Coach's on the Lake — Restaurant in Muskego

If I could rate our overall experience, it would be a zero. My fiancé and I went here for a date night on a Friday. This was our first date night in quite a while as we finally had a babysitter for our 1.5 year old; so as you can imagine, we were excited & looking forward to a delicious meal. The restaurant was normal-busy for a Friday night; nothing out of the ordinary.

We walked in and the hostess seated us immediately, but then it all went downhill. After at least 15 mins. our waitress came by to take our drink order. Add on another 10 mins. and our drinks hadn't arrived yet. When they finally did (after we had to get her attention because we had been forgotten about), the waitress said that the bar was out of glasses, so that was the reason for the hold up. How is a bar/restaurant out of glasses? Why couldn't you inform us of said hold up as that would have been the considerate thing to do?

We proceeded to order a cup of the Cajun soup, a side house salad, a perch fish fry with French fries and a cod fish fry with sour cream/chive fries. The soup and salad took 10 mins. to come out (from the kitchen helper) and when they did, neither came with utensils. Also the house salad had grated parmesan cheese on it? Weird. We were finally able to request utensils from a different waitress (as it had been 10+ mins since ours had checked in yet again) and she told us they were out of utensils and proceeded to bring us PLASTIC utensils. How is a restaurant out of utensils?

Soon after, an older lady (a prior manager who was INCREDIBLY nice), came over to check on us and was appalled by the fact that we were given plastic utensils. She was able to find some regular utensils and swapped them out. In our opinion, although she remained professional, it looked like she was completely embarrassed by the situation and the way that the restaurant was handling things.

Our fish fry dinners didn't come out until at least 45 mins after we ordered, so by then, we had been sitting at our table for over a hour. While the perch was excellent, the fries for both of our orders were AWFUL. It was almost like the kitchen forgot to change out the oil when deep frying multiple items? Absolutely disgusting. My fiancé noted that the cod was, "okay."

Upon viewing, you could see that other tables had been waiting quite some time for their dinner orders. Other tables were also using plastic cups to drink out of and the waitresses all looked frantic; some not even dressed as a waitress should be (hair messy & unprofessional clothes). I noticed that the table across from us had received a bread basket with lemons, rye bread and tarter sauce. I looked at my fiancé and said, "hey, we didn't receive a bread basket!" Super disappointing.

When the waitress came around with our check, we mentioned the missing bread basket to her and she said, "oh, sorry, they must have forgotten to bring it out earlier." By then, our blood was boiling. One excuse after another. Complete disorganization and lack of communication across the board.

We paid our $70 check (ugh) and left. When we got to our babysitters house, my fiancé told her, "it was the worst restaurant experience he's ever had." Mind you, he's 45 years old, so that has a lot to say.

Overall, not sure how to pinpoint the exact problem. Lack of waitresses? Zero management? Complete unpreparedness for a Friday crowd? No dish washer to wash glasses and utensils? Forgot to order cheddar cheese for a house salad? No one took accountability, that's for sure.

What I do know is that hopefully things turn around so other customers don't have the same negative experience we did. And as for us, we will not be returning.

PS. PLASTIC UTENSILS AND PLASTIC CUPS ARE...

Had an all-around great experience at Coach's on the Lake.

The atmosphere is very casual, open space with a wide variety of seating options. Although they were not very busy (State Fair weekend) I still made a reservation to insure we would have a low-top table for varying heights and ages of the members of our group.

Service was on point. Friendly and attentive from the server to the runners. Always asking if we need anything else when bringing items to the table. No hovering though.

The food is very tasty. Ordered at our table were the wings, cheese curds, French onion soup, broasted chicken, and the grilled chicken sandwich. All was enjoyed by those ordering - with exception to the soup. I don't know if they don't make it in the traditional style, shouldn't be calling it French onion, or it was just an off night. The person expected to see the trademark "cap" of browned cheese spilling over the top and down the sides of the crock, but instead receive a bowl of mostly broth with the cheese having sunk to the bottom. She was disappointed and didn't eat it. Rave reviews from the person who order the broasted chicken (LOT of food) and the one who ordered the wings and curds. Oh yea, the one who ordered the soup, also ordered the coconut shrimp and said it was very good.

For me, I had the House Salad with Parmesan Peppercorn, and the Mushroom Swiss Burger with Fries. The house salad is GINORMOUS. I only ate half so I would have room for my burger and fries. Even THAT was too much as I only ate 1/2 the burger and 1/2 the fries as well (had the salad for breakfast and the burger and fries for lunch the next day). I wanted fresh veggies and I guess I got them! The salad WAS very fresh, and the contents were chopped very small so you could get a bit of everything on your fork at once. The best way to have a salad. The burger is cooked to your liking, on a lightly toasted bun, and was a nice size - not small, but not an over the top huge thing you can't even get in your mouth. Oh and the fries. CRINKLE CUT! The best kind. I know, I know. It's a fried potato strip. There's just something about those crinkles that make them so much better.

Great Happy Hour drink specials too!

Great experience at a casual spot in a quiet area.

I was SO shocked by the size of the salad I forgot to take...

Had a busy weekend called in 2 orders of breasted chicken because we heard it was good... when my friend and I walked in no one greeted us! We found our way to an exceptionally nice and very capable young man told him we needed the bill split because it was going two different places he rang us up without difficulty and told us it would be a few more minutes...Dana(Donna) went to the ladies room and I sat at the bar to wait Dana joined me a little bit later and I mentioned that no one and I mean NO ONE had asked if I wanted a drink or greeted me!! There were 3 people behind the bar! After a little more that 10 minutes Chris walked over and asked if we needed anything and I said no we’re just waiting for our chicken. Our dinners come out of the kitchen and are packed in one bag so we asked the young man if they could repack it for us he walked back to the kitchen and walked right out and gave us the exact same bag and said “he said just take it” now I’m irritated..so I start dividing out our food so Dana’s food is in one bag and mine is on its own I mistakenly thought we got two orders of mashed potatoes so when I got to Dana’s I told her to take the potatoes and I’ll call and get more. Little did I know they don’t practice good customer service at Coaches on the Lake because when I called I told the man what happened and he told me “I got all the mashed potatoes I was entitled to”. Since when did instant mashed potatoes become a commodity? If I would’ve known they were so priceless I ‘d have bought a box at the store a made myself a necklace!!

Honestly I understand their trying to create a supper club atmosphere, if that’s the case check out the local competition! I’m sure I Would have never been talked to or treated that way in Basses Bay Brew House! I was so flabbergasted that they wouldn’t just replace the potatoes or apologize for treating us like we were invisible I hung up! I’m not going to waste my time on someone who has a stale menu and no idea why they have...