Lakeside Tavern — Restaurant in Tennessee

I hate to leave this review because I love this place and have been coming here for years, but I drove 45 minutes for a special occasion with 3 friends that I never get to see and our dinner experience was not great. Our dinner was planned for 7 pm, I was running late so I told my friends to order without me and I would catch up. I arrived at 7:30 and ordered a salad so that it wouldn’t take long to prepare and I ordered a pasta dish to go but told the waiter no rush on my food since I ordered separately. Our food came out quickly and was good, that is not the complaint. My complaint is that by 8:00 the staff is vacuuming and closing up for the night and we are barely started with our meal. They cut the heat on the patio and the girls and I are shivering while eating our food. The staff members gathered at the card reader with their coats on jingling their keys. One staff member had a suction cup toy and was popping it on and off the door frame four feet from our table as we all stared at each other for a solid two minutes because we couldn’t talk over the noise. They are loudly talking about leaving and the things they needed to do in the morning. At 8:30 they sat a family of 6 two tables down from us. We googled the closing time to see if we were overstaying our welcome. Closing time was 9 pm. I walked to the restroom before leaving (8:40ish) and 3+ staff members were sitting in separate booths with their jackets on. There were still plenty of tables with families eating. Don’t get me wrong, the staff was nice and took care of us. But we felt like a burden and super rushed. Part of the dining experience is visiting and feeling relaxed. Where I work, we don’t start cleaning until closing time. This group of friends and I choose this place each time (for 6 years) because it’s a center point since we live far from each other, but we probably won’t come back. If you want to leave by 9, don’t have your closing time listed as 9. I know you’re young and you just want to leave work, but we’re moms and we never get to do anything for ourselves and we just wanted to hang out with our friends at a nice restaurant and relax. Again, staff was friendly, but the vibe was very GTFO. I...

This place is such a hit or miss, i live close so i come 3-4 times a month. Some days its GREAT! Others its literally like tgi fridays. Tonight was unfortunately one of those nights. We waited about 30minutes at the table for the check after we asked for it. Food was not great at all tonight. But some days its great. I guess it all depends on who is cooking that night. I have noticed if i get sat in the big glass room to the right of the building (like closer to the bar) its always awful and something is always wrong with the service but if i sit on the other side its normally delish and exceptional service. We also got charged for 2 adult ribs tonight when it was 2 kids ribs😵‍💫 I didnt do the math till i got home but i was thinking while i there the bill was awfully high but after waiting so long for the check i just wanted to sign and get out.

I had a really bad time about 8 years ago when there was glass in my moms salad on her birthday and they tried to gaslight me that it was not glass it was some other kitchen thing that was broken in her salad..it was for sure glass and even if it was something other broken kitchen thing…shards of anything should not be in the food. Nor should i have been made to feel stupid for a mess up in the kitchen. I was mad about this for about 2 years and didnt come back for a while. I never said anything then cause i was passive. But i was not happy they didn’t even comp the salad.

(But thats never happened again) and that was along time ago but my point in saying this long winded story is sometimes its awful sometimes its just okay and sometimes its delish and i dont have a single complaint. Depends day to day… So for the Inconsistentness i give it a 3 star because you just never know what your going to get. The one positive is the view is always beautiful.

Parkside ive never had these inconsistencies with (its their sister Restaurant) i eat there alot cause its close to my work.

Lakeside needs to be a bit...

My friend and I visited Lakeside Tavern for lunch and decided since it was a beautiful day, we would sit on the patio. Let me start by saying seating wise, this restaurant can more than accommodate. They had a private dining area, multiple climate controlled seating areas, as well as a beautiful patio with an interior/exterior fireplace. Walking in, i wasn’t too appeased. There were 4 people standing behind the host stand, from what I could tell it was maybe 2 hosts and two servers. We were not welcomed and 3 of them stared at us while the other played on his phone. We requested to sit on the patio and the hostess that guided us to our table was very sweet and asked us about our day and even asked if the placement was alright. We were almost immediately greeted by our server Allie. Allie has great customer service skills and was very attentive. The only “complaint” I had was she didn’t suggestively sell or didn’t seem to know simple things about the menu like if it was a wood fired, charcoal, or gas fired oven. Other than that, she was amazing and the best part of our experience. The food was pretty good for the most part,we were given bread which was very salty and the butter was plain. the egg rolls were delicious. The chicken pasta was by far my favorite and the burger was a little dry and the presentation wasn’t great. We skipped on alcohol and dessert today, although they do have a full bar. The Server Assistants seemed to be on top of keeping the tables cleaned as well as the floors of the patio and lobby. The restrooms were very clean although a bit hard to find. The only complaint I would have would be the one manager I did see was sitting down eating at a booth eating and playing on his phone. There was plenty of parking, the atmosphere was good, and it was in a beautiful location. I would recommend this restaurant for a great date night or for a personal private event. Thank you for your amazing...