Brown Street 151 — Restaurant in Rhinelander

Called 2 days prior for reservations for Saturday night for 6 pm. Told 151, it was my wife's birthday and wanted a quiet romantic area for dinner. 151 suggested bar area window or seating by the bar, I agreed.

We arrived at 550pm drinks at the bar. My wife saw the sugar cookie martini on the website and ordered that. Well, the bartender didn't think she had the ingredients to make it, and she was right she didn't. Failure #1.

Soon after we finished our drinks, we were seated, not where suggested during my reservation call but in general seating. Failure #2.

After being seated, our waitress arrived. Now, in a place like this, you would expect a happy, cheerful waitress. Well, let's just say she starred in the movie "The Wizard of Oz." Crabby, from the minute she stepped to the table. (I believe her daughter was the hostess, in case the owner wanted to know which watress it was. We didn't catch her name.) Failure #3

We both ordered "The Hodag." Rare plus was the desired cook. Waitress said (with an attitude) that there wasn't a button for this. She could put it in as rare. If it wasn't cooked enough, we could send it back. Wait, what? Eventually, we convinced the waitress to tell the chef how we wanted or filet cooked. Failure #4

The salads came out and were great. We loved the french and homemade creamy blue cheese dressing. We also had the baked French onion soup. We would have liked more onion in it, but the soup was ok. Bravo#1

On to the entrée.

Our main dish came out, and the first thing I noticed was the cut. My wife's filet was a perfect round cut as the menu described. (center cut tenderloin) mine was a very nice flat. (OR oval in shape) but not the center cut as described in the menu. Failure #5

My very first cut was a medium cooked steak. The one time the waitress came back to ask how our meal was, we explained the cut and the wellness of my overcooked steak.( I also told her she didn't cook it and it wasn't her fault.) She basically shrugged her shoulders and walked away. (Maybe Karen was her name. Not 100% sure). Failure #6

I did eat the steak as I was quite hungry at this point. Also the the linguine was cold and could have been a larger portion for the cost. Failure #7

We finished up eating and received the bill. At this point, we were ready to leave. We both went upfront to the bar to pay cause our waitress never showed up again. Failure #8

When I asked if I could pay the bill, the hostess called up the watress. She tally up our bill and handed it to me. While signing and looking over the bill, I noticed the waitress rifling through some cash standing right over my shoulder, I told her I had left a tip on the table (not knowing that was the cash she was rifling through was the tip i left on the table.) Unhappy with the tip I gave her for her poor service, (18%) she told us it's better off we don't return to the 151. My wife and I did plan on returning for another visit (everyone has an off night), but when the watress told us not to bother, we are not. Failure #9

It is unfortunate that it has come to this as we enjoyed most of the...

Having acquired a home in Rhinelander this summer, we tried all the local supper clubs but weren't able to try Brown St 151 as they were unfortunately closed. The supper clubs we tried, even the ones with premium lakefront locations, all had mediocre food consisting of nearly interchangeable menus of fried items and service was generally of the "you are lucky we let you in here and I'll reluctantly serve yet another table" kind of treatment. We were vastly disappointed with the food quality and "service" afforded us at most local supper clubs.

Brown St 151 is a lot more like what we are used to. The menu offerings are another level. The food service was great. Drinks were great, a little bit slow but only one bartender was available, who was fun but not super efficient. But, it's not a hustle vibe either. That is not a cut down - if you've ever seen how the bartenders work to crank out the complex drinks in a big city packed club, you know what I mean.

Being Friday night I had the Red Snapper, blackened. It was excellent and nicely spicy, the pineapple salsa was an excellent flavor counterpoint. The vegetables, carrots and zucchini with garlic were great. The salad was fresh with a nice mix of greens. The presentation was notably good. The drinks were excellent, and the wine list is extensive, much more so than anywhere else we found in the Northwoods. Having visited the Sonoma CA region for various wine tasting events, I selected a Sonoma County Chardonnay to pair with the Snapper and was treated with a generous pour.

I went back the next Friday and tried the grilled Salmon. It was beautiful and served with grilled Asparagus and Hollandaise sauce that was well executed and wonderfully presented. Flavor was great. The vegetables were again excellent and the salad fresh. Service was great once again, THANK YOU ROMI! :-) Drinks were great too.

For dessert, both times I visited I had a Reese's peanut butter cup/chocolate offering that was insanely good. Again the presentation was great as well.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is very nice. It's old worldish, with modern touches, clean, well lit, organized, and cozy all at the same time. The rest rooms are clean and luxurious. Nice background music completes your visit.

If you want to visit a restaurant that is serving legitimate high end food and drinks, compares well to higher end establishments around the country, at locally competitive prices, has a wonderful atmosphere, and great service then Brown Street 151 is for you. The owners' vision for this place is awesome, and, they have to have a great staff that buys in to execute that vision because it takes a team. Everyone from the greeter to the chefs to the servers are creating a great product and should be proud of what they are doing. They have created a GEM in the Northwoods. Please visit often and tip generously when they get it right.....we want to...

Phenomenal food and exceptional service in a stylish and comfortable atmosphere. Prices are a bit higher but you definitely get what you pay for. I had the Mahi, which included a fresh pineapple salsa, as well as a baked potato and fried spinach (who knew how wonderful fried spinach could be?!). The first course salad was on point with fresh greens and home-made bleu cheese dressing. My companion had a ribeye steak, cooked perfectly, with a potato, and the chicken soup for a starter. The soup was home-made and delicious. Fresh baked breadsticks were also included.

We ordered the chocolate mint cheesecake to share for dessert, which consisted of one chocolate and one traditional cheesecake layer (the cheesecake itself did not have mint flavoring), with a peppermint foam accompaniment. The foam was delightfully light and provided just the right amount of mint to enhance but not overwhelm the dessert. We also ordered a slice of carrot cake to take home - this included a drizzle of caramel sauce, and was absolutely delicious with coffee the next morning.

We visited on a Friday evening and did not have a reservation. The place was not overly busy when we walked in. We were seated right away in the bar area, which was cozy and relatively quiet with light jazz playing. It took nearly 10 minutes for our server to arrive at our table and take our drinks order, but after that she was attentive and everything arrived at a comfortable pace. They have a nice selection of wines and cocktails, as well as a decent selection of craft beer on tap.

We were extremely pleased with the quality of the food, the thorough knowledge and attention of our server, and the overall clean and stylish atmosphere. We are so tired of the "usual" Northwoods fare (predominantly bars with mediocre pizza, fried frozen "bar food", pre-fab burgers that are always overcooked) and the loud, drunk and rude people a few feet away while you're trying to eat and have a conversation. Brown Street 151 is a breath of fresh air and we will definitely...