J & D's Wagon Wheel — Restaurant in Town of Hartwick

We’re in town for Dreams Park and I wanted to take my son for some food outside the park. This place had good reviews and was close to the park so we agreed to try it.

Upon arrival I noticed the parking situation was odd. Grass parking and parking lot parking, double parked. Seems ok until you go to leave and realize you have to drive through a smoldering pile of burning tree debris because people didn’t think the back row would need to leave at some point. A few cones leaving a lane would be ideal.

Onto the restaurant. We arrived around 8, sat ourselves at a table, and were greeted promptly with menus. It was busy but didn’t seem overwhelming. The waitress took our drink order (fountain soda) and came back a few minutes later. We placed our order for food at 8:13…I ordered a dozen wings with a side of fries and my son ordered their chicken fritters with fries. Both are types of food that are typically cooked fairly quickly. So we sit and wait…and we wait…and we wait. My son is growing impatient and just wants to leave so finally at 9:06 I ask the waitress how long before our food is out. She checks and comes back and says 5 minutes. 6 minutes later my wings arrive. My sons food is nowhere to be seen and our fries are still missing. But I’ve got my wings right so all is good. 4 minutes later and my sons food comes out along with our fries, yay…63 minutes for wings and boneless wings. Not once did the waitress stop by and mention the food order would take so long or that they were overwhelmed and it would be longer than normal. Fail!

The food thankfully was good. 5 stars for the wings (bourbon bbq) and 3 stars for the chicken fritters and fries. Fries weren’t as hot as they should have been which leads me to believe they sat around for several minutes before getting to us. The portion of chicken fritters seemed small, but it was based on weight and not qty so perhaps it was a typical portion.

Overall, not terribly pleased with our outing. They seemed short staffed which didn’t help. There wasn’t a dedicated bartender so the waiters/waitresses were all bartenders so that took away from the table service. We were a table of 2 with what I thought were quick orders but apparently not. ...

Overall the experience was decent but service was terribly slow. Ordered draft beer and was told the keg needed to be changed. This happen twice with two different beers. The wait staff seemed busy but the dinning room is very small. Seemed like most of their attention was serving a bigger group. Pizza would not recommend, but the wings were sweet and crispy. The food came out at a strange pace. Moments after getting our app the main courses arrived. I would recommend maybe sitting at the bar if it’s just yourself, faster service. Worth checking out and I would possibly come back for another chance, but not...

Stopped in for a beer and had their “Cowboy” nachos. These were homemade potato s chips with pulled pork, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and fresh jalapeños. Very good. Good variety of domestic and craft beer on tap. Place was quiet the day we were there. But they do have a nice sized outdoor seating area as well under a tent outback. Signage is not very good—if I hadn’t searched for a place to go, I would never noticed it...