On Friday, Ann, Shannon and I ventured to the North Lake Inn, W315N7707 State Road 83 in quaint North Lake, Wisconsin. We tried to make the trip a few weeks ago, but were stunned at the amount of people and decided elsewhere, that particular night I was in no mood to wait in line for dinner, but I put my mind in the right place for this latest adventure and decided that no matter how many people or how long the trip might take, I was going to eat at the North Lake Inn.
Much to my surprise, there were barely any people at the NLI on Friday night, but my guess is the sub-zero temperatures and time of the evening (8pm) had a little to do with it. I've been to this restaurant before for some absolutely fantastic pizza and as we were sat, I caught a glimpse of some other italian delights at other tables. The lasagna dish looked incredibly delicious, but I had to keep my mind on the goal: the blog. the fry.
As we sat in the tiny dining room we were not greeted warmly at first. Our server/busser had to be summoned (by us) and I despise having to call a server to a table (especially when it is not busy). We quickly ordered the cheese filled tortilla crusted thingys (I don't have access to a menu, and cannot remember for the life of me what they were called), they were served with salsa and sour cream and were absolutely delicious.
We waited a bit as our friend Shannon was running a little late, as she was ten minutes out of town, she asked we order for her (big mistake). This night, we did not stick to variety (and I apologize) all three of us ordered the herb crusted baked cod. The entree sounded too good to pass up ($11.95), we each ordered the potato pancakes to accompany the fish and as always, had the coleslaw and bread.
The Inn also has Perch, Deep Fried Cod and Walleye, and I deeply apologize for not having tasted one of them, but as you read this blog, you will realize I might not have been missing much.
I'm not lying when I say that within two minutes our entrees were ready to be served. I'm all about fast service, but this was a little out of control, as Shannon wasn't even at the restaurant yet. Ann and I started in on our dishes, and awaited Shannon's arrival. You knew it would be disaster once that food was put back under the dreaded "heat light" -- fish does not sit well...trust me.
Well, in hindsight, I wish that our waitress had kept ALL our dinners under that heat light. I still cannot understand how food that came out so fast, could have been cold. Yes, my fish was cold, my potato pancake was rock hard (it was a giant potato chip smothered in grease). I was so disappointed as I was looking forward to this trip. The highlight of the evening was the fantastic company, creamy coleslaw and one damn good piece of garlic bread.
One thing to the NLI, if that fish had been properly heated and the potato pancake less "dead" the entree would have been successful and this review would have been longer and more positive. Cold fish sucks, bottom line and I was lost after that first bite.
I'm going to give the North Lake Inn a 5 out of 10. Our service got much better after the disastrous start and my old fashioned was pretty damn good. I'll be back to the NLI, but for pizza....
Have a great rest of your week everyone. As 39.1 looms on my horizon, I'd like to say thanks to you all for reading, thanks for following on facebook and for giving me a little attention while I do something I really enjoy. Much love to you all.
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