The Oaks Lakeside Restaurant and Event Venue — Restaurant in Lafayette Township

Thanksgiving dinner was EXTREMELY disappointing this year! Nothing like past years. No coat check or drink menu. Not sure why this was not offered this year. If the food was in stock, it was barely warm. The line for the carving station was insanely long. They were constantly running out of meat. Nothing was being sliced in advance to keep the line moving. The beef was raw. The meat in general was lukewarm. Elderly people in our party were not able to stand waiting for their meat. If you got your sides before getting in the carving line your food would be cold. People were handing food plates to staff members if you saw one or sitting them on tables around the buffet area because the food got cold waiting to get meat. Our family did not get to sit and enjoy our meal together. No staff was checking on the buffet area to keep things in stock and make sure it was going smoothly. No staff walking the dining areas offering refills of coffee and water. Typically have always had manager come by and check on us in past years. We didn't see one. We commented that the line to check in was most likely long because people were not moving as quickly through their dining experience due to the slowness at the buffet as well as the service. Our server kept forgetting our drinks and we had to ask for refills. She didn't clear our table and had stacks of plates waiting to be taken. We had to ask for the bill several times. Waited 30 minutes after our second time asking. When we received the bill we noted the price. When the server returned the credit card the person in our party went to sign and it had already been filled out minus the signature. We thought we got someone else's slip and tried to flag our server down. While waiting to get her attention we realized that they are doing a automatic tip of 22%. Nothing was noted anywhere of this. The card appeared to have already been charged the amount. This had not happened in past years. We were not a large party and honestly food aside as that is not on the server, the service was awful and did not warrant a tip of that size. This coming from someone who served and managed a restaurant for 15 years. The person in our party asked for a manager and were basically told "too bad that's how it is this year". Just such a disappointing experience all around. Didn't seem to be any attempt by management to even address and resolve what was going on. Seemed like the staff was hiding, like they pitched in the towel. Reasons for 3 stars is because I felt bad giving a lower rating due to past experiences.

IN RESPONSE TO REPLY: We were seated directly facing the carving station. The line was backed up 90% of the time during our visit and even before we were sat. I should have specified that you ran out of meat at your carving station more than several times and your carvers stood there waiting more than 5 minutes at least on several occasions for more meat to arrive so they could continue carving which further backed up the line. If it was just one thing that disappointed us on our visit I think it could of been easily overlooked but the quality of the food, the responsiveness of service, mandatory tips that were not disclosed anywhere, etc were very disappointing to experience. Most of all not being able to sit together as a family to enjoy our...

Went here for New Years Eve with a party of 6. Prime Rib was listed on the special New Years menu and I love prime rib!! However, when we got here we were told they were not serving it and instead serving a rib steak. Very disappointed as even on December 31 their website and facebook page said prime rib would be served. We were given oysters in some type of sauce and some different appetizers to start off with. Most of us did not eat the oysters and the appetizers were just ok. We were also given a delicious olive tapenade with our roll. We each received 1 roll and you were not able to get more bread at all even if you wanted to pay for it. This was just wrong!! Also you could not get a salad and in the past a salad was served with our meal at the Oaks...so this was surprising. But it looks like this has changed on their menu. Anyway we had a nice table by the window which we requested when making our reservations. I had the rib steak, mashed potatoes and yorkshire pudding. The steak and potatoes were good but the yorkshire pudding was awful. It was hard and tasteless. Two of our friends got the 14 oz grilled pork chop and both said it was very good. My husband got the shrimp scampi with 6 colossal shrimp and bucatini. However he only got 5 shrimp. It was busy and he just did not want to address the issue. He said it was just ok. Another friend got the manicotti crepes and they were not good. They were totally burnt. I felt really bad for her as we all thought she should send them back. But again it was very busy and she did not want to wait for another meal as we had already waited a while. Finally another friend ordered the whitefish with the Maryland style crab cake and said it was very good. The two desserts we ordered were the baked alaska and cheesecake. The cheesecake was good but the baked alaska was just ok and not worth the cost. I do recommend the Oaks Lakeside however, I would not go here again on a busy holiday night. I will wait and go back in the summer where I can sit outside and enjoy the view of the lake. I completely forgot to take the pics of our meal...but did get the appetizers and some of the decorations. Oh and we did get a small glass of champagne with...

My son who is 18 and still in high school, saved his money to take his girlfriend to a fine dining restaurant for Valentine's day. He was so excited to plan this special night and could not wait to surprise her. He knew they had a special menu that was $175 for two people and 3 courses. They had reservations at 8:30. When they arrived they were told they were running behind and it would be a little bit of a wait. No big deal. Over an hour later they were finally taken to their table, and waited again for a server to come over. My son was texting me letting me know about this inconvenience, and how embarrassing it was for him because he wanted this night to be so special. I knew he is such a nice young man and would not say anything to management about this inconvenience, so I called the restaurant. The manager was very receptive and polite on the phone and told me she would take care of it. A couple minutes later my son texted me and told me they gave him a $50 gift card for dinner. Wow! They did take care of it. My son was happy and they went on to order off the dinner for two menu. He texted me again, "Mom they are out of everything. " He was looking forward to a nice steak, but ended up ordering the prime rib and his girlfriend got the shrimp. Then they waited, again. 1 hour later they still had not received any food, not even their salads. and he texted me again to tell me the restaurant was completely empty. It was 10:45 at this time. They were starved, tired, and just wanted to leave. I told him to ask for a manager, give the gift card back and tell them you guys need to leave it's been to long of a wait. They did leave but they told him to keep the gift card, although I am sure after this night they won't be back. They had McDonald's for their Valentine's dinner and my son left feeling terrible that the special night he planned for his girlfriend was ruined. So...