Lindsay's at The Cornish Inn — Restaurant in Cornish

I honestly do not like leaving bad reviews, but we went 3 times for dinner to make sure we could leave a valid review, and each time we left utterly disappointed. All three times, the service was the worst. Excruciatingly long waits.

First time, they didn't put our order in right, so one of us was served their dinner salad ahead of the other's entrees, so they had to eat while the rest of our party waited an eternity to be served fancy entrees by a guy with a backwards baseball hat on.

Anyway last night took the cake. One server in the whole place, really only about 5 tables in there when we got there, so shouldn't have been all that difficult for someone experienced, but oh my goodness. We were starving and it took so long just to order drinks that we almost considered going across the street to Krista's. When she finally came over we wanted to order our food right away to avoid any delays, but we were MASSIVELY disappointed in the menu. What used to be fancy entrees, lamb, steak, seafood, has been reduced to pizza, 4 sandwiches, 3 pasta dishes and a prime rib you could only order medium or more (is it leftover?). Only 2 salads and they were both BEET salads. ????? Also there were only 3 apps on the menu and one was a $28 charcuterie. I'm afraid to know how long it would take to get that to the table, unless it's all pre made, but that's way too much $$ for an appetizer. But most disturbing was the great amazing bread basket we purchased at the previous two visits was no longer on the menu, and when we asked why, the server said she just hasn't been making any fresh bread. From looking at the menu, there's not a lot of fresh anything. There was no fish dish at all, which is what my husband always orders. Nothing fresh but beet salads.

We had no choice but to pick something even though there was nothing on the menu that we wanted. We came for the chef inspired fancy plates. So I got the French dip and my husband got the Mac n cheese with fried chicken. The plates of food were huge, but size doesn't mean much here. The French dip was so utterly tasteless, it was desperately in need of salt, and alas there was none on the table. The bread was soggy on arrival. The fries were good. The highlight of the night was the Mac n cheese and fried chicken plate, which came with a lovely salad. We shared that, left most of the French dip on the plate and she never even asked if we didn't like it.

The atmosphere - ugh. It was so loud. It has a tiny bar but the people sitting there, maybe locals that know the bartender, were belligerently loud with their talking and laughing. So was the woman bartender. You couldn't hear each other at your table without yelling.

This sucks for us because it's 5 minutes from our house and we were hoping for a great local spot, but we will NOT be back for dinner. We thought it was overpriced to begin with, the first time we went they had a 12 oz strip steak for somewhere in the $45 range, so we settled for something different that time too. We can afford it, it just wasn't a good value. That steak went away shortly after they started serving dinner, and we assumed it was because they realized they were selling more $20 chicken sandwiches and ravioli than they were $47 steaks.

I feel like people will come in and try the place, but I don't see a lot of return visits. Cost, atmosphere, service and quality are all missing the mark. Two plates of pub food, and 2 drinks, should not cost $80. Looking back I should've checked to see if she added the appetizer that she mistakenly brought to our table was on our bill, instead of the table next door, but we were in such a rush to get out of there I didn't even the read the bill....

Only experience is two Sunday breakfasts. Excellent food and service, but they never have any specials when we go and staff always apologizes about it. What gives? Another minor nitpick is the toast is not toasted enough at times. Too doughy inside. We will ask for it extra crispy next time. I also really think that a restaurant in Maine should NOT charge for real maple syrup. That's like being charged for bread and all the other similar silly things restaurant owners do that irritate customers. HINT: adjust prices across whole menu and bury these TINY extra costs. The menu price increases will be de minimis and you will increase satisfaction and the number of repeat customers. Also remember your major costs are labor and overhead (utilities, rent, mortgage or loans on kitchen gear, etc.) and NOT ingredients like maple syrup. Do the math and do the right thing and don't just follow the crowd on this. Other than these few things it's a great place

UPDATE August 2023: congrats on the real syrup, but I have dropped your score from 4 to 2. Why? ANSWER: We have been coming once a week this summer on Sunday for breakfast and the pattern of understaffing is consistent. I am sitting here now. Restaurant is half full and it took 10 minutes for a server to ask if we wanted coffee. We asked if we could just give our order and she said there was one table ahead of us and so we had to wait for her to come back. Order delivery also pretty slow too. Bottom line: YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH STAFF! There are two other alternatives close by and even if you have better offerings it doesn’t do you any good if I (and others) decide that your slow service...

My dad and I just had a wonderful Father's Day brunch (a day early) at Lindsay's! The servers were very patient with him (he cracks a lot of jokes) and the food and drink were DELICIOUS! I had a Spicy Margarita and the Queen Mary, both of which were very, very good - the Spicy Marg was so good that my dad switched over to that after his Old Fashioned (which was also really tasty, the Spicy Margarita was just That Good!). The Queen Mary is Linday's bloody mary, and it was definitely one of the tastier bloody marys I've had recently. I had it spicy as well, and it was just the right amount of spicy so as to not give one heart burn.

For food, my father had a breakfast burrito, it was a good size (not one of those tiny burritos that you finish and think to yourself 'what even was the point of that?) and came with potatoes. He also had a stack of sour bread toast that almost convinced me to get the same. I had the Ossipee River Benny which came with toast (without beets or hummus, as we showed up at the very end of a busy breakfast service) - it was SO GOOD, and came with potatoes as well. The Hash Browns were so good that I had to box up what I had left to bring home, even though there wasn't that much left.

We both agree that the portions are perfect if you're hungry, and if not there will be plenty of leftovers that you'll definitely want to box up and bring home with you. With excellent food and drinks, and a bevy of great daytime activities nearby, I definitely recommend Lindsay's if you're in Cornish! I can't wait to try their...