Wife and I went out one evening to enjoy a nice dessert overlooking the lake. The view and building is spectacular but I can't comment on the food because the service was so terrible. The waiter asked us if we needed more time 1 time and then didn't show up for 45 minutes. By that time we were completely disgusted and left to go somewhere that my money was wanted. We will NEVER return because of this experience.
Review Source:This is one of the better restaurants I've been to in Tyler. At one point there was an error on the menu. Â When I asked to clarify with the cook the manager of the restaurant came over to personally apologize for having something on the menu they were not currently serving. To show their apology he offered me a dessert, I picked the chocolate cake. It was the most delicious thing I have ever had. My husband dreamed about it and my four year old niece woke up asking for chocolate cake. I will go back for the cake. And yes as others have said, it is a beautiful location.
Review Source:Some friends and family visited this restaurant on June 9th for my my husband's birthday. We live in Dallas, TX and our family and friends traveled from Shreveport, LA; Tyler, TX was our midpoint. The pictures and menu looked presentable and elegant, so I wanted to give it a try.
We had a hard time finding the restaurant and had to call to get directions. When we arrived, the location was beautiful and well hid in the woods of Tyler. Once we entered, the ambiance was breath taking and the decor was elegant as depicted in pictures. We walked around the land and took pictures, enjoyed the outside patio, bar and lake before we had our dinner.
Once we returned to order our meal, the waiter was sluggish, and not attentive to our needs. However, he was very attentive and serving to other tables. He never asked to remove plates or cups from our table nor did he bother to offer refills, food suggestions, or anything else for that matter. We were all disgusted. We never complained, we just moved everything to the end of the table and he didn't even catch  on. Each time that we asked for refills, drinks, desserts, etc., he took forever, and the place wasn't even busy. There were only about 6 tables seated, maybe.
This particular waiter also added 2 people to our ticket for gratuity purposes. When I asked about it and told him that there were only 6 of us, he acted as if he didn't know. This wouldn't be a surprise to me because he never paid us much attention anyway.
I was informed by my husband not to use the term RACIST, but I don't know what else to call it. I grew up in a great neighborhood, attended interracial schools all the way through college, and have friends of many races and walks of life. I treat people like people and give the respect they are owed because they are HUMAN. I don't decide my actions towards others based on the color of their skin. I felt very uncomfortable in this place and I will never return nor will I suggest anyone else to visit.
Suddenly, a break in the clouds! A bit of sun has come to Lago in the form of Sunday brunch. I have been joining the brunch crowd of late, and I must say it's been good.
So far the chilaquiles have not failed to impress, and you still can't beat the patio view. The $2 mimosas are great, and I'll overlook the slow paced service because I'm never in a hurry at brunch.
Also Lago is reservation only on holidays. It would be helpful if the website made you aware of this.
Ventured out to this private place with no idea what it was. I was surprised to see it was a nice getaway from the city with a lake and surrounded by the woods. The property is vast with many levels along with indoors and outdoors seating. Decor is upscale and modern. Its night appearance is great. You can most definitely see the stars and moon above.
Arrived here with my friends on a cold winter Friday night. My friends and I enjoy sitting in the outdoors, so I was glad that heat lamps and fireplaces were readily accessible. There was no outdoor crowd, but a live jazz band was present and I enjoyed it. There is a $10 cover. I only ordered drinks, no food. I've never seen the menu. The service was quick and often came by to ask if more drinks were needed.
Overall I had a great time to relax and chill. If I have the chance to return when the sun is out, I will try to experience the food and property and give this place a new rating.
Have gone to Lago about 3 times in the past and the food was great. Â But apparently the lady chef has since left and you can really tell in the menu choices. Â I have always gotten the steak filet for $30 on a bed of mashed potatoes and topped off with a haystack of seasoned green beans and I always have to them add bits of onion like I like it. Â However, this past Friday, I went and apparently they will not be carrying the french cut green beans anymore and I have noticed that the complimentary bread basket has changed also. Â Before you would get french bread with seasoned butter...now you get some kind of rolls with the seasoned butter. Â They weren't any good either. Â I noticed the mac and cheese that before had gruyere cheese and was like one of their signature dishes wasn't any good either. Â I have to say, Kraft Mac & Cheese is loads better. I tried the chocolate bread pudding and it has coconut in it. Â Didn't taste any chocolate flavoring and it was dry but the sauce was good. Â The LUX Cafe at the Galleria Mall has the best bread pudding that I have ever tasted anywhere. Â The new chef (I think his name is Tony) needs to take a field trip to the LUX Cafe and bring that back to Lago and it would be a major hit!!! Â The food presentation is lacking too. Â Before there was plate presentation for the food that was served and now it's just placed next to each other on a plate. Â I can get that at home. Â For $30+ I want more. Â Just saying.....That being said, the service from Kate is always awesome. She is top notch!!!! She's a keeper and great representation for Lago.
Review Source:UPDATE: Dining is not just the food -- it's the experience and this one is over the top! Â Located on a beautiful private lake in the piney woods of East Texas this place resembles a lodge built out in the woods. Â With multiple levels and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating options (3 outdoor deck levels) the atmosphere is up scale yet relaxing.
Again, our group chose the quieter Wednesday night and really did not miss the live music. Â It was one of the rare chilly evenings so we started with cocktails and appetizers seated on comfy sofas around the blazing outdoor fireplace. Â Appetizers were: Â Bacon and Bleu, Queso Blanca, and Cheese Steak Springrolls. Â All great. Â Cocktails: Â The Gardener, BLT Bloody Mary, Gruene something or other and the Lago Margarita. Â All exceptionally made. Â Our waiter was great. Â While we enjoyed our starters, he set up our table for 8 complete with heaters and the "fire tube" for light. Â Â
Once we moved to the table for dinner, some stayed with appetzers: Â Gorgonzola Wedge Salad was fresh and the dressing was great though we did have to ask for extra dressing. Â The Tortilla soup was unusual, but well seasoned. Â Some ordered entrees: Â Shrimp Picatta, Prime Rib Enchiladas, and the Pork Chop with Applesauce. Â I was disappointed to see the applesauce still being served atop the wonderful pork chop instead of as a side but to each his own. Â All entrees were good.
Can't speak for the "live music" nights, but Wednesday is a great opportunity to experience the ambiance without the crowds.
On August 18th, 2012 a lime was thrown at a customer by multiple bartenders and bar backs. Â This place has terrible service and most customers wait 15-20 minutes for a drink. Â Bartenders need help. Â Management needs help hiring great service people to perform great service to paying customers. Â If things don't change this business will be nonexistent before they know it. Â Just a heads up, your service is terrible so fix it.
Review Source:Having just eaten there for the third time, I felt it was time to post a review in the hopes that the restaurant might check YELP once in a while. The food is very mediocre and that is such a shame as the location and facility are beautiful. We want so very much to like this restaurant as we live nearby. We took out of town guests there this past weekend and were so disappointed that none of us could say that our food was good. Ribeye enchiladas with ground beef... Really?? The black beans tamales are terrible. This place also could do with a good lunch menu. The ham and brie sandwich I had another time for lunch was such a disappointment. The French Pino Noir was excellent at a reasonable price. It was good to find the TV screens off in the main dining room. Who wants to watch TV when experiencing a nice meal and visiting with friends? I think we will not return anytime soon but may give them another chance sometime because of the beautiful location. A change in the food quality and menu is their only hope. Finding a new chef is the first issue to be addressed and soon if this restaurant is to survive.
Review Source:The relaxed, but upscale atmosphere & beautiful view  @ Lago are honestly it's best features and the reason people will return. As with any new establishment, there are issues w/  wait times for a table & speed of service. These issues will likely smooth out in time.  The food selection is varied enough to satisfy most appetites, but the flavor of the food needs major improvement. The dishes I tried- and I sampled 3 of them- are bland & boring..... as if no spices were used at all. Very disappointing, considering the presentation of the food is great. What you see isn't really what you get, though.
We were literally freezing the entire time we were eating, which made our experience less enjoyable than it could have been. Â The bar area & outside tables offer amazing views, which leave you feeling like you're missing something when sitting inside, so get a table on the porch!
I recommend this place for appetizers, dessert & drinks with a view, NOT for a the amazing dining experience you expect as you drive up & walk in.
Lovely restaurant in a beautiful location. Â Over 3 visits, we've tried several dishes and some were okay. Â The basics (steaks and burgers) were better than any of their original items. Â Conceptually, a lot of the items sound fantastic. Â Execution is completely off though. Â Tamales were dry and under seasoned. Â Pasta was under dressed and bland. Â All of the apps were underwhelming. Â I'm over the bacon-insanity trend, so the bacon sundae was just 3 years too late for me. Â I do think the food could easily be improved. Â It is definitely a conceptually good menu. Â
The bar is just gorgeous and the signature cocktails (fresh mojitos and margaritas) were fantastic. Â It would be a great place to just go for a drink. The patio and outdoor stage are lovely, so I'm sure their live music events are worth attending.
I really feel like this is a management issue. Â During one of our visits, it wasn't busy, but we had a large party. Â We ran into a couple of problems with wrong orders and a missing appetizer. Â Our waiter had zero help and the manager never came over to check on the table...much less apologize for the errors. Â The wait staff seem completely untrained and unsupported. Â I think Lago del Pino would be best served by a complete change in leadership.
While the patio area and bar are awesome, lago is seriously lacking in service.
We arrived last saturday to the restaurant. We were informed earlier that day that they do not accept reservations or call ahead seating. Not quite sure why an upscale facility such as this would not accept reservations on mother's day weekend, but I digress.
Upon arriving we found the building and location to be absolutely gorgeous. It is out in the middle of nowhere, but it seems like they spared no expense when they built this place.
They had complimentary valet which was nice, but when we went in the girls at the hostess stand informed is that it would be about an hour and forty five minutes to get a table. This was at 6:30....reluctantly we went ahead and put our names down and went out on the patio to have drinks and get some appetizers.
The wine selection was ample, my wife had a very nice Pinot noir that she really enjoyed...really enjoyed. And our friend ordered an Arnold Palmer cocktail. He may have made a mistake when she asked for it a little strong because it ended up tasting a lot like straight vodka. They have a good draught beer selection and I had the always refreshing sam Adams summer ale.
We got chips and salsa and chips with white queso as our appetizers. The salsa was ok. A lot of tomato and cilantro flavor came through. I've had better, but I've had worse. The white queso was very good, but a touch on the runny side for my liking.
After just shy of 2hrs I decided to ask the hostess stand about how much longer they thought it may be. Now I can understand if you tell somebody 1.75 hrs and it ends up being 2 or 2 and 15 min, but when they told me it would be at least another hour, I almost fell over. 3 hours to wait on a table?!?! My wife and her friend asked to speak with the manager on shift at that time and they were able to speak with him. He said that they were very busy that evening and that the kitchen is not large enough to provide full service to the guests on the patio as well as in the restaurant. He told us that he would do his best to have us at the next available table and I kind of have to say that he did because that hour turned into about 15 minutes. One thing I was somewhat disappointed by was that the mgr didn't try to make the situation better by offering a free drink or another appetizer. We probably wouldn't have taken it, but the gesture would have been appreciated.
The concerning thing was when we were lead back to our table, we saw open tables all over the place. Not sure if it's just a breakdown in communication or if the kitchen staff was having trouble keeping up, but it was kind of odd to see considering the formidable amount of time we had waited.
We sat, were met by a server after about 5 minutes and ordered our food. The menu has decent selection, although its kind of difficult to pigeonhole the place into one genre or another. They had a prime rib enchilada entry and they had Greek salad. They had spring rolls, and they had hamburgers with bar fries. Just not a whole lot of theme to the menu. Not a bad thing just kind of different. I went with the burger. I asked if it could be served medium and I was shocked when the server asked me if rare was less cooked then medium, and then said that the burger could be rare if I wanted. Being that it is ground beef I went with medium. The burger came out in about 15 minutes and it was very good. Not great, but pretty much what I expected. The bar fries were excellent, but kind of tough to mess up french fries. My wife got the "kitchen soup" which doesn't sound like an appetizing title to me, but oh well. It was chicken and mushroom which was described as a creamy and hearty soup by our waitstaff. We were somewhat surprised when the soup came out and was very runny and bland. Needless to say, my wife had most of my bar fries...
Overall I gave it a positive rating, but not by much. The location is beautiful, albeit in the middle of nowhere and the patio is the best in tyler. They had live music and they do on most weekends. The bar was great as well. My advice is save this place for drinks and appetizers. Don't fuss with the food if there's any sort of significant wait. It wasn't the worse place i've ever eaten but it definitely wasn't worth a 2.5 hour wait.
Had reservations but still took over an hour to be seated. Â Had to order of preset menu due to Mother's Day. Took about an hour and a half to get our order which was not right because they ran out of certain sides and failed to tell us until we got our order. A bug crawled out of the bread. We advised our waitress, which was not her fault and she got the manager. Manager spoke to me about the problem and said he was going to talk to the cook about the problems and would get back with me. The manager was gone for a long time and it was obvious he was avoiding me. Our waitress had to tell him several times we were waiting on him. The manager finally came back and made excuses for our four hour stay. He advised he had over 600 people to feed today and his kitchen was really to small.
This is my second time to dine here. The first time was about two weeks after it opened and the wait time was horrible but we figured it was just because they just opened. The food and atmosphere was decent.
I will not eat here again. I am 45 years old and dine out more than I should and this place is now at the bottom of my list. I would not be so harsh on this place if the manager seemed like he cared.
I observed several other guest also complaining about the food and service. So eat here if you wish but you have been warned and make sure you have at least three hours to spare.
Amazing scenery, decent food, horrible service. Do not go if you are expecting a nice restaurant.
For my first visit here, our family made a reservation for 7:00 PM. Hostess stand was unorganized and not very friendly like you'd expect walking in. We arrived at 6:30 and still were not seated until 8:45. Food did not arrive until 9:45. We sat on the back patio while we waited where you can only buy appetizers and drinks, although the staff broke the rules for a few tables - not sure why. Our outside waiter forgot the drink order more than once, our appetizers took +20 minutes to get to our table. Live music was good while we waited and it was nice watching the sunset. I was pretty disappointed to see minors with alcohol as I saw nobody checking for I.D.
When we were finally seated at a table inside it took quite a while for a waiter to stop at our table and take our order. After even more waiting we finally got our food, and it was pretty good. The portions are a little small depending on what you order. Also, there are no soft surfaces anywhere inside the building so the sound travels a lot making it difficult to have a normal conversation across the your table.
All in all I was disappointed with what it was hyped up to be. I thought I was going to a nice restaurant where I could enjoy dinner and have the rest of the evening to do whatever I wanted. In reality, if you want to eat there then you're forced to sit on the patio all night before you get your meal. It's nice if that's all the plans you have for the evening. We talked to the manager and he just smiled and told us that they didn't expect so much popularity. No apology for our delayed reservation.
I've been here twice since my first visit and it has not gotten any better.
I would not recommend this place to a friend.
The service was beyond horrible. When we arrived at 8:00 this past Saturday the quoted wait time was 3 hours. We went to the bar for drinks and it took 10 minutes to be greeted (we had to ask for drink menus and wine lists). The bar was under staffed to stay the least. It took another 15 minutes to get drinks. The atmosphere would have been nice, but it was more like the drunk rowdy type rather than guests looking for a nice evening. We opened a tab at the bar, and the staff was so busy when we left that we could not get anyone to close our tab. Of course, they happily added a $10 tip when it posted to my account.
We walked through parts of the facility to have a look, and it is very beautiful. I noticed 2 things: there were what appeared to be patrons drinking that were clearly not of age; I never saw anyone at the bar, patio or in the dining room ever be asked for an ID. Additionally, they were on a false wait. This means they had open tables (at least 12) that they could not wait on because they did not have the staff.
I think we saw only 1 manager the whole time, but he was working the service well in the bar and never had a chance to even look up for the 4 hours we were there.
When we finally got to eat, the food was great!! But again, the service was terrible. She forgot the wine, which came after the meal, and she was just an order taker. No special offered, no dessert: "What can I get you to drink? Will there be anything else?" That's about the extent of it.
After the meal we went to the patio, which is very nice. There was plenty of seating and the band was great. It was great to see all the ADULTS having a good time, but sad to see the minors with alcohol an no management presence.
My critique is from the point of the guest and a former restaurant GM for 10 years. This place is in a BAD need of some help.
I hope the place improves.
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