. Also, they could offer no change in seating location since they were full. This was on a Saturday evening even, though as bad as it was it would have been too much any day or time. I think people are probably hard wired to have their attention shifted to the sounds of a baby or small child who is crying out. It caused us not only to not be able to relax and enjoy each other's company at dinner, it actually brought us stress and made it hard to hear each other even talk. That's not the experience I want to have dining out. Please, if your child is too young to behave appropriately in public, get a baby sitter, go to Chuckee Cheese, or maybe tough it out at home until your child is up to it. Or I guess eat at Schmidty's because they don't seem to have any problem with it? Service quality has declined from a once excellent or very good, down to merely good on average. It's still alright but watch out for any further decline.

Everything else is I'd say is in the satisfactory classification; definitely not bad but not necessarily outstanding either.

For context, we have been somewhat regular customers of Schmidty's for about 30 years. If things stay the same we will still stop in here or there. If they get better, I will be happy to restore a higher rating to them and visit more often. If things slide down too much, we will likely...

Came in on Cinco de Mayo.. The place was busy to say the least, but no more than a Friday night fish. We sat at the bar while waiting for our table. That was 6:30 pm. A bartender served us. Very rude, (taller girl, black top on)she also needs to learn how to make a Rum and Coke. Absolutely the worst drink we have been served at Schmiditys...ever. No excuse for it, we asked the bartender to add 1/4 to a 1/2 oz. of Bacardi to it..she should of thrown the drink out and made a better one. Instead she added a shot of rum to a 3/4 full glass. Now completely worthless drink. Then charged us for the shot. We went to our table at 6:50, ordered as soon as we sat down. Nothing special, fish and a hamburger, one hour later the server came out and said it would be about 5 more minutes for our food. No offer of free drinks, dessert, nothing "to make a customer happy"... Meanwhile we talked to the people at the next table, they said they were there last Friday and waited 2 hours for their meal to arrive. No reduced bill...Nothing. Well 10 minutes later the food showed up, the burger barely warm, fries cold,( might of been hot if our server was near the kitchen instead of visiting up by the side door) the fish was not edible, way over salted, cold and some type of Cajun spice on it. This was suppose to be pan fried cod, not the cooks blackened surprise..We have been customers for 25 years, this is by far the worst experience at Schmidty's we have ever had. You have lost your cooks, your good wait staff, your good bartenders. Going to think real hard about coming back again. Speaking with a server, they told me they were busy with a party of 30, well they just didn't just walk in off the street. They made reservations, the kitchen and wait staff should of been well aware of the number coming in. Party gets served and the to hell with the regular customers...Two couples came in after we did and had eaten and had their carry home box on the table when we were finally served. Just sad.... left at 8: 38 pm.... ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE FOR CUSTOMERS TO BE WAITING OVER AN HOUR FOR A BURGER AND HOUSE FISH... very unhappy. Used to be a great place to come...

One of my favorite restaurants. Always very good food, great service and reasonable prices. (Great steaks, prime rib, and shrimp). UPDATE 7/8/2023: My wife and I visited Schmidty's for dinner again last night. It's the first time in 50 years of patronizing Schmidty's that I have been sadly disappointed. My wife ordered a prime rib sandwich that came as a big piece of fatty prime rib and two small squares of black non edible toast. I ordered the prime rib special and received a piece of meat that was not discernable as prime rib. It was tasty but not up to Schmitty's usual standards. I also ordered shrimp with my prime rib. The batter that has always been a favorite has been replaced with a batter that is characteristic of a fast food restaurant . I will, of course, give Schmidty's another chance in hopes that they will return to their old qualities. Update 07/29/25: We returned to Schmidty's for my birthday and was again disappointed with the food and slow service. As a side note, our waitress was very nice and did her best to give us...