Lake View Family Restaurant and Banquets

Bad food that is ridiculously expensive, service is okay if you want to get randomly cut off after
your first beer. Can’t think of many reasons this place remains in business. If you see it, keep driving.

Nothing beats going out for dinner with friends or family to relax and enjoy a leisurely meal. The Lakeview menu offers something for everyone and the location and atmosphere cannot be beat! The wait staff is always welcoming and although service is not at a fast food pace, it’s cooked to order and delicious every time! I’d share my favorite dish, but then I’d have to choose out of the list of favorites!

Best wings in the world. Very recommended. Nice place to visit, specially in the summer time.

I tried to give this place multiple chances but I just can’t any more. The food is over priced, your basically paying for the view of Coventry Lake (nice) and the well built patio. The menu is often changing (seasonal) and has several restrictions such as: Salmon as an entrée but is not allowed added to a salad, a burger can only be ordered for lunch not dinner, most of the food offered is fried, the wine selection is limited and of poor quality. The staff is often uneducated about the menu and confirms limited menu selection based on lack of staff in the kitchen. I want to really like this place and support this family owned business but you will get more bang for your buck going around the corner to the Bidwell Tavern.

My Uncle and Aunt have been twice a week regulars here for gotta be upwards of 10 years. The Lakeview catered my bachelor party two years ago, and our baby shower two weeks ago. When my Dad and I or my family go for a motorcycle ride we’ve often ended up here for wings.
It’s a family run place. Service is great because as regulars they treat you as family. I can’t recommend this place enough. Oh for food today I got hot honey BBQ wings, delicious as usual! Look at the pic :)

They have a great view of the lake but totally waisted it. The speed of service is very slow even when there are only 3 tables seated (one left halfway). We waited for 30 minute for nachos appetizer. The waitress never refilled the water. Burgers took even longer to come. Overall it took us two and a half hours from sitting down to leaving. NEVER going back again.

Welp, you sure do get a Lake View and that’s great part of the experience. I want to give it a four albeit herein lies my issues. For whatever reason it takes a solid fortnight to get service once seated. There is staff constantly running around but I’m not sure what they’re ever doing. I wonder if they are understaffed most of the time in anticipation for a low show at night. I ordered the chicken parm, I got enough to feed me for the next 17 days which I absolutely loved! But the problem I had is that it seemed like someone in the kitchen was playing a joke on the chef and unscrewed the top of a salt shaker and the result landed on my meal just scraped off. Because holy crow gang I needed about six bottles of water to wash down all that salt!
I really want to give this place a four or five but it needs quicker service, and less salty foods.
The reason it got a three is because they had live music and he was pretty good so I enjoyed that significantly during our dining experience.
The Parking is hit or miss, it seems to be pretty busy all the time so parking is sometimes hard to come by.
I haven’t been inside but they have lots of seating and a large bar that wraps around and looks like a cool place to go on cold nights.
I will be back to try again and am hoping for some improvements in the service and I will update this review as it permits.

Tried it twice dine in and once take out and have not been overly impressed. The chicken wings are okay but I will always much rather go to Bidwell. The atmosphere was boring and the bartenders weren’t overly friendly to anyone that wasn’t a regular. I don’t see us going out of our way to go back

The Gyro was excellent!
Can’t beat the location either. Good casual place to grab a drink and sit on the patio overlooking the lake.

Nice job renovating and expanding the outside dining on the lakeside. Server was very attentive and friendly. The food is hit or miss. Ordered whole belly clams and calamari and the taste was okay. All the fish is fried on the menu and lacks seasoning. So great place for a drink but needs improvement on the food prep.

Great food and great tunes. One man band Matt Pazzo was excellent! Every time we come it is better and better. Looking forward to many visits over the summer.

I have been here several times. Generally I like the place and the food has improved over the years. Today I had the fried smelts with fries. The smelts were great. Lightly batters and fried served really hit of the fryer. They could not have been better. The fries were very good at what they were. Large wedges of potatoes fried till crisp on the outside. However, I like my little skinny fries of fried goodness. Just not a fan of these giant pieces of potato. They were prepared well just not my thing.
People are friendly, service is ok.

I love the ribs. The muscles are the best I have ever had. The owner came to us and asked if we were happy. What nice people. I love the view and the spotless restaurant.
My new favorite place.
Gary.

Very spacious building with plenty of seating outside. The view was okay, the restaurant is at one narrow end that looks at houses mainly. The seating area outside was nice. However when it came to the menu I was looking for something authentic but nothing lept at me and I’m assuming the waterfront taxes applied to the meals because what you got could have easily been made from store bought food. I ordered the honey turkey panini, on paper it sounded good, however it was caked with mustard a couple slices of turkey and onions. Filling with the hefty fries and long pickle but nothing exciting about it. Good to go once but I’d be hesitant to return.

Okay, I really want to like this place, but I can’t. Have been there several times, both inside and outside. While the patio next to the lake is quite nice, they didn’t finish it properly, leaving large gaps between the pavers, causing chair legs to get stuck. Also, there are too many tables. On Friday night, the person at the next table and I seemed to be on a date together. Being so crowded, it was actually noisy, which was compounded by the live entertainment, which was quite good, but even at 70 to 80 feet away, was a bit loud.
If the owners expect to accommodate as many people as there are tables, then they should have the staff on hand to deal with the volume. This past Friday evening, we got seated promptly but it was 15 minutes before we saw a server, and that was only because I had to seek one out. And even after that, it was another 15 minutes before we received drinks, and maybe another 15 before we got appetizers (the stuffed mushrooms, by the way were awful … some goo inside a ‘room topped with what looked like Cheezwiz).
I wanted fish and chips, but at $ 18.99 for an order, I decided to go with the fish sandwich, which was pathetic. a couple small, overly-​cooked, dry, and tasteless fillets. Glad I didn’t waster the $ 19. My wife had ordered a medium (pink) burger … came well done and dry.
I think beer was $ 6 for a draft, which is okay, but the Kendall-​Jackson chardonnay was $ 10 for a 5 once glass. Yikes.
Overall, for the four of us, appies, drinks, dinner, and tip amounted to $ 200, something we are accustomed to lay out for dinner, but for much better quality than Lake View. I would not go back any time soon except for the fact that I have a benefit golf tournament dinner there Friday evening.
Will give update …

Food was decent… we sat in bar… two female bar tenders were attentive and pours… if you are a bourbon drinker don’t go they only have makers mark… good food portions. had live music… only real complaint is they had there overhead music going. but shut it off when asked do we could hear licensure… I would return

At Lake View you’re paying for the location not the food. Once you realize that, you’re going to have a better time. By far the best part of Lake View is large patio that overlooks Coventry Lake. It’s not a great view of the lake (kinda in the back of a bay), but during a pleasant summer evening it’s a nice place to sit, drink a beer, and relax.
However, their price/​food quality ratio really isn’t all that great. Beers are typically about $ 6 for a draft and entrees run about $ 20. For the two of use we ended up with a bill of $ 70 before tip. We left feeling satisfied, but the service was slow, and frankly, the food was just kinda there. There wasn’t anything inspiring about it — especially given the price and the fact there are other nicer restaurants with a similar prices. The pasta was overcooked with an uninspired sauce and the veal piccatta was dried out with a sauce that was seemed slightly off — almost like it was watered down.
That’s not to say that it’s a bad experience. But, you need to realize that you’re paying a 20% premium to eat on a patio overlooking the lake. If it’s a nice summer evening that might be worth it, if you’re not going to sit on the patio, you might want to consider someplace else.

All in all a pretty decent place, particularly if the weather is nice and you get to sit on the outdoor patio overlooking Coventry Lake/​Wangumbaug Lake, as you may have guessed. The prices are a little steep on some things, but the portions for many of the items were also very substantial. Everything I’ve had there (wings, chicken parm, baked scallops, fried calimari, etc.) has been pretty good. Mixed feelings on the drinks so far, though I was pleased that they jumped on the «Yeungling now in CT» bandwagon right away.
The overall appearance is pretty good too, but some of the little shortcuts/​cheap ways out would bother me if I was the owner. I understand the need to save a buck here or there, but money spent on uniformity and appearance is money well spent, in my opinion.
The service is pretty good, and the waitress we had most recently was really nice, but getting seated on the patio was a bit of a fiasco.

Lake View Restaurant, so named for its proximity and sight line to the very Native American sounding Lake Wangumbaug is indeed a place where one can sit down, order food and enjoy a cocktail. Beyond that I’m afraid I do not hold much praise for this establishment. I was taken aback by the pricing of both food and drink. $ 13 for a panini or a wrap and $ 6 for a draft beer seem excessive to me for a restaurant in eastern Connecticut, far, far away from any urban center where inflated food and drink prices have become an accepted norm.
What I wanted when I came here was a quick lunch accompanied by a pint or two of domestic lager. When I left $ 45 poorer, I felt… used. I understand the appeal of al fresco dining. Being in touch with nature, people watching, the sun on your face, perhaps a gentle breeze sweeping lazily off Lake Wangumbaug rustling the precious few strands of hair you have left on your rapidly aging dome, a bird chirping, etc… Even though my party was seated on the patio, and I did indeed have a great view of the lake, I found myself agonizing over the menu and the seemingly upscale bistro pricing which pulled me right out whatever ambiance the place was trying to generate.
The food itself was quite good. I had buffalo wings which were juicy, meaty, well seasoned and absolutely drenched in buffalo sauce. As opposed to delving too deeply into the finer points of buffalo wingery, I will simply say that these wings were to my liking. The wings were followed by a chicken caesar wrap which was loaded with grilled chicken, creamy dressing and a tasteful amount of lettuce with maybe a hint of croûton thrown in here and there. The wrap was toasted in a panini press which I found to be a nice touch. A side of seasoned «normal» potato fries accompanied the wrap which were also quite adequate.
What I observed from my time at Lake View restaurant was that it is very popular with the «I’m an accountant but to prove that I am also a fun and unique person with ambitions outside of the workplace and maybe even a flair for the wild and untamed gauntlet that is the ‘open road’ my wife and I ride Harley Davidson motorcycles on the weekend. When it’s nice out, and not too cold, and we don’t have any weddings to go to» crowd.
I suppose I would recommend this place, but just beware of sticker shock.

Potential is a good word to describe this place we came here for a business dinner it was our last minute second choice since we drove quite aways and our restaurant of choice was packed and there was no chance to get seated without an extended wait. We chose to sit at a high top in the bar the bar is centered in the room and the tables are along the wall the room was really dark darker than it needs to be but I guess it’s a bar. The service was a little slow our sever was very friendly but not very outgoing the place was less than 20% full that always concerns me but we went with it. I drank the IPA it wasn’t as cold as I like it and the glass was warm like it had just been washed. I ordered a filet with veggies and a baked potato loaded and it came topped with broccoli and cheese (not what I expected since this was a side not my meal so I deducted a star for that). The butter was in small foil packets and sour cream in a plastic cup. My steak was ordered medium rare and it was cooked well done I ate it but it was tasteless and I was disappointed but this is not a place I would send food back to the kitchen.
I would like to try it again in the summer out on the deck for wings and beers maybe but would not be a choice for dinner again.