Waterside Restaurant

What an amazing place to dine! The view looking out over Lake Oconee is amazing, but the food and service is what sets this place apart from the rest. If this was located in metro Atlanta, it would be jammed every night.
Had the crab cake dinner special and it was amazing! Massive portion that had large chunks of crab and an amazing sauce that held it all together. Also enjoyed the Cesar salad. Great wine list.
The staff makes you feel very comfortable the minute you walk in. It’s has a casual vibe to the atmosphere, but the food and service is very upscale. By far the best dinning experience on lake Oconee !

Disaster of a meal. 3 other tables that were seated after us had finished their entire meal prior to us receiving ours. Hamburger ordered med-​well was served Rare. Special food request due to allergy came out incorrectly. We were charged $ 7 for a children’s apple juice. Our table was given a discount and manager was very apologetic, but all in all, this meal was a disaster.

One of the best places to get a tasty meal on the lake. We went for dinner and ended up staying for drinks. The chef came out and introduced himself and took care of us and made a special meal just based on our conversations. I loved our meal!

I’d like to start by saying– if this could be a 3.5 star review, it would be.
My parents took me here to celebrate my birthday. We went by boat– they have an area that you can dock and get to the restaurant from the water. You’ve gotta love that!
Unfortunately from there, things mostly hovered at mediocre. Most of the food was good but service was not so great. They sat us in the sun room– it was lovely and bright… And full of flies. I’m not sure if a door was propped open going out to the pool area, but my gosh, I felt like I was wrestling with flies all night to get to eat my dinner. It was also so very loud. They weren’t that busy, but I still found myself leaning over the table to even hear what was being said… This was extra annoying because the table legs were uneven and every time you leaned on the table you felt like it was going to flip over on you.
We started with the almond crusted calamari and truffle fries with blue cheese queso dip. The calamari were great– crispy & tender and the dipping sauce was unique. The fries were delicious– they didn’t even need the cheese dip.
I had the scallops. All of the components of this dish were good, but they just didn’t all work together. The risotto was good, perfectly cooked and creamy. The generous amount of green onion in the risotto added a welcome bit of crisp freshness. This came with asparagus served atop and the scallops on top of the asparagus. The scallops appeared to have a wonderful sear on them– unfortunately, they covered these with the sauce. Whatever delicious seared texture they put on those scallops was lost under a very heavy sauce. The only way I can think to describe the sauce would be like a hollandaise sauce– it was good, but just way too thick, heavy and rich for this dish. Scallops are sweet and light, and their delicate flavor was covered with gobs upon gobs of this sauce. Overall, just way too rich and the scallops were lost.
My dad got the sashimi grade seared tuna and really enjoyed it. But the show stopper of the night was the blackened salmon that my stepmom ordered. The salmon was cooked to a perfect medium, with a hard sear on the blackened side. This came with an INCREDIBLE sweet potato hash. Everything that is ever served at any restaurant should always be served with this hash. Do yourself a favor and get this.
We ordered the crème brûlée for dessert. This was ok– just your run of the mill vanilla crème brûlée.
Unfortunately, the highlights of this meal were overshadowed by the poor service and flies! Our server was nice and very polite but he seemed to be struggling the entire time we were there. In his defense, he got a party of eight at the same time we sat down. But, after the initial headache of greeting and getting drink orders, you should be able to handle the rest of your tables… Especially when he only had us and one other table for most of the time we were there. I received the wrong drink, we asked for bread but never got it. It felt like we had to hunt him down every time we wanted to order– he seemed pretty overwhelmed.
I would definitely go back and get the salmon and keep my fingers crossed for fewer flies and a more efficient waiter.

Wow! We were in Lake Oconee for a few days and had two wonderful dinners at the Waterside. Was not expecting anything as tasty and well prepared as what we received. The restaurant has a pretty setting on the Lake and the service was good. I had a wonderful grilled trout with forbidden rice which was perfectly prepared. The second night had trigger fish on perhaps the best grits ever. The hostess station and check-​in process could be a bit smoother but overall an excellent experience.

A terrific restaurant located on the Cuscowilla resort complex. We have been consistently happy with the menu, the service and the location (on Lake Oconee).
The restaurant isn’t open during the winter, but is a great place to visit during the tourist season at the lake.