Cinders Charcoal Grill — Restaurant in Oshkosh

My kids and I visited this location 12/8/23. We all absolutely rave about the Appleton locations but I did not realize Appleton and Oshkosh locations were so different. Our experience and food at the Oshkosh location was absolutely terrible. Our waiter was friendly but you could tell he was really struggling. There was a waitress who offered to get our drinks for us after we waited over 20 min for them to come. While waiting for our food I observed a cook who had thrown items away in the trash then proceeded to put his hand back in the trash to push down everything that was in there. He then itched his nose several times even coughed in his hands. This entire time his hands were un gloved. Following all of this he then was sorting fish onto plates again with no gloves. It was disgusting watching all of this. Our food finally came after a 50 min wait. Fries were cold, my cheeseburger was chewy and my son’s mini corndogs were absolutely burnt and hard. I tried flagging our waiter down with no success so I just told my son I’d pick him up some food after we left. Finally our waiter came to ask how the food was. I told him our issues and after I told him about my son’s burnt mini corndogs he Laughed and said that it happens all the time and that they need to order different ones. I was going to tell him about my burger but after that response, I figured it’d fall on deaf ears. I paid and left but did try calling Saturday to bring my issues and observations to someone’s attention but after calling twice and nobody...

Tonight was a real disappointment. We went to Cinder's for dinner. It was busy, but we have been there before when it was like this and we didn't have to wait to terribly long to get our food. Tonight, we ordered our food (2 cheeseburgers, a hamburger, chicken tenders and fries.) As we sat there we watched many orders being made and going out the door. Honestly, we were happy they were busy. We totally support local businesses, but then we noticed that more orders were going out the door and many people have been waiting for some time that were dining in. It was over an hour and we still were waiting for our food. During that time our waitress came to our table one time mumbling something about it taking a long time for the order. After waiting even longer, we were finally able to get our first refill. When our food finally showed up another 15-20 minutes later...the food was mediocre at best. We didn't have a complicated order, but it is disappointing when you order a cheeseburger and the cheese isn't even melted. Plus, what was asked to be put on our burgers wasn't correct. The waitress never came back to check on us or to see if our food was ok. By this time, the restaurant wasn't busy. We even had to go up and ask for our check. Maybe, if we would have ordered online we would have had a better experience. I understand being short handed on staff, but we should have been told right away that we would have a long wait for our food. We definitely will not be going back and dining in there...

Been here a handful of times now and service/food has never been consistent. The first time I had the food from here it would have been 5 starts. The burger and fries were cooked perfectly. The service was awesome and the whole experience was a great restaurant experience. Every subsequent time no matter if I dined in or got food to go the food has been pretty average. The burgers are better than average usually and probably because of the charcoal grilling that adds some flavor but the fries and other deep fried appetizers and super greasy and unappetizing after they sit for more than 2 minutes. The service seems to tend towards the "ugh people I have to serve because they came in during my shift" wait staff and it comes across in their attitudes when you order or ask for something customized.

All in all this isnt a bad place to get a meal. The food is USUALLY good and sometimes even great. If you like a charcoaled grilled burger you should definitely give this place a try at least once but avoid the deep...