Chef Rene's at Eagle River Inn — Restaurant in Town of Lincoln

I am not sure where the good reviewers ate, because we had an incredibly frustrating experience here. The food was not worth the money or time we spent. Walking in, there is the distinct smell of some moisture problem, which was off putting to say the least. When I made reservations the week before, I was met with a big sigh and a tone of voice that made it seem I was asking for something completely out of the ordinary. Okay, maybe she was having a bad day. We showed up at the time of our reservation, were seated quickly and then proceeded to wait almost a half hour to even put in a drink order. We also had a 20-30 minute wait between every course - and by that I mean after we had eaten a course and the plates were cleared. The waitress eventually brought out all our meals, save one. My husband's meal arrived a good 20-30 minutes after we'd received our food, with no explanation. I went to check on the missing food about 15 minutes into our wait, and the person at the front was rude and dismissive. Yes Ma'am, I know the food will be out eventually, the problem is 6 of us are almost done eating, and one of us has yet to even receive their food. Feel free to acknowledge that it is incredibly awkward and rude to make someone in a party sit and watch everyone eat (or maybe no one eats and their food get's cold), because it is. No need to pretend it isn't. We were offered a free dessert, which we unfortunately took them up on because getting a few scoops of ice cream boxed up was another 20-30 minutes. In all, our dining experience was over 2 hours, which I'd understand if this was a fancy supper club, but it's not. It's a restaurant at a resort where we didn't order anything specially prepared.

The food was fine. The duck was kind of dry. The blackened fish was over seasoned. The lobster appetizer was just odd.

Our server was very nice, but obviously had too many tables...

4 of us went for dinner Friday night. When we asked the waitress what she recommended she said,” anything you like” Then I ordered the Zoodles. It was overpowered with herbs. I took one bite and could not eat it. I told the server it had too many herbs and one that had a funny taste to me. She insisted the only herb they used was basil. I said I love basil and that is not what I am tasting. She said, “ yes it is, that is all we use” the menu clearly states herbs (plural) I gave it back to the server and shared my friends Ribeye with her. When our check came the waitress said, “ I took $10 off your meal because we have served a lot of it tonight and can’t take it off your bill just because you don’t like it” the cost was $30. I said that’s fine.” Then we went to pay at the front register and the lady asked how things were. My husband said, “fine” I said, actually it wasn’t. I told her about my meal and she said, “I’m sorry” my husband took out his credit card and put on counter, it disappeared. He and his daughter were looking for it. Taking out all menus, moving things. The woman behind counter said, “it’s not here” but wasn’t bothering to help us look.And she inferred that my husband did not give it to her. My husbands daughter then went behind the counter and said, “what’s that?” It was his credit card on the floor by her feet. She then said to us, “That was because he flung his credit card” He did not “fling” his credit card. We felt as though there was zero customer service and they were rude. We have a place in Eagle River. This was our first time at the restaurant and we will not return again. It was also extremely loud in there. Not a good...

From the parking lot, chef Renee's dark log exterior and unremarkable signage might inspire a less than enthusiastic "meh". And the heavy Maple log chairs and tables don't exactly scream fine dining. But, this is Cheesehead territory, and we're Flatlanders here for all you can eat fish fry. So we'll ignore those Minor details in favor of gluttony. After all, we are here for the $13.95 all you can eat fish fry. The fish fry is Alaskan pollock. And unlike any fish fry we've ever had, you have a choice of baked or grilled. Or a combination of both. I can say for a fact the fish fry was delicious the french fries were delicious and I would go back for the fish fry alone anytime. But if you go back, be prepared to be stray away from the fish fry by all of the other delicious sounding things on the menu. We started to stray when we ordered the bacon wrapped stuff dates and deep fried stuffed jalapenos with our delicious cocktails. My wife then broke ranks by ordering the Canadian Walleye, broiled, with wild rice and veggies. She wouldn't share, but raved about how good it was. And while I don't doubt for a minute that it was delicious, if I were going to go for something other than the fish fry, there were so many delicious things on that menu that I would go back in a heartbeat! As anyone who's been to the wisconsin-norths knows, the supper clubs don't hold back on their prices. That makes the 1395 All you can eat fish Fry at chef Renee's a remarkable thing, and his menu as a whole is very reasonably priced by comparison. If you're an eagle river. You must go to Chef Rene's, especially on a...