Lavender Lake — Restaurant in New York

Lavander lake is a beautiful venue.  I love the backyard area and over all the decor inside is great.  The food is pretty good too.

The reason for my rating is due to either the chef or the managers incompetence.  This past Wednesday I came with two of my friend for food after the beach.  After ordering drinks we all ordered the chicken sandwich on their menu.  I thought to add cheese to my sandwich.  One of my friends thought that was a great idea and asked for cheese to be put on hers too.  Shortly after the waitress (who was great and sweet) returned saying they couldn't put cheese on our sandwiches.  When I asked why, being that the menu had many items that had cheese and whether it was the chef's urgency that the sandwich not be eaten with cheese.  The waitress explained that is wasn't some sort of "no, no" for the dish but rather they were concerned about Thier "count" or inventory.

I immediately exclaimed "how much do I have to pay for this slice of cheese on my sandwich"  the waitress stammered and then I said "would they refuse $5 for a slice of cheese??"  The waitress left and came back and said ok we will do it but it will be $5.

I didn't expect them to have bad form and actually charge me a whole $5 extra for the slice of cheese.  Maybe up charge me $2 or $2.50.  But these greedy people had the nerve and gull to have such bad form as to actually charge me the full $5.  Now I tell you I'm not angry. Nor do I regret it.  That cheese on my sandwich was amazing.  They underestimated my love for cheese.  But also forgot the power of one's review in our day and age.

This is my first one star review.  Whomever had a chuckle or laugh thinking they took me for a fool or got their silly way....uh huh.  It cost them much more I believe and I still enjoyed my sandwich.  I hope he or she can swallow this 1 star just as pleasantly.

PS- we appropriately still tipped our sweet waitress %20 and the sandwich was about $10 if anyone...

We had our wedding reception of about 90 people here on 9/27/25 and could not have dreamt of a better experience.

The staff is INCREDIBLE. All of our family that came early to set up kept talking about how kind and accommodating everyone was. For the event itself, we know that a lot goes in to making it as smooth as they did. ESPECIALLY when navigating the dance floor and that many people!

The food?? Just a few of the things we heard from our guests: “I’ve never had brussel sprouts that tasted this good”, “this is hands down the best food I’ve ever had at a wedding”, “how many black beans sliders is too many black bean sliders? Because I’m not even vegetarian and I’ve already eaten 3”, “this salad dressing is CRAZY. I want to drink it”, “I don’t even like seafood but this shrimp is bangin”, “this Mac and cheese is incredible”.

The space!! So perfectly laid out to allow for varying social exchanges and it encourages mingling. Spacious, well decorated, clean. Perfect. “This place is so cool!!” “I’m obsessed with this bar” “I love the indoor/outdoor aspect”. They have a disco ball with lights, projector, digital photo booth, and varied seating from bar stools and chairs to comfy couches! Our DJ (DJ NACHT NURSE) was able to hook up her turn tables with ease as well.

The planning process was as easy as could be. Mandy and her team were quick with responses to all of my emails leading up to the day, and made sure we were on the same page for the event order the week of.

Book your next event or pop in for dinner and drinks- this place is everything you could...

The proliferation of gastropubs has, at least in my book, been a net positive for the combined eating drinking experience; adding improvements to the prototypical bar food and bringing better alcohol and cocktails to normal restaurant menus. Unfortunately, Lavender Lake generally fails this trend, as the meal I had was a massive disappointment.

When we arrived at Lavender Lake, we were recommended to start off with the Brussels sprouts for an appetizer. This was the highlight of the meal, as the entree I ordered was a disappointment. Wanting to see what their burger . However when it came out, the first bite was unpalatable, and the subsequent ones did not improve. While I had asked for the burger done medium, the entire burger was charred to a near unrecognizable crisp, making every bite drier than a trip thru the Sahara desert. A quick survey of the table revealed that everyone else's burgers also tasted like they had fallen right off the grill and left in the fire to char to a crisp.

Overall the seating is better for small groups, as our party of ten was seated at the only long table they had which was divided by an intrusive support beam, making conversation with the entire table difficult without having to get up and walk around to the other side...