New Lakefront Restaurant, Cedar Lake, Indiana

Hi, Paula!

I'm a lifetimer in the area myself and it is so nice to see such nice things happening around Cedar Lake! I can't wait to try out the Lighthouse.

Gloria Miller

Yeah, I'm only 13 but I think Cedar Lake is gonna be ROCKIN'!!!
Crown Town Is Gonna Be Gellin` B/c We Are Awesome!

:D

Last night we went to the restaurant everyone is buzzing about    The bartenders and servers were wonderful. the wait was long but the food, atmosphere and music  were worth the wait. I spoke to the general manager about the "stressed out" hostesses----but I am sure they will get used to handling the crowds with a smiles on their faces!

I had visted the restaurant (4/17/09) and was not happy at all.  We had a party of 7 & were told it would be 20 min.  After several other customers had come in after us & had all been seated.  A crowd of 13 came in & gave a gentleman a $20.00 bill & were seated right away. After waiting a full hour and seeing this take place I had asked for the manager & she (if she even was the manager) said that our table was given to the investors. 

Now do you think the investors would like to hear how poorly they treat their customers.  I was also there  checking the place out for futher business dinners/lucheons but will not recommend this place to any business associates or anyone else for that matter.  The manager never once apoligized for the inconvience.  Sorry but you have lost my business and anyone else who may ask about your restaurant.

I was with that party of 7 on 4/17/09, we had 5 adults and 2 children. I was the one whom checked in and was told at 6:10 pm that it would be only a 25 min wait. Well we watched tons of people come in after us and were seated with little wait. After 45 minutes of waiting I went up to the hostess and asked how much longer and her response was we have to put two tables together and one of them are open so we are waiting for that other table to open up so we can seat you. So I asked two questions the first was, So you are holding that open table for us? and she said YES and the second was, Has that table you are waiting on been there for a while or did they just sit down to order? and she said No they have been there for a while so it should not be too much longer. About 15 minutes later that party of 13 came in and a gentleman from the party gave the Guy Manager/Host a $20.00 bill and was immediately seated. So I was very frustrated that we were still standing waiting for an hour so I went back up to the hostess and asked, How much longer? Why are all of these people that are coming in after us getting seated right away? and Did that other table open up yet? She said no. Then I asked, What about the table you were holding open for us? She said, well we seated that table. That is when I gave her back the pager and grabbed my family walked them to the car and went back in to talk to a manager with my mother-in-law. It so happened to be the manager that I was talking to the whole time and I thought she was just a hostess. Both my mother-in-law and I explained our complaint to her and her responses were, Well we only have three tables to accommodate your party size and 9 times out of 10 it will only be that 25 minutes... Umm didn't they just open up?!? 9 times out of 10...lol! And she told me that they has to put two tables together not sit at one. And she said that table they were waiting on to open up for us were "people that have invested TONS of money into this restaurant and have been sitting there for over two hours and we can not tell them to get up." I would never expect for any restaurant to tell anyone that is enjoying their time to get up we need to seat someone else now, investors or not. Having said that do not tell your customers that we are holding a table for you and then give it away to new customers and Also maybe they should have some lessons in PR skills because not one apology, not one well we can try and seat you now, nothing and way to try and blame it one your investors why we were still standing there waiting. She did not care one bit that she just lost a sale. It is kind of funny that she brought up the investors so hopefully they read this and are not happy with knowing she blew a huge sale and future sales with my family. Your business might be a big hit right now but in order to keep your business running maybe you should treat your customers a little better. Or maybe you should advertise " Slip us a $20 and we'll seat you right away" Good slogan try it out! Thank you for treating my family and I like crap before you got our money! That is the only thing I am happy about with your new restaurant!

Jamie S.

Husband and I loved it we went on the 25th of April (sat) it was so good and yes we waited BUT where on a sat. night don't you???  we had a half of a drink in the bar and went to eat the best dinner ever! thank you for Cedar Lake you guys did great!

To the person who thought that the manager was just slipped a $20 and got sat !!!  You are dead wrong and don't have your facts straight at all.  Maybe you should have all your facts straight before you post slander on a blog site.  The manager actually loaned the $20 to the customer 2 weeks before because tghey didn't have enough money to tip the server.  The customer of the large party was actually just paying the manager back.  Where have you gone lately that a manager would just give you $20 on a handshake that he would ever see it again !!!

My husband and I had a beautiful romantic dinner last night (Tuesday). Every part of our visit was as expected, from the atmosphere, to the food and last but not least the hostesses. The pictures on this website dont' even do justice to the restaurant, the inside of this restaurant was just Amazing! How nice to have a place so close to home, this will definitely put us on the map. Oh I shouldn't forget to mention the prices are very reasonable for a family outing. For those inpatient people, anywhere in the world that you visit will be busy on the weekend, so try going during the week. What did you expect it was a grand opening! We will be recommending this place to everyone we come across. Best wishes to the restaurant owner!

Dean White is the owner of the restaurant. He owns Whiteco and White Lodging, The Raddison and Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville. He paid 8 million dollars for the restaurant and everything inside. It is truly an amazing place. He has plans to build an inlet on the lake itself with anywhere from 30-40 half million to 1 million dollar condos. With all the hard work and money put into this place, it will truly develop our region and keep us on the map for years to come. So you had a bad experience. GROW UP! The restaurant serves over 600 guests on a saturday alone, it does take some time to accommodate a large party. maybe the bright thing to would have been to MAKE A RESERVATION!!!! The restaurant seats about 200. and with the table set up to take you party of 7 you would have two tables pushed together. two tables that most likely seated 4 or 5 people a piece.  thats 5% of the seating capacity. its not even worth arguing. you are stupid.

TO INSIDE INFO..YOU STATE GROW UP ON YOUR REPLY & CALL THE PERSON STUPID.  IT LOOKS LIKE YOU NEED TO GROW UP.  ARE YOU IN GRADE SCHOOL SINCE YOU ARE USING NAME CALLING TO REPLY.  I WAS IN THAT PARTY & AGREE WITH THEM & I DID CALL FOR RESERVATIONS & WAS TOLD THEY WEREN'T TAKING THEM SO I ASKED THEN WE SHOULDN'T JUST WALK IN BECAUSE WE MAY NOT GET IN & WAS TOLD WE COULD WALK IN & WOULD BE GIVEN A TIME OF HOW LONG.  WELL WE WERE TOLD 20 TO 25 MIN'S.  NOW IF WE WERE TOLD IT COULD BE OVER AN HOUR THEN WE WOULD HAVE MADE THE CHOICE (AS ADULTS WOULD) TO EITHER STAY OR LEAVE BUT TO GO THRU WHAT WE DID WAS UNACCEPTABLE.  MAYBE THE LIGHTHOUSE SHOULD JUST WORK OUT ALL THEIR KINKS FIRST.  SORRY YOU DON'T ACCEPT ANYONE CHERISHING YOUR LIGHTHOUSE REST.

TO MICHELLE.. ARE FACTS ARE STRAIGHT!   SO THANK YOU FOR THAT INFO SINCE NOW THIS MAKES A THIRD TIME OF  PASSING OF A $20.00 BILL.  IF YOU CHECK THE YELLOW PAGES REPLY'S YOU WILL SEE A GENTLEMAN STATES THAT THE MAYOR OF CROWN POINT CAME IN & SLIPPED A $20 BILL & WAS SEATED.  SO OBVIOUSLY THIS MAYBE A  PATTERN TO GET SEATED QUICKER & MAYBE YOUR SITUATION WAS ANOTHER INCIDENT & JUSTIFIABLE.  NOW  THAT WOULD MAKE THREE TIMES A PASSING OF $20.00 DOLLARS....HMM INTERESTING!

We ate at the lighthouse restaurant, they got our orders messed up. We ordered Ribeyes and got strip/ filet and a ribeye. the waitress was nice and apologized for the mistake but what suprised me was that she was indifferent that she gave us someone elses food and now another order was going to be messed up when they get our order! I also noticed that if you are not wearing a buisness suit you do not get seated out on the front window/lakeview seating area! I guess had I known I should have brought a $20 bill to get good seats! 8 mil for the restaurant and a Cedartucky staff!

My daughter and her husband went to the lighthouse Friday 8/14/09 made reservations for 8:30.  Got to the restaurant at 8:10 and checked in.  noticed that the host was engaged in a slight argument about not seating a group, they were complaining because their name was crossed off the list and were never called to be seated.
My daughter and her husband ordered drinks and went outside to wait, and wait, and wait.  After 40 minutes my son-in-law inquired and was told that it would be "a few minutes."  after another 35 minutes he inquired again and was told that he and his name was crossed off the list and  he was already seated...WHAT....no...........no....!  Finally were seated after over an hour wait and given a free appetizer. 
I called the restaurant  for my kids because I recommended the place. I talked to a very professional young lady who informed me that they were aware of the problems and it had happened a couple of times that night.  they said a manger would call on Saturday 8/15/09.....no call!
I called back today and spoke to the same very professional girl who was shocked that the general manager did not call my daughter.  She said that he will call today and she will call me back to tell me what he said and why he did not call.  The girl that I spoke to on the phone twice is a true restaurant professional and has a great personality.

I will update this review after the phone call...
Oh by the way, my kids told me the food was good, not great just good........
If the manager calls we will try again with a larger group for my birthday....watch for an update.

HERE IS THE UPDATE!
8/23/09-------went for my birthday, big mistake,  once again the staff is very rude........they got their noses in the air because they have the business for now.......not for long.  Manager called my daughter and told her they would comp. the appetizers if we came back for my birthday, so she made reservations for 9 people for today, 8/23.  She was told in no uncertain terns that 3:00 was the only time that they take groups, (ours was 9) they will not take any large group after that.  wait till business dies off on the winter they will beg to have groups any time.
we arrived and were seated promptly,  we were seated at two tables next to each other ( less than 12 inches away) one side was a long booth the other side was chairs.  I immediately slid the tables together to have one long table and so we can converse, (it is very loud in there).  then the waiter came to the table and said "you are not allowed to put the tables together, it is a danger to our staff and it makes it hard to service the table, as he was telling us that he started pulling the table apart.  I said you got to be kidding me, whose rule is that?  he sent a manager over to see me and see explained sarcastically that we violated a Lighthouse rule and the tables must stay apart, wow I was so embarrassed after she informed me of the violation.  That alone will stop me from ever eating again at the Lighthouse.
but the food is also a problem....French onion soup that is terrible, a floating piece of old bread with cheese on top...it did not even resemble Baked French onion soup, salads with old yellow lettuce and warm dressing mixed into the salad before it comes to the table....we thought it was someones garbage that they did not eat.
appetizers were a joke, the onion scoops were oil soaked and contained the outer peels and the calamari was rubber and loaded with oil.  Steaks were good, but not done to the correct ordered temps, pork chop was good but not worth the attitude of the staff............I would not recommend the Lighthouse to anyone,  I hope a better place opens that knows how to treat customers

This place is just awful, I had a great fillet mignon, but everything else was terrible. My Caesar salad was the worst I have ever had the bread like a rock. The waitress was so trashy and gossiped about the other waitresses. They are so unkind when one of their own employees die they send no flowers or words or sorrow to the family. I will never patron this restaurant and neither will most people I know........it's like putting a gold gem in a pile of slime....good luck!

PLEASE LEVEL THE LIGHTHOUSE, AND BRING BACK TOBE'S. I'LL TAKE THAT DUMP OVER THIS OVERBLOWN DUMP ANYDAY. IN FACT, BRING BACK THE OLD CEDAR LAKE WHILE YOU'RE AT IT.

I have dined @ the Lighthouse and cannot say ENOUGH nice things about it.  It is evident that some of the comments on here are from people who aren't used to upscale anything, let alone dining. 

The food was fantastic!  Perfect attention to seasoning on everything from appetizers to the main entree.  The energy flow is fantastic, they are totally on top of their game.  The bartenders know how to pour a perfect drink, and the servers are prompt and efficient.  The prices are reasonable.  The attention to detail throughout the restaurant is amazing.  You do not feel like you are in Cedar Lake, but in a quaint town along the East Coast.  You must make a reservation in order to secure seating for your party, because this place is always packed.  I suggest dining during the week rather than the weekends because it is slightly less packed. 

My family and I will be back again.  I will be glad when the cynical people stop coming, as it will free up space for the true customer who appreciates all this restaurant has to offer.