The Oaks Lakeside Kitchen

Great Thanksgiving Day buffet with outstanding service and attention. Would definitely recommend this place. Despite the big crowd, we were seated immediately after arriving, which was 15 minutes before the reservation. Thanks.

It was ok. Nothing to brag about. Vegetables were very undercooked.

The Thanksgiving buffet was delicious and we really enjoyed our meal. Service was attentive but not intrusive.

Very disappointed! Been here several times! Always enjoyed the food and service! This time, service was abysmal, waited a good 10 minutes before anyone came over to take our drink order! The manager had to bring us water! Short staffed, bartender was also our wait person. Two more wait staff was working but apparently a waiting table didn’t seem to matter. The manager came over towards the end of our meal to apologize, but I am afraid at that point, I was over it. Too little too late! I am not saying I will not go back but if you want to be an upscale restaurant, you need to have service that goes with it. One more thing, why no bread before dinner. It’s your decision to not serve it, but most restaurants that I have been too that are ala cart will serve you bread. In addition, I did not see an option for a dinner salad. I might have glanced over it but there was no offer for it, nor were the specials ever mentioned to us. All in all, it was a major disappointment.

Sunday buffet: prime rib was clearly not cooked on premises, likely a vacuum packed pre-roasted version, no au jus. Limited buffet items otherwise. $20 pp. our celebratory glasses of proseco were $11 pp. no acknowledgement of birthdays as indicated on open table reservation. Very few customers. Just not the best Sunday brunch experience

The food is fair for the price and the servers and ambiance are the best of this place.

Better view would have made a difference. Service slow but good that is in the beginning

Great waitress, wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches on Sourdough with yummy tomato soup, it was perfect with a bottle of Butter Wine before a move on a chilly night!

We went for Sunday Brunch. The selection was ok, not great. I thought for the variety of foods they had it was a bit overpriced. The cost was $20 a person plus the cost of a beverage and I feel it should have been more closer to a $12.95 breakfast buffet. There was nothing that expensive or special for the cost to be that high, per my opinion. Have been there many times for dinner and loved the food, and feel dinner is a better value.

Went for Sunday brunch. Website stated that they offered both a buffet & menu items. Once there we were told that they only offered the buffet with an alleged chef manning a hot plate to cook omelets. Everything on the buffet was old, by appearance and taste. Never saw any of the staff checking the buffet items. Absolutely terrible.

Nice view of the water and mountains. Friendly staff , good food and patio is dog friendly . Service was super slow and they added stuff on our bill like sodas we didn’t have . There was some mixup with our dessert order and had to wait long . Seems a little unorganized. The grilled cheese sandwich and tomatoes basil soup was good . Needs more staff for the patio .

We came by boat. Great service, food, wine. Lovely setting outside. Will do it again.

dinner was good... we actually went to here a lady sing in the bar area. She was excellent.

We enjoyed our experience at the Oaks. We were celebrating our Anniversary and wanted a nice place for dinner. The restaurant was not crowded at 7:30. We had asked for an outside table when we made our reservation and was told the patio was first come first serve so we opted to set at the bar for a while to see if anything came open but didn't. The bar tender was very friendly and enjoyed talking with her. We did eat in the dining room which has a good view of the lake and the service was wonderful.
We both had steak and it was very tender,juicy and cooked perfectly. Prices are reasonable for this type of restaurant.

The waitress couldn't seem to remember what we ordered or what we asked for. A request for a straw went unheeded for 20 minutes until I went to the hostess and asked for a straw. I ordered she crab soup and was served mushroom soup. The green beans were hard as rocks. Our table ordered dessert and I asked for a cup of coffee. It never arrived and -- thankfully -- never made its way onto my bill.

For diners looking for bland food and poor service, give The Oaks a try!

We had reservations and had to wait for a table to be prepared. The tables were pulled together and weren't even the same size or height. It took 20 minutes for us to even have a waitress come take our drink orders. A manager came over during that time and said he just wanted us to know they hadn't forgot about us but then didn't offer to get anything for us. After placing our drink orders it took another 20 minutes to receive them and get our orders placed. This entire time I have a 4 and 6 year olds who are hungry and tired which is why I made a reservation for 6pm. When our appetizers came we had no plates for at least 10 minutes to eat them off of so the food was cold by the time we could really pass them around. The food and wine were very good but it was tainted by the service. We weren't the only ones experiencing this. One table by us left after not receiving service and another behind us complained multiple times. I would somewhat understand this if they were busy but it was reservation only night. They should have been more prepared.

OK, so here it goes. The food was "good." All else, terrible. Let's start with a confused identity. This place is/could be a nice restaurant with tasteful decor and what could have been a great spot with a lot of potential. However, it is none of these things. Service was TERRIBLE. We saw our waiter one time. The music was so loud I could have smashed a glass against my own head and not heard it. Forget trying to have a conversation with someone inches from you. On top of that, the music was not even good. Think local garage band that may have memorized a few decent covers, but without any vocal ability, and now let's play that at ~200dB. Fun times. Skip this place. There are many better alternatives in the area.

It was very hard to reach someone to take the reservation. I called several times 1 week in advance and left several messages for someone to please call me. No one ever did.
I then submitted the reservation online 6 days in advance and made a special note for a table with a view of the lake for a party of 6. I finally got in touch with someone the day before our reservation to "make sure" that they did indeed receive it. They said they did have it. When we got to the restaurant they did not have a table with a view as requested. When ordering the meal the waitress took 2 of the 6 people's order and left and didn't come back. We had to find her to take the rest of the order. Very strange. Everyone's meal came out except for one which was delayed by quite a bit which made it awkward for everyone else. The actual meals were good. Several years ago this used to be a great restaurant, great chef, ambiance, view, service and decor and now it seems to be a struggle.

After being closed for some time we went when they first opened again looking forward to the same experiences we had in the past and it couldn't compare. We were so disappointed. They ruined the decor, no lake seating outside and no view from inside and food was marginal. Would not go back but friends said that it had improved within the year so we gave it another try. It was better but not what it used to be. The question of would I recommend it to a friend was leaning towards "no" but I gave it a yes hoping that The Oaks will get it together.

The corking fee was too high. The Five -Star restaurant, The Copper Door only charges $10 for a corking fee with a better wine & beer list. You need a better selection of wines and beers, so we don't have to bring our own wine in.

Overall good food, they were out of the 2 appetizers we would have chosen which was interesting for a Saturday. At 630. Staff is good but everything is very slow.

Great food, nice staff and service

We have been here two times with the same experience. Nice place, good food. Service is extremely slow, tables are not bussed in a timely manner. We had to ask for utensils after we got our food. The server was likable, but confused about food/drink options. It took 10 mins or so to get a drink on both of our visits, and they were not busy. Not sure if we will return as we like to take visitors out to places that provide better service. This establishment needs a lesson on service from The Copper Door in Hayesville.

Seems to have poor management and service staff needs training. Many menu items not available. Orders were not delivered correctly with items were missing (salad with chicken, no chicken). Surrounding tables were left unbused. Everyone around us were also complaining about similar issues. Had to ask for check after a long wait. It’s too bad because the location is nice, but this was our second try and dont intent to return. Good management could turn this around, but i dont anticipate this restaurant to make it. Sad...

Delicious food, terrific views, great cocktails, overall very good experience. Would eat there again.

Great visit, good food, very tasty very good portions well cooked and delivered with great presentation! Steak was just slightly under cooked but very delicious, Salmon was amazing and crab cakes were excellent.

I am very happy to have this in the Hiawassee, North Georgia area.

Beautiful view of the water from our table. Food was delicious and our server was great too. We were here for our anniversary.

The food was fantastic! Everything was served hot and the plates were delicious. The prices were moderate and the restaurant was very nice. The staff was very friendly. Highly recommend. We will be going back.

This was my second dinning experience at the Oaks. The first experience was better than the second time. First time the waitress was friendlier and more knowledgeable of the food and wine.

Was a little disappointed in dinner Saturday night as I was looking forward to their pork chop and due to the chef's personal problems, it, as well as many other menu items, were not available. Could definitely tell that the Chef wasn't in the kitchen as the fried chicken I got was very greasy. My husband had the seafood pasta and it was good, but overall disappointing. We will return, but will likely place a phone call first to be sure the Chef has returned.

Dinner with colleagues during a conference. Food was great! The appetizers were amazing and they have the best cheese sticks ever!!!!!

The food was amazing!!!! We had the corn chowder and the pecan crusted Salmon with cheese grits was superb. The green fried tomatoes were not what I expected... not crispy and could taste the oil more than the tomatoes. Looking forward to go back again.

Sercice was great. Food was above average.still under renovations

We made reservations through Open Table for a party of six at 530pm. We showed up at 530 and someone comes out and said they were closed for renovation. They didn’t bother tocall us and tell us that they were closed. They need better customer service or the restaurant won’t make it!

We were a group of 6 having dinner pre theater. The service was very nice but not efficient or organized. In general we had a very good experience. Everyone really enjoyed their meals. I had the salmon which was wonderful. The only issues were that the soup arrived luke warm and when it was sent back it came back the same. I think that if they can just get their service organized and trained that they will be very successful. Hayesville/ Hiawassee needs restaurant choices and this appears to be a good option. The restaurant is very appealing. They offer a Sunday Brunch what sounds wonderful.

First time. My husband's prime rib and lobster dinner was good. One of the better lobster dishes in the area. My trout dish was o.k. but kind of bland. I would pick something else next time.

Our server Jydon was great. Food was very good and very reasonable.
It was Valentines Day and they had lots of couples young , middle age and older couples there for dinner. The only complaint we had was the music/singing they were playing. Should have been just soft music for the evening.

We went here for Valentine's Day with friends. The staff was very nice and friendly. Our waiter was knowledgeable about the menu and had some great suggestions. I asked about making a substitution on my meal, and they were very accommodating. We had a great meal and evening.

This restaurant was recently reopened this year Under New Management. I believe it's a subsidiary of a Marriott property, so they are in it for the long haul. Still need to speed up service, but everything we had was very good, and it was a great business lunch environment.

My husband and I went with another couple. Lovely surroundings and nice comfy seating. Our window seat looked out over Lake Chatuge. A warm fire burned in the lodge sized fireplace. The menu was well rounded, offering all 4 of us interesting options. I got the mountain trout over a bed of veggies with apple cubes. Delicious!

We'll be back. Very well worth the short drive from Hayesville!