Jake's on the Water — Restaurant in Town of Pierrepont

So, 1st of all.. My wife & I are well traveled and well versed in cuisine... We don't eat out much in the North Country because honestly there isn't much that is worth the cost vs. just cooking at home. We haven't eaten at Jake's in a while because the last time we went, it simply wasn't worth the $$ and its about a 25 minute drive from home for us anyways. Hat was pre-covid...Tonight (8-31-25), We decided to give it another shot based on friends recent experiences. We called and got an early dinner table at 4:15.. I'll keep this as short as possible, beautiful views & atmosphere over the water with light music/ambience that's excellent. Our server was excellent, ran through the dinner specials that evening, one of which was a local walleye filet for $30, and a red snapper filet for $15. Now I've had red snapper all throughout the east coast and Florida, I assumed for $15 it was a single filet dinner special, not the entire fish like I'm accustomed to from our travels, but perfectly fine for a special. I wanted the walleye, i ordered the snapper because of the $15 price listed on the dinner special sheet we were handed. The server also verbally listed the snapper to us as a "special"... Apps came, delightful... Food came, wife's chicken was great, my snapper was good, a little dry, but solid for nny... more drinks came, delightful. Beautiful low 70s late August evening on the water. Our bill comes, at 1st glance it appeared a little high but we were vibing to the music and finishing our drinks and about 20 minutes later I noticed the server hadn't been back to take my card. I saw it's a QR code checkout anyways, totally fine, thats when I noticed the bill was about $40ish too high, The snapper was rang in at $45, not $15, plus the extra taxes on the upcharge... My phone was dead so I had to go up to the register anyways to checkout, no worries I thought, simple error, easy fix. I explained to them at the front desk what happened, she said no problem let me fix that for you, comes back 2 minutes later and explains there was a typo on the dinner specials list and the snapper was indeed was $45, not $15 as it was printed. Ok... I'm not one to argue over human error, it was indeed a rip off @$45 for one filet of red snapper but we're also in Northern NY, it's hard to source up here. I explain nicely that I'd have ordered the walleye if I had known I was paying $45 for a snapper filet, I ask they discount it to $30 & I'm happy, it was 100% their error as they admitted already... That's fair I say... They look at me and say I'll need to wait 5 minutes for the manager to get off the phone and I could discuss it with them... Now imo, that's the most asinine response I could ever think of... They admitted the fish was priced at $15 as a dinner special, and refused to even comp the very logical solution I asked for... It's 630 on a Sunday evening, the restaurant is packed, I'm not holding up people over their error. I politely say just let me checkout then if that's your policy, there was a line of 5 people waiting, the young lady was stressed already, we could tell she had already been told by a manager to use that BS excuse/line.. We tipped our server well, & we will not be back. I hope they enjoy the 1 star review & learn how to treat customers properly. This falls on management, not the servers. Make sure you double check the prices on the specials...

This is the second time this year we have had poor service and a bad experience with the food. Back in February we went on a Friday night for my husband’s birthday and it was understandably busy. However our second round of drinks was never brought to us, nor the condiments we asked for. Once the food was dropped no one came back to us until the waitress brought us the bill, which included the drinks that were never served (she did end up taking them off the bill for us, of course). We ate our entire meal without anything to drink with it. They never even came to refill water.

Today we went around lunch time hoping to get a simple burger and cocktail, but it was only brunch items available. I ordered the only burger option they had, and it came with so many items on it (corned beef hash, egg, cheese) that it couldn’t be eaten as a burger. The waitress never asked me how I wanted the burger cooked so I assumed it was only cooked one way, but it came to me medium, almost medium-rare, and I couldn’t eat it as it was so pink. I wish she would’ve asked as I try not to be a pain to waitstaff with too many requests and I didn’t know if there were any other options. I ended up just taking the entire burger home so I could at least give the meat to the dog (for a $21 burger someone’s going to eat it).

Then when I ordered my mixed drink, she asked me “is specific name brand of rum ok?” And I said yes, again not wanting to be a pain and assuming that was just the brand it was made with. Then I got the bill and noticed that she charged me an additional $2 on top of the cost of the drink for requesting the “premium upgrade” (that’s what the bill called it) on the liquor. I specifically told her when she went to run my card that that way she asked me if the certain brand of liquor was ok implied that it was made that way and her tactics to add a few bucks extra to our bill were sneaky and unappreciated. I also asked her the price of the “burger” (if you can even call it that) and the price she told me was less than what I was actually charged. It was only about a dollar or so though so I didn’t want to make a fuss.

All in all the service and food really aren’t that great for how expensive this place is and the waitstaff uses shady sales tactics to get you to spend more so they get higher tip percentages. I don’t trust this place anymore and won’t be going back and I will no longer be recommending it to my out of town colleagues when they come into town for work.

Edited in response to the owners review. Thank you for clarifying that all drinks are made with well rum, I had assumed as much when making my order. But when the server asked me “is Bacardi ok?”, this implied that this special brunch item was made automatically with Barcardi. Not having an actual preference on what rum was used I didn’t see a need for the staff to make substitutions, so I said ”that’s fine”. If all drinks are made with well liquor, then I should have been asked if I was interested in upgrading from well to Bacardi. I was made to believe that was my only option and was charged an upgrade fee. I think your servers are trained...

Jake's on the Water is the best restaurant the Canton/Potsdam area has to offer. That said, I do have a few gripes, but I will get to those in due time.

Their dynamic menu is the primary way Jake's sets themselves above the crowd. The menu changes somewhat seasonally, which I love, and on top of that there are a host of daily specials as well. There are always classics included, but alongside are creative new dishes and fresh takes on obscure or novel items. The burger is there, but so too is the Kung Pao Cauliflower and the Head Cheese. You can get a big traditional entree like The Pork Chop Experience or split four small plates with a friend to get a myriad of flavors and textures.

While many restaurants don't have a good answer to the patron with a special diet, Jake's is always prepared. Gluten free items are well labeled on the menu, and there are always good vegetarian and vegan items featured. Several visits back my wife happened to be on an extremely restrictive diet and the kitchen at Jake's had no problem rolling with the punches and serving her a tasty meal that fit her needs.

The service tends to be good, as does the ambiance. We usually go very early in the evening so I can't really speak to wait times as we beat the crowd--typically it is a little busy but certainly not packed. Another plus: the menu is loaded with house made items and local foods--the Canadian bacon, mozzarella, beets, cider, coffee, beef, bread, etc. etc. etc. Jake's is also extremely active online and in social media so any requests and/or concerns can be easily and actively addressed.

Now to the gripes. As I said, this is my favorite local restaurant but if I'm going to write a 42 page review I might as well go all in!

The maple butter! Give me a nice, creamy, salted butter to slather on the crusty bread please. Maybe I am in the minority here, but I just don't care for the flavor or texture of the maple butter, and it sets the tone of the meal all wrong.

We love the Rhode Island Calamari, but it always seems to need a little more of the chili peppers and lots more aioli. Gimme the sauce!

Finally, and this may well be an unpopular opinion too, I wish the menu would change up even a little more frequently. Looking at the brunch menu, for instance, it seems like a fairly high proportion of the items just stick there month after month. I am guessing some of that stuff is just very popular (and I know it's good stuff!) and the Chef doesn't want to mix it up or doesn't think customers would accept the change. However, I feel one of Jake's biggest strengths is showing us something new and I wish they would push that a little more and keep things fresh.

Regardless of these slight issues, I will keep coming back. Keep up the good work, and thanks for...