"Picture this: slight breeze in the air, perfectly partly cloudy as the sun is setting on another beautiful summer day. Your view is picturesque Lake Pepin, surrounded by rolling hills on either side of the Mississippi, whether its the Wisconsin side or the Minnesota side. But of course, the views are the most delicious part of Kelly's on the Lake. My friends and I stopped in here after an afternoon exploring Lake City, hoping to get a table lakeside to enjoy our dinner. At 6, we were told it was about an hour wait. Determined to sit outside, we agreed, put our name down to be called, and walked along the lake until 6:45p, expecting that we'd have to wait 15 more minutes at most. To our surprise, we were seated either by serendipity that we arrived at the same time that a table was ready or the hostess forgot to call us if a table was available before our expected hour wait was finished. Once we got seated, we could tell just how busy it was we had seen the staff pretty much running around like chicken with their heads cut off on a busy Saturday evening during dinner rush and a beautiful day, but just how busy? Most of the tables around us were without food or drink and clearly had been sitting there for a while. They are clearly understaffed for how many patrons visit, especially on nice days, and while we were patient and waited (can't say the same for some unempathetic pricks next to us) management may want to consider making service more manageable for both the staff and the patrons. I ordered a walleye sandwich, and while I want to say it was worth the wait, tastewise, it...really wasn't. It was huge, about the size of my face, but aside from having a nice light batter texture, there wasn't much seasoning at all. This is slightly remediated by adding tartar sauce, but my dish came out without it by mistake, and I had to wait until the server came by again to get some. In addition, the fillet wasn't well deboned, and I had a few small bones pop up as I took bites. The onion rings had a great taste though, and were perfectly fried with a light beer batter that didn't taste too greasy or heavy. I could've (and should have) eaten many more as that was the highlight of the food. All in all come here for the views. At best, this place is a 2 star, but the pleasure of eating outside with Lake Pepin as your view makes it worth it."
