Wilderness Ridge

I’ve been here about three times. The food is okay; it would be nice if the steak wasn’t cold. The dead animals on the wall are kind of creepy. The cheesecake is good for a once-​in-​awhile indulgence. I wouldn’t say the place is bad; it’s just not great. But I’ll go back again sometime.

I guess this is a case of high expectations not being met. As this is a more expensive establishment, you kind of expect more. Our waiter was average, a mumbler and a poor communicator. My beer battered onion rings were almost tasteless. Crunchy batter, no taste. The Reuben I had was delicious. Overall, a very average experience. Two sandwiches $ 44. Doubt I will ever be back.

You can really see AND taste the difference — Chef Kelli Daniels has arrived. Straight off her runner-​up performance on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen, Chef Kelli is transforming Lincoln’s biggest underperforming restaurant. This place should be a destination, but its food and service have never lived up to its magnificent architecture, interior, and location. That might be changing now and that’s exciting. We dined on a Friday night in a booth in the lounge. The place was very busy, including one of their many weekend weddings in the ballroom. I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken which was masterfully breaded and deliciously moist. Served with a kale and blueberry slaw and smoked mashed potatoes, it’s a great meal, although the slaw didn’t thrill me. My wife did the Bibb Salad and loved it. Our guests selected the Scallops and Filet Mignon and both were pleased. Finally, Wilderness Ridge is «back on the menu» of Lincoln’s restaurant scene. Thank you Chef Kelli. P. S. Keep working on the service, it’s improving also, but not as fast as the food.

Went there this morning with 6 people. Horrible food and service. Do not recommend.

I have not had a better first impression from a restaurant in recent memory. DJ waited on us and made our party feel like VIPs. I will certainly be returning and ordering the ribeye steak again. Best steak I have had in Lincoln.

The negative reviews are the accurate ones about this place. The atmosphere is about all this place has going for it. If the restaurant was as nice as the golf course and the property, it would be worth it. Sadly, it isn’t.
From the minute we walked in the door, the attitude of the hostess should have told us to rapidly and precipitously lower our expectations. Poor customer service, we all encounter, but this person is down right rude.
We possibly felt she was having a bad day so we were seated. No beverages, no service, creamer served in a bowl – a bowl that you spoon into your coffee. Our server was making an effort and looks the part, however the lack of training is obvious.
We shared our feedback with the manager, but won’t return to give this place a second chance. It simply isn’t worth the effort.

Has gone way downhill. There was a period that this restaurant was the best in town. They had a super chef Klye Lamb and the food was amazing. Went in last night and was extremely dissapointed. Had the rib eye steak, it was EXTREMELY salty. Ordered medium rare, came out medium well. Usually I order rare steaks cause cooks overcook but figured for the price tag it would have been right. Shrimp app was very good, the bright spot of the meal. Had a signature drink, was lavender gin and tonic with St. Germaine, sadly could only taste the roses lime. Cheesecake for dessert was good, no espresso machine and waitress forgot to bring the coffee. All in all the worst steak I have had eating out in 2 years and a $ 300 sticker for a party of 4.

The adult food was good. They made attempts at awesome-​tried their sausage dish and it was dry. The savory bread pudding was really good. I was, however, shocked that the kids Mac and cheese was Kraft Mac and Cheese mix. You have got to be kidding me! It’s bad enough the kids menu was the typical swill of bland or fried food fed to kids, but, really, box food from a restaurant? For shame.

I have visited this restaurant for a few times. I really want to like this place but I find the food and service is never consistent, some good, some bad. Unfortunately my recent experience there was the later.
We waited for 20 some minutes before our waiter greeted us. We saw two tables who arrived after us were greeted and had their drink ordered while we were waiting. Someone else dropped off two water for us without a word. About 5 more minutes after, our waiter finally introduced himself and took our order. The service we received during the meal was somewhat minimum. Our water glasses were empty most of the time and we had a hard time getting a hold of our waiter because we could not see him anywhere. Moving on to the food. We ordered short rib tacos and filet steak with brussels sprouts. The meat was very tender and juicy which we enjoyed tremendously. However, both dishes were heavily seasoned, too salty to my taste, especially the brussels sprouts which was close to inedible.

Ouch. This place is one of my favorites. or used to be. Went there tonight and it was $ 7 for a tap beer — with tax and tip it was $ 9. For one tap beer. We left before ordering food because the salmon we usually get went from $ 14 to $ 21. In less than a few months. It is a small plate but a perfect size. And it used to be on the tavern menu that now doesn’t exist. In the past I would come in and have a hard time deciding but tonight unless you want steak or a burger /​sandwich, there is nothing. So we left.
The place had maybe a half a dozen tables seated at prime dinner time of 6 – 7. Maybe they will look at their recent changes and realize ouch! Bad decision.

I was here for the first time a couple weeks ago during restaurant week, and I wish I’d gotten a better first impression.
The restaurant itself is beautiful. Walking through the Goliath carved wooden doors at the entrance made me feel like I was entering a scene from Game of Thrones. It is a very large restaurant with two beautiful bars, casual bar seating on one side and a finer dining room on the other. A lot of outdoor seating overlooking the golf course which was peaceful. The lodge theme is carried out through the dining areas with taxidermy and wood embellishments.
It was pretty empty when we dined, so we were seated and served quickly. The restaurant week menu was divided into a 20.00 or 30.00 three course meal. The only gf option was the salmon so I went with the 30.00 and my friend the 20.00. Our salad appetizers were acceptable, nothing extraordinary. My salmon was about a ¹⁄₃ of a normal fillet, it was cooked well but I wasn’t impressed with the purée it was served over. What really killed it for me was my friend’s entrée. A single soft taco on a plate, no side, not even a garnish. It was. embarrassing to call it an entrée. Her crème brûlée came out in a dish the size they use to serve dipping butter at Red Lobster. They were out of these little crème brûlées and since it was the only gf dessert they brought me a normal sized one. The comparison was ridiculous. However, that being said, it was genuinely one of the best crème brûlée I’ve had in Lincoln!
For anyone who doesn’t know what restaurant week is you should check it out online! Every major city has one. Restaurants choose to participate and select what will be on their exclusive menu. There aren’t any strict rules so restaurants can choose portions and types of dishes that they feature, for example many restaurants don’t offer a beef dish. I dined out 7 times that week and no other place changed portion sizes. One even had a 6 oz filet on their 20.00 menu. It’s meant to entice people to try new restaurants and hopefully become a regular. This is why I tried Wilderness Ridge, only my experience did not elicit a desire to return.
Regular menu prices are rather expensive and the friendliness of our service was not the best. I hear from friends the food is actually quite lovely, but my experience makes me very hesitant to ever return. I encourage a revamp to next years restaurant week menu if their goal is to actually impress the new customers.

Food is good but not great. Server was slightly inexperienced. Don’t think I’d go back.

Sorely disappointing experience. Upon being the first party to arrive at the lodge for brunch this morning, we were asked to wait until we could be seated. More groups arrived and were seated before us. Our host, Stuart, took us to a table next to the kitchen after seating a family who arrived later by the fire. Before sitting at the table I asked Stuart if we could sit next to the fire too. He informed me that because our server was in this section we had to sit there. At this point there were only two groups in the entire restaurant. Next, as we went up to the buffet, a member in our group discovered that two plates in the stack at the beginning of the line were actually stuck together with what appeared to be mashed potatoes. As we went through line, the Sterno flames had gone out below the food, leaving many of items cold. About half way through the meal, I spoke to the hostess about my concerns and she made no attempt to rectify the situation or apologize for the poor customer service. Groups of waiters stood around talking amongst themselves, texting, and ignoring the waiting customers. At the end of our meal I requested to speak to the manager. When I explained my disappointment, he very rudely informed me that he could not accommodate our request to sit closer to the fire because he needed to have two hour blocks on each table. He made no attempt to apologize or acknowledge my overall concerns. His excuse was unacceptable considering from the time our party arrived till the time we left, there were only six parties in the entire lodge. The place looked virtually empty. Yet, each of them sat by the fireplace. If any one of these mistakes happened as an isolated event, I would understand that mistakes happen. But the fact that all these errors were made in one visit is inexcusable. I will not be retuning. It is poor management like this that causes once pleasant dining establishments to fall.

Eating at the Lodge at Wilderness Ridge is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes the food is good, sometimes it is just okay. The Sunday brunch is always good. I like to bring out of town clients to this place because the building is so beautiful, but the food just doesn’t stack up. I really want this place to succeed, Lincoln needs a place like this, but it feels like it’s just barely hanging on.

Sunday brunch is always a treat!!! But dinner was amazing!!! Me and my husband went here for our anniversary had a wonderful stuffed salmon and my husband had a beatifully done steak. Service was amazing owner saw my husband was in the military and gave us a free appetizer and waitress brought us free cake for our anniversary! Really romantic evening.
We also got married in their Yellowstone ballroom. Beautiful!!! Staff was amazing. Food was the best I have ever had, out guests are still talking about it!!!
Always a great experience!!!

I just had brunch here and what a great surprise. The location was fantastic and the food was the best I had in all of Lincoln. Fresh and varied, from the omelet bar to the best biscuits and gravy ever!!! And the deserts were great.
Dont forget the bloody mary bar with about a 100 different ways to make one.
Highly recommend this place.

Went here Sunday night to meet some friends for dinner. Showed up at 6pm friends were already there. No one was in the dinning room, everyone was outside. We saw 4 or 5 wait staff but no one ever greeted us. 30 minutes of waiting and no help, no one took a drink order NOTHING! Finally we left. We went to Lazlo’s and it was excellent (see my review there)
Very disappointed, because usually Wilderness’ food is pretty good.

I love this place! We had such a great dinner that we came back a few nights later! We started off with a local favorite — the Moscow Mule. Comes in a copper cup with vodka, ginger beer and lime juice. So tasty and refreshing that it almost made us forget that it was snowing outside!
The appetizers are delicious — the best spinach artichoke dip I’ve ever had ($ 10), curried mussels ($ 12), Caprese salad ($ 6) (add capers if you like it that way), bruschetta ($ 9). And the dinner specials are also good — one night I had the trout with artichokes and pancetta, the other night I had the duck. At first I thought the duck would be dry because it didn’t come with any sauce, but it was moist and delicious. Plus, you have to try their creamy mascarpone polenta ($ 3.00) — so good!
The lodge has a warm and cozy atmosphere with friendly service. We sat near the fireplace so the ambiance was great. Very relaxing and enjoyable dinner (s) both nights. I will definitely be back next time I’m in Lincoln!

Came here for groupon: $ 15 for $ 37 bottle of wine and cheese plate.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Food: 2
Price: 3
Atmosphere: Get ready to be transported to an elegant lodge with plenty of wood & antlers to last you a year. The dining room provides a warm ambiance with a fireplace and candles at each table. The view looks out to a small lake encircled with plenty of greenery. Ah… sit back and enjoy the woodland feel.
Service: I loved our server! Many places don’t treat you as well if they know you’re using a coupon. Not here! Our waitress was professional, courteous, funny, and thoughtful. She tended to our wine glasses all night, happily discussed the happy hour details, and even gave us some insider info on the menu.
Food: Our California Canyon Road Pinot Noir was tasty. It was the cheese plate that was disappointing. 3 cheeses were decent, but the 2 strawberries and 8 blueberries were dried and mushy. I’m sure they saw their better days last week! The ratio of cheese to crackers was also not equal (something that annoys the heck outta me). We also ordered sweet potato fries. Yum, yum, yum! perfectly seasoned with a side of tangy aioli. Our Thai Duck PIzza was gross!!! It came with 6 slices and just tasted wrong… The peanut butter sauce was too think, the duck was tender but bland, and in the end, all the ingredients just made a bad dish. There were 3 slices left and nobody wanted to take it home :(and I hate wasting food.
Prices; There were reasonably priced, but not a place where you go to save money.
Happy Hour: Only on patio and grill area. I can’t remember the specific time, but I know it ends at 6pm on weekdays. Some of their appetizers are half off and their sangria pitcher is $ 10 instead of $ 20.
Overall, I’d come back for the atmosphere and am intrigued enough to try some of their other dishes. Plus, I LOVE sangria, so I’ll try to make it back for happy hour.

Was taken here by my hospitable vendor after our first day of vendor training. At first glance, I was thinking «what kinda Hillbilly-​Lodge place is this?» It had some massive doors like the kind you’d find in a big castle only this was a big ass log cabin.
You walk in and the place is adorned with 28-​point horns all over the walls and it seems like a some mad taxidermist lives here. We walk into the cavernous restaurant and you are treated with more of the same kind of wilderness décor. I browsed thru the menu and everything looked good. I ordered the 14 oz Rib Eye steak, blackened (+$ 2), with a side of 2 giant scallops (+$ 8), a loaded baked potato, and a coconut mojito to wash it down.
It comes with dipping sauce, but I found the sauces sucked ass. Luckily, it tasted wonderful without anything. I devoured it like a saber-​toothed cat. The giant scallops were seared to perfection and tender as can be. OMG the steak seemed like a bargain at $ 23. I don’t think Morton’s could have cooked it better.