Good food, good service, priced right. Â Nothing extraordinary, or high end, but you get what you expect and it's good. Â Had the 1 dollar burgers, and they were decent, with good fries and onion rings. Â Captains platter on a Friday was pretty big, and really good, as was the baked fish. Â They could use a pager or beeper system for the servers though, as our last dinner was good except when the cook would open the kitchen door and yell "Jazzy" when orders were up :)
Review Source:The Lighthouse Grill is nestled in the heart of the lakeshore community of Olcott Beach. Â Within walking distance are quaint shops, Olcott Beach Carousel Park, Krull Park, marinas, and beautiful lake views. With this wonderful location is the opportunity for a restaurant to capitalize on the family friendly environment of this charming town. Tragically, this place fails to take advantage of this opportunity. Â
My family had dinner here on a Saturday night around 6pm. Â The hostess was nice enough and promptly sat us with a highchair for my son. Our waitress however had little charm. Everything about her was matter-of-fact. Never greeted us. No smiles. No personality. Never asked how our meal was. We never felt welcome there. Observing the tables around us the other waitresses had a similar demeanor --- Cold. The gimmick here seems to hire fairly attractive women who have no personality. On that note, there is no dress code for these waitresses. They wear whatever they please from low cut shorts to ripped jeans.
The decor was beach themed with lighthouse pictures and boat paddles on the walls. Â Nice enough but they stapled paper signs on the walls which somewhat removes any charm. Most of the signs were in bold explaining what coupons they were not accepting. The windows are large, allowing some nice filtered light to enter the restaurant. They also have a shaded patio. Tables and chairs were basic. The bar is located right next to the dining area without any separation which leads to the main issue (I'll get to this in a bit).
I ordered a reuben with their homemade mac and cheese as a side. My wife had the ultimate grilled cheese. The sandwiches were okay enough but the bread was half toasted. I didn't mind the bread overall but my wife didn't care for it. The mac and cheese was cold. My son enjoyed his chicken nuggets and fries.
During our dinner the jukebox in the bar was blasting rap and dance music. Gone was any chance of conversation. Also, one of the customers at the bar took off his shirt exposing his hairy body while the female patrons were whooping it up as if this were a strip club. Â The bartender and waitresses stood there and laughed. Really? At dinner time? With families? I looked around and almost everyone eating dinner appeared uncomfortable. This type of behavior at the bar should be discouraged until after dinner service is over (if ever). Â On a side note, I wonder if this place was wise enough to stop serving drinks to these customers as they were obviously very intoxicated. Finally, the process to get my check and pay took upwards of 15 minutes. We were anxious to get out of there so it seemed much longer.
The Lighthouse Grill is an excellent example of what happens when employees are allowed to run the show without effective management. My advice to ownership is to take control and do so quickly. Unfortunately, quite a few restaurants have come and gone in this area. This place may be next and it would be really unfortunate because it has some potential. Based solely on food I would give this place 3 stars but the environment was so miserable that it killed the entire experience. We won't be back.
First, the food is decent and fresh. The mac and cheese is good, but would be much better not served cold. I would like to come back, but not if what I saw yesterday was a regular occurrence. My family went for dinner around 5pm and all was good until loud club music was started up just before 6pm, and some bar patrons were acting dumb clearly from having a few beers. I'm not a prude and enjoy a few good drinks, but I would suggest the bar staff keep things in check better until after dinner. There were many families there, and with young children. It's not exactly appetizing to see a middle aged man removed his shirt and expose his hairy back within view of families. I have no problem with people having fun or being goofy, but wait until after dinner for the shenanigans. Also, our server had no personality. A smile or expression would be nice. All in all, this place is decent, but you lose a star for the club music, one for the cold food, and one for the service. This place could easily be 4 or 5 stars if management had a better grasp of things and remembered there is a family atmosphere during the day in Olcott Beach.
Review Source:If you go on a nice day, be sure to sit on the patio. Â They have burgers for a dollar on Thursday. Â I was reluctant to try so I ordered the daily special burger with onion rings. Â My wife ordered the Greek salad. Â We had a glass of wine with the lunch. Â Burger and onion rings were excellent. Â Greek salad was good, nothing fancy. Â We shared the apple tart a la mode for desert which was very good.
Regarding the $1 burgers... a couple ordered 3 of them, shared an order of fries and 2 sodas. Â Including tip, they paid $14. Â And the burgers looked good. Â I'll do that next time. Â
Highly recommend doing a quick walk through the historic water-side town.
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