The Lakeside Prince Edward County — Restaurant in Ontario

We booked the lakeside motel and stayed in the wharf house in September 2022. Two of our guests were sick and couldn’t make it. Luckily I had purchased cancellation insurance, so we got a credit of upwards of $1K to use within the year.

We tried to book a stay in July 2023 for the only weekend that was vacant and worked with our schedule. Since we could not apply the credit online we called to arrange the booking. We did not hear back for four days and by the time we called back to inquire, the room was booked. We were informed we had to use the credit by September 1.

Coincidentally our friends booked a stay in PEC, and asked us to join them in early July. As a day trip they had booked the cabana at the Lakeside. We joined them and there were 12 of us- we used the pool, cabana and had lunch; this cost upwards of $600.

Knowing I had a credit I asked the front desk if I could apply it to cover the full cost of the cabana. The gentleman at the front desk called the manager to inquire. She called him back 15 mins later, while we waited and told him to tell us that only $150 can go towards the cabana and insisted the rest had to go towards a room. The gentleman checked and there was no availability leading up to Sept 1 that worked for us. Realizing there’s no opportunity to use the credit, we asked him to inquire if anything else can be done. He called the manager and she didn't budge.

I reminded the gentleman that we’re loyal guests and go to PEC each year for the past 5-6 years, and each time visit the Lakeside. We recommend it to friends and they’ve booked the lakeside as a result. He understood our situation and was visibly nervous from the situation his manager put him in. The experience we encountered that day was truly disappointing, especially when we just spent $600+ on the cabana that day and it’s the same place.

We asked to speak to the manager directly. Sensing our frustration and showing compassion and understanding he called her again. She said she’s in a meeting. He reiterated that we wanted to talk to her directly and instead of coming down to see us, she called back and finally let us use the credit towards the cabana- but with several limitations which we later discovered.

Almost after an hour of waiting, including by the other members of our party, we worked with the cabana attendant to resolve our payment. We put approx. $600 towards the cabana but had funds remaining. The attendant went back and forth with the manager who was seated by the bar but never came to talk to us on what we could use the remaining funds for. We wanted unopened alcohol- manager said no. The attendant (also showing compassion and understanding) offered us s’mores kits for the kids- manager said no, because it had to be "from the cabana". After another 30 mins of back and forth, we took what she allowed (i.e. overpriced chips) and left.

In my option our situation could have been resolved in a few minutes by allowing us to use the credit towards the cabana. This would have retained our trust and loyalty. Instead the manager went back and forth with us for approx. 1 hour and put the staff in an uncomfortable situation. I'm inclined to think they care more about the "Influencers" walking around their hotel then the...

Cool spot w a neat ambiance, a good alternative to the Drake Devonshire if they are booked up and you are looking for a similar experience but I encourage you to lower your expectations. Though similar in pricing to the Drake without the convenience & polish I’m optimistic that this will be a gem with an opportunity to refine some of the more off-putting elements. Though if pressed I could mention a few other sub-par aspects that frustrated our generally very easy-to-please group the stand-out negatives are;

1. Parking seems very limited and can be challenging so give yourself a little bit of extra time to figure that out. Entrance is easy to miss from the road, yes it is that narrow nearly unmarked laneway between the black fences. We arrived in the early afternoon and it didn’t seem very busy (tops 5 other tables & one cabana had patrons) but the parking was stuffed & poorly marked with hard-to-read signage.

2. Our servers were very sweet but an older brunette-ish woman in a long down cream-coloured coat & big sunglasses swooped by occasionally & would grab things off our table in a rush without acknowledging us or asking about the experience. Though we speculated she might be the owner or manager she almost came across as if another patron decided to help with bussing. We found it off-putting & bewildering especially since it didn’t seem busy enough to warrant her grumpy, rushed & overall stressed demeanour.

3. The drink selections are fantastic and skillfully prepared so kudos to the bar staff! Food was good though the menu was hard to read in part because all the fonts are the same size, small & very squished together. For example, the 3 margaritas were confusing, it seemed like a flight? The caviar is written out strangely so the price looks absurdly inexpensive but that is deceptive they are talking about the portion size I think but it’s unclear because prices are denoted the same way in the same size font under other items.

4. Food was good overall but watch out for the olives, whipped honey feta & pita. Olives were great and a huge portion but that was almost comical compared to a teeny tiny stainless steel dipping pot of feta like what you’d get for ketchup at upscale restaurants and that portion appeard to have been levelled off (you would expect at least a small ramekin) & 4 small triangle slices of pita where you would expect at least 12. At a stretch 1/3 of the olives provided could be accompanied w feta & pita with how it was served so I hope they consider altering the portions of that dish.

Hope that feedback helps improve future ppls experiences. Will give it another try on a future trip but unlikely to opt for it over the Drake Devonshire based on...

I don’t often write reviews; however, I feel compelled to review my recent experience at the Lakeside Motel. My girlfriends and I stayed there for 2 nights in the Wharf house. I’ll start by saying, the property is amazing. They have done such a nice job and really thought of all those instagramable moments. The Wharf house was beautiful and very comfortable. We were greeted by Duncan who was so welcoming. He unfortunately left at 2:30pm that day and that was the last of any decent customer service we received. We found that most of the staff we interacted with were either rude or not welcoming at all. Everything was an extra charge. We paid over $3000 for 2 nights in the wharf house and would think that amenities like the sauna or hot tub would be included, nope! You have to pay an additional $100. Your room stay only includes use of the pool which is barely heated. Can be refreshing on those really hot days though. We could have used the hot tub if we booked one of the tents with a minimum spend of $350. It would have been good to know that before we had already spent $500 at the restaurant. We asked if they could apply our restaurant bill to the tent since no one was using it (the property was empty, it was Sunday and no one was there), but no, we were told it’s not an all-inclusive resort and they couldn’t make an exception. We also paid an additional $100 per night for a cot to have an additional guest. They provided us with a cot and a green lumpy old sleeping bag. When I asked for a duvet, comforter or even a top sheet we were met with resistance and said they didn’t have onsite laundry and had nothing left to provide us. Finally, they made it right and gave us a duvet on the 2nd night. I should say that we did have great service from Branden at the bar one night when we were having drinks by the fire. We had told him our experience and he was super apologetic. I’m not sure if they saw a group of ladies and thought we were going to be annoying or a certain way. We were a group of moms in our late 30’s/40’s just looking to have a good time with our friends. It’s definitely a one and done for us. I wish I had read some of these reviews prior to booking, rather than solely being influenced by Instagram. There are so many more things I could add, but I’ll leave it at this. We still made the most of it and had a fabulous time with our girlfriends on our...