The Velveteen Plum — Restaurant in Wausau

Came here with my family and it was a confusing experience. It was raining but yet they had the outdoor bar open with people sitting outside in the rain? I also noted that the seating outdoors looked really uncomfortable, those basic trendy metal chairs that you can fit one butt cheek on. Those are always an automatic no for me. The bartender was pleasant and no complaints about the drinks- however I think calling a mojito that’s made with tequila a “margarita” is a little silly.

We had to seat ourselves despite having a reservation because the host pointed to a table and sent us on our way. Apparently we picked the wrong table because they made us move. The restaurant was empty except for one table, and they sat us directly behind them for some reason which we didn’t appreciate. Huge open space but cramming people together is crazy. All 6 of us were baffled.

They left the huge garage door separating the indoor from outdoor seating open during the hot humid rain, so it was miserably hot for our entire meal. We had to keep the menus to use as fans because they didn’t turn the AC on after finally closing the garage door. I believe it kicked on for a short amount of time and then it was instantly hot and miserable again because they turned it off. I had to step outside in the rain to cool down.

The service was some of the worst I’ve had in a long time. My elderly grandmother went through the entire process of ordering her food with no spice. Then the server asked her what she wanted to eat, leaving us all once again really confused. Her response to our confusion was to be condescending and say “well you asked questions about the food but you didn’t actually order it.” Huh??? She’s 87, read the room.

They don’t label the two jugs of water at the table as sparkling and flat so we didn’t know we were going to be drinking sparkling water until we took a sip. Not a fun surprise when you’re already overheating. When we asked the server for more still water and shared with her that the bottles weren’t labeled nor was it pointed out which was which, she was rude again and commented “if you shake the bottles you can tell because one of them bubbles.” Huh??? How were we supposed to know about this if you don’t tell us or label anything? And then to be condescending about it is crazy. She came back but didn’t bring a glass to pour it into lol. This happened to us twice in a row.

No signs for where the bathrooms were, we had to walk around searching for them because we were afraid to ask the server because of her condescending attitude.

Parking and finding the place was laughably confusing. If I owned a restaurant I would want people to actually be able to figure out how to get there. The signs for parking are black with purple lettering, so you can’t actually read the words “velveteen plum.” All you can see is that it says “BANTR” on it, the name of the apartment buildings. The signage outside the building points to the wrong door also. Nobody at the top to greet you or anything either.

The food was decent. I certainly wouldn’t go back and would not recommend it due to the service alone. By the looks of the empty dining room I’d imagine it’s not a busy place, maybe it was just a Monday but there were only 3 tables of people during dinner time (all crammed together in an otherwise empty room). If it’s a cost issue for turning the AC on, I recommend not opening a restaurant you can’t afford to properly temperature control. Miserable experience, which is too bad because the rooftop bar could’ve been a really fun addition to Wausau.

This is free feedback which you should be grateful for but I’m sure I’ll get some condescending response. Makes sense why the staff are so rude when the owner is out here insulting people who dare to leave a negative review, ensuring they never come...

This place needs some serious improvement. The roof top view isn't going to sustain it. I've been here twice, now. Today, I waited 45 minutes for an order of fries before giving up and closing my tab. I also gave up on trying to get an itemized receipt since all the servers became dis-interested in me once I was no longer spending money (sorry).

Let's list my frustrations:

No ketchup (I think the words were "we don't do ketchup"). You serve fries with every meal in an American city, if you want to provide "fancy" ketchup in a little stainless steel cup, fine. You can't refuse to have basic condiments "because your different".

Ignoring the above average prices, the food is entirely mediocre. I doubt I'll ever be disappointment with a meal, but the taste is certainly not premium. You'll likely end up ordering a $16 item with an underwhelming amount of taste and volume.

Okay, well, they're a cocktail bar - I can excuse the mediocre food. Like the food, the cocktails are all "fine". They have all the visual cues of high-quality cocktails, but lack any depth or flavor profile. The menu offers interesting takes on classics (like a tequila old fashion), but fails to back that up. Again, nothing is going to be offensive to your pallet, but everything tastes generic. They'd be far better off simply offering "traditional" cocktails that enjoy being generic.

The bar is overwhelming to sit at. Unlike every other restaurant, where you generally have 1 person (maybe a 2nd/3rd helping), you have everyone at the bar serving you. That means they're constantly pounding you with "do you need anything?". NO! The person that I ordered from, not 10 seconds, ago would know that I'm not in need of anything.

Speaking of the collective bar staff taking care of you. Good luck having anyone pay attention to the fact that your order never came out. Since everyone is serving you, nobody, individually, feels responsible for serving you. I sensed this lead to two issues: (1) when they sense something is wrong, they just ignore you (since they don't want to deal with anything hard) (2) when they sense you're near the end of the meal, they ignore you (since you won't make them anymore money). I want to be clear, this is not an issue of individual waitresses/servers. This is a management issue. The servers are fine, but this is simple group dynamics - people don't deal with hard things if there is an easier path.

The attitude of this place is just dumb. They're far more concerned with you knowing "no jerks allowed" than listing their hours, menu, prices, or driving directions (since there's major construction out front).

"A visual experience" - what visual experience? Yes, they have fantastic views of Rib Mountain, but "a visual experience" is exaggeration.

This is a nit-pick, but goes with the vibe of "trying and getting it wrong". At the bar, the first question you're asked is what drink you want. The second question you're asked is if you're cashing out or opening a tab. Nothing kills the "premium" vibe like being asked to open a tab. Even Applebee's knows to simply cash you...

I usually like to keep bad restaurant experiences to myself, but our experience annoyed me so much… and here we go.

We walk in and it is impressive. I love that it is on a rooftop and the view from the location is really worth it. We got to experience it during sunset and that was rewarding. Onto the Drinks.

I personally enjoyed that they had sparkling water instead of still water for our option as soon as we sat down. We asked the waiter for a recommendation on the Red Blend as we were purchasing a bottle for many people. She simply stated she had no clue and that it is described in the menu, offering no other recommendations beyond that. Not very exciting, service wise.

We placed our appetizer orders immediately, ordering the bone marrow, mussels, and the black garlic appetizer. They came out sometime later and we dug in. The mussels were fine albeit little bland, the black garlic was delicious, and all the bread was grilled very well. The bone marrow had great flavor and the Chimichurri sauce was delicious with it, but we got end pieces of the bone marrow and had but a half teaspoon of bone marrow per bone to spread on our bread. That was very disappointing for us.

However, the most disappointing part is that four minutes after we dug into our appetizers, the waitress informed us that our entrées were ready. We had only taken a few bites, and now we had to shuffle our plates around to make room for our Entrées. It seemed like our entrées had been sitting in the window a bit as the mole pork chop was extremely dry, the lobster pasta had set and the sauce had skinned over, and the grits on the red snapper entrée had solidified and set like a firm polenta. All of our entrées were very under seasoned and bland, the pasta was overcooked, and the pork chop was the driest pork chop I have had tasted since my days at the school cafeteria. Our friend’s salad advertised avocado as an ingredient, and he ended up with a tasteless guacamole instead. Another friend ordered a second beer, and he stared at it as it sat on the bar after was poured for about 15 to 20 minutes before it was brought to the table.

We usually get excited about desserts, so we tried the ganache. While it was presented, very attractively, the ganache coating had taken on a very rubber like texture on the outside, and the inside was gummy with the blackberry jam, making it even more sticky, disgusting and difficult to enjoy. Very little cocoa flavor for a chocolate dish.

We will not be recommending this restaurant to anybody. If you have the opportunity to go to this bar for a party, go and...