Bella Goose Coffee - Cafe on the River — Restaurant in Wisconsin Dells

This goose is cooked.

An invite to spend the weekend up in Wisconsin to celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday meant I had to try some coffee in Wisconsin for the first time since starting this blog. After a long weekend of celebrating said birthday, we needed some caffeine to survive the drive home. As we hit the road, we waited until we hit the highway to figure out where to stop at.

That is where we hit our first snag. Wisconsin Dells is one of those touristy towns where each street and each corner is something to do or something to see. The biggest coffee place we saw to try was Bella Goose. Firstly, we saw Bella Goose (On the River) as GPS guided us to the downtown location. We took a wrong turn and circled the building. Parking was packed and we decided to try the other location.

We drove back to this location and found a spot in the parking lot next to the building. The full lot should’ve given me a heads up on what we were about to experience but we needed caffeine and weren’t paying attention. As we approached the front door, we could see how backed up the line was. It extended from the counter to the door. We squeaked in and a kind gentleman made room for us so we didn’t have to wait outside. While we stood there, we watched people approach the front door, see the line, and turn around to leave. Maybe we should’ve done the same as the line was slow moving. But, we decided to stick it out since we already waited 10 minutes at that point. Our overall time in line was maybe 25 minutes.

I managed to snag a postcard and a sticker while waiting in line and both Emily and I ordered Cold Brews (yes, despite the blustery weather) and a double chocolate chip cookie once we were at the register. For two drinks, a $4 sticker and a $2.50 postcard and the cookie, the total was only $18. I thought that seemed very fair for it being a touristy town. Our drinks were around $5 or $5.50, which is on the upper end of what I think is a good price for a cup of Joe. I think the cookie was the cheapest thing, oddly enough.

As we waited for our coffees, we took a nice view out of these windows that faced the river and dam. It’s neat to see when dams are open and water is pouring out. Here in the Dells, the water turns and churns to an extent that the water gets all foamy. Not sure what’s up with that but am curious to know if anyone can clue me in. We ended up relocating closer to the middle of the coffeehouse as that is where the pickup area is located. Despite the long wait in line, we got our cold brews relatively fast for how many people were ahead of us. Once we got our drinks, we made a beeline for the front door. Strolling back to my car, we took a short detour along the fence to get a better view of the dam, river, and foam until we both got too chilly and made another beeline for my car.

At long last, we had caffeine and wasted no time getting some sips in before we took off. I’ve been trying cold brews lately for something new and they have been very hit at miss. Unfortunately, this was a swing and a miss in my books. I don’t mind bitter. I don’t mind strong. But this was like an IPA beer strong. Even Emily tried it and made a puckered face with her first sip. Her’s had some caramel syrup so I tried that and it definitely helped take the edge off that strong taste. As we were driving down the road, joking about my coffee, she offered to pour some of her drink into mine to help weaken the intensity. It helped a bit but still took some time to finish it off.

The cookie on the other hand was delicious. It wasn’t anything large so splitting it in half was really just a tease. The only thing that could’ve made it better was had it been heated up. But, with the long line and our long drive, it wasn’t worth slowing the baristas or ourselves down for a minor request.

I don’t often get to visit Wisconsin due to not knowing anyone who lives there so I don’t know if and when I will be back in the area to give Bella Goose...

It took almost two hours to place an order and get our food. I recently fell into the rabbit hole of coffee and wanted to try a so-called “great” coffee shop to see if what I am brewing at home was any good in comparison.

I make my lattes fairly simple. I grind my dark roast beans, 18 grams in, 36 grams out in 30 seconds, textured whole milk and add a touch of caramel. Nothing fancy or special.

Not having anything to compare my latte against except the run of the mill Starbucks, which I don’t classify as coffee, I wanted to try somewhere else which would help me determine if what I brew at home using my Breville espresso machine held up.

I was underwhelmed by the entire experience. I showed up slightly after opening on our way to the waterpark thinking I would have plenty of time to grab some coffee and a breakfast sandwich. At least 45 minutes of my time was spent standing in line. Once I got in, I didn’t see any reason for such a long wait. The tables were empty and when I got to the counter to order, I ordered my coffee and sandwich. The cashier informed me that my sandwich would take 25 minutes. I thought such a long wait for such a simple sandwich would be impossible, so I decided to give it a shot figuring it would arrive sooner. Nope. Almost exactly 25 minutes later my sandwich arrived. My coffee, despite receiving a table number, sat at the counter for an indeterminate amount of time until I decided to start looking around to see what in the world could possibly be going on. Maybe I’m an idiot (entirely possible) but if you have a guest dining in and you give them a table number, is it not logical to deliver the drinks to the table? I don’t know what industry standard is since I’m new to all of this, so maybe this just is how it is. Seems like an opportunity to add to the customer experience for those dining in.

Once said coffee was located, I was hopeful that I would like it. I will say that it was better than Starbucks. But it was still far too sweet for my liking. I also saw no options for roast levels (maybe impractical for this type of business model of trying to get people in and out as quickly as possible.)

The sandwich which was a 25 minute wait to receive? It was okay but honestly, McDonalds is better and faster. I wasn’t impressed by the honey butter dripping off the fried egg.

I know people rave about how good this place is, which is why I bothered to go and stand in line and wait for more than an hour and a half. Personally, I found it overhyped and nothing special.

I guess as I continue my coffee journey I may have more to compare against but at this point, I have to rate my...

I’ve heard plenty of raving reviews about this charming cafe, but our recent visit was very disappointing. We arrived around 10:30 on a Saturday, we were fully prepared for it to be a bit busy. There was a line out the door but it seemed to be moving at a steady pace. When we placed our order, we were told that it would be a half hour wait for food, which we were totally fine with because every table was taken and it would take some time to find one. Our drink orders came out very quickly and they were all delicious, but that’s where it ends. We waited over an hour for our food, and when it finally arrived, it was cold and dry. Everyone else around us (that came in after us) had already gotten their food and left before we received ours. The food itself was bland and seemed like it was cooked a few hours before we got it. The potatoes were shriveled and the consistency of packing peanuts, and our bacon and sausage patties were hard as hockey pucks. This place is only good for pastries and coffee, like a cafe should be. I think the food is just too much for them to handle. I work in the restaurant industry, and I’ll tell you right now that there’s not nearly enough people food running. It seems like they are just waiting around and going to the back to food run when they have nothing else to do, not when they need to. I watched them stand around and laugh with each other rather than bringing out orders that have obviously been sitting on the line. It seemed like the food was pre-cooked; but if it was, why did it take so long? It’s a mystery. They refunded one of our orders and replaced it with a yogurt parfait to-go, but there was no yogurt in it and the berries inside seemed like they had gone bad. My school cafeteria’s food is far better. Would not recommend this place for breakfast, unless you like cold, flavorless food and snail’s...