Lookout Cafe

The only saving grace for this joint is the view. 10 minutes for server to come take our order, and 15 to get the drinks delivered. Food is ok, but the long wait for service is unacceptable.

On 8 June 2016, Americade week, I ordered a salmon sandwich which came with potato chips, when the order came, the waiter with a pony tail on top of his head said, they ran out of chips and he will get them down stairs and he’ll bring it up right away, a few minutes later, the waiter stopped by and said how is everything and he mention he will get the chips right away again (here I am watching the waiter while I eat, not very busy at all, the waiter walking around serving at other customer and chatting with them), after finishing my meal with my friends, about 15 to 20 minutes later, the waiter dropped off the bill and said, is everything ok, I said, well I’m done with my meal and I still didn’t get my potato chips, the waiter laughed and walked away. The manager stopped by and said did everyone enjoyed their meal, I gave her a smirk and the manager said, what’s that about, I got up of my chair and told her never mind, she said I’m the manager, you can tell me, and I said, I didn’t get a complete meal, do I have to pay a full price?, the waiter came by three times, he said that he will get them to me, he didn’t care, just laughed at me and walked away. The manager said, is only a side dish and you’re only paying for the sandwich.
It’s so ridiculous for a manager to say that, I really didn’t care for the potato chips but if I come to this restaurant or any other restaurant I expect to purchase a complete meal, and last, neither the manager or her waiter didn’t even apologize, a simple «Sorry» would just be fine.

STAY AWAY. My sister and I were the only ones of our group of 7 to eat the chicken here and we both came down with food poisoning later that day.

The food took a good thirty minutes to arrive to my table. And my waitress Kate never came once to let us know that our food was going to take that long… We had to ask the manager how much longer. All that wait for soggy fries and an exaggerated burger. Definitely wasn’t with the wait but the view was very pretty and there was a nice breeze. Only reason why it’s getting 2 stars!

Stay away! Memorial Day weekend. You’d assume this place would be ready. Not so. We ordered some appetizers and beer. It was peak time and they were out of coffee. Did they have tea? Noop! Okay. That is fine. We move on. We order some more appetizers, a veggie quesadilla. They bring us cheese quesadilla. That is it! We were out of here. Took forever for someone to take our order order too after being seated. Do yourself a favor and take the business you were about to give these guys some place else.
P.S: They actually charged us for the cheese quesadilla. Stay away!

I’ve been going to Lake George for years, and I can’t believe that I’ve only got here on my most recent trip. It was absolutely amazing. I have a seafood allergy, and it wasn’t a problem for them to swap out my fries for chips. It was an amazing experience, beautiful view, and I still crave the sandwich I got. I can’t wait to go back

HORRIBLE PLACE! DO NOT EAT HERE!
I would give ZERO stars if I could.
My husband and I stood there for a good 5 minutes just being stared at by the waitresses/​hostesses before being seated. Upon being shown to our seat the menus were tossed onto the table and the girl just walked away.
We ordered our food and it took forever to get to us (the restaurant was empty except for one or two other tables besides ours). When the food finally came out, the chips for our nachos were stale and there was no chicken as ordered. We waited for the waitress to come back but she never came to check on us, so I got up and walked over to her. She then called the manager over and the lady was extremely rude. It was like she didn’t have time or didn’t give a crap about the issue we had with our disgusting food and lack of service. Nevertheless we walked out of there without paying a dime.

As you walk downtown and see the location of this place, how busy it is, the nice view, it leads one to assume that this place is a good eatery as well. It is however on the opposite end, terrible quality food. Fast food chains serve better tasting food, for real!
Let me summarize this quickly to save you sometime, we were 5 people and here is what each one had to say, and I am quoting:
— Tata: ²⁄₅. Didn’t like anything.disgusting. Never again .
— Ana: lacking service, junk food, everything was fried
— Katie: McDonald’s with outlook
— Shori: terrible. enough said .
We tried multiple Items that are prepared differently, stir fried, grilled, deep fried. What I am certain of is that none of the menu items are prepared in the kitchen, for heaven sake even the dressing and tartar sauce are served prepackaged. Stay away, save your money.

This was the absolute worse for both food and service. No one came to our table for about 20 minutes. We were just ordering a drink each and an appetizer. Nachos were horrible with fake cheese. Margarita didn’t taste like any alcohol at all was in it. Only good part was the view of the lake. Never again!

The food here was very good for the price, which wasn’t bad. The service is a little slow, but it’s not slow enough that you would be completely put off by it. The view is really what makes this place stand out. I have to say that I enjoyed my burger and my drink, even though the drink didn’t seem like much but mixer. Don’t hesitate to stop by if you’re hungry, but if it’s a really hot day I might avoid this place. The patio you eat on is shaded, but I still found myself sweating and uncomfortable.

You can get a better burger at McDonalds… I’m not sure what has happened to some restaurants here in this lovely village… I have not been here in quite some time but this café lacks almost everything from food to service… burgers were gross… doubtful it was even Angus beef as the menu states… wait staff was all foreign and could barely understand. my order… the only thing going for this is the view… across from lake… otherwise horrible…
Dirty and nasty as well … Customer service was in the negAtive range …- 10… I sincerely hope thy go out of business. as nice as this location is the restaurant is the worst I’ve seen …

The view of the lake is absolutely gorgeous here, and the food was very good. My boyfriend and I got the pulled pork sandwich and the hard iced tea… Don’t be fooled Bc they put very little alcohol in their drinks, and LOAD it with sugar. My stomach hurt so bad I could barely walk after drinking the iced tea… And at $ 10 a drink, it’s a total waste. The manager had a crappy attitude, didn’t crack a smile once. For some reason she was our waitress, and after taking our order and putting it in she walked by our table again, I asked her for two waters and she told me to «hold on a second» ummm okay? I would definitely go back here for the view. Def NOT THE DRINKS or anything else!

Restaurant week. Some places shine, others falter.
If you really don’t want to take part in restaurant week, then don’t. No, really.
Old sirloin disguised with copious amounts of salt. Extremely fatty pecan smoked ribs and a strawberry NY Cheese cake that had one cherry but no strawberries.
It wasn’t exactly a hard pressed meal, guys. But you advertised it, slap it on a restaurant week menu and despite all the reviews saying «the view is great but the food sucks» we bit the chomp anyway.
The view was nice and the IPA scrumptious.
But I won’t be recommending this tourist trap.

GREAT (but very pricey) burger, great view and great service. I can only complain about paying a dollar for each topping on my burger. Other than that, the place is great.

Really awesome food all around and really friendly, helpful staff.
I highly recommend the pulled pork nachos and b. Onion. This food is great with a great view.
Though the railing is a tad short for kids so be careful!

~ 3.5 STARS FOR THE FOOD ~
~ 5 STARS FOR THE VIEW ~
My advice — When visiting the Lake George area, you GOTTA go at least once! …
My boyfriend & I were pretty hungry after a late afternoon cruise around the lake on the Minne Ha Ha. Got to the Lookout around 4:45ish on a Sunday. It was pretty empty. No one seemed to even notice that we were waiting to be seated so I had to approach the host/​hostess area to ask for a table (we entered from the left side entrance). The guy who seated us informed us that he was not «wait’ staff but someone would be along shortly to take our orders. The waitress came over pretty much right after & we were good to go…
I ordered the chicken quesadilla & my boyfriend kept it simple with a BLT & sweet potato fries. The food/​service was fine for this kind of establishment. We had no complaints! It was a beautiful day & we had a beautiful view… what more could we ask?
Oh, the menus included a warning ’bout the cannons being fired during the tours next door at Fort William Henry. Guess they don’t want the customers ducking for cover. LOL! We never heard anything though…

This place is underrated here. First, the view is the best in Lake George. It doesn’t get better. The service was excellent (even if it did take a little longer than normal). But, as advertised, the burger was indeed the best in town and oddly enough looked exactly as it did in it’s photo.
Eat here. Don’t do it before a cruise (you’ll be late) but do it. The price is right and it’s worth a chance.

The key to enjoying the lookout café is in your expectations. Essentially, keep them low.
If you expect a fine dining experience with great food and service, look elsewhere (and elsewhere as in nowhere in the Village of Lake George, honestly).
But if you simply want a burger and fries and/​or a drink, to relax with in front of an awesome view, Lookout Café is fine– excellent, even. Just keep in mind this is basically a burger shack run by students on summer break, so don’t order things like crab cakes or fried cod and expect amazing (or even barely adequate) results. I do give Lookout Café points for having an okay IPA (Davidson’s) on the beer menu.
The view as mentioned really is great, looking directly up the lake. You can watch the Lake George Steamboat Co ships coming and going, the cannons going off at Ft William Henry, the horse drawn carriages, parasailers, etc, etc.

Skip it. It may be convenient but it’s a waste of time, money, and your appetite. My crab cake sandwich wasn’t even close to the description. Wrong roll, no slaw, too much bread and not enough crab cake. Huge disappointment. And, to add insult to injury, fries were extra. Seriously?

The name, Lookout Café, serves it right as this restaurant has a great unobstructed view of southern Lake George. The outdoor restaurant is located on the upper floor above a metered parking lot and stretches for a good ~100 feet or so with ample seating. Wait times are usually not long since people come in and out constantly. Do take note that you can enter the restaurant from the left or right side of the restaurant. I find that the people who enter from the left side (busier side) seem to get seated faster as the hostess has to run the length of the restaurant to seat both sides.
I was in the mood of eating light so I ordered a Caesar Salad with Buffalo Chicken Tenders ($ 9.95). OMG, was this salad the largest salad I’ve ever seen in my life. It could have easily served 3 – 4 decent proportions. On top, was a generous amount of diced buffalo chicken tenders that were very tasty, although ever so slightly salty. Two containers of creamy Caesar dressing was also provided, as well as a slightly stale and bland bread stick that I didn’t care much for. I can’t believe how full I was for several hours after eating this.
I also had a chance to try the Fried Clam Basket ($ 10.95) which included very large golden fried clams. The clams were amazing, perfectly breaded, and so meaty yet so succulent. This was far from the scrawny, little fried clams with 70% batter that you get at subpar chain restaurants. Served with coleslaw and French fries, I would have easily ordered this for myself, and recommend anyone eating here to get it. It was delish!!! For that price, it can’t be beat.
Lookout Café, part of William Henry Resort, also serves their own brewed Fort William Henry IPA ($ 4.75), with a slightly hoppy and bitter flavor. It wasn’t as strong as many other IPA’s (such as Brooklyn Lager, Dogfish, etc.) but was still very enjoyable.
Service was average, our waitress was very friendly. A couple of our orders were messed up (one was served regular fries rather than sweet potato fries with their meal, and two of us were served blue cheese rather than caesar dressing with our salad), but she promptly had our meals corrected. My only gripe was that she didn’t check up on us as often as we would have liked. It took a while to get drinks refilled and to get an extra roll of paper towels, but when she did service us, she was very cheerful.
If I were to come back here, I would without a doubt order the Fried Clam Basket. Delicious. Prices are very reasonable here and you won’t find yourself spending a wad of cash. Everyone at my table thought their meals were very delicious, including the burgers and chicken sandwiches. From the street, Lookout Café may not appear to be the most appealing, and definitely not a tourist trap, but drop by and you won’t be disappointed.
Note: For parties of 6 or more, a service charge of 18% is included.