Lemongrass Asian Fusion Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Wausau

I really want to be able to give this place 5 stars, I really do...

When they first opened up it was definitely a 5 star worthy place, but in recent years there's always SOMETHING that takes away from my experience. I keep going back because the food is excellent. But...

My last several visits I have had to send glasses back for being chipped. Most of their plateware is also chipped. I've stopped sending them back because chances are the next plate will also be chipped. Just gotta take the risk of swallowing some ceramic with your food, I guess...

In that same vein, I have had to send drinks back for having hairs in them. Drinks. This has happened on multiple occasions.

The staff is often rude and snotty. One specific example comes to mind right now, I was in there with family members, about 10 of us for lunch. The server laid down their trio of sauces on the table and was particularly affronted when I asked them to explain the various sauces and their spiciness level to my family, as if we should just "know" (and no, none of the containers were even labeled).

Every time you order a meal, they ask you for your preferred spiciness level on a scale of 1-4--you can say "2" today and next time you go "2" will be a completely different level of spicy. This is minor to me but don't offer the spiciness scale if you cannot keep it consistent. My biggest issues are with service.

The most recent time I was in there, there were two people working the host stand. One person greeted my party and then abruptly stopped interacting with us to take a to-go order on the phone. Not sure what the purpose of having two people at the host stand then, but we awkwardly stood there for a few minutes while the host took the phone call, and then chatted to the other host about said phone call....then, after we ordered and received our food, ten minutes goes by and our server is asking us if we want boxes when we are clearly still eating. We declined the boxes saying we were still eating. After another 10 minutes the server comes by and just drops boxes on the table. It was pretty obvious that they were trying to rush us out. We were not done eating by any means but no longer felt welcome. We did not even finish our first round of drinks but did not want to be in that environment anymore so we boxed up and left.

Lemongrass is not cheap by any means and that last visit left a really sour taste in my mouth. If I feel like eating their food again, it will probably be a to-go order (which the employees seem to prioritize anyway). Such a shame. I wish the service provided matched the prices on the menu, but it simply does not, and this has been reflected over 5-6 visits over the...

There is so much to like about this restaurant from the moment you walk through the doors. The bar and dining room are beautiful as is the floor to ceiling "waterfall" that separate the two. Check-in with the host/hostess at the front desk was fast and friendly as was the service from the bar staff as we had a short wait for our table having not made reservations. The dining room is not crowded with tables so the openness adds to the pleasant ambience of Lemongrass. Waitstaff are continually moving from table to table checking on patron's needs as were owners Tuan, Kelly and Tuan's brother Tu who has a similar restaurant in California on the two visits we have had to the restaurant.

Asian Fusion starts with the decor and extends to an extraordinary menu. There is much to choose from and the menu is well defined by the various types of dishes Lemongrass offers.

On our first visit we had "Beginnings" of;

Spring Rolls Steamed pork and shrimp wrapped with lettuce and vermicelli rice noodles in delicate rice paper. Paired with our rich house peanut sauce served with crushed peanuts.

Dynamite Shrimp Tender, crispy shrimp tossed in a creamy, spicy sauce.

Followed by main dishes of;

Ribeye Garlic Noodles Yakisoba noodles tossed in green onions, butter, garlic and our special house sauce.

Spicy Scallops & Shrimp Sautéed scallops and shrimp stir fried with Thai basil, onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots and tomatoes with chili puree and house sauce.

On our 2nd visit we had "Beginnings" of;

Egg Rolls Ground pork seasoned with fresh asian herbs and spices. Rolled with thread noodles and mushroom in a crispy golden wrapper. Served with lettuce, herbs, and our house vinaigrette.

Golden Calamari Panko breaded calamari flash fried to a golden tone and accompanied by a sweet chili sauce.

Followed by main dishes of;

Yellow Curry Aromatic Thai spices combined with coconut milk and yellow curry flavoring served with onion, potatoes and carrots.

Spicy Beef Teriyaki Wok beef glazed with our sweet and spicy teriyaki sauce and served on a bed of cabbage, carrots and bean sprouts alongside steamed steamed broccoli and rice.

All items were cooked to perfection and delicious. With all of the selections available it will take many more visits to get through the menu.

Prices are more than reasonable for such cuisine. Highly recommended, we will be returning soon to try some of the other dishes.

Valet parking is available (on weekends) and Lemongrass has a private dining room should you be planning a meeting or event that...

I had previously rated Lemongrass as a strong four stars. The past several times we have eaten there and/or ordered to go, at least one of our meals was wrong. Just tonight, I asked for little to no onion in my Massaman Curry (my absolute favorite item on the menu) as the onions they been using are too strong. I get home tonight with my order, and what do I find. A metric crap ton of onion. To the point its all I can taste. Come on. Its not like I'm heavily modifying an order or asking them to get creative

They've gotten my fiancé's pad thai wrong in the past. They've given us chicken satay that not quite burnt but so charred it's all we could taste. Yes it's grilled and some char is to be expected and I like an appropriate amount of it. I've asked for the hot sauce for my curry on the side but they decided that was optional and dumped it all in.

Look. I get that it's crazy busy at times. I get the cooks are pushing food out as fast as they can to keep order times down but it's gotten to the point I don't trust them to get our orders right. It's turned in to a game of "Whats going to be wrong this time." We've spoken with management and they apologize and say they will speak to the kitchen. I'm sure they do but the core issue isn't being addressed. Once or twice making errors every so often I get. They are humans and we all make mistakes. Every oder going back at least six months? Nah. Something is fundamentally wrong.

What saddens me more than anything is this used to be our go to place. It is (was?) an important place to us because we have a limited number of resteraunts with such a diverse menu in the Wausau area. When they get an order right its amazing. We feel like the rug has been pulled out from under us. Now, it's like we place our order and they spin some wheel in the kitchen to randomly figure how they can screw with it. If you can't trust you're going to get what you order or how it's prepared why even give them the chance any more.

Our experiences hold true ordering online, calling an order in for carry out, and sitting in the dinning room. It's across the board.

I wish I could recommend Lemongrass moving forward. As I mentioned above, when they get something right, WOW. Great. I love it. Unfortunately, now we've been saying WOW when we see yet another mistake. Admittedly, it really shouldn't be a surprise at this point.

Come on, Lemongrass. Get your...