Lakeside Bistro — Restaurant in Soap Lake

What has been a standard for over 30 years is now a shell of its former self. I have eaten at the former Don's for over 30 years, really. You got used to the salty wait staff, slow service but the food always shined and didn't buck an expectation. New ownership has trashed a classic campy menu and turned it into a more expensive, at least 25-40% for steak or beef, less creative list of options for your meal. The price of the steaks was so expensive I settled for fish and chips with a side salad. To their credit the fries were hot but the fish was three pieces of previously frozen, uniform shapes that looked like Jojo potato wedges from a convenience store. Flavor was mild and not fishy so that was okay IF they had been delivered hot. Fries hot, fish NOT. The side salad was pretty sad as I ordered a Caesar and it came out in a tiny bowl with chopped up mixed greens, no sign of romaine, with some form of buttermilk dressing, parmesan cheese shavings that bore no resemblance to a Caesar. No taste of lemon, garlic, hot sauce, pepper, etc... nothing. If your are going to wing it at least try and be somewhat creative in attempting to make a Caesar. I wish I had thought to bring a scale as the Prime Rib was cut so thin I swear you could hold it up to you a light and see right through it. Not a good thing. One third of our party got their dinner served and the last few of our party got served their dinner after the first served were done eating. Not a good thing, again. There is a logical order to prep and fire food and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to have a table all served their entrees at the same time. Apparently, they need some basic training here before things get out of hand. It doesn't look like this will be around in a year or two and should die a slow painful death that took what was a great place and turned it into a place I doubt I will go back to. Even more painful because it was the one place in Soap Lake the you could count on year after year for a solid dinner....

We went for their Sunday brunch. Our first clue should have been the lack of cars parked out front.

It is buffet style, and even though we arrived in the middle of their hours, noon specifically, the food was barely luke warm. The bacon was soaking in grease, as was the sausage. The loaded eggs were 'ok'. The potatoes were cold. The eggs Benedict was on a very badly burned English muffin. The meatballs weren't bad as the sauce had done a better job of holding the heat and keeping the food from cooling.

I am a huge fan of cinnamon rolls, so I was looking forward to that signature item. It was good, and maybe didn't get a fair shake since it followed so much other bad food.

Vast majority of the food on the plate was left uneaten, same with my wife.

Hard to imagine a scenario where we would try this...

This is an amazingly trendy place a gem.The BBQ shrimp is excellent fresh definitely they still have the heads on them! There is so much flavor. The walnut salmon salad is fabulous. Fresh local greens house made cumin dressing. Very refreshing and light. Excellent for the hot summer days. The salmon is always fresh and cooked perfect. Cocktails from the bar are all made from scratch with fresh ingredients. The black moijto is excellent! Service is top notch; attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable. A very welcoming friendly place to spend...