Tilly’s — Restaurant in Rhinelander

Tilly’s in Rhinelander — Fantastic Food, Understaffed for the Experience They’re Selling I walked into Tilly’s genuinely excited. The menu was full of locally sourced, brunch-forward dishes that felt both thoughtful and indulgent. Exactly the kind of hip breakfast spot I gravitate toward. The place was packed, buzzing with energy, and we were told it’d be about a 45-minute wait. Fair enough.

When the food came, it looked incredible. Corn and buckwheat pancakes, chia pudding, a beautifully made omelet. But there were no utensils on the table, none delivered with the food, and none at the self-serve station either. We literally sat there staring at our food until someone brought us a set. From there, a few more issues popped up. One of my wife’s eggs ended up on my plate, my café au lait was missing the milk, and my potatoes never arrived.

That’s when it hit me. This isn’t just a café. This is à la carte brunch at premium prices, but the setup doesn’t match the ambition. There were no table numbers. No food runner. No real service flow. Plates were being run by whoever was available in the moment, with staff clearly rotating roles on the fly to keep things moving.

From what I could tell, there were just four people working. One barista, one cashier, one person cooking, and one person bussing. No expediter. No front-of-house lead. No bussing station. The team was clearly dedicated and doing their best, but they were visibly stretched, and the structure just wasn’t there to support the level of service that the prices suggest.

With this level of volume and demand, it’s clear the current setup is running as lean as possible. But at a certain point, staffing a premium food operation with a skeleton crew starts to hamper the overall customer experience.

With around 35 to 40 people seated and room for at least 50, most brunch spots would have at least double the staff and a system in place to coordinate it all. Tilly’s feels caught between being a hip café and a true brunch destination, and it hasn’t been fully staffed or streamlined to succeed as either one.

Still, the food was fantastic. The staff was warm and trying hard. If they can build a system to match their ambition, they’ve got something special on their hands. The heart and flavor are already there. Now they just need the support...

Update: 9/2/23. Finally convinced my husband to eat breakfast with me here. He ordered the breakfast sandwich and a scone. He liked it and he liked that portions were smaller. He however brought his own coffee. lol. Diehard Maxwell House fan.

I was able to try the raspberry scone. My favorite so far. It would be nice to have the schedule for the scone flavor rotation, but you can pretty much count on the blueberry lemon scone.

Update: 8/30/23. I sto here from time to time for a scone and a latte. I have not found another latte I like except for here. I ordered the breakfast platter and the food was hot. Burned my fingertips on the bacon..as with most specialty places, the prices are higher, but they offer organic and vegetarian options which always cost more.😂 Bathroom wasn't as clean as I have seen in the past, but not horrible. There was a screeching child who felt the need to screech every 15 seconds so it was not as relaxing as it normally is. music wasn't to loud or annoying. Still a solid 5 stars

So, I saw a Facebook post advertising their lemon blueberry scones. I am not a coffee drinker and really don't care for scones, but the picture looked delicious. I ordered one. It had just been freshly made and it melted in my mouth. I immediately wanted another, but decided against it since it was not a buffet. I ordered a Carmel latte which came in a nice size cup. It did not have a strong coffee taste- just perfect for me. The next day, I introduced this yummy goodness to 3 more people and told a friend. They also wanted another one. On this second trip my husband and I had breakfast, it was all very good. Our only complaint was the food wasn't very warm. Oh, yeah my husband likes stronger coffee 🤣 Look forward to eating some more of those scones in...

We had eaten at Tilly's twice before - in July of 2024 and November 2024, and loved it. We were so happy to find such a great sandwich/coffee place near our Rhinelander home. Unfortunately, we did not have a good experience at Tilly's during our recent visit August 2025. When we walked in, there were multiple tables that were dirty and had not been bussed or cleaned. Even the outdoor tables were dirty, with used dishes on them. Inside, we went to the order station and waited several minutes before being acknowledged. There were two young women working in the front area, both looked at us, yet it took several minutes for one to come over and take our order. We arrived well before closing time (12:30 arrival and they closed at 2pm) so the fact that the restaurant looked the way it did, and the amount of time we waited to be acknowledged was disappointing. There were no clean booths. The booth we sat at had crumbs all over it. A booth was taken by the two young women who were working, to be their prep station for utensils, etc. That was the only clean booth/table available. The food was OK. Portion sizes significantly smaller than when we previously went and significantly lacking in flavor compared to our previous visits. There was a bug crawling on the lettuce of my husband's salad, which came with the Kris burger he ordered. The behavior of the two young women was odd. They chatted with each other behind the counter the entire time we were there. They did not attend to much of anything, nor did they greet anyone. I am so disappointed by this experience. We contributed to Tilly's during a recent raffle event at the Rhinelander YMCA, yet I cannot say we will go back to...