The Overlook

Awful… never go there! We had my daughter’s wedding ceremony there and the wedding planner and owner were not the least bit accommodating. They made what was supposed to be a special day stressful and worrisome. The planner was nowhere to be found when we needed her and when we did manage to track her down she acted annoyed that we were asking for her assistance. Not to mention the place was dirty from the previous evening’s service. The wastebaskets in the bathrooms were overflowing and there were crumbs all over the floor. Awful experience! They don’t deserve your business.

The previous reviews are pretty accurate as to the description of the venue. Beautiful view of Twin Lakes — which is what upped my rating to a 3. Nice choice of wines, including a house bottled wine, at very reasonable prices. Limited menu, but nice range of choices. Food is delicious and well-​prepared. So why doesn’t the restaurant attract more traffic. 1. They need to decide if they are a catering venue or a restaurant, how you can have a restaurant that is CLOSED ON SATURDAYS is beyond me. 2. They need to decide if they are a bar or a restaurant; when you are spending 100 dollars on dinner for two and cannot get a table on a Friday night because groups of golfers are drinking cokes and beers, it is a problem, which leads to — 3. They need to learn to take and honor reservations.

My wife and I love the Overlook. We started coming here after the Rusty Nail closed. The staff, including bartender sisters Mary and Christie, are such warm people. The deck overlooking east Twin Lake is beautiful. I just wish it would get the traffic it deserves, The biggest problem is that it’s a block off of Highway 43 so unless you know it is there, you would just keep driving. They are not allowed to have a sign on 43.
Still, please frequent the Overlook. It’s a hidden gem.

As for country clubs go, I don’t usually attend due to an uppity nature, but this is on the water and full of a boaters mantality. Fresh fish and meat year round. The food is delicious for a setting like this. Wine selections, service, full bar and atmosphere is great. I suggest lamb lollipops, scallop wrap, rosemary fries and chicken marsala. I have had most of the standard menu plus their specials! I approve.

I will begin by stating that none of what follows was any fault of our server. She did everything possible to try and accommodate us but I will chalk up the experience to a failure on the kitchen and planning of the establishment.
1.) We made our reservation for New Year’s Eve after viewing the menu online and from the look of it, there were many options for appetizers, entrée’s, salads, etc. However, once we arrived and were seated, we were informed that there would be a limited, pre-​set menu for the evening because «we are booked solid and it’s easier for the kitchen». There was no posting of the set menu on the website or when contacting The Overlook for availability. Because of this, our selection in all categories was cut to about one third of the original menu.
2.) We chose the calamari appetizer which was described as a crispy breading with a sweet chili sauce. Although the dish arrived hot and had good flavor, the breading was completely soggy.
3.) When ordering our entrée’s (keep in mind this was at 7:45 pm) we were informed that they were already out of the filet (further reducing our already limited choices). I chose the bone-​in ribeye while my wife chose the boneless ribeye, both ordered cooked medium. While waiting for our dinner, we overheard the server at the next table inform the guests that they were now out of the filet and the boneless ribeye (it was now 8:00pm at this point and we counted at least ¹⁄₃^rd of the tables were still open, I’m not sure who was ordering all of the steak). On a side note, any kitchen worth it’s salt knows that of you cut the bone out of the 16oz ribeye, it can pass as a 10oz boneless ribeye, but I digress.
4.) When the steaks arrived (sides of green beans and potatoes au gratin), both were severely under cooked. My wife’s steak appeared to still be raw through the center (despite the amount of char on the outside) while mine was cold to the touch. Our server mentioned that they had been sending a lot of steaks back that evening (a mystery as the ‘fully booked’ restaurant was still only half full so I’m not sure how many it takes to reach ‘a lot’.) Either the steaks were frozen accounting for the charred outside/​raw inside or the kitchen staff does not know medium from rare from raw. For the record, the steaks were less than an inch thick, so I can only imagine how the filet (the apparently few available that evening) came out. As for the sides, the au gratin potatoes were obviously cut from a larger serving dish as the portion on my plate was perfectly square. The green beans were perfect.
5.) Our server apologized for the steaks and took them back to be cooked longer (as the kitchen was now out of steak), and they were returned as medium well/​well. At some point in any poor dining experience, one hits the ‘let’s just eat and get out of here’ mode. We hit that point about now. We would have left earlier, except we hadn’t finished our bottle of wine, which like the green beans, was excellent.
6.) I retract my comment about the kitchen not being worth its salt. Salt is apparently the one thing the do very well back there. My potatoes were inedible without downing a glass of water in between bites, while my wife’s serving alternated between loaded with salt or pepper depending on the bite.
7) At this point our server knew we were ready to leave, and even the manager offered a free desert for our under-​then-​over-​cooked steaks. We took the desert to go but honestly, 24 hours later, it is still in our refrigerator. We were offered an apology by the manager when we left, but frankly, we will not be back.
If your reasoning for having a limited menu is to ‘make it easier for the kitchen because we are fully booked’ then you had better be able to handle the limited menu.
Bonus, there was live music which was set to an appropriate volume so diners could still have a conversation without yelling.

Finally made it here! After hearing a lot of good reports, we finally had the perfect Saturday weather and schedule to have lunch. The restaurant is actually part of the former country club and therefore has some large meeting rooms and event venues as well as the dining area. The new owners of the golf course have opted for a public course and have built a new club house nearby.
The weather was great and there was a large party indoors, so we opted for the outside deck overlooking Twin Lake. I chose the mussels, which were great: carmalized leeks, saffron sauce, chives, cherry tomatoes, in a faily creamy broth, all topped with nice toasted baguette slices. The mussels were divine and the sauce was great for dipping the baguette between the mussels. My friend had the «house» salad, which was anything but normal: nice baby greens, feta cheese, candied walnuts, with a well balanced balsamic dressing. She chose to add a grilled chicken breast that was moist and had been sliced into strips.
I will definately be back, as the dinner menu looks very interesting!