Spinning Wheel hosts last dinner service

Dozens of customers fill the restaurant for one last dinner and drink
By: 
Luke Reimer
Reporter

Steve and Lisa Lemhouse hosted their final dinner service as owners of the Spinning Wheel Inn on April 29.

“It is a little bittersweet, but it is time,” said Steve Lemhouse, as he started his last dinner service.

The Spinning Wheel Inn was brimming with Shawano County residents as soon as it opened at 5 p.m. April 29.

Due to his retirement, Steve Lemhouse — who has worked at the Spinning Wheel Inn for the last 51 years — said that the last couple of weeks have been very busy. Lemhouse started as a dishwasher in 1970. In 1972, Lemhouse’s family bought the restaurant, which he took over in 1994.

“It has been totally crazy busy,” said Lemhouse. “It is like three times what we usually do.”

Lemhouse estimated that, even on a slow day, 100-150 people have been coming in for dinner and drinks. He said that a crew similar to one that would be working on New Year’s has been needed.

According to Lemhouse, employees at the Spinning Wheel Inn have been seeing customers come in for food and drinks whom they have not seen in years.

“We had a lady that came in, who drove up from Chicago, because she heard about the retirement,” he said. “People have been coming out for their last meal and to say goodbye.”

Lemhouse said that customers have been coming in to get food and drinks as well as congratulate him on retirement.

“We even had people in the dining room that stood up and gave us a standing ovation,” said Lemhouse. “That was pretty neat.”

Customers who came in for one more steak dinner shared their experiences and memories of coming into the Spinning Wheel Inn.

“I have been coming here since I was a kid,” said Shawano resident Kirstin Heling. “The Spinning Wheel Inn always has great food, great service and great people.”

Lemhouse said that meeting customers from the Shawano County community has meant everything to him.

“Customers have kept me here for as long as it is,” said Lemhouse. “I have met so many new friends over the years.”

With the restaurant standing for more than 100 years, it became an icon in the city of Shawano.

“I moved here in 1984, and this was the place to go,” said Shawano resident Jimbo Harman. “This place has had the best food and the best bartenders.”

As more customers flooded the bar for one last old fashioned, longtime bartender Pat Staniforth looked back on his time working with Steve and Lisa Lemhouse.

“Working with Steve and Lisa has been fabulous,” said Staniforth. “They are the best people that I have worked for.”

Though Steve Lemhouse has worked at the restaurant for multiple decades, he said that one memory stands above the rest.

“I basically got together with my wife from working in here,” said Lemhouse. “Pat, our other bartender, broke his ankle one summer, and she filled in for him. The rest is history.”

One customer said that the Spinning Wheel Inn is an inviting place to go, due to the employees.

“We come here to see the friendly faces,” said Shawano resident Helen Warren. “It is amazing to see how many people come here.”

Lemhouse said that, when closing time came every day during his tenure of running the restaurant, he would tell the employees in the back to pull the pin.

“One of our cooks put on Facebook that she always looked forward to hearing me say that,” said Lemhouse. “Now she is not looking forward to hearing that because it will be for the last time.”

Lemhouse said that as he retires, he will miss the customers the most.

“You don’t know if you are going to see them again,” said Lemhouse.

With the new owners taking over the business on May 1, customers have been giving the Lemhouses their best wishes.

“They have telling me that they are going miss all of the food and all of the camaraderie,” said Steve Lemhouse. “We have so many of our regular customers that sit on their chair on a certain night — they said they were going to miss our chicken or our soup.”

Lisa Lemhouse thanked the Shawano County community for their continued support of the Spinning Wheel Inn.

“Thank you to everyone,” said Lisa Lemhouse. “So many of our customers have become our dearest friends, and we are going to miss them.”


lreimer@newmedia-wi.com

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