Carson's Woodside Tavern — Restaurant in Town of Malta

Usually busy, so we wanted to check it put. Just another, more expensive Applebee's. Arrived @ like 7pm on a Sat night in Oct, and the band was already done playing for the night? Bummer. Do not understand that?? We were seated in the outer patio area, which is all glass, so I was freezing 🥶. In retrospect, wish we'd sat inside, where it's warmer. Anyway, burgers were ok, very rich..but it was cooked rare, like I requested, and so I give them props for that!

This is a restaurant for families, or large crowds...wanting a lively atmosphere. Not 4 those looking for a relaxing or romantic date night, where you're able to easily conversate.

It was over $100, for 2 burgers, 2 small glasses of wine, 1 ice tea and 1 dessert.

Side Note- most lakeside locals agree that it is deplorable how the hillside was clear cut for this restaurants lake view! From an ecological perspective, it is 😔 just sad. And we wonder why there is an algae bloom? That's Saratoga for you allowing such... Update: to address owners response of confusion: There are no time constraints on leaving reviews. Some people are simply busy, period.

As for "locals" not liking the view of the lake? It is not about the vantage From your restaurant, but rather the view from the Lake, Up At your restaurant... which btw sticks out like a sore thumb. (I'll upload a pic this summer). Now the landscape is barren and marred by the clear cutting of hundreds of trees. This is partly the reason for why the lake has an algae bloom. Saratoga Lakes water quality has been seriously compromised by over development, and the removal of trees. Especially in the last 5-10 yrs. If you researched the problem, you would find that blooms in large part are caused by the removal of trees! This causes polluted runoff to drain into the lake, that trees normally stop and filter. It's not only your restaurant, but also the construction of many new homes all around the hillsides of the lake. Many of our lakeside ("locals") neighbors now have flooding problems in their homes bcuz of this out of control (hillside) development. Bcuz of the flooding, & mud slides, many have sold their long time homes, (only to be turned into VRBO's, that's another big growing problem). It's the political arena that is responsible for the pollution and over development. Lake George no longer allows any removal of trees from around the lake or hillsides. SL could learn a lot from their policies to protect the environment and lake. Sure, people from the restaurants perspective (& you) love the view. Not vice-versa. And again not from an ecological stance either! In 2015 when you purchased the restaurant, you blatantly stated that you would be removing trees to open up the view. Simple Google search shows articles. I suppose you had no idea of the environmental impact of such? Just financial. However, when the lake is so grotesquely polluted,unswimmable and smells like a bog of stench, what's going to happen to property...

After a few weeks of waiting, and the phone lines now fixed, I was able to get through to Carson's to place of pickup order. I've been highly anticipating placing an order with this place ever since reading the menu online, and I'm pleased to say everything turned out as good as I had hoped.

My order was for an appetizer portion of the Beer Battered Onion Rings and a Chipotle Chicken Wrap sans the Tomatoes with the Beer Battered French Fries. The onion rings were phenomenal, and went super well with the Cajun remoulade that is included. So darn good, and I do love me some onion rings. The wrap was also pretty wonderful, it held together really well, the chicken was slightly blackened and a nice hit of spice from the chipotle sauce. The fries were a little on the softer side compared to what I enjoy, and the pickle was way saltier than I was expecting. But, I was very satisfied with everything. Bare in mind I do have to travel 30+ minutes to get home from here, so the food was a little on the cooler side, but that's a me problem.

Placing the order was a little cumbersome, as you can't place orders online, only over the phone, and only around 20 minutes before you want to pick it up. So if you do want to do pickup, I suggest waiting until the last second when you're 20 minutes out to put the order in.

Picking up the order was easy, but did take a little bit. I had to wait for the bartender to see to all the bar patrons as well as a party that came in a couple seconds before me to place some drink orders for a birthday party. I'm fine waiting, but it was clear that the bartender was a little run thin seeing to everything. I'd suggest having a more dedicated area for pickups, and maybe assign one of the staff to check the area occasionally for patrons waiting to pickup to avoid stressing the bartender out.

Overall this was an A list meal and it might have been even better had I been dinning in, ordering and pickup were a tiny bit of a hassle, and I think this will be a location I return to in the future someday for...

I so wanted to like this place and have been there several times over the years but tonight's experience was the final disappointment. If you are looking for good views (in the summer on the patio), decent cocktails and average music, this is the place to go. However I have never had a meal there that has wow'd me. Saying it's average food is being generous. Overly greasy, overly cooked and basic 'heat and serve' restaurant supply store meals is how it comes across. Not worth the price.

It's the service (or lack there of) and the restaurant policies that are the low point. Anyone who is going as a large party should go somewhere else. They don't take reservations and at least half your party has to be there to be seated.

The staff are disorganized. It took 5 different people who changed their minds 4 times to seat a party of 15. I understand this was a big party which can be a challenge, but we got there at 4:45 and the restaurant was mostly empty. And remember they don't take reservations so they weren't held for anyone. They finally seated us, but at 2 different tables. This was a birthday party. (Not mine. It was someone elses choice.) They took our order all at once but then delivered half our food, then the other half 15 minutes later, and it was cold. All the while there were 4 staff hanging out at the hostess station chatting. We were told it was delivered this way because we were put in as 2 different tables. Surprisingly our check came all as one table.

Just not a place I can recommend for a meal. Like I said drinks outside listening to music and looking at the lake, then you're all set.

Edit to add the owner's response to this review demonstrates the culture of this restaurant. It explains a lot about the customer service. No restaurant is expected to be perfect, but they are expected to take feedback and attempt to make improvements. Or apologize for possibly catching them...