J Bruner's Restaurant and Lounge

Transport yourself back in time, to another place in time, actually, where dark carpets and red lights, creaky stairways, tiny bars, and sectioned-off dining areas define "swanky!"

It's funny how some things and some people just WILL NOT CHANGE, especially at the Lake of the Ozarks.  If you can get past the extremely dated ... gawsh, I don't even want to call it "decor," because it has the same drop lights that I had in my kitchen dining area ten years ago ... interior, the food is decent.  Service, too, is also decent.

Like most mid-Missouri places, they love, LOVE to deep fry things, slather things with thick sauces and gravies and believe THAT is quality food.  Thankfully, they don't do that with ALL their food, so there is plenty to eat that is just fine.

Ahem ... just fine?  Yeah, given the prices, you would expect the food to be exceptional, not JUST FINE.  I don't mind "just fine" food, I mind "just fine" food that is priced as "fine dining," and this place qualifies.  I've had food as good as they serve here, for 1/3 and 1/4 the price ...

It doesn't deserve just ONE star, but no way it can get three -- sorry J. Bruner's, unless someone else is paying, and I would really try to talk them out of it, I won't be back.

My wife and I recently went here for our  anniversary. If you like prime rib you owe yourself a trip to J. Bruner's.

We both had the prime rib. I like mine medium rare and she likes hers medium. They were both cooked to perfection. In addition to this the meat is brought in from Chicago. I have to say this was the second best piece of prime rib I have have ever eaten. The best I have eaten was from the private stock of a farmer in Maine who raised and aged meat for the best restaurants in NYC.   I also had sautéed mushrooms with mine that were very good as well.

In addition to the prime rib we had asparagus, salad, mushroom appetizer, bread and mixed drinks.  The asparagus was very good, but not prepared in a special way.  The garden salad was good and the portion was ample.  It was iceburg lettuce and nothing special.  The mushroom appetizer was good and hot.  My wife had a sidecar and I had a gin and tonic.  These were both prepared very well.  For desert we had Tumbleweeds which are ice cream drinks.  They were both very good although I make mine with nutmeg on them and a little more alcohol.

The service was excellent.  Our waitress was very nice and attentive.

The decor is a little dated.  It seems like it is a smoke free establishment which I really like.  JB Hook's for example always stinks like smoke if you eat inside.

I have had steak other places here at the lake and have been disappointed that mine at home were always better.  This is not the case with J. Bruner's.  A real winner for prime rib at Lake of the Ozarks and a very pleasant dining experience in general.

We hadn't been to Brunner's for quite some time but as it was our anniversary we decided to go hoping for a special evening.  

Upon arriving we placed an order for drinks and two appetizers.  Some ten minutes later our drinks arrived and about 10 minutes after that one of the appetizers arrived.  It was an additional 10 to 15 minutes before the second appetizers arrived.  We ordered sautéed chicken livers but received deep fried livers with a few sautéed mushroom dumped on top!  You really have to work at it to serve a bad basic salad but they found a way, lettuce with a couple of small pieces of onion and if you looked close a tiny strip of tomato.  Baked potatoes were brown-edged from age and too cold to melt butter.  The steaks were ok but nothing special.

Service was ok but not to high end restaurant standards.  It is obvious staff has had a lack of training, like don't stick your elbow in the customer's face by reaching across them continually.

They hold themselves up as a high end establishment, going so far as calling themselves the "best steakhouse at the lake".  The only thing high end about them is the HIGH prices and in an area with many great restaurants they are far from the best.


This restaurant was founded by John Brunner (who has since passed away) who ran a great quality place and the new owner can only ride on the past reputation for so long. That time has passed.