Marieke Gouda — Restaurant in Thorp

Cheese is worth the stop! The Cafe restaurant is not. It flops in quality and pairing with the store, which sells wine, cheese, and other fun finds. I really want this place to do well, but the restaurant does not work well at all.

Our first experience with the store was fantastic. Sampled some cheese for free and purchased one unexpected flavor and a few others. Would have liked trying some others. Noticed they had a restaurant and decided to stop back on the way back from our travels. Very chaotic. Seating was disorganized and unclear. Took along time for someone to ask what we wanted for drinks. Took a long time to order. We got our cheese curds well before our drinks. I went and purchased pop from the store so we could have something to drink with our food. My husband's burger was missing the jam, which was the reason he got that burger. My taco salad was missing avocado. Staff never came by to ask if everything was okay, until right before delivering the check. People were running around and it was busy, but incredibly disorganized. Most sit down restaurants you can be in and our of within an hour. It took 1.5 hours. This was meant to be a quick one hour stop on our travels back. I think the restaurant needs some rethinking. Here are some suggestions.

1 - Make the food fast casual. Keep the workers at the registers. Have people order at the registers. Make the drinks self-serve for the customer. Provide a cup when they pay. Prepare the alcohol as they pay. Have a system by which the customer can collect their food OR provide numbers and have a food runner who delivers it to the table. Have the customer place their dishes in a bin and bust their table. This is really all about being organized and getting things set up for the customer to utilize self-service. Get a good system in place that doesn't require your employees running around in circles.

2 - Focus on food quality! If your menu says an item is included, it should be included. If for some reason you run our it should be removed from the menu or the customer notified so they can make the best decision for themselves. If you fail this aspect of the food business, you lose the respect and more importantly the trust of the customer. Trust that you can deliver on what you say you are going to. All the awards in the world cannot make up for lost trust!

3 - Why was their not a charcuterie board/plate offered on the menu and/or in store for on the go travelers or those wanting more varieties to sample!? Makes absolutely no sense. Not only could these be prepared ahead of time, served as a meal, but they could include samples that a customer pays for, that also allows them to try things they may want to buy from the store. Cheese, meat, fruit. There is so much you could do with this. (You could also prepare "to go" clear charcuterie boxes that people could purchase in the store. Maybe suggest wine pairings for different theme cheeses as well.) AND/OR like your candy display, you could have a behind the counter cheese display and people could purchase...say a sample of 5 cheeses of their choice, or something to that effect, where their charcuterie is customized to what they would like to try. This again though, requires organization, consistency, and quality training.

4 - I understand "gouda" is in just about every item on the menu because of your name, but it doesn't necessarily highlight the cheese well. How do you all really eat all the varieties of your cheeses? Think through this carefully and offer some of those pairings on your menu. But keep it simple. Putting a single piece of cheese or handful of shredded cheese doesn't highlight all the fabulous cheese varieties you make or what can be done with them.

I really hope this feedback is considered carefully. I see great potential in this place, and the restaurant aspect needs serious improvement, but could also have a greater impact in highlighting and selling the cheese, the best part. As a good wine can pair well with cheese, a good restaurant should pair well...

Was excited to finally try this place out. My excitement dissipated quite quickly. My friend and I came in and sat at a table. We came at a very slow time, in between breakfast and lunch. We were not even acknowledged for a good 10 to 15 min. Which was kind of funny, because there was a table with two people, and then a large group of 5 to 7 people. So what was the delay?? Well...the large group of people kept asking the waitress to take pictures of them with their cell phones. Over and over. You could tell she wanted to roll her eyes at the situation, but kept obliging. Later on, we figured out one of them was the owner. During the 1.5 hours we were there, people kept going up and down the stairs, constantly. We received nothing but glares and blank stares, no one even cracking a smile at us as they passed. I recognized one of the women, the one on the billboard on Hwy 29. As a past fellow dairy farmer and current business owner, I would do my best to make everyone feel welcomed, and be grateful for each person spending money in my estabishment. Especially with milk prices in the crapper. On a side note, the food was DELICIOUS and hot. But not a fair trade for the service. Our waitress was ok and cordial. We just felt very unwanted. Quality of service includes EVERYONE, especially the owners! It does not fall on the shoulders of the lowest...

Cheese curds were fantastic! My grilled cheese was less stellar--just rather bland. Definitely opt to add some veggies if you order. The service, however was a bit frustrating. They were busy and had people waiting, but it was unclear if we were supposed to seat ourselves. There was a "wait to be seated" sign but it was off to the side and made it look like maybe we should seat ourselves. However, as a rule follower, I waited. In the meantime, another smaller group (we were a family of 5) came in and took the larger table that was in the process of being cleared leaving no room for my family. We continued to wait. It would have been nice to be greeted, apologized to for the craziness and assure us they'll be with us as soon as they can. The end result was that my in-laws (who were planning to meet us and join us for lunch) ended up taking our kids to McDonald's instead since it was taking so long to clear tables or get anyone seated and we were now waiting to try and fit 7 at a table for 4. In future, I'll probably just skip the hassle and just head straight to McDonald's. As a mom, I get craziness and I get being busy, but I don't get not greeting your customers or offering an apology for the crazy and promising they're working on it. A smile and "welcome to our establishment" can go a long way to making your waiting customers...