Michael Roebuck's Blog: Grand Bear Lodge

Grand Bear Lodge & Indoor Water Park opened last year and I took my wife and in-laws out to dinner at Grand Bear Lodge - Jack's Place last summer. We all swore we'd never go back. The food was terrible and the service was worse. I ordered a $23 Filet Steak and it was tough and tasted like Worcester sauce. After I complained, they made me another that tasted the same. Now, I understand restaurants have bad days and bad meals, I'm not unreasonable. But after a customer complains, wouldn't you at least come back and check on him? We were completely ignored the rest of the night. (Probably a good thing, because I would have complained again) The waitress was avoiding us and the manager never came back. The only person who gave a damn was the hostess; Marianne. I basically paid for $95 worth of crap. My mother in law even called the cook the next day. He told her that's how he prepared the food. The Worcester sauce was some secret recipe I guess. By the way, my mother in law had the Walleye which had more bones than fish and my wife had the same. The only good meal was the Italian Beef sandwich my father in law had. I must say though, I thought the iced tea was very good. Regardless, we've never been back and we have no plans to either.

What has happened to customer service nowadays? Where has it gone and why do businesses feel they can crap on the customers? I guess because it's the only amusement park in the area, they can get away with it. If any of my employees treated a client like we were treated, I'd be horrified. And I hope I don't treat people that way.

Well, I kind of broke my promise never to return. Grand Bear Lodge recently opened an indoor amusement park called Grizzly Jack's Enchanted Forest. They have wristband nights every Thursday night through April so I took my kids there last night and had a really nice time. Now, I didn't eat anything, because I'll never eat there again. However the service from the ride attendants was excellent. We rode rides from about 5:30pm to 9:00pm. Since they only have about 9 rides, we rode them over and over and over again but we had a great time. My 5 year old, Malcolm, was not ready to come home and wanted to stay longer. It's all about the kids and for what they offered; I'd say they did a great job. It's no Six Flags Great America, but we knew that and there really isn't any comparison. In fact, it's probably not fair to even bring six flags into this discussion.

My only concern with Grizzly Jack's Enchanted Forest would be the sense of safety. I'm not saying the park is unsafe, but we are conditioned by other amusement parks that ride attendants walk around the ride before it begins and they physically check safety harnesses by giving them a "tug." Once the ride ends, the attendant announces to raise your hands away from the safety bar as it releases to avoid getting your hand pinched.

Many of the Grizzly Jack's Enchanted Forest attendants would simply glance around to get a general look that all looked ok. Very rarely did they actually check the harness, even on my kids. (One attendant however, was extra cautious. Kudos’ to him!) And one ride in particular has a rather forceful automatic safety bar release. If you aren't ready for it, it gets your attention and could certainly pinch a hand. It just didn't give me, the Dad, an overall impression that safety was a primary consideration. Maybe that's because I'm a Dad now and think of that stuff. But remember, I'm not a safety expert and we had a great time! If ever in the area, I recommend you check it out. (The amusement park, not the restaurant!)