I hosted a corporate event there. The ambiance was great. Service was extremely lacking. The food was decent but getting cold when it arrived. I sent an email to the managers with the expectation of a simple apology. I got not response. I won't be hosting another event at this space. read more

The owner threw something at me!! Now that I have your attention- here's the story: there was blonde hair in my salad, and thus in my mouth. I didn't complain. My steak was raw when I asked for medium. I didn't complain. I was handed a bill. I asked to speak to the manager. She came up to the table, she is the owner and cook and has blonde hair. I told her how amazing her establishment was and that the food was some of the best I had, but there were some issues. Her response: "So, I bet you expect something for free now?" NO!!! She walked away from me and moments later her husband THREW, literally THREW a new bill at me and told me TO "NEVER EVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN!!" To say I am exaggerating would be a bold face lie. I have never been so insulted in my life. Then, when I went to walk out, the female owner made another rude comment towards me. Keep in mind, all in front of guests and even children. This was so hurtful, insulting and embarrassing to me (and my 2 friends). It was literally dinner from hell. You claim to have over 60 years of experience between the two of you- how many more years to learn how to treat people? I strongly recommend you think twice when it comes to this restaurant. I was scared and felt unsafe at one point when the male owner was yelling at me. Oh, and the woman called us "crazies". Good times. But, at least I have a platform such as Yelp to help educate people on such places. read more

Great food and service. Started with Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops, Lobster Bisque, Rack of Lamb with Zucchini Noodles, and Apple Cranberry Crisp. Everything was delicious. Must visit this restaurant when in Wausau. read more

Let me start out by saying the food deserves at least 4 stars. Everything was delicious. The 2 star rating is because our waitress was one of the most rude I have ever experienced. I don't remember her name (sorry!!), but I remember she was blonde, younger, and she was pouting all night, never told us any specials, SIGHED & rolled her eyes when I asked her to describe a dish to me, was visibly annoyed the entire night... I almost felt like I had to apologize. Like we did something to personally victimize her. She never said "thank you", "have a good night", "how is everything?"... ANYTHING nice or inviting at all. We don't get a chance to go out and spend a lot of money on dinner too often, but we received a gift card and decided to come here for our anniversary, and honestly, we left in a worse mood than when we came in. Next time it is a special occasion, and we want amazing food and a FRIENDLY atmosphere, we'll skip Back When and head over to WISH. read more

Never disappoints! Excellent chicken in mushroom and broccoli pan sauce. Try the bruschetta as well. Excellent service provided by Jody! The organic grain bread is to die for so be sure to visit this quality restaurant. read more

Great atmosphere and food. Insufficient wait staff. We were there an hour before we got our drinks and appetizers which were ordered almost immediately. But we will be back so, obviously we love it. read more

We normally like Back When Cafe even when the service is slow. Tonight it was a hot mess. Their over use of rosemary and oregano, mix of garnishes that left our taste buds confused and unwilling. From the calamari to the veal we were disappointed. Even their creme brûlée was pasty. I asked if there was a new chef, unfortunately no. read more

This place is fantastic. The food is delicious and locally sourced, the wine list is a little pricey but worth it, and the atmosphere is great for a dinner date or a night out with friends. I literally love it here. read more

This is the best food, with the best wine list, with the best service in the Wausau area - no question about it. I go here at least once a month, and have for many years. Great steak and fish/seafood choices. Wonderful other choices as well. Food is very fresh and well presented. Absolutely my favorite date place, as well as favorite business dinner place in the county. Desserts are fantastic as well. Nice bar to start the evening off with, or to wrap up a great dinner. In the summer there is a wonderful little patio area to enjoy in the evenings. Do everyone else a favor though, and don't bring kids here for dinner. read more

12 of us (6 adults/6 kids) ate at the Back When one night during the week between Christmas and New Years. We loved the atmosphere and decorative feel of the restaurant over the holidays. Everyone thought the menu had lots of great appealing options. The kids in our group (aged 10 - 13) all ordered "adult" entrees and loved them. We also had two gluten free adults and one GF child who found several great choices on the menu. Our only complaint was the service was incredibly, painfully slow. We were happy to be patient and enjoy drinks and appetizers, but it took 90 minutes to get our salads that came with our entrees. Luckily, the kids kept themselves entertained (and screen-free, imagine that!), but it could've been a nightmare. Our entrees thankfully came not too long after the salads, but the entire meal took close to 2.5 -3 hours, which was just too slow. We noted the menu said to be patient because everything is made from scratch - again, we appreciate that, and were ready to be patient, but 90 minutes to bring out salads is not acceptable. Also, when I finally got my entree,which was a special bone-in porkchop, I asked for it medium and specified I wanted a warm pink center. Unfortunately, my pork chop was hammered and way overcooked. The waiter asked how it was and I mentioned it was way overcooked and to his/their credit, they took it off the bill without me asking, which was the right thing to do. I will say that other than the slow service and my overcooked pork, everyone else really enjoyed their food, which I tasted, and the appetizers, salads, and desserts were also great. I have recommended Back When to others who are planning to come to Wausau to ski Granite Peak, because we enjoyed the atmosphere and thought the menu and food were very good. But they need to work on getting food out faster than the it took the night we were there. read more

We attempted to eat here last night. We had a 7:00 pm reservation, but we arrived a half hour early and checked in. We were never seated. The staff were incredibly rude and seemed to be stressed out -- and were taking their frustrations out on the customers. One group had a 6:30 pm reservation, but they had not been seated by the time we left. The maitre' d was totally unresponsive to customers: when I enquired about our 7:00 pm reservation at 7:10 pm, he asked me whether we had arrived before another group of 3. How was I to know that? Isn't that his job to keep track of that information? (My wife tells me that we actually arrived first.). I had eaten here once before and the food was very good, but this out-of-towner (Indianapolis) will not be returning to Back When if and when I ever come back to Wausau. read more

This place has a lot going for it. We have only been there once and we ate on the patio. It was beautiful! Our server was inexperienced and the menu was predictable, a bit boring. We will try it again, but for the prices- I'd llke to see more originality on the menu. read more

Food here is rather good. I don't recall having ever been disappointed with the flavor or quality of food in the 5+ times I have been here. I really enjoy the ahi tuna! The beverage & cocktail selection is excellent and the bartenders are very knowledgable. They have been very accommodating when I have taken large client groups here. Great ambiance and feel. The only gripe I have at this time is that the service from servers seems to be dropping off. Slow service as of late on my last 3 trips. Other than that, I greatly enjoy it! read more

By far my favorite restaurant in town! They have great service and excellent food! If you love carrot cake, theres is a must to try! The staff is well educated and make great suggestions. Highly recommend it to anyone! read more

First time visit & I take food/dining very seriously. I was classically trained for cooking, but did not choose that as a career. I believe this to be the finest dining experience in Wausau while still casual. Innovative menu with essentially four choices: filet (4 or 8 oz) with a wonderful selection of toppings; the best sesame crusted Ahi tuna I can recall; veal served three ways; chicken, plus a number of small plates as appetizers. This is as good as it gets for Wisconsin dining where many romantically refer to the Friday night tradition of boiling perfectly good fish in oil as "Fish Fry". read more

My favorite cocktail bar in Wisconsin. Really nice people working there. Two thumbs up for the espresso machine at the bar.

I ate there last week and had the worst rack of lamb ever. It was tough and flavorless. The server was great but the food was definitely not. read more

The French onion soup was cold, with minimal cheese and bread. The server left the bay leaf in the soup which because of the parsley, I did not see and choked on! The Veal Piccata was very oily, cold, and needed lemon. The pasta alfredo was disgusting. First it was cold! Second alfredo if made correctly is a thick sauce made from cream and parmesan. This was runny and no flavor! I have had better food at Fazolis! read more

By far, the most over-rated restaurant in Wausau. The menu is stale and lacks excitement. The food is good, not great. Steaks incredibly under-seasoned (at least the one's I've had). Unfortunately, Wausau doesn't have a lot of really great restaurants so Back When becomes the default. I've never walked out thinking, wow that was really, really good. Could someone please tell the owner to smile??? read more

Loved the outdoor patio seating. I ordered the seared sesame crusted sashimi tuna with wasabi sauce and I loved it. I'd order that again in a heartbeat. My parents ordered the Chilean sea bass and the maple salmon. They loved what they ordered, although I thought both tasted on the fishy side, but I tend to be rather picky about that. The watermelon basil soup was tasty and the polenta was a table favorite. Finally, the service was great. Overall, an excellent meal. read more

What a disappointment. Wrong order was brought to me, followed by same 4 oz steak now showing up but now....medium well rather than rare, tough as shoe leather, no taste and the ravioli that came with this "house special/favorite"....lousy. Total disappointment and NO accommodation or adjustment made to the bill, just a sarcastic remark by the hostess o the way out about "having a bad day". Immediately left for the City Grille for something good. Even tried contacting the owners through the web site and not able to due to tech issues. Not surprised, totally disappointed and won't be back unfortunately. read more

The only reason why I am giving this place two stars, is for a wonderful server. My husband and I had dinner on NYE at Back When Cafe. I would expect an "upscale" restaurant with upscale prices to have at least some form of entertainment on a New Year's Eve. There was nothing, absolutely nothing. Their steak sizes are 4 and 8oz. Give me a break! They have this sort of snobbish attitude, and want people to think that less is better. Well, they are in Wausau, not in Nice, France, and this is America, famous for steaks... Their portions are ridiculously small, and everything tasted mediocre at the very best. I ordered a veal marsala. Their veal was disgusting. I hardly ate one quarter of the portion, and my husband couldn't even touch it. It tasted like breaded veal, only it was not breaded, which made us think that it was probably made earlier, and just put in a marsala sauce and warmed up prior to serving. And it was around $30. If you charge that much money, you better make sure it's good!!! They are the best restaurant in their area, but I guess it's not that hard to accomplish that in Wausau, Wi. Being from Chicago, and having traveled and eaten in many good restaurants around the world, I am disappointed at the very least. They would not stand a chance in a bigger city. read more

A low class experience for a high priced restaurant. We went out for Wausau's "Downtown Dining Week". A week in which local business owners offer their specialties at a lower rate, putting their best foot forward in hopes for repeat customers. Unfortunately, the Back When Cafe did not. I don't know if it was ageism or the fact that we ordered off of the deal menu, but we received slow service and disappointing food. As a table of two, parties of 4 and 6 that ordered after us were getting their main entree before we got our appetizer. We didn't complain, we grinned and beared it, thinking that they must be making something special. What we received was the opposite of special. An hour and a half into the meal the entree arrived. I wish I took a picture, because you wouldn't believe it. I got one tiny fried egg with 6 asparagus. Here's the kicker, the prices were based on just the entree, the appetizer and dessert was "free" according to their deal. One lousy egg was $25! I can get a dozen eggs for $3. It takes less than 5 minutes to fry an egg, it must of took an hour and a half to splash balsamic vinegar on it. When I asked, "Where's the bacon?" they said it doesn't come with any, I politely pointed out that it did on the menu. After review, they brought me a bowl of hard, dry, crumbles of bacon, not what I expected. The desserts on display looked decadent, but that is not what they served. We received a small brownie and scoop of ice cream, another bad choice on their part. Despite the wait, small entree, and disappointing dessert, one positive part of the experience was the appetizer, a delicious strawberry brie crostini. Even though we were dissatisfied, we still left 20% gratuity for the full price of the meal, in attempt to prevent future ageism. The Back When Cafe will not receive our patronage again. read more

Living in the area, I have been to Back When Cafe many times, although I am not a regular. I was looking forward to taking some out-of-town guests there, although I had been warned by several coworkers that the quality of the restaurant was not what it used to be. I went anyway, and am so sorry that I did. The service was terrible. We waited a long time for our drinks, to have our order taken, and for our food (the bread arrived after our salads had been consumed). We looked forward to dessert, but gave up because our waitress never returned. We had to ask for our bill at the bar. We were seated next to several other guests who apparently were similarly served and were not surprised to find them also looking for dessert at Sweets on Third afterward. The food was marginal - the guests who ordered a meat entree were pleased, those who ordered pasta thought the Olive Garden had entrees that were tastier. So sorry to see this Wausau downtown gem deteriorating. read more