Mariner's Lakefront Restaurant — Restaurant in Natchitoches

My husband and I were looking forward to an amazing meal, and we were prepared to spend the money. Between the two of us, we ordered sweet tea, 1 dozen raw oysters, lump crab and corn bisque, the salad with mandarin oranges/red onion/pecans/bacon/poppyseed dressing, the 7 oz filet with lobster tail which came with a salad (one for each of us), French 75s, the Watermelon Sugar cocktail, and mass-produced beer. First, the pros. Mariners sits right on the banks of Sibley Lake, and the views are gorgeous. They keep a section nicely mowed next to the restaurant, and you can walk by the water's edge or take pictures with your sweetie/family. The restaurant is nicely put together, appears very clean, and has nice restrooms. The service is amazing. Our waitress was very friendly and on top of everything. It appeared all the other diners were receiving equally good service from the other servers, of which there were many. There are 3 outdoor levels: the lowest right on the water's edge, the second a few feet above the water's edge, and the top is on ground level. The top is handicapped accessible with the same great views. The inside is pretty, but we spent little time in there, so I can't say too much about it, though I did spot the bar and 2 large dining areas. There's a cool looking, glass-sided outdoor fireplace on the second outdoor level, and it was just a few feet from us. The sweet tea was excellent, the French 75s were really well made, the beer was as expected, the house salads were good and generously sized, but the unnamed salad with "fresh greens, mandarin oranges, pecans, red onion, bacon, and lemon poppyseed dressing" stole the show. It was hands-down one of the best salads I've ever had. Now, for the cons. The aforementioned fireplace was very good at its job. Why it was turned on with it being as warm as it was is beyond me. While pretty, when the wind blew the right way (or wrong way, in this case), it was HOT as all get out. My husband sat with his back to it, and he said his back stayed hot the whole time. The raw oysters were a toss-up. 3 of them were discarded because they tasted off. The Watermelon Sugar Cocktail was supposed to contain the following ingredients: "watermelon vodka, basil simple, watermelon puree, agave, sugar". It tasted like watermelon kool-aid and was revolting. That "cocktail" could've been sold at any kool-aid stand, and the kids would've been perfectly sober. The bisque was truly awful. There was seasoning in it, but not much and no salt at all. The bisque mostly tasted like corn. I could feel the crab in my mouth, but it had no flavor. The texture was also granular and clotted looking. I don't know if the mixture broke or if it was a powdered base to start with, but I suspect a powdered base with the granular feel. Now, for the steaks. Let's have a moment of silence for the poor steer that gave its life for those steaks. I could've gone to any grocery store, bought the worst steaks they have, and had a better product than these steaks. We ordered medium (me) and med-rare filets. The steaks came out looking scary. They were misshappened and looked unappetizing. The med-rare came out almost well done, and the medium was med-well. Cutting into them, or attempting to, was literally like cutting through leather. The second atrocity was the lobsters. The lobsters probably led a decent life- until they didn't. They were happy eating their food, fighting over territory, and squabbling over mates; until one day, an enterprising lobsterman, who was just trying to pay his bills and support his family, snatched them from the depths of the ocean. But things weren't all that bad yet. YET. They worked their way down to Mariners and that's where it got ugly. Their lives were sacrificed to make, you guessed it, lobster leather. Even with a fork and a knife, their leathery little corpses could not be forced from their exoskeletons. Kudos to the manager who stayed professional with my hangry husband and asked for feedback on what could be improved. Still, we wouldn't recommend...

First I will say that our overall experience was quite good and our food for the most part was of good quality. I will touch a number of things that I see as Short Cummings in a new high end restaurant. The very first thing I noticed was that our waiters black server apron was dirty, very dirty this is not something you expect to see in a fine dining room. The second thing I noticed was that four of our five very small side plates were not clean. Our server was very friendly almost too friendly! As he came to our table twice to ask how everything was and how we were doing before we received our food… My daughter had The waffles and ice cream, the ice cream looked like ice cream soup with a soft scoop of ice cream in it, and the bowl wasn’t chilled whatsoever, Which is what I expect in fine dining! The whip cream on the waffles was not firm, kitchen mistake, so it didn’t stand up And was just running down them, once again not something you expect in high end higher priced dining. My son ordered the fresh fruit cup which was warm, fruit for me should always be served crisp and cold. My wife’s seafood platter was fairly tasty but once again I find myself at a restaurant that serves an entire plate of seafood without even a single wedge of lemon, which just seems strange to me, a little dash of lemon on your shrimp and fish makes it exponentially better! I don’t like menus that have prices scratched out then written in again by hand, once again especially in a high-end restaurant. I also don’t like when menu items are not available and specials have been put in their place and you were not notified that by your server when you sat down, instead you find out when you try to place your order and are told that’s not available today! Once again not expected in fine dining service! The outside space has been spruced up but It’s not clean too many cobwebs and dirty corners that just need to be cleaned up. There was trash all over the parking lot beer bottles cans plastic bottles napkins some right at the walkway to the front door! For the last time, Not really what do you expect at your fine dining restaurant! So to wrap this up yes we had a fairly good time, but I think the prices are a little too high and the plates are a little too clunky, I would also like to see descriptions of the food on the menu, my daughter nearly ordered the Burger And found at the last second it came with a fried egg on it which she absolutely didn’t want! There is also Beag eggs on the menu? With no description! This doesn’t help the ordering process it hinders it! And you won’t find out what beag eggs are if...

This is a beautiful location. We grabbed some (soft) drinks from the bar and sat outside to enjoy the evening whilst we waited for the rest of our party. Once we got inside and were seated, our outside drinks were removed and we had to order (and pay for) new ones. It's a bit petty, but it was a jarring note. Once we were seated and (new) drinks were served, we were promptly forgotten about. Eventually one of the senior staff noticed we had been sitting for a while and asked if anyone was looking after us. A waiter was duly assigned, and for a classy restaurant he was a strange man: It was rather hard to hear what he was saying over the toothpick he was furiously chewing the whole time. The food selection was odd too: There was no option on the menu to order sides, and the waiter didn't ask, so when the meals arrived and were basically meat or fish with no rice, grits, potatoes or vegetables, it was a bit of a suprise and the meals felt rather unbalanced. Two of the party ordered dessert: The bread pudding was so sweet it was nearly inedible, but the key lime pie was good. Our waiter emphasized his oddness when he cheerfully took orders for espresso and cappuccino before returning after five minutes to apologise that the restaurant didn't have an espresso machine. This was obviously something of a surprise to him! I was really looking forward to this evening and it was a bit of a disappointment - I won't be hooking back...