J Bruner’s

Our group of six had a 6:30 reservation but we were enjoying ourselves in the downstairs bar for an extra 45 minutes so we ended up actually being seated around 7:15. Our server, Angie, was quite accommodating and let our group know that she was one of the most tenured servers at the restaurant. As the evening progressed, we understood WHY Angie had been at the restaurant. She was most professional and proficient server that we had seen in quite some time in ANY restaurant. The food, drinks and service were impeccable. We enjoyed a variety of entrees and the steaks, fish and chicken dishes were all top notch. For Lake Ozark, this restaurant and service gets a 5 star rating in my book. We started with the famous onion ring appetizer. I had a wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and the ribeye (MR) and all were prepared perfectly.

One of my all time favorite dishes is at J Bruners, their chicken liver sautee. Food is always excellent. I always look forward to a meal here when I’m at the lake. I highly recommend it!

Food was excellent as always. Menu is smaller and prices much higher than in past visits. With new highway it is now harder to find and wasn’t very busy.

Batter-​fried lobster tail… order it. Delicious. Great food, wonderful service. The place was not as busy as I would have thought since reservations were encouraged, but we did go on a Monday night. Can’t wait to go back the next time we’re in town.

The bar/​lounge area smells like mildew. So much so that I didn’t care to have a cocktail before dinner. The décor is worse than a Denny’s Resturant with the most worn carpet I’ve ever seen. The food was good but the Morton premium Resturant prices you pay for the food was not justified. Everything was just ok, nothing to return for especially with the gross décor and smells.
Go to Baxter’s instead if you’re in Osage Beach. Great view, food and value.
Lobster bisque, ok
House salad, ok
Sea bass, ok

Went on Valentine’s day. Had 7:30 reservations and were seated promptly. Service was very good. I had the filet and my husband had the strip. Ordered both medium rare to rare and both were medium. Good steaks but not $ 40 steaks. A little on the dry side. Salad was good and baked potato was big. Onion rings were just ok. Nothing special. Macaroni and cheese was good. Took one of our library wines from our own cellar. Obviously wait staff is not well versed with old wines. Waitress broke the cork in two-​was not careful at all opening it. Did not use the wine opener correctly. Had to take the wine to the bar to have the bartender help her. Brought it back decanted but had large pieces of cork floating in it! Restaurant décor needs updating.
Probably won’t go back. Way overpriced — especially for the lake. Much better restaurants there and are more reasonably priced.

Service wAs very good Steph was our waitress. The onion rings were great but the KC Strip my husband ordered was tough. The place is very dark and the bar area smelled like Clorox when we walked in. Ok to go to once but won’t be back.

This place has dubbed themselves «The Masters of Steak» and I agree. I read several reviews that complained that J. Bruner’s was too old school, but I argue that old school is what you’re looking for in a solid steak house.
I had a perfect filet. When I say perfect, I mean perfect seasoning, perfect meat quality and a perfect medium with extra char like I ordered it. You’d be surprised how many steak houses don’t get those essentials right. With the steak came a baked potato that was one of the biggest I’ve seen and a side salad. I liked that, instead of topping your potato, they bring all the topping in large serving bowls for the table to top their own.
Combine all of that with a great Merlot and pleasant service and I’d say we had one fine meal. I will make a repeat visit on my next trip to the Lake of the Ozarks.

I hadn’t been there in a few years, but had great memories and actually went out of my way to eat there. I most likely will not return. I can only assume that being greeted by a crabby hostess is a tradition — always amazed me. That hasn’t changed. The prices are high, but expected. The bread was good — served with a half of stick of butter! The sauteed chicken livers ($ 5) were incredible. Greasy, but nothing a cocktail napkin (I was given ONE after I asked) couldn’t blot. My son got the filet mignon ($ 39) and I got the prime rib ($ 37). The steak was good and the prime rib was average — right down to the too-​much-​mayo horseradish sauce served in a plastic cup that matched the au jus plastic cup. None of the salad dressings ‘went with’ the wedge salad-​French? Blue Cheese? Sweet House? French? The baked potato was good but not great. Add the 50 degree temps of the dining room and the air blowing directly on me, and I was pretty ready to leave. Its a shame. I felt like the last scene in ‘Dirty Dancing’ as we left knowing we won’t return.

We arrived on a what seemed a slow evening. Service was prompt and courteous. They seated our large party of 11 quickly in a room by ourselves. The décor is late 70’s/early 80’s. Very dim lighting and dark wood paneling. There are a couple of flat screen TVs that are projecting fish (like aquariums).
Being a steak place they recommended their prime rib soup as a starter (no one went for that though). However when they were taking orders we were informed they did not have any prime rib that night! That started the evening out badly for five in our party right away. Most ordered the rib eyes which are a much smaller cut than one would get at Texas Roadhouse for almost twice the price. My cut was rather fatty but a couple of the others said theirs were fine. The person that ordered the fish said it tasted like a frozen fish. The best dinners of the evening were the Mahi Mahi plates. The menu looks like you get a couple of sides with the entrees, but the bill came and those sides are charged ala-​carte, and the salads and baked potatoes are not worth the cost!
We won’t be back next trip and will be looking for a different steak house

Went here for my birthday dinner. The staff is extremely helpful and friendly. The prime rib soup is AMAZING!!! You have to try this if you come here. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I also got the filet mignon with baked potato and my husband got the rib eye with vegetables. Everything was cooked just right! They even brought out a free ice cream dessert because it was my birthday. Highly recommend!

If you’re looking for cheap food, this isn’t the place for you. If you’re looking for a fancy, upscale restaurant, keep looking.
However, if you want a great meal, eat at J Bruners.
We spend half of our time at the lake and this is our favorite place to eat. Start with the onion rings. You can thank me later. The homemade salad croutons are so good, I’ve threatened to crumble them up and snort the crumbs. Great steaks. Outstanding seafood. I recommend the filet. You can cut it with your butter knife.
Try it. You’ll like it.

We went back for our anniversary dinner and wow everything has changed.
It is now an Ala Carte restaurant, I mean really!!! This is the lake Not NYC!
There are other nicer places that have Lobster and they are reasonably priced and give you a full course dinner.
Try JJ at the Copperpot for a great nice upscale dinner, and JB Hooks.

The dining room is kind of weirdly laid out with a cheesy «fish tank» on a TV. Go real or can it. It’s weird and takes away from the classy atmosphere they desire to have. And the bathroom door is right in the dining room. Kind of strange. It was like a seedy bar from a 70’s movie. They definitely need a 21^st century face lift to get rid of the brown weave curtains and the huge red spot light.
Apart from the décor and architecture, the steak was the best I’ve ever had. Very impressed. Again, a little weird that it came with only a sliced strawberry. Paying $ 25 for a steak you’d think they could at least throw in some green beans or broccoli or something.

My wife and I recently went here for our anniversary. If you like prime rib you owe yourself a trip to J. Bruner’s.
We both had the prime rib. I like mine medium rare and she likes hers medium. They were both cooked to perfection. In addition to this the meat is brought in from Chicago. I have to say this was the second best piece of prime rib I have have ever eaten. The best I have eaten was from the private stock of a farmer in Maine who raised and aged meat for the best restaurants in NYC. I also had sautéed mushrooms with mine that were very good as well.
In addition to the prime rib we had asparagus, salad, mushroom appetizer, bread and mixed drinks. The asparagus was very good, but not prepared in a special way. The garden salad was good and the portion was ample. It was iceburg lettuce and nothing special. The mushroom appetizer was good and hot. My wife had a sidecar and I had a gin and tonic. These were both prepared very well. For desert we had Tumbleweeds which are ice cream drinks. They were both very good although I make mine with nutmeg on them and a little more alcohol.
The service was excellent. Our waitress was very nice and attentive.
The décor is a little dated. It seems like it is a smoke free establishment which I really like. JB Hook’s for example always stinks like smoke if you eat inside.
I have had steak other places here at the lake and have been disappointed that mine at home were always better. This is not the case with J. Bruner’s. A real winner for prime rib at Lake of the Ozarks and a very pleasant dining experience in general.

We hadn’t been to Brunner’s for quite some time but as it was our anniversary we decided to go hoping for a special evening.
Upon arriving we placed an order for drinks and two appetizers. Some ten minutes later our drinks arrived and about 10 minutes after that one of the appetizers arrived. It was an additional 10 to 15 minutes before the second appetizers arrived. We ordered sautéed chicken livers but received deep fried livers with a few sautéed mushroom dumped on top! You really have to work at it to serve a bad basic salad but they found a way, lettuce with a couple of small pieces of onion and if you looked close a tiny strip of tomato. Baked potatoes were brown-​edged from age and too cold to melt butter. The steaks were ok but nothing special.
Service was ok but not to high end restaurant standards. It is obvious staff has had a lack of training, like don’t stick your elbow in the customer’s face by reaching across them continually.
They hold themselves up as a high end establishment, going so far as calling themselves the «best steakhouse at the lake». The only thing high end about them is the HIGH prices and in an area with many great restaurants they are far from the best.
This restaurant was founded by John Brunner (who has since passed away) who ran a great quality place and the new owner can only ride on the past reputation for so long. That time has passed.

Not Great.
Not bad.
Very average food and service with higher than normal prices.
That’s Leawood for you.
Yup, that was sarcasm.

We have a summer place at the Lake and eat here often. We love J Bruner’s. Charming, warm atmosphere, good service, prime rib melts in your mouth. My husband gets their filet and loves it as well. Go downstairs for a cocktail, and then upstairs for the prime rib. You will not be disappointed.

The prime rib here is incredible. So juicy and flavorful. The French onion soup is good, not great but good. It’s a little saltier than normal but still has a nice flavor. I would pass on the side of green beans. They are chopped up and served a little soggy which is not what I expected.
Our waiter was some eastern European guy who was nice but didn’t understand English very well. I asked him which beers were on tap and he had no idea what that meant and just said all the beers were on the menu. He also came back all the time to give us a status report on where our stuff was instead of just bringing it out.
All in all the food is good (especially the prime rib) but the wine list is severely lacking and I don’t think they have any beer on tap.

We visited J Bruner’s on a Monday night in October, a down-​season for the area. As a result, it wasn’t busy. We showed up just before 5:00 PM, when the dining area (upstairs) opens up. We had a drink in the lounge beforehand; the wife had a amaretto sour and I had one of the best pina coladas I’ve ever had (it had ice cream in it, I was told). Soon thereafter we were seated in the dining area, where our excellent service began. We both ordered the KC Strip; the wife had a salad (she said it was excellent; homemade croutons and all) and I had a prime rib soup (it was good; not the best steak soup I’ve ever had [from Hereford House in Kansas City} but good). The steaks were cooked exactly right, and tasted very good. Served with a baked potato for me, green beans for the wife, which were also tasty and prepared well. Bread was also served. The service was outstanding; they really paid a lot of attention to us to make sure we were happy, but not intrusive service. We were quite pleased with the experience. The prices were on par with a classy steakhouse. I’d recommend the place. I’d assume that in busier months, during the summer, a reservation is probably best.