The Creag at McLemore Resort — Restaurant in LaFayette

We were a party of six & 2 of the couples drove over an hour for this visit. My husband & I arrived early & asked the bartender if we could have drinks on the patio. She told us to seat ourselves & she'd bring out drink menus. After waiting over 5 minutes for menus that never appeared, he went back to the bar & ordered a Hendricks martini. The menu price was $13 & he expected an upcharge for Hendricks. The bill BEFORE tip was $22, which is the biggest upcharge I've seen before & wouldn't have been so offensive if the pour had at least been generous. Our party arrived & we were seated promptly. We waited so long for our server to greet us that I almost got up to ask the hostess if there was a server assigned to our table. Finally, we were greeted but with no apology for the long wait, however, I was willing to overlook it because she was friendly enough. We offered to give her our whole order at once if that would be helpful & she seemed to like that idea. We placed our entire order & she left the table to put our drink order in, or so I assumed. We finished our appetizers (which arrived promptly & were tasty) but still no drinks. Several minutes later, a member of our party went to the bar & asked for an ETA & after 5 more minutes, drinks finally arrived. Our party was still in a good mood & hoping for the best because it was a beautiful evening. There was a wedding party outside but they were dining buffet style & the restaurant wasn't overwhelmed. Our table finished the 1st round of drinks & never asked if we wanted another round. Also, our water glasses were never filled again. I got a water pitcher myself & brought it back to the table. At this point, another member of our party found the floor manager to let her know we'd been waiting for dinner for over an hour & were very frustrated. During this time, we'd watched our sever have a lengthy visit with the hostess & wait on other tables. We were seated in the middle of the restaurant, so it wasn't an out-of-sight out-of-mind issue. The manager must have said something to her & she came back to the table, at which time, my husband in a very nice but honest way expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of concern for our party. He mentioned that she had never stopped & asked if we wanted another round of drinks & she responded with, "I'm here now" She was combative & not apologetic at all. It was upsetting enough that a member of our party got up & left the table so as to not become more angry. She said she was going back in the kitchen to check on our food so she could "deliver it myself" Well, thank you princess. We never saw her again. Finally, Steve the GM came to our table to express his concern & let us know he genuinely wanted to hear our story. He was friendly & listened intently & seemed to really appreciate when my husband told him how, at each point, the ball had been dropped & how the night could have been saved. This was a very generous gesture on my husband's part, to give specific pointers on how to elevate service when our night had been such a disappointment. I told the GM I was certain our entrees hadn't been ordered yet & they were scrambling to get them made & plated. He said, "you're probably not wrong" He offered to buy us another round of drinks but at that point we had already decided to leave & go to Lookout Mountain Pizza. We were on the sidewalk & Steve came out & said our dinners were ready. We had no interest in going back inside as we'd already been there for almost 2 hours. At this point, he offered us a gift certificate to come back but it was too little too late. I won't mention the server by name because she wasn't the only one who failed that evening. It was a failure on the part of the entire staff. I saw no teamwork, no sense of urgency, no desire to do a good job & no awareness of what was going on or what's needed for a successful night of service. When 6 people are sitting in the middle of a restaurant with their heads swiveling looking for help & the staff is going out of their way not to notice, that is a...

First and foremost the view from the restaurant is stunning, and the patio is great. What's equally as stunning is how pedestrian, and poorly executed the food is despite the fact of how badly it wants to be pretentious. This place is trying way too hard to be something it's not. Let's start with the dreadful appetizers our table had to endure with one exception, the hushpuppies. They were average at best, but the best of what we had unfortunately. The sauce that came with the overcooked hushpuppies was good , which is why it was our best appetizer by far. The cornbread is a must miss!!! Do NOT order this unless you hate yourself. It was flavorless and dry like 80 grit sandpaper. We tried to slather it with butter, however even the butter was flavorless also which seems impossible, yet they pulled it off effortlessly, kudos for that! The burnt ends, ohhh the burnt ends. At first glance I thought this might be a winner, but then reality set in and my taste buds were overwhelmed with a sodium bomb that had vast similarities to what lazy hunters use to lure in hapless deer out in the wild...salt lick city!! Now, on to the Trout Dip in our wonderful journey of mediocrity at the Creag. This can't be made fresh , and must arrive frozen from either a second rate Scandinavian country or Flint, Michigan. Either way I'm not quite sure how anyone can think this dish has any flavor whatsoever, stunning to be honest. The crackers that were served with this dish though were actually good, and I cherished every bite, but was fairly certain that they probably weren't actually made in this kitchen because they did have flavor. At this point I had tapped out, and couldn't venture on with this whimsical culinary journey any further. I sat in awe as my friends battled on to find anything of worth on this menu, and for the most part they didn't. The fries were pretty good one of them uttered...success at last!!! The tragic part of that statement was that it came at the expense of a cold Ribeye steak. I won't continue on reviewing my other 2 colleagues meals because it just seems like I'm piling on at this point to what was a really bad night by the kitchen. The exception was a pretty decent house salad one of them had, and for that we were thankful. The decor is beautiful , and it really could be a wonderful little place to eat if they just served straightforward, solidly executed food with flavor. I honestly felt bad for our server (She was sweet) We tipped her quite well because she absolutely deserved it for having to endure whatever internal struggles were going on in the kitchen last night. This, by all means should be a 1 star review , but I do understand kitchens have bad nights , and because our sever was so sweet, I reluctantly gave it a 2. Word to the wise after reading this...no matter how much they tell you the cornbread is good, it's a completely false statement, and that dish should be removed...

We were intrigued by the Creag's advertising all over social media and decided to give it a try. From our location in Cleveland, TN, that amounts to about an hour and 20 minute drive to Rising Fawn, GA, atop Lookout Mountain. The setting is gorgeous. The Creag is located inside the McLemore Club, a gated golf community that is still in development. The young lady at the gate gave us clear instructions to the restaurant (it's in the Clubhouse at the end of the road) and we found it easily. She told us to park behind the clubhouse. Only problem, the lot was full. As was the lot across the street. Fortunately, we noticed a car pulling out of that lot (he was finished with his 18 holes) and pulled in. We were welcomed to the restaurant and seated immediately. They had our favorite wine, we both ordered a glass, and surrounded by the beautiful scenery, settled in for what we hoped would be a wonderful lunch. The appetizer did not disappoint: Pimento Cheese Hush Puppies. The outside was crunchy and the inside was moist and flavorful with just enough tang from the pimento cheese. The dish was enough for both of us to share. For the main course I had fish and chips, and my wife had the burger. Both of us had the fries, which our server gushed over, saying they were hand cut from whole potatoes, and "spectacular". For the fish and chips, I got three nice sized pieces, with an ample helping of fries. The fish was hot, flaky, and cooked perfectly. The batter had a nice hint of ale, but was very soft, with no crunch. (Incidentally, I only ate two pieces of the fish, took the third one home and warmed it in the air fryer, where it crisped up perfectly). I thought the fries were decent, but not "spectacular". My wife had the Mclemore Burger, which she said was good, but not the best burger she'd ever had. She agreed with me on the fries. I can't say enough about the service, and the view is beautiful. But if I'm going to drive for 90 minutes to eat, I expect the food to be worth the drive. On this trip it was not, which is disappointing because I really want to...