Amber Grill — Restaurant in Stevens Point

First Visit: xx/xx/xxxx 4 years ago, we stopped in to try them and it wasn't a pleasant experience so we decided not to return up until a few weeks ago, March 05, 2022.

Second Visit: 03/05/2022 We had a great time when we ate here on the 5th of march. The service was great and the food was even better as can be seen in the photo. Based on our experience from this visit, we quickly made Amber Grill one of our favorite spots as their Prime Rib was one of the best I've had from the area which meant that we would be stopping here at least once a month.

Third Visit: 03/26/2022 We decided to eat here as we were back in the area and wanted some prime rib. We ordered two 16oz prime rib together with a few things. We had an extremely disappointing experience as our steaks came out raw twice (rare even after it came back in to the kitchen). The steaks were inedible as my wife usually gets hers medium while I get mine medium rare.

I truly expected more considering we spent about $100 between the two of us just for the steaks.

Things that were off:

1. the steaks came out raw. We had it sent back to the kitchen as we understand that mistakes do happen but it came back out still rare for both.

2. the steak as well as the Au Jus tasted like pizza for some reason.

3. There was a family who wanted to sit at a specific table/booth and the host refused to let them select where they wanted to be seated until what I assume to be the manager said something, allowing them to take that spot. That was an odd conversation to overhear but I wish that their host was a bit more accommodating.

Kaleigh was our server and she was very nice and apologetic throughout our whole experience. I felt bad for her as I understand that servers have no control over our food.

We did ask if the chef was different because everything was just off about the food. Kaleigh confirmed and mentioned that today is their head chef's (Chef David) birthday and that someone else was cooking on behalf of him. We still plan on giving them another shot but if you do plan on eating here, I highly recommend calling ahead of time to make sure that Chef David is working for the night.

I'll be posting photos of our food from today's visit compared to earlier this month and the differences are...

Walked in with a 1 year old and a 7 year old. The hostess looked in the dining room... Which was mostly empty, and asked if we'd like to sit in the bar area which had bar height tables and seats. We said no dining room would be ok. She seated is right away in a booth but didn't provide or all if we would like a high chair. This restaurant is connected to a hotel so they must get enough children and infants to dine.

The restaurant seemed a little fancy from the outside facade but after ordering an appetizer (cheese curds) we found that wasn't the case, the appetizer came out in a display fryer basket with a checkerboard paper similar to a burger joint. The cheese curds tasted very good. Altogether we ordered a French dip with fries, A chicken bacon pasta dish, And a children's macaroni with fresh fruit.

All of the food was bland and mostly cold. The chicken in the pasta was almost chicken tender sized but only had a butter knife to cut it, the bacon was chewy and rubbery. The French dip was lukewarm at best and, unfortunately, so was the au jus that accompanied it. Worst of all the kids macaroni looked homemade but seemed like they pre cooked a bunch, portioned them out, then froze them for quite a while before serving. The noodles were still somewhat cold even though the dish wash piping hot, we assume a microwave was used. The fresh fruit consisted of 1 bad grape, 5 pieces of honeydew melon, and 10 pieces of muskmelon. My daughter got maybe half the Mac down before she wasn't feeling good anymore.

Upon waiting for the check we noticed even some of the booths around us were missing tables which seemed strange.

I do not recommend this place to anyone.... But, this could have been just an anomaly...

We have eaten there many times and the food seems good, but you have to watch if they are busy because you can end up with a long wait for food and it may not be as warm as you would like.

I am giving it 2 stars because I have literally never been able to call there at any time of the day even when staying as a hotel guest and have the person answering the phone be able to give me information to some basic questions.

The most recent call was to ask about the Thanksgiving Day Buffet. The Buffest Price is $21.95 which is hefty in comparison to others we have seen. I called to inquire what the beverages were that come included and if they were having any drink specials that day.

The person who answered the hpone did not know and I think if I would have said that's ok and hung up that would have been okay with them. I had to say well is there someone there who would know? I was put on hold for several minutes and the same person came back and said it includes Coffee or Tea. So no Soda or Milk for children?? For 21.95 no soda? I guess if you are not a Coffee or tea drinker , you can pay for your drinks or drink water.

She said she did not think they were having drink specials that day, but she did not really know.

Overall since no one really seems to know what is going on and this will be the first time our family has opted to try a buffet option over cooking at home, I think we will skip this one.

For 21.95 per person it is just not worth the risk when you can not even get basic information. We dont want to show up for a good meal and some family time and end up dealing with some kind of situation.

I am not sure how long they have done this buffet but I am...