Sweetwater Spirits & Resort — Restaurant in Town of Lincoln

What makes a great restaurant? As a Chicago resident - and self-proclaimed pretentious tool - I’m particular when it comes to where I dine. However, after spending a weekend eating every meal at Sweetwater Spirits & Resort, my perspective completely changed.

Where to begin? I’d be remiss to not start off by highlighting the setting. SSR is Peak Northern Wisconsin. Ample indoor and outdoor seating? Check. Well-executed and eclectic selection of fried food? Check. Really good live music? Check. Pull-tabs, cornhole and skee-ball? Check, check and check. On a freaking lake and thus can drive your boat to the bar? Check. Friendly waitstaff? That deserves a new paragraph.

Our group of married or about-to-be-married mid-30-year-old males don’t go out too much these days: let’s just say it doesn’t take much for us to start making loud noises and causing a general raucous. And not only did the Sweetwater staff deal with our insanity, they embraced us. Eve (pronounced Evie) ensured we always had a fried appetizer on the table and a full glass. She even came in a day later and cooked the food herself. Truly an American hero, that Evelyn. And then there’s Ally. From the moment she first came to our table to our final lunch hurrah a couple days later, Ally’s ability to make us feel special was unparalleled. She’s even multi-talented: funny (queen of quips), strong (would not want to face her in an arm wrestling match), and basically a nurse (she got ice for our friend who tore his calf dancing by himself). We’re much better people for having met both Eve and Ally. I’m sure the rest of the staff is also great and hope to become their friends some day when I inevitably move next door.

This brings us back to my original question: what makes a great restaurant? My answer is now this: a place that makes you feel good. And at Sweetwater, it’s impossible to not feel good. Unless you eat too many mini...

My wife and I were here recently on a fishing trip, we decided to dine here after coming here a few years ago when we were vacationing in Eagle River. The first time around we had a great experience so we decided to try again. The atmosphere is really cool, very nice outdoor/patio areas with a typical indoor up north cabin bar feel. I had the philly cheese steak sandwich and a pitcher of beer, which was really good but was nothing close to a real philly cheesesteak sandwich as it was more like a French dip sandwich. I liked it. However, my wife ordered a patty melt and unfortunately it came out raw and bloody, and the rye bread wasn’t grilled or toasted at all. So she sent it back to got it corrected but unfortunately again the new one was still bloody and again the rye bread wasn’t grilled. She couldn’t eat it. So she ordered the Bavarian pretzel with the cheese sauces. It was really good and the garlic cheese sauce was fantastic. After all that occurred with my wife’s food, they ended up taking care of our entire bill which was really awesome and professional. The restaurant was obviously short of staff and didn’t have a legit cook back there. Overall I would say this place deserves a thumbs up and I highly recommend...

My family and I go to Sweetwater often as we own cabins in Eagle River for many years (50+years). The service is great and this is one of our frequent stops. This past trip (August 28th - September 9th) we stopped in to Sweetwater for either dinner/drinks and unfortunately had the same bartender each time. No personality Mike - each time I ordered anything I felt like I was disturbing him and was not welcomed (hangs out with his friends at the end of the bar), neither was anyone in our party. Regardless we went to Sweetwater a half dozen times as it was one of the only places open during the off season. Once I returned home I checked my banking and surprise Mike charged me multiple times on my credit card, actually added more of a tip in on 2 of the credit card receipts. I tried to contact the owner Chris and at this time have not gotten a return call to be reimbursed for the fraud, I do hope that she can pick up the phone to resolve. I feel that it is unfortunate as we have never had this happen and all of our other experiences at Sweetwater were so wonderful. My suggestion if you get "No Personality Mike" is that you keep your receipts and check your records or...