Kellie's Homestead Stinks
Kellie's Homestead Restaurant located at 1108 Fashion Ridge Road in Dry Ridge, KY is an unethical business that far too often provides a poor customer experience. There are many great local restaurants and other businesses that deserve your support. I would suggest this is not one of them.
Explore this page to see their negative customer reviews, bad Better Business Bureau Rating, unethical practices, and even illegal behavior.
Negative Customer Reviews
The customer experience at Kellie's Homestead Restaurant is incredibly inconsistent. Depending on the day, you may actually have a positive experience. But far too often, customers aren't that lucky, resulting in a massive number of negative reviews.
Below is a sampling of some of the poor reviews from across the web.
★☆☆☆
Finally closing, owing staff and vendors money. Saw it coming but supprised it lasted this long. Food is meh, customer service has gotten better along with the wait time. Don't thing thr price of food matches the quality at all. The bakery isn't good and the "shop" has everything overpriced by like 50% Edit to reply: "Bakery" "candy shop" it's baked goods. One star for the insult of your customers intellig
Xpl0ration (Google Review)
★☆☆☆
Food was not good at all then waited 45 mins for food that was disappointing and disgusting food was not as advertised on menu and cooks did not listen to the waitress and complain about having to cook it again
Savanah (Google Review)
★☆☆☆
TOTAL waste of money!!! We went for the chicken livers…..they forgot to order any! Fried catfish is not home cooked. Everything tasted like it came out of the freezer and cooked. Ladies restroom was out of toilet paper and had NO soap. Would not recommend.
Kay (Google Review)
★☆☆☆
I would give 0 stars if it was an option. My dad and I went to this restaurant years ago and it was so good back in 2022 that in 4 days, we ate here 3 times. My husband and I just went last week (11/2025) and I can't believe how far this place has fallen and so fast. The silverware was filthy, the floors were sticky, the waitress told me my hot sandwich came with 2 sides and then when the bill arrived, I was charged for both sides, one of which I couldn't eat b/c it had so much mayonaisse. The price I was charged for the hot sandwich was incorrect (even without the upcharges for the sides), and the owner would not take off the sides b/c it was the waitresses fault. The food was barely warm and not worth the trip. My husbands food was cold. I was so disappointed, I will not return until I see management get this place back under control. So sad.
Kristin (Google Review)
D+ Better Business Bureau Rating*
The better Business Bureau has given Kellie's Homestead a D+ rating due to their failure to respond to a customer complaint.
The complaint is a result of Kellie's Homestead's refusal to issue a refund to a customer who purchased tickets to an event that was subsequently cancelled. I have heard other customers complain of having difficulty getting refunds for cancelled events.
* BBB score as of 3/1/2026
Unethical Practices
While I'm far from the only person they've taken advantage of, mine is the only story I can document, so it's the only one I'll tell.
Failure to Pay Share of Ticket Sales
Starting in 2021, I partnered with Kellie's Homestead Restaurant to performed a weekly tourist-focused magic show in their theater. Later that became two shows a week. We were splitting the ticket sales, with a percentage going to me.
They were always bad about paying me my share in a timely manner but did pay eventually, until September of 2022. At that time they stopped paying me completely. They kept giving excuses. They were short on money because they were too nice to fire employees over the 2022 holiday season, but now that the holidays are over... They're waiting on a tax rebate, and as soon as that comes in... They have a big loan they're paying off, but as soon as that's taken care of...
End of the Business Arrangement
Since I was paying to advertise the show and was turning away other paid gigs, the loss of income was a big deal. My performances are my main income, and are how I pay the bills.
I decided that in order to preserve my reputation in the tourist industry, I would stay through the end of the tourist season in August of 2023. Six weeks earlier, I told them I would be leaving unless things changed. They promised to start paying me every other week until I was caught up. They never paid, and I left.
As we were using their ticketing system for advance sales, and their POS system for door sales, I don't have access to the exact numbers. They admitted to owing over $13,000, not counting my final few shows which included a tour bus group. That number is actually low, as it appears to be missing most sales at the door.
Continuing Bad Behavior
After I left, they have made and broken commitment after commitment, attempted to manipulate me, threatened legal action to keep me quiet, and even attempted to commit fraud by lying about our agreement. They did make a few small payments totaling a bit less than $1,000. I have received no additional payments in the past year.
Detailed information, including "receipts," is available here.
Legal Issues
Loss of their Business Entity
Originally, this business was legally structured as Foodielicious LLC, doing business under the assumed name of Kellie's Homestead Restaurant. In 2023, their LLC was administratively dissolved by the Secretary of State due to their failure to submit required annual reports. In 2024, they tried to get their LLC reinstated, but their application was rejected due to them not being in good standing with the Kentucky Department of Revenue. Then in 2025, their assumed name of "Kellie's Homestead Restaurant" also expired.
All of this information is publicly accessible on the Kentucky Secretary of State's website.
Continued Operation without Legal Standing
Under Kentucky law (KRS 275.300), a dissolved LLC must cease active operations and only engage in activities necessary to wind up operations. This means every meal, ticket and trinket they sold from the time their original LLC was dissolved in October of 2023 through the end of 2025 was done in violation of the law.
Attempt to Regain Legal Status
Instead of resolving their debt to the Department of Revenue so they could have their old LLC reinstated, they started a new LLC for the business to run under starting in 2026, Kellie's Homestead LLC. (They also started Lightner Hospitality LLC, though it has no obvious connection to Kellie's Homestead in the public records beyond having the same address and ownership.)
Interestingly, had they been able to reinstate their old LLC, it likely would have retroactively restored their liability protection during the time the LLC had lapsed. Since they didn't do that, I believe that the owners are probably personally liable for debts during the lapse. I'm not a lawyer and could be wrong, but that's my understanding.
Here is the link to public records about Kellie's Homestead LLC and Lightner Hospitality LLC.
Potential Fraudulent Conveyance to new LLC
Moving a business to a new LLC with the same owners can be done legally. For example, the new LLC can pay the old LLC fair market value for the business assets, and then the old LLC can use that revenue to settle accounts and shut down. I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that simply claiming the assets under the new LLC while leaving the debts under the old would represent a fraudulent conveyance (KRS 341.830). I have no information about how they actually handled the transfer of the business to the new entity. However, for whatever it's worth, public records do indicate that there are active creditors for the old LLC. (You can search for the relevant documents here.)
Operating under an Incorrect Business Name
It's a minor point, but their current legal structure does not authorize them to conduct business under either the name "Kellie's Homestead Restaurant" or "Kellie's Homestead." They can only operate as "Kellie's Homestead LLC" including the LLC suffix. If they are doing business without including the LLC at the end, they're technically in violation of the law (KRS 365.015).
Why this Site?
I certainly don't expect that this site will cause the business owners to engage in introspection, change their ways, and make things right. But it is my hope that it my help others avoid being taken advantage by this business.
Why "Stinks?"
There is case law precedent that sites with names in the format <Company Name><Pejorative Term>.com are not infringing on intellectual property rights when used for noncommercial commentary sites like this one. (Though, as is the case with any legal matter, "it depends" and "it's complicated.") So, it seemed best to keep that format.
However "stinks" does sound like a childish taunt. I was originally considering using a stronger, commonly used pejorative, but was concerned that some might consider it too crass. I didn't want the focus to be on the name, so I went with the milder, childish, and probably Ned Flanders approved term, stinks.