Ducey's On the Lake & Ducey's Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Oakhurst

This is concerning the Bar & Grill on the 2nd floor, NOT the restaurant on the 1st floor. NOT PET FRIENDLY!

My sister and I stayed in a chalet Saturday and Sunday Aug 10th and 11th. We had her service dog Bogey with us. The first day (Saturday) we had lunch and drinks upstairs in the bar and grill. The young woman was accommodating to us and Bogey (goldendoodle). She brought us a to-go box as we had a bottle of water for Bogey. (Bogey has cancer and is on prednisone and chemo) and stays quite thirsty. We spent a good amount of money our first day. We then had dinner at the Marina bar and listened to some great music, they too were very accommodating with Bogey. Taylor was absolutely amazing! The next morning we decided we'd like to go back to the bar and grill upstairs and we patiently waited for an hour (11am) and we were first in line as they opened up. We requested the far table outside, cuz Bogey is quite large and we didn't want him to be in the way of the waiters and waitresses. Kelly, heavy set woman with black hair, showed us to our table and recognized us as being there the day before. The table was awesome as it was at the far end on the outside patio with plenty of room for Bogey to be comfortable and yet be out of the way. When Kelly came back, we ordered 2 bar drinks and lunch. At that time my sister asked when she had a minute if she could bring a to-go box so we could give Bogey his water as we had been walking around waiting for the place to open. Her comment was "If I have time, it's not a priority" with an attitude. My sister and I looked at each other as she walked away in disbelief. My sister was so upset that she didn't wish to stay. We got up and walked towards the exit and Kelly was at the register on the way out and my sister told her she didn't need to be rude and to cancel our order. As I walked by, I said "that wasn't necessary".. And she replied, "well, I'm just being honest". The place had just opened!! We weren't demanding the box right now..we simply said when you get a chance. The "it's not a priority" was uncalled for!! Rude beyond rude!

We then went downstairs and put our name in and waited another 20 minutes to get in there. So glad we did! We were seated in a booth and Jacob (our waiter) asked if we wanted waters and something from the bar, we gave him our order and he asked "would you like a bowl of water for your dog?". WOW...we didn't even have to ask! He brought Bogey a plastic bowl of water immediately. And, may I just add, he was super busy, the place was crazy busy! We told him what happened upstairs and he then discounted our bill 10%. Needless to say, his tip was almost the price of our meal. He was amazing! Please see attached photo of Bogey enjoying his bowl of water.

That evening, we went back to the Marina bar to have dinner and drinks, and before we even ordered, Taylor brought Bogey a "doggy bowl" of water. WOW, so impressive! We tipped Taylor $100. All the stores, boutiques etc have food and water outside their establishments for animals, mainly dogs. This is a very kind and loving gesture, as it was also in the 90's. Kelly's attitude and actions were appalling to say the least. Her attitude needs a huge adjustment and it cost the establishment a lot of $$ on top of public reviews which my sister and myself will be leaving on Facebook, Yelp, Google etc. She should be ashamed of herself. Bogey has less than 6 months to live and is a service dog, he deserved better treatment! Please see attached photo of Taylor loving on Bogey. This is how our fur babies should be treated.

Disappointed...

This should be a 5-star review, but the process to get a table was chaos. Here's what I emailed the manager, but after 2 weeks, I have had no response.

We arrived just after 10:15 (for a 10:15 reservation), and there were 2 other groups in front of us waiting to check in, plus a large party (6) that were waiting for their table. After approximately 7 or 8 minutes, one of the parties waiting to check in simply left. They were there before us and stated they had not seen a host yet. A few minutes later, an employee came and grabbed something from behind the desk and then walked away. No greetings to those who were waiting. Or questions if we'd been helped. Then, after perhaps another 10ish minutes, we saw for the 1st time who we discovered was the host.

He talked with the party of 6 and offered them a couple of choices (2 tables side by side or a corner booth). He then walked off and returned a few minutes later. He proceeded to seat that family, and a couple minutes later, he returned to the host table. He then confirmed that the couple ahead of us would like a table and told them, "Give me 2 seconds," and walked off. He came back a few minutes later and seated them. He returned to us. (While he was helping the couple in front of us, I noticed a short stack of pancakes sitting on the hostess table, which I found odd. It would be really off-putting to walk into a restaurant and see a host eating at the host table...)

I confirmed that we had a reservation (which I could actually see on the computer screen) but said it probably doesn't matter at this point. (It was approximately 20 minutes after we arrived, and certainly after the 10 minute hold time I read via Open Table.) He quickly had a team clean a wonderful window front table and sat us down. The table view was wonderful! Prudence was our server, and I must state that she did an excellent job! She was welcoming, understanding of our allergies, and attentive. Keep her!

We ordered a couple of Bloody Mary's (1 standard and 1 All The Way) to start with, and then also ordered our breakfast options (CFC for me, Eggs Benne for my wife--BOTH were delicious and presented well!). It did take a while for our drinks to arrive, and we could see that there was a single bartender. She was doing her best to keep up with what I imagined were several orders.

Because of our location (2nd window from the east at the bottom of the steps), we could see everyone coming in. There was another table of 2 who were sat 2 tables after us that received their breakfast approximately 10 minutes before we received ours. That was disappointing to see, knowing we were sat and ordered before them.

Again, this should be a 5-Star review. But there was a serious lack of leadership in the chaos f getting sat and timing of orders. With some direction, acknowledgement of patrons, and a bit of organization, it would be an...

UPDATE: The manager ended up calling us back and accommodating us, so I'm updating my previous review of 2 stars and bumping it up to 4 stars. The atmosphere & food at this place is great at a decent price. The service and staff can SOMETIMES leave much to be desired. Other times, they are great! But this review is not about one of those good times.

I make an annual trip out to Oakhurst, so I do love when I get to enjoy the places that have grown to become very familiar.

When I called to make a reservation for 12 people, the woman who answered the phone started off very pleasant and informed me that she'll have to take down my information and have it approved by a manager. No problem! I had asked for 10:30am and made a request to be seated on the terrace on the second floor. She informed me that she can't do that since breakfast is served exclusively downstairs. Only lunch is served upstairs, which doesn't start until 11am. Okay, no problem. In that case, I'd like to do lunch upstairs with the request to be seated on the terrace.

That's a different restaurant she tells me. Okay, well, then what's the number to call that restaurant? She tells me I'd have to still talk to her. Okay, then I tell her that I'd like to do 11am lunch with a request to get put on the terrace. "Simple enough," I say. She immediately hangs up on me.

I understand if the request can't be honored, but as a customer I'd like to at the very least FEEL like the request is being put in front of a manager who has to approve a party of that size. She clearly told me she didn't have the authority. Am I wrong here?

Regardless, I tried to call back. No answer, so I leave a voicemail that I'd like to make a reservation for 11am for 12 people with a request to be seated on the terrace. I did say on the voicemail that I had an unpleasant experience with the person! Quite frankly, I have a feeling this voicemail will be deleted before any manager hears it, so a Google review it is then.

I'd still like to make a reservation, so if a manager sees this, please call me. You should have a voicemail...