Harbor Lights Restaurant — Restaurant in Benton

..attended a lunch with a reserved group of over 25 couples, over the age of 60. We were given a time to arrive and a time to be gone. Cash bar with 1 hour to serve before meal and only 1 bartender to wait on everyone. Self serve. Bartender was covered up and a bar that had no stock. Out of wines, out of mixers, and one draft that beer that was half foam/ half beer at expensive prices. She blamed it on being an old taper. Service and food was pitiful. 1 waitress for the entire group. Most were lucky to have water or tea before they finished their meal. Napkins were requested by many and none available other than the small one ur silverware was wrapped in. Our meal was at 1pm and the buffet was the same as offered to other guest at the hotel and already in place when we arrived at noon. Tacos, nachos, refried beans, taco fixings and fried fish. They ran out of soft wraps before guest were served and hard biscuits or a taco shell were it. Burned fried corn was only vegetable offered. Salad bar was the only decent thing. Sliced desserts were also gone before all guest were served. Complaints brought no attention. Expensive tacos at 15.00 a person plus tip. I thought Barkley lodge had gone down hill until we had this meal. Who serves a taco buffet to an older group and a reserved party at that. Understand now why the State Parks are going under. Just for information only 2 other tables in the entire restaurant. They should have been better prepared. We wont recommend to our friends for...

We have stopped here occasionally over the past few years and always found it to be a pleasant experience. The setting is beautiful, and it seems we have always managed to arrive when they are not too crowded, so we could get a seat by the big windows that look out over the lake and the marina. There are bird feeders in the lawn there and it's entertaining to watch the birds as they come and go, too. All of our visits have been at lunch time, so we have mostly had sandwiches and that sort of thing. Today I had bacon, cheese, and tomato sandwich on toasted bread that was simply outstanding, with three types of cheeses. Their home-made potato chips are excellent. Those and a nice, big slice of dill pickle as accompaniment to a sandwich make for a great lunch. The staff is courteous and attentive. Today they made a small error in our bill (mistakes happen, everyone does it) and it was quickly and courteously corrected. We had asked for a "to go" box to take a bit of our leftover sandwiches with us, then managed to walk off without it. We remembered when we got upstairs and my wife went back down to the restaurant, and they had taken it up to the front desk of the restaurant where it was waiting for us. Just a nice little touch of thoughtfulness. A great place to stop for a meal while exploring this...

Harbor lights is overpriced for the subpar food and it's difficult ( near impossible)finding a server to get you a drink refill or anything for that matter. It took her almost 25 minutes to bring our soda's when we first arrived. We waited over an hour for our meal which was ccold and not even right. We waited up by the hostess stand for at least 10-15 minutes waiting for someone to show up so we could try and pay because our server never returned after bringing our food (an entire hour). We were also concerned with the high school age girls or they were at least under 20 and a day who were serving alcohol and behind the bar making drinks. I was under the impression that was illegal. Overall, the experience was just awful. It's a shame too, because it once was the best place to eat and was completely full every night and now under the new management, the place has became a ghost town. I hope they can turn...