Olesia's Taverne of Richfield — Restaurant in Richfield

If I could give this restaurant less than one star, that is what I would give it.Where do I begin? I booked a late lunch reservation on Opentable.com for the afternoon of New Years Eve. After booking, I called to confirm that my reservation went through and that we would be seated in the igloos outside. The man that confirmed our reservation was lovely and confirmed that yes, we were all set! Wonderful! My kids were super excited to be eating in an igloo!

The day before I was randomly checking my email and came upon an email from the restaurant alerting me that my reservation had been canceled. No phone call, no text message- and email, with no further explanation. When I called the restaurant, I was told that they canceled my reservation because we did not pay the rental fee for the "dining igloo" that we reserved. Um, what fee? There was no mention of one online or when I confirmed with the manager the day before? And not only is there a $50 reservation fee, but we are also expected to meet the $50 per person minimum. WHAT? Exactly how much schnitzel is one person expected to eat for $50 at lunchtime? And when I requested a high chair, did that not alert them that would maybe be an issuer? Furthermore, wouldn't you call to ask me if we would be willing to pay the fee (we would have, it was for a special occasion since we were celebrating NYE with our children!) before canceling our reservation without an explanation?!

Several hours- and several phone calls with many people- they admitted that it was an error on their behalf and that we were in fact able to come In for our reservation. You know, the one we both booked and confirmed. Ok. Crisis diverted.

Except. Our reservations were at 1:30... our table was not ready until 2:00 why? I have no idea, since exactly zero other people were outside in the three igloos available- and maybe 20 total patrons were in the entire restaurant! No big deal, so we patiently waited and were finally led to our igloo- success! Our kids were super pumped and we were all very happy to be celebrating together!

The very nice waiter takes our order and we proceed to have an enjoyable meal. We requested a second drink and never received it and there were several lags of time in between each visit from our waiter- and eventually he stopped coming at all. My husband actually had to go into the restaurant and search for someone to tell them to please tell the waiter that we would like our check and to forget about the drinks that he never brought us. It was at that point that I told my husband to take our children back to the car and that I would handle the check. TWENTY minutes went by and still NO ONE came to the table. I had to CALL the restaurant to tell them that we needed to leave and would like the check so that could pay.

Finally, our waiter came back to the table and apologized- explaining that he wasn't supposed to have tables today. He gave us 15% off of our meal and told us that we won't be charged for our drinks- I looked at the bill and saw 2 drinks on it. He explained that they were kind enough to not be charging us for the 2 additional drinks that we were never served. Oh, thank goodness.

The sad part about all of this is that we have been supporting patrons through the entire pandemic. We have purchased gift cards, enjoyed meals outdoors in the summer and picked up take out food to support this place. Never again. The food and the drinks are mediocre at best- there is absolutely no reason to choose to come...

My original review was a 5* all the way w photos and all. We had been delighted to discover what we considered a gem as foodies. Since our first visit, we have returned numerous times, purchased gift certificates for friends and recommended Olesia's to many fellow foodies. Oh how things change! My husband & I were there this afternoon for a "date". We made reservations on the website for 3:30 pm in the Speakeasy only to find out the Speakeasy doesn't open till 5pm. No trouble... we asked for table on the patio. Waited more than 10mins to be asked if we even wanted a drink by our server who we had seen about 3 wks ago serving a neighboring table witnessing him being equally as inappropriate with is his constant "touching" of the women at the table. Believe me, I'm the last person to be bothered by such things but both my husband & I were annoyed by his constant laying a hand on my shoulder or standing too close. Just creepy. We informed him we'd like to move down to the Speakeasy to order dinner so he cashed us out but didn't bother to inform us that the place was not open. We arrived downstairs only to find the door open but the place completely dark w not a soul in sight. We were followed shortly by a woman and her daughters who subsequently were told by an older female employee that they had to move upstairs for service - not a word was spoken to us as we sat at the bar. In comes Laurie who looks frantic and starts setting up the bar because no one knows for certain if "Kyle" who was to be there at 4:30 pm but by 5:20 pm has still not shown up, Is going to make an appearance? Is it a night. Enter a young server from upstairs... Believe me we were attempting to be jovial and gracious UNTIL a couple who are clearly known to the young server walked in, sat at the end of the bar and she promptly asked them what they wanted to drink as we sat there like idiots. She promptly poured the man a glass of wine and began making a drink for the woman who had left for the restroom! Clearly their money is far more valuable than ours and Olesia's owners/managers cannot staff their restaurant with competent individuals anymore or simply can't be bothered to "manage" so we walked out commenting out loud "other people are clearly more important!" No doubt this matters to no one in this place BUT we know it will matter to the hundreds of folks who read our reviews. We can assure you that never will we spend another penny in this place, nor will we ever recommend it to anyone else as we had done countless times these past months. What an extraordinary disappointment! Fortunately for us, Michelangelo's winery is a mile and a half down the road where people actually care to have...

Dining here was one of the strangest restaurant experiences I've ever had. I sat down in the bar, and I waited and waited and waited. A guy was standing behind the bar, but it was like I was invisible. I finally asked if I could see a menu. He said there wasn't a menu because they had one meal for Thanksgiving - no problem. I asked if there was a listing of what was included. He said, "No." I waited some more. Finally, a woman came and asked me if I wanted a drink, and I ordered one (it never came). I asked what was on the Thanksgiving menu, and she said she would bring me a salad, which she did. Some time later, a guy came and dropped a plate of food in front of me. It was like a sampler platter ... 5 Brussel Sprout halves, a couple tiny pieces of turkey (not a whole slice of turkey), a couple small pieces of ham, and small mound of stuffing. Okay, it wasn't even a mound - it was a few bites. Lastly, some mashed potatoes (some = not much), and a small thing of gravy and cranberry sauce. Oh! There were a ton of carrots, but I'm allergic to them. It gets better - the food was lukewarm. The couple next to me were served family style and had a HUGE amount of food. They had seconds, and had a bunch of leftovers to take home. The woman finally came back after I'd eaten my food (except the carrots, of course) and played a few video games on my phone). She asked if I wanted something else to drink, and I said I'd ordered a drink. She obviously didn't remember at first, then looked chagrined when she realized she forgot. She offered to make it free but, by that time, I just wanted to go. She offered dessert, but I decliined. She said it was apple and pecan pie, and offered to package it to go. I said, "Okay." It was pie, right? She came back with it smushed all together in an undersized to-go container. It was actually apple and pumpkin pie (not pecan). Well, after she got done with it, it was kind of applekin pie. Having pie smashed into a tiny square does not make it particularly appetizing (and I love pie). Here's the kicker ... $50. I don't mind paying $50 for dinner - I do it more often than I should. I spent $100 at Kingfish last week (and it was worth every cent), and tipped $30. I love rewarding good service. Can you guess what I tipped at...