Wish

Wish has never let me down! Whether meeting with a couple of friends or out for an occasion, service and food are equally spectacular.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to give this place 5 stars; but I just can’t.
The Good:
— Overall ambiance of the building. Nice décor, comfortable feeling. I remember going here as a child when it was ‘The Moose Lodge’ for fish frys. It has been nicely updated since.
— The food. All of it. The specials, Appetizers, Soups, Salads, and THE STEAKS.
— Yes it’s pricey, but, the steaks have been cooked correctly, to perfection every time. Nothing is worse than having your night ruined by a poorly cooked steak.
— The waitstaff in the dining room. Phenomenal. Attentive and personable. Not overkill. They graciously accommodated some of my wife’s finicky requests.
— There is a chef. It is a culinary experience. Not just a steak slapped on a plate.
— The beer, wine, scotch selection is OK and gives you plenty of options for libations.
The Bad:
— The bar. This ruins it for me. It took almost ten minutes to get noticed by the bartender when we arrived. Once she ‘wrote down’ our 4 drink order; she proceeded to make many others drinks, go and take other orders, get some ice, move some glasses, god, IDK. No lie, it took around 15 minutes to get our drinks. We were flabbergasted. there were two bartenders
— Over the course of one hour at the bar, I was able to get one drink. The hostess asked if I wanted to order another drink before we were sat at the table, I declined as I had been waiting for approx. 15 min again. The bar side was less than half full. If I go out on a Friday night, and would like a few cocktails before I pay $ 45 for a steak, I would expect the bar service to be exceptional. Let alone, as a business owner, I would want my bar service to be uncomprable.
— When someone sits at your bar, you seat them, great them, and make their damn drinks. It’s best for everyone involved. I think I’ve made my point…

Simply one word — amazing. The food was exceptional. One of the best steaks in the state.
To start, don’t skip the Lobster Bisque and the cheese curds. On special was Bruschetta which was good, but eclipsed by the soup and cheese curds.
For dinner we all enjoyed the filet, each was done exactly to our liking. Each of our meals came with a potato or a vegetable and I will say the twice baked potato was trumped by the mashed potatoes.
Our little ones enjoyed Mac and Cheese from the kids menu which is the 5 cheese Mac that’s available as a side dish. It was easily the best Mac and cheese I’d ever had.
We would have gotten dessert, but ran out of room.

I hadn’t been to the Wish in a couple years and on the two previous visits I had steaks. My wife and I were looking for something different and after checking out their menu online realized they had some interesting dishes other than steak. The atmosphere is a little lame like an assisted living homes dining area. But the service was really good very attentive and friendly. I had the lobster bisque which I usually get if I see it on a menu this rendition was absolutely fantastic the best I’ve had great buttery finish. My entrée was the whitefish with Brussel sprouts also very good. There aren’t a lot of good restaurants in the area this one is definitely in the top 3 – 5.

This is an Amazing Highest Quality Foodie restaurant! Taylor was an awesome server! I have been served by great wait staff in NYC and, she is on that level! The Filet was fantastic (says my wife – well me too cuz I tasted hers) and my Locally caught trout is now on my «Top 10» list !

This puts «yum» at a whole new level! Always cooked perfect! Well above average! And the side items, and specials, are always outstanding! I definitely recommend trying them out!

Service was extremely slow and poor in my opinion at one point someone from our group called the restaurant # to ask where our wait staff was. We can’t understand why our wait staff was so inattentive there was hardly no one in the restaurant. Someone in our group had cardboard in their scallops while they did re-​make the dish no offer to compensate was made for sending a dish back that should never have made to the table in the first place!

Had a fantastic dinner here tonight. Ribeye was perfect. Wedge salad was delicious. And this butterscotch budino desert was amazing! Place quiet enough for great conversation. I will be back!

KC bone in steak was excellent! Probably not worth $ 55, but perfect for a special occasion. Tenderloin was awesome too. Thanks Joel and staff.

Wish was pretty good. We had a party of 9, 5 of which were kids and had a pretty good time. The steaks were average, but the wine was great! Limited menu, but amazing cheese curds! Overall, a good place.

My favorite place to eat! The food is spectacular here; from the soups, salad dressings (homemade bleu cheese), made-​to-​order appetizers (cheese curds are to die for), fresh scallops and walleye, and melt-​in-​your mouth steaks cooked to perfection! They have the best burger I have ever had! The butterscotch budino is sinful, it is so delicious, sweet-​and-​salty perfection! They recently added more taps and now have 6 specialty brews on tap as well as a beer-​snobs fantasy bottle beer menu! All in all, I love coming in for apps and drinks in the bar, celebrating something special and dressing up or just coming in with friends for a casual and guaranteed tasty meal! I’m so glad Wausau finally has a restaurant as good as WISH!

Went here for a romantic date night with my husband. The sangria was the equivalent of Arbor Mist and was terrible. Everything else, including the service was great. It was a nice leisurely meal. My husband had an aged steak and I had the filet. Both were cooked to our specifications. The duck flatbread appetizer that night was delicious, though I think they didn’t have to include the tomatoes and some other extraneous toppings. Simple is better, though we ate much of it without complaint. We were very pleased with our experience overall. The ambient music is awful, and can best be described as 70’s Dad rock.

Had a wonderful meal with my daughter on her 16^th birthday. The soups were excellent and the entrée’s were great. A great place for central Wisconsin and a special meal.

This place was mediocre at best. I got the 12 Oz ribeye. The meat was cooked well, medium rare, which is a plus. That being said, there was very little seasoning added and was a pretty bland.
The fries were pretty much generic frozen fries. I even had a clump that was frozen together and then cooked in a clump. Ended up being cold in the middle.
I gave them an extra star because the salad was really good. I got the one with the blue cheese crumbles.
The service was fairly standard, nothing special. They do have a free wifi. The building is nice and cozy too.
Overall, save your money, go to Texas roadhouse. For the same price as a single meal l, you can feed your wife and have money left over, and have a better tasting steak.
Happy eating. :)

As usual, a fantastic meal! The cheese curds with the homemade ranch were awesome! My NY strip was cooked perfectly and delicious! We even saved room for the butterscotch budino dessert, AMAZING! One of our favorite places!

First time tuck WiSH and it didn’t disappoint! I made reservations on
and put in a note that was pour wedding anniversary. The hostess greeted us with a «Happy Anniversary.» The bar area was nicely updated and the dining room had a nice, private layout. Husband ordered ribeye, while I’m picky and the chef accommodated a special chicken pasta order. The cheesecurds were the best we’ve had in the area. Plus, half-​price bottles of wine in Mondays! Oh, and free ice cream or sherbet on your birthday or anniversary! Well done, WiSH, well done!

We’ve been to Wish twice since moving to the area, the first time while looking for a house and then most recently for my wife’s birthday. It is fantastic! It’s almost as good as Cattleman’s Steakhouse in Fabens, TX.
The first time there I had the filet and it was cooked perfect and melted in my mouth. This time I decided to try their chicken parmesan since it was their special for the night… it was amazing! Especially for being a steakhouse. I went with a cup of lobster bisque and my wife had the soup of the moment (can’t remember which one), and they were both amazing.
We will definitely be spending far too much money on this restaurant in the future!

Wish is a welcome addition to Wausau. The Friday night fish fry of walleye was probably the best fish I have had in Wisconsin. Moist and not greasy! The cheese curds are quite good. The Mexican street corn is absolutely delicious! Decent Wisconsin beer on tap, good service, we will be back next visit to Wausau.

In what was seemingly the middle of nowhere Wisconsin, Unilocal helped me find this great restaurant. I suspect it might deserve 5 stars but I didn’t get a chance to try enough of the food to really feel I should give it 5. I had some soup — delicious! and one of those soups that makes you think, «Really? Those go together?» Well they did!
Also had a a small steak, very tasty, and the sides, let’s see. I can’t remember what they were now 10 days later, but I remember they were very good. Something with … doggone it! I just can’t remember now! But anyway, if you’re in Schofield, Wisconsin, I absolutely insist you go to Wish if you’d like a great meal, and it appeared that they had a good selection of wine and beer.

Having eaten at the restaurant on more than ten occasions over the last few years, I have developed a fairly good sense of the range and quality of the menu items, the general level of service, and the restaurant’s overall «vibe».
I give this restaurant my very highest recommendation.
First of all, the restaurant is run by an executive chef who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. The majority of noteworthy personalities in culinary circles are graduates of this institution. I don’t know how many C.I.A. grads run Wausau area restaurants, but I would venture to guess very few. In addition to this esteemed credential, the chef has 25 years of experience, the majority of which includes some of the very top restaurants in south Florida.
One look at the WISH menu and you will see this isn’t typical Wisconsin supper club fare of steak, lobster and Friday fish fry. Interesting and unusual daily specials written on the chalkboard near the entrance, a range of salads (there is no salad bar), and the soups… the soups are particularly noteworthy. The chef has been specializing in soups literally for the past two decades. He has lobster bisque and tomato, as well as a different soup special each day. If nothing else, go in just for the daily soup special!
The seafood portion of the menu includes fish – halibut, salmon and walleye – plus a daily fish special. Weekly specials include shrimp scampi, walleye, and whitefish boil. King crab and lobster can be ordered as sides. The seafood is mostly flown in fresh daily from a provider in Boston.
The true focus of the menu is on the steaks – nearly all of which are sourced from Allen Brothers in Chicago. The fact that the steaks come from Allen Brothers is significant. Some of the very best restaurants in the country get their steaks from them – Morton’s, Charlie Trotter’s, Gene and Georgetti, Del Frisco’s, The Prime Rib, among others. The list is distinguished and this feature should not be underestimated!
Interesting sides and desserts (particularly the dessert specials) round out the items available on the menu.
Being a beer geek myself, and not being particularly knowledgeable about wines, I will refrain from commenting on the breadth and depth of the wine menu. I do know that significant effort is put into the wine selection they have. I can also say, however, that over the last few years the restaurant’s interest in keeping interesting artisinal beers in stock has been very much welcomed by me. Being from the Twin Cities, I was happy to see some of Summit’s specialty beers available… in addition to some of the local beers (i.e., New Glarus) that I cannot get in Minneapolis.
Lastly, I think the best aspect to the place is its casual, homelike, almost intimate, vibe. No aspect of this restaurant is pretentious.
WISH delivers memorable food in a restrained and well-​behaved manner. I think that those with a true interest in fine dining will find that the experience delivered by this establishment to be one that will keep them coming back…