The Hungry Foodie: Review of White River Landing in Muncie, IN

Rating: 8 of 10 for food, 2 of 10 for service. Overall rating 6 of 10.

117 West Charles Street
Muncie, Indiana 47305

Phone: 765-286-8133

http://www.whiteriverlandingmuncie.com/Index/index.php

White River Landing has a rugged, outdoorsy, and simply pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. Greeted upon entering by signs announcing the specials and others with cute witticisms, you feel inspired to have a good hearty meal.

We last visited at lunch time. The lunch menu is chalk full of favorites, from the standard burger to pasta, and is fairly well rounded as a result. The three of us ordered a Reuben, potato wedges (not what we expected but good nonetheless), a veggie pizza "Create a Pizza," and a Chicken Fajita Wrap.

While we all very much enjoyed our regular meals, we were a bit disappointed in the "potato wedges." They weren't really "wedges" in the traditional sense. They were closer to steak fries. "Wedge" implies the potato was cut cross section into actual wedge shapes, not simply into a different sized French fry. But as the dish went, the blend of cheese and onions and bacon was quite good. But we have, honestly, had better.

Our server, on the other hand, was a bit flaky. First, she asked two of us if they needed refills on their drinks. Both said yes, but she failed to bring them out, and then actually asked a second time near the end of our meal. Of course, such an action was met with consternation and a witty sarcastic remark by yours truly: "I'll take a refill as soon as you bring the refills they asked for about 15 minutes ago." The sarcasm was lost on the server unfortunately. As was the next comment.

The server came back-still having not brought the requested refills mind you-and asked us if we had ever heard of a bakery in town named "Concannon's." For those of you unfamiliar with Muncie, Concannon's is basically the ONLY bakery in town. And it is certainly the most famous one. It should have been obvious we were from Muncie, two of us were wearing clothing that clearly identified us as locals-one wore a sweatshirt blazoned with the name of a local high school, the other wore one with the local college. She was clearly oblivious. So I attempted sarcasm again: "No! Tell us about this majestic sounding place!" She stumbled a little as my lunch mates busted out laughing. And I clarified that, as should have been obvious, we are from Muncie, and she could continue. She appeared unfazed (either a good thing or a not so good thing depending upon one's perspective I guess) and went on with her dessert spiel. But instead of telling us about these great cakes that she wanted us to buy, she decided she wasn't going to take the time to walk to the bar, plate a piece, and bring it to show us. Rather, she stated that if we wanted to stand up and look through the window, past the other diners, toward the direction of the bar, we might see the cakes to which she referred sitting quaintly under the display glass.

To add insult to injury, she decided also to not bring a dessert menu like one in our party asked her to, instead she chose to explain it to us (poorly) and then (probably) wonder why we didn't buy anything.

In all, the overall quality of our dining time was tainted by this server's lack of ability. It would explain why she got a 5% tip off of a $32.00 tab for 3.

To be fair, and the Hungry Foodie always wishes to be fair, it appeared that our server was a fluke. She did not appear to be the rule, rather the exception. The other server on duty appeared to bring refills and dessert menus and even made a crack about my hat. So take my overall ranking with a grain of salt. Had our server been better, of course our overall experience would have been too.