The Lakehouse

Brunch at The Lakehouse is amazing.
I’d like to begin my review by explaining that I think brunch is asinine. Breakfast foods are awesome. Lunch foods are awesome. Combining the two rarely impresses me, but The Lakehouse may have made me a believer.
Location
The building and view are perfect. Walking up I felt like we were visiting a friend’s vacation home. The staff greeted us warmly and sat us upstairs on the balcony. The view from the balcony is amongst my favorite anywhere. Looking out at Lake Pontchartrain made me realize just how lucky I am to live in Louisiana and on the Northshore. One note if you do find yourself seated on the balcony is that the food is downstairs. This wasn’t an issue for us, but if you have elderly or folks who don’t handle stairs well, ask to be seated downstairs.
Food
I have never seen such an expansive brunch. The food was absolutely incredible. We started at the omelet/​waffle staton. My kids faces were absolutely glowing when they realized they could get eggs cooked to order and waffles with so many different topping choices. The omelet chef was a young guy who was personable and a great cook. My omelet was as good or better than the ones I’ve had elsewhere.
In addition to the omelet bar, there were several tables with hot food, cold cheese, salad, and meats. The hot food included sliced prime rib, grits and grillades, macaroni, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, shrimp pasta, gumbo, and the list goes on and on. There was something for everyone and everything I tried was incredibly good.
Staff
Everything me I encountered at The Lakehouse was friendly and professional. They were all very welcoming and really treated us like old friends.
Price
This is a high end place with high end food. I think the price of $ 30 per adult and $ 12 per child 6 – 12 is commensurate with my experience. It’s slightly more than I spend when I take my kids out to a more casual place, but those places cannot compare to my experience here.

Food: ok, nothing special. Atmosphere: great, nice venue and music. Service: good waitress, food service slow. Bar: check prices, they serve a $ 9.50 scotch and water.

I give this place one star because the food was actually very good but this place is extremely ill managed and the communication between staff and customer is horrible. We came here for Mother’s Day which was supposed to be a drinks and food included package for $ 45 per person. We sat down and were rudely greeted by our waitress who literally did nothing except for acting extremely judgmental whenever we asked for refills on our mostly orange juice mimosas. I went to the buffet to get some of their delicious food, but quickly realized that many of the dishes were not being re filled and they were constantly running out of plates and silver wear. Later I went into the bar to get a Bloody Mary. The bartender told me that they were included in our unlimited brunch. That excited us so we had some of our party go into to get bloody Mary’s for themselves. Then the bartender walked outside and put a bill in front of us. This was very upsetting because we were under the impression that they were included in our package. Later the waitress brought us all bills that she later had to take back because she charged us the wrong amount. It was a very upsetting experience and I would not reccomend going back.

My experience here was probably closer to 3.5 stars.
I came here for brunch and while the atmosphere is nice, the set up and the price leave a little something to be desired. For brunch, it’s a «serve yourself» situation. All of the brunch food is set up on the outside patio and you go out and get as much or as little as you want. I got quite a few things that I enjoyed: corn and crab soup, cheese, salmon, crawfish cake, shrimp and grits, Waldorf salad and some bacon. Everything was pretty good, even though I found the shrimp and grits somewhat bland and the bacon a bit greasy. There was an omelet setup, but it had a bit of a line, so I decided to skip it.
As others mentioned, there are endless mimosas which are included in your bill. I also decided to get a Bloody Mary which was excellent. It was $ 4 and it had the perfect amount of spice to it and it wasn’t strong at all– I enjoyed it. I do like the fact that this restaurant is right on the lake, there is outside seating and there is a nice jazzy type band playing throughout brunch.
The reason for my 3.5 star rating is mainly the price. It’s $ 30 a person, which would be fine if it was full service, but that just seems like a high price to pay for what is basically a small buffet. I understand that it’s all you can eat with bottomless mimosas, but it would be nice if they also had the option of full service as well as the buffet option. I could do without the mimosas and I would be happy with eggs benedict, grits, bacon and some toast, if it means I get to save a few bucks.
This is a good brunch place for a special occasion, if you want to look out on the lake and enjoy nice music as you eat. If you are looking for something a little more simple, go elsewhere.

Review is for their catering only.
Very good food and great people.
Really enjoyed the meals I had with them.
Can’t wait to visit them in Mandeville next time I’m in town.

Was here a while back for a wedding, beautiful scenery and the workers were very respectful and accomodating. The food was superb, one of the best seafood places on the northshore. The set up they did for the wedding ceremony was beautiful and we had a wonderful time.

The Sunday brunch was outstanding. Some of the best food I’ve had since I’ve moved to Louisiana. My boyfriend and I try and save up every month to go!

Went on a dinner date with my husband. Very friendly, nice atmosphere, great prices. We had soup, salad, appetizers and some of the best steak I have had in a very long time. Go check them out! Thanks to our wait staff you all did a great job!

Amazing experience! My husband and I had a great date night here… Fried oysters, grilled fish with lump crab meat, bread pudding… Phenomenal food! Phenomenal service! The owner is passionate about his customers. While we were there there was a great Portuguese singer Riccardo Crespo that made it that much more enjoyable! Can’t wait to come back for brunch

Fabulous food! The fried shrimp poboy is huge! The view of the lake is beautiful. Lots of history here!

Went for Sunday brunch. Very nice buffet with lots of selections and mimosas included. Service was good but not great. The $ 28 per person is too high for this venue and a buffet.

Awesome Father’s Day Brunch! James was the best and added to our outing greatly. Beautiful setting, food and drink.

This is a review for brunch.
I will start by saying that for those wary after reading other reviews about service –the place just got a new general manager and is putting a renewed focus on the restaurant end of the business (they also do catering) and my experience reflected that.
It’s a buffet with alcohol included for $ 30. I think the alcohol is unlimited so yes it’s a good deal (who knows they may cut you off if you try to go too HAAM — lol, that never happened to me).
There is so much food. There is an appetizer area with seafood gumbo, quinoa salad, bean salads, savory shrimp cheesecake, and more. Following that are chafing dishes with scalloped potatoes, trout, and eggs Benedict. A cook is preparing omelets and waffles to order and they also have Cajun biscuits and gravy. Then there’s the dessert table… and mimosas, and bloody Mary’s.
On top of all this, you get an amazing view of the lakefront in a house built in the 1830s by the founder of Mandeville. I will be back.

This is strictly based on their movie catering. Compared to most other catering company’s they don’t offer many choices. Quality is ok nothing special.
My main complaint is their attitude.

What a strange, but generally interesting place. When the weather is nice they have music outside on a nice little patio on the east side of the building and that definitely appeared to be the preferred spot on a recent visit. The indoor seating area is very old school and kind of a «wedding reception formal» feel — turns out that’s not a big surprise given that the upstairs is actually used for private events and they also have a catering business that does a lot of work with the film industry. Seems like their priority is events & catering, but the house is interesting and the food is good, though the service and atmosphere appear a bit awkward.
To start the menu is quite small — about 5 each of appetizers, soups & salads, and entrees. That’s can be okay if the options are good and the ingredients are local and fresh but not much jumped out on the menu. Filet Mignon & potatoes? I’ll make it at home, thanks. Soft shell crab? Not a fan. Blackened drum? Could have been interesting had it not been swamped out to swordfish of all things. Mixed plate of filet, lamb chop, and shrimp? Meh. We ended up going for the one entrée which sounded good — fried eggplant with shrimp and a rich sauce on top and it was very good if not at all healthy. We also went with a tuna salad which was very large and had nice lightly seared tuna on top — the red onions had been cut a while and were abundant but by moving them to the side we had a really good salad. We also tried shrimp & brie soup — not something one would expect to go together but very well done (though probably one of the most unhealthy things on the planet you could eat).
It seems there are some changes going on here — though I wouldn’t surprised if there are always changes given that the manager/​owner seems to be a bit overbearing and I suspect there’s a lot of staff turnover which is why everybody seemed to be young, inexperienced, or frazzled. It was clearly a busy night with an event upstairs but the main dining room was less than half full and it was surprising that everything was so disorganized — all night. Yet the patio was nice, there was music, watching everything was fairly entertaining, and the food was ultimately quite good. I have a feeling things are usually a bit off kilter here, but with good food and nice patio I’d definitely go back.

I might drive all the way from Baton Rouge to dine here again. It was that good! I didn’t even have an entrée. We just split some appetizers and soup. We came on a Thursday night and they were having some private party upstairs. We were the only ones dining downstairs. A little strange, but worth the awkwardness. Our waitress was super sweet. Our food came out quickly. We had the crab and Brie soup. Delicious! I always compare to Mansurs because theirs is outstanding. We also ordered the Louisiana wontons and the Brie and shrimp. Both were outstanding! The chef also put done sort of lobster cream pouch thing on our plate. Absolutely outstanding! I can’t wait to go back!

This is my new absolute favorite restaurant on the north shore. I found it after a 6-​mile afternoon bike ride brought us to the lakefront. We got hungry and after surveying the many restaurants with outdoor seating in the area, we stopped to check this place out. I did not feel comfortable going inside wearing a tank top and shorts so I asked my friend to see if he could bring out some menus. I told him something like «I can’t go in there like this.» One of the managers/​owners was sitting right outside and heard me. She got up immediately and told us we were fine, just take a seat wherever and they’ll bring us some food and drink menus, which she did, along with some candles and outdoor seat cushions. She was very nice and a server took our drink order within a minute of sitting down.
I had the house salad which had bleau cheese, awesome roasted pecans and strawberries to make it interesting. Everything tasted fresh. Since my salad didn’t come with a starter salad, the owner/​manager sent out a tomato-​basil soup so I would have something too while my friend had his house salad! My friend had the filet with potatoes and asparagus. I ended up eating most of the asparagus and it was excellent. He said the same of his dinner. Drinks also arrived promptly and were mixed well.
We ended up sitting there drinking cocktails, admiring the view and talking under the lights for so long that we had to bike home in the dark, having only the moonlight to guide us on the trace. It was totally worth it. Thanks to the owners, managers and wait staff for making it such a great night!

I went here this past weekend for a rehearsal dinner and I was blown away by the food and the location, but unfortunately the service was lacking, which was unfortunate because it could definitely be a 5-​star Unilocal review aside from that.
We had a 3 course meal with choice of entrée and both were delicious. I think the filet was the better of the two though. So tender and topped with a Cognac butter then served with these cheesy potatoes. Fantastic dish! All around, the dinner was delicious. The service was unfortunate, like I said. I had to go to our private bar to get a refill on my water (the glass was empty all night) and I had to clear cocktail glasses from our table myself as they started to pile up. Waitstaff was just not to be found. The food did come out quickly though, so the kitchen was on top of things!
All in all, a nice experience, but had I not been surrounded by family and friends for a rehearsal dinner, I probably would have been annoyed with the service.

This review is for the Lake House’s catering business.
CAYMAN SINCLAIR CAN DO NO WRONG!!! If you need someone to cater for your movie, concert, wedding, whatever, then Cayman is your man. I worked on the first movie Cayman & company ever catered and he bent over backwards to do the best job possible. He’s doing the catering for my boyfriend’s company at Jazz Fest now and it only gets better.
If people on your crew have special requests or dietary concerns, Caymen will have his guys make something special. Granted, the Lake House crew aren’t vegan chefs or gluten-​free experts, but they always try their hardest to make everyone happy and leave no one hungry.

Meeting Venue Review:
There is no wired internet on the bottom floor and wireless service is limited at best. If you are having a meeting just before dark, the glare from the lake will blind you and make projecting very difficult.
This building, while pretty on the outside, really needs to be cleaned on the inside. The walls seems to have water damage or seep water. If you go into the dining area part and walk to the wine bottles to the far left, you will see what appears to be piles of dust all around the floor (as was what looked to be a Cheeto or other hardened old food left there no telling how long ago) It’s the paint on the walls rotting and flaking off. If you run your hand over it, it comes down like rain.
I am not sure if that is the healthiest things for meetings.
After reviewing with the party afterward, the consensus was that the food was mediocre. No real complaints but nothing special.