I can only speak to the restaurant/bar/grill, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and give this place five stars, because I absolutely love it! I've lived close by for so long and had no idea this was even here! Stopped here on a whim one evening during a bike ride for a beer. You'd never know this was in here, it's tucked on the side of the road as some kind of RV type park/resort, but the restaurant is open to the public and great! In the summer the outdoor seating and lawn games are lovely, but watch out for the mosquitos - the major down side! I can never tell if the clientele is local or visiting or some kind of mix of both, but everyone always seems so friendly - both patrons and staff! Kegonsa Cove is nothing fancy, but I don't think anyone here is expecting it to be. It's good old Wisconsin! I came here another time for a 7am breakfast, and was pleasantly surprised. The mimosas were a bit heavy on the orange juice, so I switched to a beer which was just fine. Food was good and the menu is pretty extensive in what you can choose. I have not been here for dinner, but when sitting around with some of the "regulars" over a beer one night, they do claim that the cook is fantastic. I will definitely have to check it out again. This has become one of my favorite places, and I'm only sad I didn't discover it sooner! It's not that far - make the journey out here! Besides the mosquitos, my only complaint would be that the phone on their website doesn't seem to go to a person that answers. Not wheelchair accessible, but if you're ambulatory, I would definitely recommend this to you!
Arturo B.
Had a Madison-area bachelor party and was stuck with the dilemma that finding a pontoon rental on Mendota/Monona is insanely difficult, and if you do find one on those lakes, be prepared to pay an arm and a leg (and compete with boat traffic and be on the constant lookout for lake cops). The opposite is true at Kegonsa Cove. The place has a friendly vibe and would be fine for families, but for a guy's outing / booze cruise, it really doesn't get much better in the Madison area. The friendly staff were totally laid back about us getting on the boat a little late as we had lunch and drained some drinks in their relaxed little bar. Food did the trick and drinks were cheap. You can also buy bait and to-go beer at the office. As for the lake, it was wide open and perfect for both diving and fishing. One of the coolest perks is that you can drive across and dock at Springer's for a couple drinks and a bite and then head right back onto the lake. The folks were so nice that when I came to pick up a few things we had left behind a few days later, they had freshly laundered all our towels for us. These are the kind of relaxed, friendly folks who give Wisconsin hospitality such a good name, and the price on the boat was totally fair. Great staff, great time. Will return!
Brittany N.
VERY dangerous operation! We rented a pontoon that holds up to 8 people. We had 4 adults and one 2 year old on this boat. Whenever someone would sit in the front left of the boat water would splash up on the front deck. We didn't think that much of it and continued on. Essentially if 8 people were on the boat we would need to have two people sitting on each front bench and three people on the back bench, with one person driving. About 3 hours into our 4 hour rental one adult was sitting on the left front of the boat and one adult with the two year old on the right front of the boat. All of a sudden the entire front end of the boat started diving down into the water. The front of the boat was about three feet deep in the water and everyone started scrambling to the back of the boat. Water had made it all the way back to the steering area and up to the top of the seats, which were probably about 18 inches to 2 feet high. When everyone made it to the far back of the boat the front end came up and we were floating again. Everything that was on the boat was wet, including a brand new 200 dollar cell phone. The front gate did not latch shut, so we had to pick up my sandals that had been washed off the boat. It was a very dangerous experience that the owners of Kegonsa Cove just wrote off. We were not doing anything we should not have been doing. There was no reason for the boat to dive down like that, but it was very unsafe and the entire boat could have easily been left at the bottom of the lake. The owners said they would take the boat out to check it out, but were not concerned in the least of this unsafe situation and they had someone coming to rent that boat a half an hour later. I have no doubt they rented it to the next group of people. The owners indicated that they "were just trying to figure things out" and had just purchased it in January. The owners were not good to work with. They were not concerned with our safety at all. I would NOT recommend renting any boat from this operation. VERY UNSAFE
Never go here. It is really bad. New managers.
The old management. The new managers are horrible
They treat non locals like trash
New management...
Beautiful people and day
Great drink prices
Like it it's quite nice atmosphere.
Top 5 favorite places in the entire world. Great food, great company, great atmosphere im gonna miss it
Wonderful people
Awesome
Restaurantji Recommends
I can only speak to the restaurant/bar/grill, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and give this place five stars, because I absolutely love it! I've lived close by for so long and had no idea this was even here! Stopped here on a whim one evening during a bike ride for a beer. You'd never know this was in here, it's tucked on the side of the road as some kind of RV type park/resort, but the restaurant is open to the public and great! In the summer the outdoor seating and lawn games are lovely, but watch out for the mosquitos - the major down side! I can never tell if the clientele is local or visiting or some kind of mix of both, but everyone always seems so friendly - both patrons and staff! Kegonsa Cove is nothing fancy, but I don't think anyone here is expecting it to be. It's good old Wisconsin! I came here another time for a 7am breakfast, and was pleasantly surprised. The mimosas were a bit heavy on the orange juice, so I switched to a beer which was just fine. Food was good and the menu is pretty extensive in what you can choose. I have not been here for dinner, but when sitting around with some of the "regulars" over a beer one night, they do claim that the cook is fantastic. I will definitely have to check it out again. This has become one of my favorite places, and I'm only sad I didn't discover it sooner! It's not that far - make the journey out here! Besides the mosquitos, my only complaint would be that the phone on their website doesn't seem to go to a person that answers. Not wheelchair accessible, but if you're ambulatory, I would definitely recommend this to you!
Had a Madison-area bachelor party and was stuck with the dilemma that finding a pontoon rental on Mendota/Monona is insanely difficult, and if you do find one on those lakes, be prepared to pay an arm and a leg (and compete with boat traffic and be on the constant lookout for lake cops). The opposite is true at Kegonsa Cove. The place has a friendly vibe and would be fine for families, but for a guy's outing / booze cruise, it really doesn't get much better in the Madison area. The friendly staff were totally laid back about us getting on the boat a little late as we had lunch and drained some drinks in their relaxed little bar. Food did the trick and drinks were cheap. You can also buy bait and to-go beer at the office. As for the lake, it was wide open and perfect for both diving and fishing. One of the coolest perks is that you can drive across and dock at Springer's for a couple drinks and a bite and then head right back onto the lake. The folks were so nice that when I came to pick up a few things we had left behind a few days later, they had freshly laundered all our towels for us. These are the kind of relaxed, friendly folks who give Wisconsin hospitality such a good name, and the price on the boat was totally fair. Great staff, great time. Will return!
VERY dangerous operation! We rented a pontoon that holds up to 8 people. We had 4 adults and one 2 year old on this boat. Whenever someone would sit in the front left of the boat water would splash up on the front deck. We didn't think that much of it and continued on. Essentially if 8 people were on the boat we would need to have two people sitting on each front bench and three people on the back bench, with one person driving. About 3 hours into our 4 hour rental one adult was sitting on the left front of the boat and one adult with the two year old on the right front of the boat. All of a sudden the entire front end of the boat started diving down into the water. The front of the boat was about three feet deep in the water and everyone started scrambling to the back of the boat. Water had made it all the way back to the steering area and up to the top of the seats, which were probably about 18 inches to 2 feet high. When everyone made it to the far back of the boat the front end came up and we were floating again. Everything that was on the boat was wet, including a brand new 200 dollar cell phone. The front gate did not latch shut, so we had to pick up my sandals that had been washed off the boat. It was a very dangerous experience that the owners of Kegonsa Cove just wrote off. We were not doing anything we should not have been doing. There was no reason for the boat to dive down like that, but it was very unsafe and the entire boat could have easily been left at the bottom of the lake. The owners said they would take the boat out to check it out, but were not concerned in the least of this unsafe situation and they had someone coming to rent that boat a half an hour later. I have no doubt they rented it to the next group of people. The owners indicated that they "were just trying to figure things out" and had just purchased it in January. The owners were not good to work with. They were not concerned with our safety at all. I would NOT recommend renting any boat from this operation. VERY UNSAFE