Rafters On The Water — Restaurant in Batesville

HORRIBLE SERVICE. My family and I are at the lake almost every weekend. We will begin packing lunch to bring out and not waste time at Rafters. So much time was spent restoration and zero time sorrento training their staff on customer service. We waited 45 minutes to get seated, whig ok, some places have a long wait time. Then after being seated, we sat their for 20 minutes without one server greeting our table. I walked to the front host stand and ask if they had a server for our table and the little girl said, yeah they should be there soon. I told her we had been sitting there for 20 minutes and to please have someone at least bring us some waters now. I sat back down and patiently waited another 10 minutes. Still, no one came to our table. Mind you, we are sitting right on the balcony in the main dinning area. Its not like we are hard to miss. I then walk back to the hostess stand and ask to speak to a Manager. The little girl says, "Um, I don't know who the Manager is today." WHAT!? You what? How can the Manager of that shift not ensure every employee knows who they are? This has to be a joke, right? Nope. No joke. The hostess then says, let me go ask the bar tender who the Manager is. I understand these are kids working at these restaurants so I blame who ever the Manager of the Friday shift around 4pm. Go get training so you can train your staff. Such a shame. Finally after 40 minutes sitting with nothing we get to order drinks. After 55 minutes, the drinks came and we're finally able to order food. Then after 1 hour and 42 minute we finally got food delivered to our table. I would have walked out if my 13 year old nephew wasn't starving. Bottom line, this place is not worth wasting time to eat less than average food. Maybe stop by the bar for a beverage only if your out on the lake but don't waste your time and money at this place. Truly sad, as we waited so long for this place to reopen. They did better when it was just food trucks. They should consider going back to food trucks with just picnic tables. Owner(s), hire new Management to train your staff. Customer service is your only job. If your going to do something, like create a restaurant business to serve customers, spend less on new walls, tables, deck, and more on training how to...

TL;DR: Try the Crawfish Rolls. Parties of 6+ pay 20% gratuity. Very laid back atmosphere.

We stopped in on a weekend by the lake and had heard this place had a relaxed atmosphere and good views. Both were true.

When we arrived, there was a 45 minute wait and the place was packed. It's an open air (at least in the summer) laid back lakeside restaurant by the marina. The wait ended up being closer to 20 min and the bar was open for drinks before we got a table. We were able to wait in another area with a secondary bar that was unfortunately not open on our visit.

There is a stagw for live music but no one was playing on our visit.

We started with a couple appetizers for the table and a few drinks (each ~$10).

The Crawfish Rolls are unlike anything I've ever had. It tasted like Crawfish et Toufe stuffed into a crescent roll. The kids wouldn't eat a "mudbug" but they just failed to understand that crawfish is essentially a freshwater lobster.

We also had the Mozzarella Cheese Sticks. 8 came in a pan as opposed to the usual 4-5 at most places. They were delicious and optionally served with a marinara that is slightly sweet and tangy.

My wife had a Rafters Swashbuckler. This was probably the worst swashbuckler I'd ever tasted, but she like it. It was a bit boozier than usual.

My sister had a Rafters Sangria. Not sweet at all and definitely a white wine sangria made with vodka.

I had a "London" style Not Your Mother's Mule ( Moscow Mule made with Gin instead of Vodka). It was the perfect pallet cleanser with an excellent dry ginger finish

I followed that with a Rootbeer Float. It wasn't anything special, but at $4 it was a sweet treat while waiting on our food. It also arrived in a blue "Rafters" souvenir cup like all non-alcoholic drinks (except water).

One member of our party had the catfish and noted it had an excessively fishy flavor. The rest had burgers and loved them.

I however had the Chaud Poulet a chicken sandwich that was delicious. The fries that came with it were almost as good as the...

Honestly doesn’t feel like a restaurant at all more of a bar. We came out to watch fireworks & was recommended to come here for food! It was about a two hour wait for a table … so we decided to get it to go so we could go out & set up for fireworks! I was in the line at the bar for order to go…. Stood there for a good 25 minutes, no one acknowledged me, finally a cop came in there & wanted to go… the general manager takes his… so I went to him & was going to finally order… nope he told me he doesn’t take orders & the cops food was free.. so he went on & took his. Great. went to the other bartender by the pier side… she had attitude immediately & said she would have to check to see if their taking to go orders bc now it was 2 hr wait… smh. I just turned around & walked out. Yall really need to get a system bc that ain’t it. I’m a shift lead at a restaurant in Oxford & could do laps around you all. Every customer no matter how busy we get seen & waited on. Every customer means something to us. Prepare when it’s going to be busy.. general manager was just sitting there & staring at everyone… how much is he getting paid to stand...