Orchard — Restaurant in Verona

I know they just opened, so I will revisit and update the review later.

Reservations on OpenTable were easy and there was no wait time after entering.

I want to start out by adding everyone on staff we talked to was polite and friendly but there did seem to be only 1 waiter for the whole room which might have contributed to some of the problems I'm about to describe:

THE SERVICE We had reservations for 11:00 a.m. and we did not end up leaving until close to 1:00 p.m. Our toddler that we had brought started to get cranky since we've been there for so long waiting and his nap time was approaching. And waiting was the name of the game. If you go here, do not expect a fast or normal amount of time. Budget for it being a slow vibe.

We probably waited 30-45+ minutes after we were done with appetizers before we got our main food.

-I then probably waited another 20 minutes when we were finished to get my bill.

I never got checked on by my waiter in between any of these times.

something as simple as wanting napkins at our table since it did not have any rolled silverware on it like the others took around 15 minutes from the time we declared we wanted them to ourselves to the time we actually got our waiter and brought it to his attention because he was so busy.

THE FOOD:

I had a smashburger and fries. The smashburger was not very seasoned but it was tolerable. The fries on the other hand I did not care for. They reminded me of the fries from the Cleveland side of Ohio where it's a lot of skin and floppy, not very crispy. Maybe they put all of their hope into the burger sauce, which I did not partake in.

My son enjoyed his mac and cheese and for a kids, mac and cheese, it was an extremely generous portion.

The thing we really loved the most was the cheese curds. They were fried to perfection. The only problem that I personally have with them was it was $13 and we had about seven curds in total coming to around $2 per curd. Seems kind of expensive.

The pretzel was mediocre. It wasn't as soft as the description would tell you. I think it was slightly overcooked.

My wife said her eggs Benedict was okay and did not elaborate any further.

my wife did love the cider.

ATMOSPHERE:

We enjoyed the atmosphere quite a bit. I think it they tune their recipes and up their service, this score will be changing in the future. Seems like a great place to go drink with friends.

Price: for me, my wife and my child with one alcoholic drink (for my wife) and two appetizers plus two main courses and a kids meal, the total cost was...

When my son and I arrived at 6 pm there was no host. We waited at the front for a couple minutes for someone to seat us. Several staff walked past us, but no one greeted us. We decided to sit at the bar, and as we walked to the bar to ask someone behind the bar if we could order food at the bar, an older gentleman came from behind the bar and asked if we wanted to be seated. We were finally seated.

The first thing I noticed was the acoustics were pretty bad at the table we were sitting at. It was like all of the voices in the room were amplified and echoing off the walls and ceiling. I could hardly hear my son talking to me across the table from me.

We ended up waiting at least 13 to 15 minutes for our waitress to finally take our order. We were about to get up and leave when she approched our table. Our drinks and order came out at a normal time frame.

I knew it was a new restaurant so I put all of the lack of timeliness aside and was hopeful that the food would make up for the slowness in service so far.

The cheesecurds were disappointing. The batter had cornmeal in it. The cornmeal made the cheesecurds crunchy instead of soft, and they had a toasted flavor that covered the flavor of the cheese.

I had the hot chicken sandwich. The sandwich had the same batter with cornmeal in it as the cheese curds had. The batter was again overly crunchy and the fried flavor of the batter overwhelmed any evidence that the chicken had possibly been seasoned. The only flavor of the sandwich was the hot sauce and the pickles.

My son had the double smash burger. I tasted his burger and we both described it as "mid". The bun was the best part of the cheeseburger.

The apple cider brandy old fashioned was had a dry tartness from the apple cider brandy. Once I adjusted my expectation of how it should taste using that brandy, I thought it wasn't bad, but I do prefer a traditional Wisconsin Old Fashioned.

I was truly hopeful that Verona would finally get another nicer restaurant that my wife and I could make frequent visits to... I really wanted to like the food and the atmosphere, but I can say that even putting aside the cost of the meal, the food itself was disappointing and that alone would keep me from returning.

I wish the owners well, and I hope they make changes to their menu, and maybe add some accoustic ceiling and wall decorations to help cut the amplification...

I dined at The Orchard this past Saturday, and I’m honestly disappointed to say the experience fell flat, especially given how much effort my partner put into planning a special birthday night out. He called ahead, made reservations, and let the staff know it was for my birthday. We even arrived early and saw that the place wasn’t busy, so we were optimistic.

We were greeted warmly by an older gentleman and two hosts, so far, so good! But things quickly started heading downhill.

My partner had reviewed the menu ahead of time to make sure there’d be something for both of us to enjoy. Unfortunately, the item he was most excited about wasn’t on the menu, and what was available looked quite different from what your website suggested.

We ordered drinks and asked for recommendations. I asked for something sweet and got one of the driest ciders I’ve ever had. My partner’s drink had so much garnish, it was like playing a game of “where's the drink?”

Our first appetizer choice wasn’t available, so we opted for the pretzel and cheese. The pretzel was soft, which was promising, but the cheese was gritty, runny, and broken. Not exactly appetizing.

We had no napkins, no silverware, no salt, and no pepper, nothing. We eventually found napkins ourselves, and when our food arrived, we had to ask for silverware. After that, we didn’t see our server again until the very end of the meal, when she casually admitted, “We’ve not checked in in a while.” Correct—you had not. We overheard the conversation about the past cook (entertaining, sure), but meanwhile, our drinks were long gone, and no one asked how the food was.

The older gentleman did swing by to ask if we’d like ketchup, and we were grateful, because it turned out to be the only thing with flavor. My burger and my partner’s steak were both overcooked, and based on how service had gone, we didn’t see much point in sending them back. I did enjoy the fries, though even those were unevenly cooked.

We paid the bill and left to find dessert elsewhere. I love supporting local spots and had hoped to discover a new favorite. But for an appetizer, two drinks, and two entrees, you’d do better spending $100 just about anywhere else. Perhaps with more time under their belt, things...