Lago by Druthers — Restaurant in City of Saratoga Springs

we visited 550 for my 49th birthday dinner. I chose 550 because I had heard the food was excellent! First I would like to start off by saying what a beautiful place it has become! The smell of the wonderful food cooking sent my senses soaring and I became even more hungry lol. There were 5 of us for dinner last night, 4 of us are chefs (one is a chopped champion) so naturally we stare at food constantly! I was so impressed at some of the platings I saw and couldn’t wait to eat! We sat outside, which was a tiny bit chilly but none the less, beautiful! However, yes here are the howevers. I realized it was mildly busy but we sat around 845 and it had started to slow down for food patrons but the bar was hopping . My first disappointment came when it took almost 20 min after sitting for someone to acknowledge us and take our drink order. We finally ordered apps with came fast (Deviled eggs and street corn) which were fantastic! I love the firm texture of the eggs and the filling was delicious. Our apps were done and we still hadn’t been asked for our meal order yet, which we were ready as soon as our apps came out . Unfortunately, we didn’t see our waitress for a while after putting in our app order and I didn’t want to wrestle my way through the bar to find her. We finally placed our order and figured since it had slowed down it would be relatively fast. It wasn’t 😞 and our food came out in pieces . 3 of our table had gotten their food and one got her fries but no salmon and myself, nothing. I picked at everyone’s food while waiting, which gave me the chance to taste different things. One had the fish fry and it was cooked perfectly and the taste was excellent. 2 others had burgers and the portion size was well worth the money and love the 550 sauce as well as the dressing on the greens! My daughters salmon came out, beautifully plated and the quinoa salad I could have eaten all night, but.. the salmon was very undercooked and deff under 120. She ate around the undercooked portion and enjoyed what she did have. At this point my steak frites still did not come out. Again we hadn’t seen our waitress since our app order. Another staff member came over to bring extra Mayo and asked if we needed something and I said “yes please, my dinner “ and a few drink refills lol at this point everyone at the table was almost done eating and about 5 min later mine came out. The smell was amazing! I was a little disappointed when I saw the steak was not sliced but I shld have been more specific but the taste was AMAZING! Cooked to perfection and just so mouth watering! The fries need to be fresh made I suggest because they deff sat and had the chalky dried out texture from sitting, but the steak made up for it . I was sad I had to eat after everyone else was done but it was very good food! My suggestion, the staff needs to definitely pay more attention to their restaurant patrons and less time mingling with bar patrons. At some points throughout the evening it looked like a speed dating service between the bar men and waitstaff . There were a few times we saw a waitress in the corner with a customer and that was definitely not the way to behave at any establishment when working unls maybe in Vegas lol I was a little disappointed the manager did not come out and apologize for my meal coming out long after everyone else was done . All around it was a decent meal, great prices and beautiful scenery. We will definitely be back again! This time, maybe for lunch

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My first experience at 550 and it was a terrible first impression.

Me and 5 other family members went to 550 after my daughter's dance recital to celebrate. We had called on the way there to ask about the wait times we were told that it would be an hour wait for outdoor seating and no wait for the inside. I was excited to try 550 for the first time so we went directly there.

When we pulled into the clearly busy parking lot, one of the hostesses/attendants greeted us at our car and told us the same thing we were told over the phone, an hour wait for outside and no wait for inside, after she confirmed it with someone working inside. We told her how many in our party and for indoor seating and the name to put it under.

After struggling to find a parking spot, and after the rest of my party went inside, I finally joined them at the host stand only to find out that our name was not put in and that the one hostess had pretty much called my wife a liar and that the wait was at least 45 minutes. We had them call a manager over and explained to him what was happening. He apologized and talked to everyone involved to find out what happened and came back to us to say that we shouldn't have been told there was no wait and that it was going to be 45 minutes. Nice communication. It's also worth noting that not a single hostess had a smile on their face and seemed less than happy being there.

Finally, after being seated by someone who couldn't give a sh*t about their job or customer service, we waited at least 10 minutes for a server to come over to ask about drinks. By that time, we all knew what we wanted for our food, so we put in our orders. We did order appetizers which, having worked in many different restaurants and having gone to college for culinary arts, I know should only take 6 to 8 minutes busy kitchen or not. 15 minutes later, we finally got our appetizers and about 10 minutes after that we received our entrees. 25 minutes to receive all of our food orders from the time we put them in until the time they came out is a little ridiculous...again, busy kitchen or not.

The food was good, but not anything that set itself apart from anywhere else you can go in Saratoga or the surrounding areas.

We did not hear from the manager at all after the initial communication. There were no apologies about how long we waited for our food and drinks. No one tried to remedy the frustration and complete lack of customer service or care we experienced upon first setting foot in the door. A lack of professionalism on the parts of the hostesses. Perhaps a complete lack of skill and/or experience from everyone else that worked there.

It is a beautiful place in a beautiful location with panoramic views ruined by those who work there. If you want to have a few drinks at the bar and enjoy the scenery, this place is for you. If you want a dining experience, go elsewhere. You'll thank me later. First impressions are the most important, and I won't be returning here to...

Critic review:

Ok. This place USED to be great. To give credit where credit is due, our server. Caitlin was fantastic. She was very attentive and listened when I kindly explained the following.

As we arrived, a beautiful view of the lake was in front. We sat at the bar and our waitress greeted us very kindly! We proceeded to look at the menu and order some cocktails. I, a margarita, and my wife the same. Two cocktails arrived tasting of nothing but mixer. Not a waft of tequila to be found. So after downing those rather quickly, I ordered the painkiller, which in my experience was very strong. And it was! It was! My wife ordered a mojito which was made with some strange very sugary mixer which it's not supposed to have. They said it came pre-mixed which is just not okay. We then proceeded to order three appetizers, the tuna nachos, the corn dip, and the pretzels and cheese. Where should I begin? The tuna nachos arrived rather large with a pile of wontons covered in some kind of yellow sauce. After a few bites, we remembered that these were supposed to be tuna nachos and began digging through the wontons trying to find any mention of tuna. Eventually it was found in the lower third quadrant of the plate in a small pile, a kin to a child's ice cream scoop worth. I was able to fit all of the tuna from the plate on one fork load. So more or less. It was just wontons and a tasteless cousin of mayonnaise with some form of handicap. If mayonnaise could be more white, it would be this. Think of a cheap yum yum sauce from an even cheaper Chinese restaurant. Moving on to the pretzels and beer cheese. Out came a plate of heavily burnt "cap'n crunch" style pretzel bites that were cut into 3-in segments, but left 5-in gashes in the roof of my mouth. They tasted a solid two out of 10, but the cheese sauce tasted like solid Velveeta but with a tablespoon of sand mixed in. It was grittier than a Boston Red Sox umpire. Normally pretzels and cheese leave me titilated and swoonful. However, these left me more flaccid and unsatisfied than my ex-wife. And finally we come to the corn dip. When you think of corn dip, what comes to mind? A nice, wonderful, sweet, warm dip filled with sweet corn and a nice cheese. Which is what it was last year before stupid druthers took over. Now for some God awful reason, it served cold loaded with black beans. It tasted like Aunt Griselda's cold corn bean salad that she brings to the family reunion. Except with no flavor. I'm not sure how something with so many ingredients can have no flavor. Ultimately, the food at this place used to be fantastic, but now it's gone completely downhill now that the Druthers has taken over. It seems the company that was kept changed as well to classic douche. It's unlikely that we will be returning. Whoever the chef is back there needs to be reconsidered. Drinks were awful, food was awful, service was pretty good and the view was great. A lot of potential, horrible...