Jake's On The Lake — Restaurant in Tahoe City

This Lake Tahoe staple has an incredible location right on the lake, over looking the marina, in the heart of Tahoe City. The atmosphere certainly is casual but their prices and menu aren’t. The consistent theme that I noticed throughout my dinner there was one of confusion. They are either trying to be something they are not or are not succeeding in trying to be something they want to be. Their décor feels like it hasn’t been updated since opening night in 1978 with a dimly, almost barely, lit dining room, tables that are placed in every available location (including under the stairs where an unlucky diner would have to crouch to walk to their seat). With the wait staff wearing Hawaiian shirts, and the bar decorated like a tiki-bar it feels a bit out of place on the shores of Lake Tahoe. In summation it is dark, crowded and the decorations make it feel confused.

In an age where food has truly evolved into art everything that was put in front of me felt completely uninspired. To start, I had the crab cakes. Presentation is important and so is portion size. This dish was far too big to be a true appetizer. The two, burger patty sized crab cakes were paired with an absolutely flavorless cabbage slaw and an overwhelming amount of aioli sauce that eliminated any crab flavor from the plate. My entrée was something that jumped out at me on the menu, the filet mignon. A cut of beef that should melt in your mouth, a dish that you should almost feel guilty about eating because of how delectable it tastes and how sensuous it looks on the plate. Art. I received a plate crowded with a large lump of mashed potatoes, a vegetable medley that was reminiscent of a hot lunch at a public high school’s cafeteria: large cut pieces of steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, and a questionable piece of meat that was covered in an unappealing brown cream mushroom sauce. The viscously thick brown cream with brown mushroom chunks did not look like it should be anywhere near food. It was unappetizing to say the least. The steak itself did not have the decadent flavor and texture of a filet mignon there was no sear on it, no seasoning to speak of just meat, potatoes and a questionable sauce.

Typically I like to truly test a kitchen by having dessert but at Jake’s I felt like I couldn’t leave quickly enough. My eyes felt strained in the dark dining room; I was put off of their food by overwhelming flavors and unappetizing sauces. While Jake’s may have history and an incredible view on their side to fill their tables it isn’t enough. A restaurant is nothing without it’s kitchen and when I go to a restaurant, especially one in this price point (nearly 100 dollars for two people) I expect to have an experience, I expect the food to not just be better than I can do at home but to transform the ingredients. I expect the chef to put out inspired food that’s flavors just jump off the page and hit all notes, food that leaves you speechless and searching for one more bite on an already empty plate. To me, Jake’s was none of those things and I fear it hasn’t been any of those things since their initial...

We had been to Jakes once before and decided to go again. The restaurant is about an hour from our house so we made a reservation asking to be seated outside. We were told that they could not guarantee that as it was first come first serve. Upon arriving we were seated in a cramped two top between two four tops. We asked to move to a different two top near by and were accommodated, but told we would need to move back as that specific table had been reserved, LIE NUMBER 1. Our server seemed hassled. When we inquired we were told that the computers were not functioning properly and creating problems. We ordered the shrimp and prosciutto appetizer and oir entrees, ribeye steak medium temperature and the salmon in the miso preparation as rare as the chef could make it. As we sat and talked we began to notice several parties of two and four were being seated around us, ordering their meals, being served their food and in some cases paying and leaving. We had received our appetizer about 45 minutes after we sat down, but our entrees didn't arrive until 90 minutes after we sat down. We were told that several large parties had gotten their orders in before us. Yet our observatio. Was several small parties in our vicinity that arrived after us were being served well before us. LIE NUMBER 2. The steak was stone cold as were the mashed potatoes. The salmon was cooked to the point of being dry and the meat white, no pink visible for being ordered rare. Our server was nowhere to be seen. I went up front to speak with the manager. I told him of my issues; the poor service, the very long time for our meals to arrive, and the poor quality of the food temperatures. His response was to defend his kitchen that there hadn't been any food tickets longer than 35 minutes. He asked what had been ordered and said he could cook new meals in 9 minutes. That didn't include plating, and actually bringing it to the table. I told we were leaving and he insisted that we pay for the appetizer and offered a dessert to go. ARE YOU KIDDING ME...UNBELIEVABLE! This was the worst restaurant experience...

Service-4 / Food-2 / View-4: We have been there two times this summer and the service and open views from most seats are nice. The first time was for lunch and the food was good but can't remember what we had (lunch menu) but good enough that we were willing to go back for dinner a month later. This trip, again the service was wonderful and views were nice overlooking the lake and marina. Our table (no reservations) had a nice window and breeze for a warm day.

Keeping in mind we were in a tourist town (we are semi-local), the food was still very disappointing--bland, over cooked and uninspired. I had the sea bass, one of my favorite dishes. I've had it many times from top restaurants to casual eateries and nearly dives. Each time it was very good-4 to great-5. I even tried it at home because when I asked the guy behind the fish counter if I dare try cooking such a great dish myself he said, "This is such a great fish that you would have to try hard to screw it up for it not to be great." Well, Jake's must have tried hard and managed to "screw it up". It was way overcooked to the point it had the consistency, taste and appearance of albacore tuna out of a can, a $40 can of tuna. I question whether it was even sea bass at all. My wife's dinner would be described as "they didn't try hard to go beyond living off tourists". The pesto infused rice was barely seasoned, the rice seemed like minute rice out of a box (granted, the 3 or 6 minute version vs. instant - kudos?) and the entree uninspired beyond prepackaged frozen or bar food. Actually there are several bar and grills that serve better food for 1/3 the price.

So in our experience, the high price is the price of admission for tourists to get a view and friendly service while eating mediocre bar food. You may want to save yourself money and just go for lunch and get a burger with a view, or try other places with equivalent views for better food. Overall, underwhelmed. Wouldn't recommend to friends. But tourists, by all means, go! Support the local...