Corner House on the Lake — Restaurant in Racine

Very disappointing experience and will not be coming back. We came for a family birthday and had numerous issues ranging from poor treatment from the hostess to very bland under seasoned food to a health violation. Sucks because the atmosphere was great and the view was great.

Food - I ordered the 6oz Filet Mignon w/ garlic whipped mashed potatoes, baked french onion soup, and a caesar salad.

Filet - I ordered my steak medium but it came out very rare. That’s no problem, it happens. I sent it back no problem BUT when it came back I noticed all they did was re-sear the original steak which I had already cut into several pieces and bitten off of. This is a HUGE nono especially from a “nice” restaurant. Putting food that has already been touched by the customer back on the grill that is used to cook everyone elses food is a health violation + it just doesn’t cook right. Since it was already cut into, re-searing just made it super dry since all the juices had already leaked out. Very disappointing.

Potatoes - Very dry and bland. Surprised since the only thing required to make nice tasting potatoes is butter.

French onion soup - It was okay, but way too salty for my taste + an enormous amount of cheese which isn’t always a bad thing, but cheese was barely caramelized and it was a bit grainy as if they used pre-shredded cheese. Just grate your own cheese. You’re charging $8 for onion soup, the least you can do is grate your own cheese….

Other complaints from members in our party were that the food was very under seasoned (chopped steak, strip steak, and ribs tips w/ rice) and the orange sauce on the duck a l’orange was gloopy and overly sweet.

Hostess - When we first arrived, the hostess looked us up and down, started her interaction with us by stating “Hi, everyone NEEDS a reservation” and then walked off leaving us to wait? I’m assuming it’s because we didn’t look like the typical clientele. We weren’t dressed SUPER nicely, but I don’t think that means we deserve to be treated any differently. When we finally got seated, we were upstairs and the hostess seemed very concerned with the fact that we weren’t going to be alone upstairs as there was going to be another party sitting at the table next to us. She stated at least 4 times that “Remember! There will be another party up here with you guys!” As if we would cause a ruckus or be overly loud? Very confused by those statements. Last poor interaction with her was when we asked about the cheesecake we ordered ahead for the birthday. Another member went downstairs to confirm that the cheesecake was still coming, and she received some real poor attitude from the hostess as the hostess replied “Cheesecake? It’s just a small little piece…. Yea okay fine…JUST REMEMBER WE ARE VERY BUSY SO YOU NEED TO GIVE US SOME TIME” and honestly… they were not that busy. Maybe ½ to ⅔ of the tables were filled.

Our server was fine. She was polite, she handled all our questions, and tended to us appropriately.

My recommendation - Cut half the menu as it’s quite large and just focus on the other half to make it worthwhile. Will reduce the amount of stress on your servers and chefs. Also, hire a new hostess. You’re located in Racine. There’s no excuse for treating anybody any differently no matter how they’re dressed or...

So I will be completely honest and say I was pretty disappointed with our first time experience here, however would be willing to try again. There aren't a lot of "fine dining" restaurants in Racine to begin with so was excited to try something close to home. We made reservations for Valentine's day and I had the chicken marsala and my partner had the New York strip. The first issue was that the servers are pleasant but not the best customer service, at all. The soup and bread to start off was great, but the salad was not. I asked for a Ceasar salad and it was drenched in dressing. So much that the Lettuce was so soggy and dressing dripping off all over that it over powered everything and I couldn't take more than 4 bites. I guess I assumed the dressing came on the side? However my partners salad dressing came on the side of his salad. Neither of us asked for dressing on the side so not sure why our salads came 2 different ways when we didnt specify either. After salads we waited over 30 mins for our entree to arrive. Now we were patient as it was Valentine's day and the restaurant was packed, but there was no apology, no let me check on that, actually we didn't see much of our server the whole time. The last disappointment was the entree meal. Chicken marsala was very sour and not a ton a flavor and was more like a brown gravy than marsala sauce. The chicken just melted as if it had been soaking in the sauce on the plate for awhile. My partner asked for his steak well done, so we assumed that's why the food took a long time but yet his steak was more a medium when we got it so not sure why the long wait for food with no apology. Would hope that for the corner houses reputation that they would atleast have good chefs to prepare food with amazing taste, however that was not the case at all. Oh and almost forgot, we tried dessert as well, and def felt like it came out of a package. I asked for strawberries on the side for the new york cheesecake because my partner didnt want any and the server knew that, but when it showed up the strawberry compote (not fresh strawberries like I assumed) were literally right next to the cheesecake on the same plate drowning the crust. It made the cheesecake sour and we ended up not eating that either. Overall, we were sadly disatisfied with our entire meal. Now I will say we are def willing to try it again, maybe not on such a busy day, because it would be great to be able to have a fine dining meal and not drive to IL...

Saddened by our first, and what will likely be our only experience here - so writing this while my husband drives home. Had reservations for 8 pm. Arrived at 7:50, to be told there would be a little bit of a wait, unless we wanted to sit at the table right next to the main entrance and in the bar. We don't care for high top, bar facing tables for a date night dinner, so we opted to wait for a dining room table.

Sat and ordered 2 drinks at the bar - a Negroni and an Old Fashioned Sweet. I prefer my Old Fashioned muddled - I got sweet with an orange/cherry garnish, not muddled. Eh, it will do. Hubby's drink was ok, appreciated that the bartender took the time to look up on his phone how it was made even if it took 10 mins to get 2 drinks once ordered.

25ish minutes later we were seated, right around 830. Soups were delightful, I had the Lobster Bisque and he had the Baked French Onion ($8 upcharge and worth it). Bread was over baked, but warm. Salads were barely covering the plate and the balsamic vinagrette was overly bitter.

He ordered the King 22oz Prime Rib MR with creamy horseradish and garlic mashed and I had the King 14oz Filet M, no onion (allergies) and a baked potato. Fast forward to the meal arriving another 20 mins after salad was finished. Husband received no horseradish and about a 1/2 cup of garlic mashed potatoes at best. I received a rare, at best, filet with onion straws everywhere and rubbery mushrooms. Didn't see the waitress for another 10 or more minutes.

Once she arrived, she immediately took a look at my filet and without me saying a word exclaimed - Oh no! That's not cooked right, do you want something else? I explained that between the temperature of the filet, and the onion everywhere, I was not wanting a replacement meal, especially when my husband was nearly done with his meal as I had him eat so his wouldn't get cold while we waited for her to return initially. She understood and was kind about the errors.

She apologized and said she would have it removed from the bill. During this exchange, we watched the two owners engage with the other tables around us, asking how their meals were, chatting and getting feedback on their experiences. Not once did anyone approach us, even after the undercooked and incorrect meals and a manager needing to correct the bill.

Long story short, visit Hob Nob or Stage Stop for an experience where the food and drink equal the service and quality. This, sadly, wasn't close...