Kaminski's Chop House — Restaurant in Wisconsin Dells

I'm so sad to decrease my score of Kaminski's. It's still my favorite restaurant, but this experience just had a few downfalls.

History: I found this restaurant and wanted to experience an upscale experience a long time ago; near a decade ago. My experience with my now husband, was phenomenal. Every detail was noticed. The food was amazing; the service was spot on. The atmosphere was a bit peculiar at first, but I settled in very easily. I prepared my man about the costs beforehand. He was not interested in overpriced food that we could cook at home. I convinced him to explore this curiosity with me even though the financial costs to us were extravagant. While I could see him squirm from thoughts of costs, I told him about all the little things I noticed in the restaurant that made the experience so amazing. From the lighting to the table setting, you could tell there was so much care and thought put into the restaurant to make a great experience for the customer. We had such great interactions with many of the staff. Even the busser was well spoken and answered questions about the restaurant. He sounded content, happy, and I could tell that the training was spectacular from his responses. That experience is probably why this experience just didn't quite meet my expectations. The bar was just placed so high from the last time we were here. And I may have given too many opportunities to have a misstep.

This experience started without being greeted immediately, like the first time. To be fair, it's a busy time. The initial time future hubby and I came, was during an off season time, moreso than now. It's just starting to slow down from the summer craze, but still a good amount of busy. The attendant was on the phone, waiters were moving in and out of the kitchen/dining room, and we waited. It maybe was a 7 minute wait before being told it'd be just a moment. I don't think that's an unreasonable wait time. It may have been helpful if there was another person to greet us, it could've gone smoother, but it didn't make a stain on the experience. Waiting is just a part of life. We got checked into our reservation and the experience was very similar to our first time here. We brought guests this time. With more people I can understand that I didn't get the special attention that I did with the first experience. The tables were full this time around, so time at each table has to be balanced by the wait staff. The conversations with the waiter seemed to stick with the men and the new friends. I was happy sitting back and enjoying what others were saying, but I also felt a bit neglected. I found a black spec at the bottom of my water glass. I got a new glass. Everything tasted amazing! Garbage salad: AMAZING! We had the mushroom risotto: amazing! We had the asparagus: amazing! I enjoyed all the food. Unfortunately, I ordered a medium rare steak and got a medium steak. It tasted good. It just wasn't what I wanted. I think I could've just not ordered the steak. I had plenty to eat even before that, so I'm not sure what I should've done. Because of the mishap, we got comped a dessert. I appreciated the gesture.

I'll be back again. I'm looking forward to getting a medium rare steak next time. I'm sure it'll be right the next time. I definitely recommend Kaminski's and can understand that perfection is so hard to attain. It's about balance and I think everyone did the best they could with everything that was going on.

Until...

First, I'd like to start by saying that after reading over several review sites and reading over lots of reviews of this business I think it's absolutely pathetic for anyone to leave reviews for a restaurant based on prices or their buyers remorse. These people obviously have internet access since they left reviews on an online website, so they could have very easily viewed the menu prior to finding out that they can't afford the finer things in life.

Nearly everyone that I found having something negative to say, was saying something about the prices... I get that Wisconsin Dells is a low budget vacation spot, so the type of clientele for a restaurant of this caliber may be a bit limited. But do yourself a favor and check out the menu before showing up and expecting chain restaurant prices.. Then you won't have to leave them a bad review over your beer budget.

Having eaten at a few of what are considered to be some of the finest steak houses in America I know good steak and I know good food in general. I have now been to Kaminskis 3 times, it's become a must if I'm in the area. I can tell you with my very refined pallet, that Kaminskis is right in line with the best steak houses in America. Everything is top notch.

What these low budget diners need to realize is that real PRIME beef is something that they have never had obviously as it's reserved for only the finest of restaurants. Places like this don't make huge margins on these steaks, as quality of this caliber costs a pretty penny. They literally charge what they need to for prime beef of this caliber. Their prices are right in line with what any other steak house of this level are priced at.

A meal of this quality for 2 should cost you $135-$200, because that's what you are getting. It is worth every cent.

I have now tried multiple cuts of meat, the Oysters, the Asparagus, The loaded mashed potatoes, the lobster, the hash browns and more and take it from a very experienced picky diner that this is as good as it gets. Their is without a doubt not a single restaurant in the Dells that even comes close to being at the caliber of Kaminskis. It is hands down the best. I repeat, this is the very best in the Dells.

It's a shame that they don't have the number one ranking on every review site mostly due to peoples buyers remorse. They should be #1, they are #1.

If you want a truly incredible dining experience, and don't mind paying more than chain restaurant prices for the best quality, then give them a try.. For the love of god, please respect their business and don't bash a company based on prices. As a business owner myself, it's out of line to do that.

I will be back every time I'm...

It was an terrible experience, my wife and I went here for our one year anniversary because it was recommended to us. We had high hopes walking in, they pride themselves on the best steakhouse in Wisconsin. I don't know what happened this day but our experience was poor. At first our waiter was very friendly and seemed nice. He did a good job at explaining the details of how they work because this was our first time, he did a good job with that. But then when we ordered, it took about 25 mins for our food to come, (which is typical) but when he brought our order, it was the wrong food. My wife ordered there Norwegian salmon and I had ordered a $68 16oz Parmesan crusted ribeye, which was said to be a "60 day dry aged ribeye" (it was not) the waiter brought us a filet mignon for my wife and a medium well Ribeye for myself (I had ordered it medium rare for reference) my wife caught the mistake and reminded him that she ordered salmon. Meanwhile I totally forgot I ordered the ribeye with a Parmesan crust, so I began eating this Ribeye... it was dry, chewy, and tasteless... Once he figured out his mistake he came back to the table took the chewy ribeye away and placed down the Pam crusted ribeye (this was better cooked but still not great) and gave my wife her plate of salmon. Shortly after our second round or corrected entrées came he brought our sides. We had ordered risotto and broccoli and Hollandaise. The risotto was good, but the broccoli side was terrible. They gave us two whole heads of broccoli that was steamed, with no hollandaise or no other treatment (they didn't have the time to cut the broccoli off the stem?) (Keep in mind we were 2 of maybe 10 people in the restaurant at 6:30pm on Sunday, so they had time). Our waiter was so embarrassed at this point so, he gave us to the hostesses. She came over to ask how everything is and we told her we still hadn't received our hollandaise for our broccoli and she went to check on that. We had our food in the bag before we got our hollandaise! With all the said you would think the waiter would have apologized for his mistake but no he didn't, he actually decided to laugh at us after asking how our food was... This was a $155 mistake... never...