Daddy Maxwell’s Diner & Cafe

My best friend and I were excited to try this place last wknd during our girls trip to LG. Food was pretty good, service from our waitress was terrific… so why 1 star? Because the manager or maybe owner (she was wearing a hit pink output that day) was RUDE — not to me but to her employees. Our server was cutting me a slice of pie to go and she flat out reprimanded her like a child and spoke very condescendingly to her (our server was probably in her 60s) IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS. Not cool.
I don’t care how fantastic your food or how awesome your restaurant is as a whole — if you don’t treat your employees with respect, you will never get my business.

Great breakfast and fast friendly service. We stop by every time we are in the Lake Geneva area overnight.

Poor service for okay food. I would not recommend

My girlfriend specifically asked me to rate this place highly because she loved her omelet and hash browns.
I thought it was good, but nothing amazing. I tried the «french batter» blueberry pancakes, which apparently uses more egg in the batter so they’re lighter and fluffier. Enjoyable.
I also tried a cinnamon sugar donut, which was good, especially for 75 cents.
The bacon was kind of a disaster. I got five sad little bacon shreds.
Daddy Maxwell’s is a weird place. It looks like it used to be a small diner that got too popular, so they built a giant igloo structure and made it a secondary room. We had to wait about 25 minutes for a table, so bear that in mind if the weather is bad. There’s not that much space inside to wait. The place is pretty crowded.
The menu is huge, so there’s bound to be something for every breakfast lover. If you’re in the Lake Geneva area, this is a pretty solid breakfast destination.

Delicious food. Only accepts cash. The atmosphere is the only thing I didn’t like. There are stuffed animals and children’s drawings all over the restaurant. It felt like a kids playroom. They were definitely going for a family friendly feeling, but those not with families or kids in general, I think it felt creepy. I will probably stop back in because the food is really really great.

I stopped in this past Sunday morning to have a quick breakfast. It already had a good crowd at 9:00 and I had about a 10 minute wait. Once seated at the counter, I had a chance to look through a large selection of entrees and options. I had the Eggs Benedict with hash browns. One of the best I’ve had! The coffee was good too! I would recommend this place over many of the chains in the area.

I had delicious biscuits and gravy. My husband could not finish the huge breakfast burrito with eggs, bacon, cheese, all stuffed in a signature fluffy pancake! Great food, cute décor, and personable staff. P. S. Loved the homemade doughnuts!

We came for breakfast with a large group. Great food and fun atmosphere. I highly recommend this!

There’s only one diner you want to spend your lake mornings at — Daddy Maxwells. Tasty food. Small town, family feel. Seconds away from your mid morning boat ride.

Great breakfast! Get there early or there’s a wait, but even so it’s worth the wait. Beautiful berries, homemade donuts, tasty omelettes, yummy hash browns, great service. Crazy décor, very fun. Clean and tidy. Two thumbs up for Daddy Maxwell’s.

Great owners. Great staff. Great Food. Long time staple of the community. A must try for the Lake Geneva/​Williams Bay/​Delevan area. A hit with the locals and a hit with the visitors. I think it may still be cash only, so don’t forget or you might miss out! Highly recommended!

Came here to meet up with the family for lunch. Used to eat here years back and had really great memories of the food.
Today was probably no different than their usual Sunday, BUSY! But for being so busy, they seemed to be able to turn tables quickly and efficiently, so it was no big deal. I initially ordered the pink salmon salad sandwich, but they were all out (no biggie), had the tuna instead and it was delicious! Toast was lightly toasted (perfect) and the salad was just the right balance of tuna & mayo. Our server was really friendly and quick, and the food was out quickly too. And at the end of the meal they sent over a complimentary slice of cake for each of us, super pleasant surprise (and it was a really good piece of cake).
Note: they only accept cash, so make sure you are prepared. But the prices are really reasonable. I am all for keeping the prices low and accepting just cash.
I am going to keep this as our place to meet because it’s always a really great experience!

Breakfast was average, I mean how hard is it to mess up eggs! When it comes to service they had no problem giving the worst! They brought the hash browns out about 5 minutes before the rest of our food was ready, and the waitress was no where to be seen, except for when she was windexing down the menus right In front of us.

Diners like this don’t come very often. I live in the city so the authenticity of a diner is rare. I tried the egg white omlette with portabello– the port a prince. It was good and tasty. It’s not as healthy tasting as I would like — meaning it was very buttery. But this place isn’t the kind of place to get healthy food. If you’re looking for great greasy diner food, friendly service then this is the place. Definitely try the blueberry pie– it was delicious!!!

Pretty good breakfast including bandolino omelette with homemade salsa and yummy homemade donuts. Too much kitschy stuff distracts from food.

We weren’t sure what to expect when we pulled up to Daddy Maxwell’s, but we were ready to give it a try. We were recommended here by the dining cheat sheet they give you at the Grand Geneva resort. It looks like a funky little house on the outside, and exactly the same on the inside. We were seated in the main «dining room» which is decorated like your tacky aunt’s house. Decorations from every conceivable holiday are hanging on the walls, and there is local artwork hung up that is available for purchase (I thought this was kind of cool).
We sat down and waited for about ten minutes for a server to approach us. There were probably five diners, total, in the small space, so I don’t know what the hold up was. When she finally did come up to the table, it was a kind of «Waddaya want?» greeting. We ordered our drinks, as well as cheese curds, a cheeseburger, and the chicken pesto BLT.
As we waited for our food to come out, the server started handing out the leftover doughnuts from breakfast this morning to other patrons. I thought that was kind of nice, and the doughnuts were really good! I also watched as our server sat and had conversations and was generally pleasant to the «regulars» at this place. This irked me a bit. You are in a tourist-​y town, you need to be a little more kind to tourist-​y type people. A nice resort is referring patrons to your business. As much as this may bother you, you still need to be as pleasant to me as you are to your buddies who are dining here.
The cheese curds came out hot from the fryer and were served with made in-​house ranch dressing. I loved these curds and the ranch was to die for! Very creamy! Our food came out shortly after. I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely my food was plated, with a ranch salad on the side made with fresh field greens. All the veggies were fresh, including the tomatoes and field greens on my sandwich. I really liked the field greens as opposed to the usual iceberg lettuce. The chicken was hot and nicely breaded, bacon was crisp, and the bread was toasty and not soggy. My boyfriend’s burger was HUGE, greasy, and very messy. I took a bite and the bit of meat I got out it was very good, but the delicious burger is masked by a giant bun. Like, the bun is twice the size of the patty. He said he would have liked it more if there were less bun.
Overall, I am giving this place a three-​star rating. My food really saved it, because that sandwich was amazing. I really wanted to like this place, I love quaint little spots like this and I would come back only for the sandwich and the free doughnuts after 1:00. The service could definitely use some work, but prices were reasonable and portions were large. CASH ONLY!

Second experience was not as delightful as the first. The food was just as delicious though (get the warm donuts!!!), but the service was less than stellar. Breakfast on Sundays is tricky with all the crowds and this place is definitely challenging for larger parties (and noisy in the igloo). I will consider giving it another go in the future… but only because of the yummy food!!!

My husband and I were very impressed with the diner. We came in pretty famished and they offered us free leftover homemade donuts from the morning crowd, which really excited my husband. The cinnamon sugar donut just melted in our mouths.
I ordered the GF chicken nachos and it was great-​their homemade corn tortilla chips were amazing, oh, and the homemade salsa was wonderful. My husband had the Scottish burger which was great too.
It just so happened to be my husbands birthday so they brought him a piece of homemade raspberry pie with ice cream, on the house. And, a hug from the owner as we left!
Let’s just say we will be returning!

Discovered this little «Igloo in the wall» by recommendation of some friends and I’ve enjoyed coming here whenever I am up in Lake Geneva. Expect a wait although the turnaround time is pretty good.
Waiter/​waitress ervice is friendly but the hostess/​cashier doesn’t know how to greet people.
My favorite is the Porta-​Prince Omelet with marinated Portabella mushrooms, spinach and feta cheese cooked just right everytime!
My only issue is they charge $ 3.50 for a cup of coffee which I think is a hefty price in these neck of the woods.
I wish the coffee tasted like it was worth $ 3.50 though… not.

Truly a hidden gem– the locals here are definitely in the know! Came here a little before 1 and the place had many groups of couples waiting for a seat. They have seating at the counter as well for those who don’t mind it or want to sit right away.
The place is very cozy and has a diner feel with friendly and pretty quick service. The owner calls everyone «kids» old and young a like, very endearing.
Onto the food– the menu is full of unique breakfast omelets as well as classic and standard options for both breakfast and lunch. My friend and I opted to try a couple of the special omelets which sadly I cannot remember the name of. My omelette had mushrooms, feta cheese and spinach, my friend had hers with bacon, Swiss, tomatoes and not sure what else. Overall my omelet was good but needed a kick. It was lacking a little flavor. My friend seemed to enjoy hers a lot and loved the Swiss cheese (she apparently doesn’t normally like Swiss so this was a plus).
Between the 2 of us we also shared a half portion of French batter pancakes. These should not be passed up! The half portion is definitely enough for 1 person as a whole meal. The next time I am in the area I’d like to try one with bananas or any of the other ones with fruit!
This place is a good bang for your buck as all of our food and a soft drink for each of us came to about $ 35 –for 3 dishes this is a steal compared to Chicago prices!
Overall-​great find, loved by locals, good food and service! They also have fresh donuts which we definitely missed coming in late in the afternoon. I’m sure they would’ve been to-​die-​for!