Top of the Lake

Was actually recommended this spot by another restaurant owner, so I can guess even he is impressed. Located in Penn Yan, at the tip of the eastern half of Keuka Lake, this is a fairly large restaurant. We did not have reservations, but had no problem getting a table. We wanted to sit on the deck, which was full, but as luck would have it, a table for four opened as we were getting there. After exploring the deck and taking some pictures, our table was ready. The service is very friendly, fast and attentive. I had the Lasagna and my wife the Prime Rib which was on special, and both dishes were excellent and reasonably priced. Adding a bottle of Rooster Hill white wine, the cost of the meal was around $ 50.00 for two. I would recommend this spot to anyone as there were a range of family’s and couples both inside and out. If the weather is accommodating, sit outside, especially to view the sunsets which were spectacular. The restaurant phone number is 1−315−531−8500 and can also be reached at
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Food here is really good and there’s a great view of the lake. Lots of local wine and beers on the menu. The staff is also very friendly and willing to make changes for dietary restrictions.

It’s too bad, this place is in a great location, but the food is awful.
Tried the Chicken Parmigiana. Sauce had no taste, it was a tomato water taste. Chicken was overcooked, and again, had little to no taste. I had also tried the New England Clam Chowder which was ok, but it still doesn’t compete with anything you could get in a can.
Awful.

I was there for lunch on September 2^nd.
This is a tough call. I gave it one star just to get management’s attention, for one reason not connected with the food. The service was great, but the staff seemed sort of tense. I’ve seen that before, in places where manager (s) had some sort of obsessive-​compulsive thing going on and drove the staff crazy. I may be wrong about this, but calm down a bit. There’s no reason for tension around good food. When you ride the staff too hard, customers notice.
Now that I think of it, the hostess seemed obsessed with whether I wanted to sit, stand, get a table before my date arrived. Too many questions within 3 seconds of walking in the door. I’d never been there before and I just wanted to scope out the place. I know she was trying to please, but… take a deep breath. If she’s that way with the staff, it’s no wonder they seemed jittery. That sort of energy is contagious.
In reality, this is probably a 4 or 5 star restaurant — the jury’s still out. My companion ordered a philly cheese steak sandwich and she was happy with it. I ordered one of the specials — turkey in puff pastry with brie. It sounded risky and experimental, so I had to try it. They used cold cuts — deli turkey, in other words. That doesn’t have much texture. Why not roast a turkey breast, slice it, and freeze it in portions? The brie sort of soaked into the puff pastry, so it didn’t come across with a distinct texture of its own. Not surprising, since brie liquefies unless it’s baked in a huge hunk. The puff pastry could’ve been crispier, but maybe the chef didn’t want the brie to liquefy any further. Try making this again with smoked cheddar or smoked jack cheese. That will rock.
I’ll come back. The place was VERY clean, and could work for anything from a casual to a fancy date with tie & jacket. Parking was easy, and the view is amazing. Around 1:00 PM, most of the outside deck was shaded for the entire time we were there. That was a good thing, since the weather was hot.

The wait for the table outside was quite long. However, the view is quite serene. We started with calamari appetizer, which was very good. Followed by salads, which were the complementary to the entrée. I had a lasagna with meatball. The portion are quite large. Lasagna is heavy, has a lot of meet and cheese. The minced meat in the lasagna is not very fresh, the meatballs were decent. Sailors pasta was good, but it was a little bit too heavy and creamy, also it was little bland for me. The service here was very nice, very friendly.

Food is ok, not amazing. For the price I was expecting more with me flavour. Service is great. The staff was friendly abd attentive. The décor and furniture sends dated and worn. Could use some new furniture and décor. The view of the lake is really nice.

Beautiful place in a gorgeous location right on the lake, fairly decent selection of food, excellent service but… The food was rather bland which is disappointing considering the price

View of the lake was good which is why I picked this place. The claim chowder was great but my fish sandwich was a little over greased.

Service was fast. Food was tasty and of good portion. Price is very reasonable. We seat at the window so we had a great view of the lake.

Any restaurant that bears the same name as a Holly Hunter/​Elizabeth Moss mini-​series set in New Zealand is worth a shot, ain’t it? A couple of glasses of local Riesling, sittin’ on the back porch with a view of a sunset over Keuka that looked like an Impressionist painting… not a bad way to spend a late summer evening. Good food, reasonable prices, friendly service.

Appetizers: The chicken soup with rice had an exciting, unexpected kick. The fondue was bland.
Main course: The fish was tasty, The penne pasta with red sauce was running, although the sausage was well flavored.
Noise level: WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE CHILDREN!

Went for dinner with the family, after hearing great things about the food. Arrived at 730 with reservations and was sat in the character-​less plain jane dining room. Kind of like a bad catering hall.
The view of the lake is very nice, and the sunset was excellent as well. Restaurant had 8 tables with patrons, and yet the service was pretty slow. Very nice waitress, very personable just slow all around.
Started with the Gouda and Chardonnay fondue and the egg battered artichokes. The fondue was creamy and tasty, the kids loved it. The artichoke batter was very good, but they used marinated (pickled) artichokes which added a sour taste. (could have been so much better.)
Several entrees, sailors pasta — artichokes, mushrooms, spinach, bacon with pasta in an asiago sauce was bland, had to add salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese just to make it worth eating. (Could have been so much better).
Filet mignon was ordered rare, without the bacon and bleu topping, it was cooked beautifully, but had no flavor. I don’t need much flavor, but there was none at all. (Could have been so much better)! Sorry, but there is a trend here.
Shrimp scampi was enjoyed very much. Quite oily at the bottom, but the flavor was good.
No desserts because we just didn’t have the confidence that they would be good.
One of my party had been there before and liked the sailors pasta and liked it very much, but didn’t tonight. Maybe an off night, but overall the décor matched the taste of the food. Standard and bland.
Had such high hopes, but I can’t in good conscience recommend it.

We were visiting the area for the first time. We picked this place out of a local paper to eat at. We called up to see if we should make reservations it was a Tuesday night 7÷29÷14. The woman on the phone laughed sarcastically and then asked how many? When we told her 9 I thought she was going to have heart attack .\Obviously this woman was not the owner. So after several minutes of her looking in her reservation book, we got an 8:00 reservation. So we get to the restaurant and are «greeted» shall we say by the say wonderful woman. She proceeds to tell us that it will be awhile before we can be seated that they are a little behind. So 15 minutes later we are seated and then told that a waitress will be over in a little while to take our drink orders. So we wait… and wait… no bread .no water. finally the waitress comes over takes our drink order but tell us that the kitchen is behind that she cannot take our dinner order until they catch up, which will be awhile. Now this makes no sense to me, why would taking any order and having it ready for the kitchen have anything to do with this??? So our 8:00 reservation that our miserable hostess was telling us we had to be there by that the kitchen closed at 8:45, wound up that the kitchen didn’t get our order til 8:40!!! The only ood thing I can say is our waitress was very nice. The food was pretty good. But the hostess really needs to find a new job where no one sees her because se s miserable!!!

I brought my six friends here on a hunch. We sat outside on the deck, listened to live music and had a great meal. Definitely coming back here soon for another Sunday dinner! A+

Very nice restaurant right on Keuka Lake. Ask for a seat by one of the large windows for wonderful lakeside dining views.
The Chicken French is so good. So is the Artichoke French. Both are egg battered dipped and so tasty. I also had the Pot Roast special which was also very good and their mashed potatoes are delicious.
Cheap wine prices too. A glass is around $ 6 and a bottle ran us $ 24. Of course all the wines on their list are right from Keuka Lake and Finger Lakes wineries. The bottle of Keula Spring Epic Reserve was delicious.
Full bar and also outdoor dining area too. A bit of the grandparents crowd here though. Kind of an old school throwback place on the lake so it does have a touch of the geriatric crowd. Very friendly and helpful staff. Our waitress was terrific.

Clean. Great view. Bread & salad just average. Entrees are very good. Had the shrimp scampi and sea scallops. Both cooked perfectly and nicely seasoned.

Came here for lunch and not only had a great meal but some of the best service I’ve had!
The views from both the dining room and deck are some of the best in town!
Highly recommend a meal here!

Came here for lunch when they opened. View is fabulous. Service was great. Beer was cold and a nice selection of wine. Food was yummy and portions were fair. I literally asked the waitress why they weren’t busier! Great way to end our vacation before heading home!

The meal was perfectly prepared and very affordable. The wait staff friendly, knowledgable and the lake view excellent! A must if you’re in the area.

Went there lastnight with a large family group. View was gorgeous. Enjoyed the ‘Sailor’s Pasta’ artichokes were tender, pasta light and cream sauce flavorful. Had Brandy Pecan pie for dessert. It was warm and heavenly.