Fitz's On The Lake — Restaurant in Town of Lodi

Cutting corners at every turn: Our group was excited to visit Fitz's as it has become an annual tradition when camping nearby. Last night marked the end of that tradition. The new ownership that took over roughly a year ago seems to have snuffed out the magic of a once great waterfront gem. I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to Prime Rib because I like it so much, but what was supposed to be a medium rare supper club quality piece of meat was dry, seemingly day-old, Ponderosa quality. In the chef's defense, it may have dried out in the 90 minutes it took them to get it to our table (not an exaggeration). This delay was compounded by the fact that when we arrived (on time) for our reservation the owner had given our tables. As the host who prepared the tables started taking us out, he interjected, stating that we'd have to wait for more to open up because he "just couldn't let tables sit like that" and "had to turn them". It's a really bad sign when an owner or manager can't resist filling a reserved table. Let me re-iterate that we were on time.

To kill the time we ordered Old Fashioneds and checked out the patio. As we settled in to enjoy the live music, the bartender erratically made his way around the group shoving plastic cups in our faces saying we needed to dump them into plastic if we were going to be on the patio because each glass cost him $3.50! That was just plain weird. He was talking to the guests like they had stolen something.

Back to the main course. The server was very nice, but was reluctant to recognize there were issues as many of the dishes and drink orders came out incorrect. One dish came out as just a lonely piece of chicken on a plate! After preparing the food for 90 minutes you forget the sides? By this time though, I was so hungry I didn't care and just started eating what was served. Then I looked up to realize the dishes for 1/3 of our group still had not arrived! Usually when an order is broken up across 3 trays the 2nd and 3rd come quickly after the 1st, but in this case we had friends at our table who had to wait another 10 minutes. It was insult to injury.

I feel bad writing a review like this about a restaurant that's been loved by so many for so long, but this is NOT the Fitz's you've heard so much about. The accountants have taken over and are cutting corners...

Arrived at 2:45 pm. Only sandwiches and apps. Ordered an app and drank $5 draft Miller lites (took 20 minutes to get the first one) until I could order a real meal at 4:00. Ordered steak and shrimp. When the food finally arrived 30 minutes later, the cocktail sauce was frozen and the steak had literally been cut in half. Someone took a whole steak, cut it in half, and cooked it. I ordered it medium rare. Cut off a bite, it was Grey throughout. Cut 2" further into it, still Grey. Called the server over, showed him the steak, he agreed it wasn't medium rare. He came back 2 minutes later with the exact same plate, same steak, same 2 shrimp (I ate one), and said "the cook said that's medium rare". I told him to take it back, remove it from my bill, and send the manager out. Apparently the manager is the owner, and the owner - you guessed it - is the cook. He proceeded to tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about when it came to steak, and you had to cut the steak IN HALF to check the temperature. Really? So the steak I ordered, perhaps the center 2" square section would be cooked to how I ordered it? He then proceeded to ARGUE with me about it. This guy not only should not be allowed into a kitchen, but with his obviously high quality people skills, he should not be allowed anywhere NEAR a service industry, food or otherwise. I cook better steaks in my backyard. Not to mention $25 for three shrimp and literally half a steak? Not a portion that was half size, but they actually took a steak and cut it in half. One side was completely straight. Ridiculous. And then to argue with the customer because you don't know how to cook a steak? Our bill was $66 for 7 beers a soda and 2 appetizers. I would recommend to everyone and everyone that you stay as FAR away from this place as you possibly can. The food is terrible, the beer is overpriced, the owner is incompetent, and the food is terrible. The only reason this review got 1 star is because I couldn't give negative stars. The owner should sell this place immediately to someone who knows how to cook, because he is ruining what could be a fantastic restaurant right on the water....

Will not be going back! We had a bad experience last summer but we decided to give it another shot this year especially since they just opened back up for take out. I called our order in to pick up at the restaurant, one of the entrees included salad or soup. Since I'm used to making my own salad there when we go I inquired on what the salad is since they more than likely didn't have the salad bar up and running. The girl on the phone said "it's a two lettuce mix, with cheese, tomato, and croutons." I didn't ask much else since it sounded like they had already prepared them. When I got home with my order and opened up the salad I was very disappointed. Not only was it in a very small container, the lettuce was wilted, slimy, and the date on it was from two days ago. I called the restaurant to let the owner know that the salad was completely unacceptable.

He had the audacity to make ME feel like I shouldn't be complaining. He didn't apologize however he was real quick to think up reasons for the salad to look that way. One of his comments was "We're doing the best we can!", doing the best you can? If I owned a restaurant you can bet the "best" I would do is come in every day to make sure the produce I was sending to customers was fresh. I barely got an apology, I felt so disrespected and was in awe after I got off the phone I even went and did a facebook live post to show the salad.

All of this could have been avoided if he would have treated me with respect and listened to my complaint instead of making himself sound like he had it all under control on the phone. He didn't...he doesn't. We won't be back a second time, not until there are new owners.

IN RESPONSE TO THE OWNERS MESSAGE BELOW: WE WOULD NOT COME BACK TO THIS RESTAURANT IF YOU OFFERED TO PAY FOR OUR MEALS. We'll be taking our paychecks elsewhere with quality food and people who treat others with kindness and respect. Note: Never once was my husband or myself rude to his staff - this is a complete false accusation, but I'm guessing he needs to make himself look...