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Randy’s Restaurant and Fun Hunter’s Brewery – Randy’s to anyone who has been in Whitewater longer than twenty-four hours – is a big, traditional American-cuisine restaurant on Whitewater’s eastside.
First, what one sees: Everything about Randy’s is big – the dining room (with anterooms), the tables and chairs, the building, even the parking lot is large. There’s no private restaurant in the city with a building like this. It’s a consequence of a time when there were fewer kinds of restaurant, and a city like Whitewater would have one (or two) restaurant like this. There are good uses to be made for a large property like this, and it offers ample space for brunch or dinner service on a holiday, or for a civic group’s banquet.
That seating capacity is valuable on those occasions, but otherwise only in the way that General Motors’ capacity was valuable circa 2000: mostly as a reputational remnant of another era. In fact, it’s an impediment to a good experience as unused capacity for GM was an economic drag. Dining is a communal experience; a mostly-empty dining room dampens one’s mood.
Randy’s offers a traditional American cuisine, and traditional American can still delight. Anyone thinking that long-standing choices are necessarily poor choices would be mistaken. But today traditional is only lively – as it once was simply by being on offer – if it’s delivered with a bit of irony, a knowing wink. I’ve no doubt that Randy’s is earnest, but the mood was not – to me – playful.
Traditional – in décor and dishes offered – can still have a sly feel to it, a backward, come-hither glance.
It’s a full menu, of appetizers, soups, salads, pub fare (sandwiches, burgers), pasta, seafood, and steaks. Each of these has perhaps a minimum of four dishes possible, adding to a very large menu.
It’s all there, sandwiches, poultry, seafood, steaks, etc., but of my visits I had nothing that stood out – nothing was wrong, but nothing was exceptional or memorable.
One could go on this way at length, but instead I’ll offer a few ways in which the restaurant could adapt. (Still beloved by some, I can’t count all the times people have mentioned Randy’s to me as an example of an establishment that’s past its prime.)
1. Reduce the menu. I’d get rid of much of the pub fare – a majority of it – and keep only a lunch menu of three sandwiches, three burgers, two soups, two salads, eliminating pasta entirely. A salad bar should only remain if the choices are mostly out-of-the-ordinary.
There are simply other options for pub fare in Whitewater. The size of the establishment makes a concentration on the dining room essential.
2. Dinner. Consolidation only works if to a purpose, and this should be it: steaks and seafood, but only – at most – three (fresh) seafood dishes. That’s all. Serve these with proper wines and elegant cocktails. Forget anything else in the evening.
3. Décor. It’s a dark décor, but that only looks elegant if offset with a contrast either between wood and paper or between wood, paper, and lighting (where at least one of these has a warmer glow than the other two). Over-reliance on natural lighting in a very gray Wisconsin, in a spacious but often-empty dining room, is a mistake.
4. Music. This should be the establishment’s mood, every evening:
DIANA KRALL-PEEL ME A GRAPE-JAZZ 606 -BBC 2-1.APRIL.1998 from pointreven on Vimeo.
Krall’s proof that an old style can still beguile – very much so.
The mood – and the tone and sounds – of Randy’s should be like a Diana Krall song. Subtle, enticing.
5. Waitstaff. I had one excellent and attentive waiter during my visit, but otherwise the service was unremarkable. Like the food, service should be remarkable, charming, and a complement to the meal.
I’d recommend a different attire, too – a very simple and elegant dress, or shirt and tie, would do better than anything that looks like a uniform. Service shouldn’t seem like service.
6. Banquets. Offer additional selections only for a catering-banquet menu.
LOCATION: 841 E. Milwaukee St., Whitewater, Whitewater, WI 53190 (262) 473-8000. See, Google Map and directions embedded at the beginning of this review.
OPEN: Tue to Thr, 11 AM – 9 PM, Fri and Sat, 11 AM – 10 PM, and Sun, 10:30 AM – 8:30 PM.
PRICES: Main dish and a drink for about $20.
RESERVATIONS: Accepted, but likely unnecessary except for holidays.
DRINKS: Full selection, including microbrews.
SOUND: Quiet.
SERVICE: Mixed, with attentiveness hit-or-miss, depending on the server.
VISITS: Three (one lunch, two dinners).
RATING: Fair.
RATING SCALE: From one to four stars, representing the full experience of food, atmosphere, service, and pricing.
INDEPENDENCE: This review is delivered without financial or other connection to the establishment or its owner. The dining experience was that of an ordinary patron, without notice to the staff or requests for special consideration.
