1812 on the Lake by 1812 Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Town of Hounsfield

To anyone wanting to check this place out please read recent reveiws. A pattern is starting to appear and this is only people who have taken the time to write a review. 1812 used to be our favorite place to eat in sackets. But after tonight, we will probably never return. Tonight was one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had as a family. Firstly, the wait time was ridiculous. We were told it would be a 10 minute wait to be seated, which turned into being told only 15 more minutes, and then after an hour we finally got seated. We finally got sat down and we ordered our usual special buy one pizza and beer and get one free. The waitress was all over the place and did not seem to be handling the typical weekday number of customers as she seemed scattered. I ordered one beer when we placed our food order. I got the beer and when we got our appitizer. I then ordered another beer once our pizza came out. My family and I finished eating our pizza (after about 20 minutes) and once the waitress came back to check on us I mentioned that I still didnt have my beer. She said she would check on it and I said we would like boxes and the check. She came back with boxes and the check but no beer. My wife checked the check and saw that the buy one get one was not applied to the beers or pizza. We also noticed that I was charged for the beer that I still had not received. At this point I went into the building with the check to get things figured because i was getting pretty annoyed at this point and my family and I were ready to go home after a 2.5 hour dining experience that we were not anticipating being so long. I got inside a girl asked me what I needed and I explained the issue with the beer and the buy one get one not being applied to our order. She told me that they no longer do the buy one get one special. I asked very confused when this started and she said that she was not actually sure, "maybe when the pizza stove got fixed?" she said. I expressed my frustration because we frequently come to 1812 for this special and I asked how we are supposed to know that they arent doing this special anymore until we have eaten and are ready to pay? All I got was a sorry and that she understands the frustration. The girl actually told me that several other customers have vocalized the same frustration. Which to me is baffling that they know customers are getting angry about this but they aren't thinking outside the box to let customers know this special change in a more efficient manner besides waiting to let customers know until they are done with their meal and ready to pay. This girl then asked me who my waitress was and I pointed to the waitress we had that hadn't gotten the beer to me yet. Our waitress then came over to me and let me know that my beer JUST came off the bar and was ready for me. I told her I no longer wanted it because we had been waiting for it for so long and were ready to leave. She took it off the check and I paid and left after once again sharing that the whole experience was frustrating.

A message to the owner(s); if specials change (especially popular specials like this one) it would be a good idea for wait staff to let customers know who are ordering pizza that the special is no longer being offered. This would be helpful for them to know before ordering as it will like dictate how/what they order. Letting customers find this out when it is time to pay does nothing more than create frustration. Additionally, the wait staff did not seem equipped to handle the average number of customers on this Tuesday night. They seemed super scattered, forgetful, and flighty. Lastly, drinks taking almost 30 minutes to come out? Meals are usually eaten and the check received by that amount of time.

Regardless, I've got a bad taste in my mouth after this dining experience. Which really stinks because we have been long time 1812 customers. I've never had such a bad dining experience before and for that reason we will not be returning or recommending 1812 to anyone...

This is in direct response to Lizzie May, I am the other owner of 1812 on the Lake and the River. I happened to be out of town the night that Sam and Quinn performed. I am also the one that booked them. Here is what really transpired…. I booked Sam and Ivy (Ivy was who was supposed to perform with Sam, who is the one who always performs with Sam and who is who we were expecting) through Sam’s parents who are customers of the Pub and a very nice couple. The original date that Sam and Ivy were to perform was rained out and it was my partner, the owner you so unfairly took down, who suggested we book them at another date, which happened to be Thursday, which I thought was a bad idea, Thursdays are typically not a night when we have live music so I didn’t think a crowd would show. I was also informed by Sam rather last minute, that Ivy was unable to attend but Quinn could take her place. It is my total responsibility that I did not ask for a video of Sam and Quinn, I just agreed to it, solely because the owner whom you so unfairly took down, said that it was the right thing to do, give them another date to perform. I was told by Sam that they had an “amazing” sound system…it is not industry standard for bars to provide sound equipment, we are not the Hard Rock. Every single one of our musicians that have been playing for us since 1995 bring their own equipment… On the evening of their gig, I started receiving phone calls from the staff and from regulars at the restaurant that no one could hear them on the decks and that it sounded like they were underwater. I was also told that after 25 minutes of playing, they both went into the bar and proceeded to sit down with family and eat. I was also informed that Sam and Quinn told the staff and my partner that they take 20 minute breaks every HOUR, which equals 60 minutes so essentially we are paying for 2 hours, not 3. Not one of our musicians in 20 plus years has ever taken 20 minute breaks every hour. We offer our musicians free drinks and food on the house and not one person has ever stopped playing after 25 minutes to eat. (Was it you that was sitting with Quinn at the bar? Because the only person other than Quinn that was in the conversation you mentioned…would have been you!) It was my call to reduce their rate based on the fact that they were essentially playing for 2 hours and that no one could hear them on the lower and upper decks. They were also the most expensive band we have ever hired. So Lizzie May, that is my side of the story. Let the readers choose who to believe. But you owe my partner an apology. Not only was he not drinking at all that night, he was working to help the staff out, in case the 30 plus people that we were told were going to show for the band showed (30 plus people did not show up, maybe 10.) He has put employees through school, paid their electric bills when they could not, paid for their cars to get out of the tow yard, sponsored more school teams than I have room to name, given away more beer and donations to veterans, people with cancer, kids with disabilities…He has stayed open year round for our locals even when we were afraid we couldn’t keep the lights on. You want to blame someone, you can blame me. The owner who you so unfairly took down, he is the one that spoke with Sam at length that evening to try and come to an understanding about what happened. I received a very nice text from Sam the next day and we came to an understanding. That’s...

Updated 8/14

My husband, son, and I visited in early July. We recently were camping in the area and during a particularly rainy Sunday we asked our group of friends who were with us if they wanted to go check out the brewery as we had a pleasant visit last month. We went to grab lunch and a pint, and it was truly awful there. The beer was good however the service was absolutely horrific. Upon seating Adele informed us that as a party greater than 6, she would not be splitting the bill. Gratuity was 20% and then there was another service fee of 3.5%. It was not a friendly introduction to the restaurant. We ordered flights, Adele was our server and I am sure it was a ‘don’t blame the messenger’ situation, but she came back to our table of 7 and said they were out of flight glasses and then just looked at us. I changed to order a pint as I just had a flight the month before. She never said thanks for being accommodating, my husband asked if we could just wait for dishes to be done and have flights and she didn’t even bother responding. She just waited for more people to change to pints vs flights. It was a Sunday afternoon. There was our party and one other table in the brewery. No one was at the bar. There was absolutely no reason for a brewery to be out of glasses. Our lunch then came out. My pizza in July was fantastic. You can see the updated pics that the pizza’s cheese was burned and the crust was so over done it’s shameful to charge people for it. My friend got the fried pickles and they were raw and uncooked. Another friend had ordered French onion soup and there was no broth- pure oil. Adele then charged her for the soup and my friend asked for it to be taken off - Adele was NOT friendly at all and gave my friend a nasty face and went to say something several times but she changed her mind and walked away to take the soup off the bill. Unfortunately, this will be our last visit here unless there is a complete change in their service. Unfortunate that we were forced to leave a 20% gratuity for such awful service. My friends and I were a pretty amicable group and did not complain or have attitude with the server. Her treatment of guests of the business was very appalling and shameful.

July 5, 2024 Service was slow but being the day after the 4th it is to be expected. Beer options were good - something for everyone. We sat outside and had a great view of the lake. My husband and I shared a pizza and fried pickles. My son had the half chicken which he devoured pretty quickly. Definitely recommend a stop here if you’re in the Sackets...