Pine Lodge Steakhouse — Restaurant in Oakland

If Google allowed a "zero stars" rating, I would give it that.

Vacationing on Deep Creek Lake with extended family (a total of 9), and we decided to treat everyone to a steak dinner at Pine Lodge Steakhouse. We had fairly reasonable expectations going in, based on reviews and the assumption that this wasn't going to be a "Ruth's Chris" experience, even though their prices reflect that kind of restaurant. With 4 adults and 5 kids, we knew going in that we were going to spend a lot of money.

Bottom line: we were extremely disappointed by the quality of the service, the food, and the atmosphere.

Our server clearly lacked experience and knowledge of the menu, and couldn't grasp some of the fundamentals of restaurant service. She was very new to the position, so we'll at least excuse her for that.

The food: steaks were overcooked and undersized. Crabcakes (in MARYLAND, mind you) were advertised as "jumbo lump" but were the worst I've ever had. Layering a little lump crabmeat over a mound of filler crabmeat is bordering on unethical. Crinkle-cut fries were likely frozen, out-of-the-bag, and undercooked. Sweet potato casserole should be sweet because it's made of sweet potatoes. Truth is, they tasted as though Sweet-n-Low was added. Very poor. Wine selection is very limited, and what we ordered was like vinegar. We sent it back.

Atmosphere: we were seated in the main dining room, which is on the second floor of the restaurant. Unfortunately, there is a "private" dining room on the same level, but it is private in name only. A very large banquet was taking place in that space (mind you - only a partition separated us from this event). The participants were very loud. They were allowed to use microphones and speakers to amplify remarks, which completely took over the entire level of the restaurant. When we confronted Rhonda, the manager on duty that night, she dismissed our concerns, saying there's nothing to be done about it. When we suggested the banquet was creating a very negative dining experience for us, her response was "I'll pass that along" and walked away. Aren't you the manager, Rhonda? Does that buck not stop with you?

This dining experience was an epic fail. Sometimes you get bad food, other times you get poor service. This place delivered the trifecta of awful dining, with a poor atmosphere to boot. Needless to say, we won't be returning ever again.

Save your money and buy steaks at Arrowhead Market and grill...

Happened to give this place a shot because one of there affiliates' whom we had reservations with for the weekend gave us a 10% off coupon. If you’re looking for a true quality steakhouse experience, this is not the place. Party of 3. We ordered several signature items from the menu and were very dissatisfied with many of our selections. Considering this is a steakhouse, and the costs associated with the menu options, one would expect quality cuts and terrific service, however, they were astonishingly lacking in both flavor and quality.

NY Strip ordered medium well, was over cooked with no Pink. Was tough and grainy. When I mentioned my steak wasn’t cooked right, they only offered to make another, which I declined because the time it would take for that to be remade would mean eating alone with my family because they would be done by the time it arrived. Nothing more was said or done to accommodate for their mistake. This was upsetting considering the overall cost of my steak and options, which came in at a whopping $63. The loaded potato that came with it looked like it was actually prepped hourrrs in advance. Like split open, stuffed with cheese and bacon then sat out until an order came in for it. They then serve it with 2 individual plastic containers of sour cream and butter. So the potato itself seemed dried out and the cheese on it was like crust.

Crab dip was very watery and the tortilla chips served with them seemed stale. *Note this is cheap shredded crab, not lump meat

The pasta in the Mac and Cheese was over cooked, tossed in a flavorless generic cheese sauce, then topped with cheap pickled jalapeños from a jar.

Stuffed Flounder portion was extremely small, like really small. Majorly lacked crab. Entire portion was smaller than a pack of cards. On a bright note it was good, fresh, and the cream sauce was delicious.

The ambiance was also very nice with its rustic cabin-like charm. Lighting was perfect with a few seats affording beautiful views of the lake.

Overall, I would not recommend, and I would not return.

Quality of food needs majorly improved. They should consider revamping their menu and implementing some form of quality control. 2 stars only for the positives mentioned...

Went there on a Saturday night. Made reservations through Google. They had it when we got there.

We started with calamari. It was lightly breaded. They give you marina sauce and soy sauce. The odd part was they brought them out in coffee mugs. It looked like they ran out of any of a dozen other things they could have used and decided to use coffee mugs.

I got the prime rib. The server asked me how I wanted it done. I must have looked confused, majority of the time this is served rare to medium. I told her rare and she explained that some people ask for it well done.

It arrived on a plate, swimming in au jus with a large dollop of compound butter on it. Would have been great, but the au jus was beef base straight out of a jar. So I poured the excess off into the bowl that they had my potatoes in and moved them onto my bread plate. I also got sautéed mushrooms - $2.00 extra. They did not come out on the prime rib. Instead they had their own plate.

My wife got the fillet with bearnaise sauce and it arrived, yes you guessed it, in a coffee mug!

We also got two glasses of wine. She had the house cab sav. She thought it was watery. $8.00. I got an Australian Shiraz, $9, which was good.

The atmosphere was bright. Too bright. For the cost and being billed as a steak house, the lights could have been lower. Made it feel more like a golden corral.

The hostess/ manager ( I wasn't sure what her position was) brought us our check but then did not return to pick it up along with my credit card. We sat for a while and then our server came over and apologized for making us wait. My first thought was why didn't the hostess/ manager come back and get it?

All told we spent $100.00 plus tip. Worth it? Not sure. But they are in line with most of the similar restaurants...