The Launching Pad — Restaurant in Shawano

Yikes. This place easily had the worst service of anywhere I have been in a number of years. We went on a Monday for lunch, when there was only a single other table in the entire place occupied, yet it took over an hour for our food to come, and the waiter only visited our table twice: to take our drink and food order, then to drop off the terrible, overpriced food, but never again after that. Two of us got the Monday special, all-you-can-eat spaghetti and garlic bread. Kind of hard to order more when he never revisits the table, so we had to go up to the bar and ask for more bread. He seemed both unenthused and bothered by the request. About 20 minutes later, he brought out a whopping 3 pieces for the 2 of us, didn't refill our drinks, ask how anything was, or check if we would like to get our 2nd helping of spaghetti. We were not willing to wait doubly long for another order of from-the-can, bland spaghetti sauce over noodles, so we did not order more. After all this, the check was the worst part of the experience! My mother-in-law's grilled cheese (priced on the menu for $4.99 with fries) was the most expensive item on the ticket at $11.45 (more than the burgers, more than the wings, more than the not-all-you-can-eat all-you-can-eat mediocre spaghetti garbage). $.50 of this $11.45 meal was an itemized upcharge for cheddar on the grilled cheese. On. the. grilled. cheese. We didn't ask for cheddar (and they did not give us anything more than an individually-wrapped Craft single). Cheddar was not a specific request. We simply asked for a $4.99 grilled cheese with fries that they charged $8.50 for, pegged on $.50 for cheese, then charged separately for the fries, which were listed as part of the meal. Last I checked, a grilled cheese without the cheese is simply toast, and does not typically cost $8.50, especially when the listed price is half that. It was not worth arguing with the waiter on any of this, because his pea-sized brain couldn't comprehend what we were upset with. He was unfriendly, unapologetic, and terrible at his job. But at least we only had to get up from our chairs and ask him for a to-go box 3 times after that since he apparently had trouble keeping up with the two full tables he had. 1-star is a generous review, but it is the lowest option available. 0 out of 10, would not recommend. There are 0 redeeming qualities about this restaurant. This is my first and only review I have ever written, but I felt so compelled after such a poor dining experience. DO NOT patronize this terrible bar and grill with terrible service, terrible food and...

When this place was The Launching Pad, it was our “go to” for a great fish fry. Having not been here for some time (Covid, death of a parent…..) we were looking forward to seeing if the fish, cheesy/onion hash browns, etc, were as good as we remembered. It would’ve been nice to find out, but after being there for an hour and a half without any food and going to the bar for another cocktail we decided to leave. We told the server to cancel our order since it had been over an hour since our order was taken. We were given an apology because it was Friday and it was busy. One of the servers did check on our order and told us the time the order was entered—which was approximately 50 minutes after our order was taken. It was unfortunate to see the server that took our order (not the same one who checked in our order) running from the dining room to the bar looking flustered and disconnected. One family just asked for some crackers for a child. That server said “sure “ and left the dining room. As we left The Pad, that server was taking care of people at the bar — probably forgot about the family’s cracker request, just like our order placed 50 minutes before it was...

They charge $1.50 to share a pizza...A PIZZA !!! AND $1.50 to share a hamburger plate. So if we have a large pizza and 3 of us share it that's 3.00 surcharge!!? What about pizza to go, do they figure you will share...$1.50. A PIZZA .... an extra $1.50 if you offer a piece to the guy next to you, that you don't even know!!! A PIZZA.... that's the last time we go to the pad! CHECK YOUR TAB CLOSELY. And no French fries w sandwich, you only get chips or coleslaw....$2.00 extra for French fries. $2.00 doesn't sound like much, but add it to a $14-$15 hamburger. Yes, prices have gone up...but a surcharge of $1.50 to share a pizza....a pizza. Who eats a whole pizza!!! They have a " low cost " menu for "seniors" calling it the silver menu. It's only available from 3pm to 5pm. Majority of seniors in Shawano area don't go out to a tavern for a burger until after 5pm! The Pad needs to survey their customers re $1.50 extra plate surcharge and hours for silver menu. I'm not only giving a bad review but I will pass the word, I live in Shawano and my husband and I frequent local establishments at least 3-4...