Brunch Made the News, Dinner Makes the Reservation

Milwaukee Magazine included Lake Lawn Resort in their 2026 Mother’s Day guide, and if you were one of the people who spent Sunday morning at 1878 on the Lake with a glass of sparkling wine and Delavan Lake out the window, you already know why. The brunch was the occasion. The restaurant is the reason to keep coming back.

1878 on the Lake earned its name from the year this resort was founded; it’s a deliberate choice, a way of saying that what happens at this table is connected to 148 years of people gathering on this particular shoreline. The dining room carries that weight without making a production of it. The lake is right there. The food is good. The service knows when to be present and when to leave you alone.

The Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch is one morning a year. What the Milwaukee Magazine feature really points to is the kind of place 1878 is on any given day; the kind of kitchen that turns a holiday brunch into a regional destination, the kind of setting where the water and the meal feel like they were designed for each other. That’s not a seasonal thing. That’s the restaurant.

A New Reason to Come to the Water This Summer

This summer, 1878 on the Lake extends beyond the dining room and onto Delavan Lake itself. The Vineyard Voyages Wine Dinner Series aboard The Lake Lawn Queen is a curated journey through the world’s wineries, experienced on the water. Each dinner in the series comes with a physical passport; guests collect them across evenings, building a tangible record of where the wine took them. It’s the kind of thing that starts as a dinner reservation and turns into a summer-long habit.

The Queen herself is a presence on Delavan Lake well beyond the wine dinners (scenic tours run throughout the season), but the Vineyard Voyages series is her most ambitious programming; an evening on the water, a kitchen behind the pairings, and a passport that gives you a reason to come back for the next one.

Reservations for 1878 on the Lake are available through OpenTable. Vineyard Voyages dates for this summer are on the events calendar; seating is limited and the passport series rewards early commitment.

Every stay has a story. Some of the best ones start with a reservation.