PIER 290 — Restaurant in Williams Bay

I am basing this review on our Mother’s Day brunch, which may or may not be representative of the usual dining experience, even though it should be.

First the positives: Nice location, great bar and drinks, attentive, friendly, plentiful staff whom we were happy to tip well. The atmosphere was pleasant and casual and we enjoyed being there.

Now the negatives: I feel as though this place may not be well managed. My first exposure to the restaurant was the restroom. We had driven three and a half hours to get there so a trip to the facilities was necessary. The restroom was steamy hot, very messy, very oddly laid out, very unpleasant to be in. Not a great first impression.

The buffet was the only option for the day. Understandable, given the anticipated volume of people. The price for brunch was $60/person. We don’t mind paying $60 for brunch if the food is delicious. It was not even close to being delicious. Everything that should have been hot was not. Everything that should have been cold was not. Everything was in that luke warm danger zone for food, between the 40°-140°F mark where bacteria grow rapidly. I’m not saying the food was spoiled at all, but it is just not good practice to have food sit at room temperature for any length of time. There was not a single thing on the entire buffet that any of us in our party thought was remarkable, interesting, or particularly tasty. It reminded us of institutional food that you might find at a hospital or nursing home. Basically dull and bland. The same with the desserts.

I wonder why management would not be on top of that. It would have been far better to have fewer options that had actually been good than to have a plethora of items that were mediocre at best. And the temperature of all the foods could easily be more well controlled. We will likely not return, unless it’s just for cocktails. Overall, we dropped over $700 for brunch (there were 7 in our party) and even though we enjoyed our time together, the meal was a huge disappointment.

Shout outs to our server, Nolan, who was great, and to Brandon, the bartender, who poured very good drinks and whose personality...

Forgot it was the Kentucky Derby, but they had some seating in the bar area. The bar area actually turned out to be the better choice, since they had great live music just starting as we got our drinks. The server was very attentive. He may have forgotten my second drink order, but when I reminded him he more than made up for it by occasionally stopping by and making sure all was alright in and refilling waters. It was pretty busy considering the circumstances and the service was great despite that. The food portions were alright and the flavor was pretty good. The food prices are high for the quality of the food though. Expect to spend some money if you go here. We started with drinks, wife got a cocktail she enjoyed while I started with the standard buffalo trace old fashioned. The old fashioned had quite a bit of ice, definitely too much ice and a very small pour considering it was $18 I expected more than 1 finger pour. I ended up putting the extra ice in my water. The appetizer was decent, We got the artichoke dip. I'm used to running out of bread at most places, but they had some chips served with the dip and that was a nice touch. Overall I have had better artichoke dip at other places, but this was pretty good and wouldn't knock them on it not being the best considering it is just an appetizer. I got the Scottish Salmon and it was great, but wasn't anything special like a higher end place. The asparagus and sauce had a good tangy flavor. My wife got the lobster roll and it brought back memories of our vacation in Maine, it wasn't as good as Maine but it was better than most Wisconsin lobster rolls you can get. My second drink was the 290 mule. I wish I would have started with that, because that was worth the price and far better than the old fashioned. Finally we ended up for dessert getting the pistachio creme brulee. It was very delicious. The topping was perfectly torched, and the bottom layer was creamy. Highlight of the meal Would go back just for the mule...

I have dined at Pier 290 before (August 2020 - Pandemic Times) and have recommended it to anyone asking for Lake Geneva dinner options. It is in Williams Bay, just a 15-minute drive from Downtown Lake Geneva. Parking can seem a bit tricky, but they offer free valet, so take advantage of that. There are often events on the weekends in the summer months, so the convenience of valet is appreciated. I made a reservation about one week in advance because I knew this would be a popular dining option on a Friday night. We had the option to sit outside which was perfect. Right on the water with a view of the Harvest Moon – it really couldn’t get any better! I could tell the waitstaff was short-staffed, and they were very busy on the Friday night we visited; however, this did not affect our dining experience. As former waitresses in our group of three, we were in no hurry and appreciated the effort of our friendly waiter. Entrees at our table included Salmon, Ribs and Steak. All very tastefully done dishes cooked as requested. The serving sizes can easily be shared or split. In fact, the portion size for the ribs was so immense it didn’t look like the dish had been touched when it was taken from the table. The pace of our meal allowed for us to see the rising of the Harvest Moon. Quite a spectacle from where we were seated right on the Lake. Cost per person is right around $60 including beverage and tip. I do believe Pier 290 also offers brunch on weekends as well as lunch. Overall, I am very happy with my second dining experience at Pier 290, and I will continue to recommend it to...