This is lengthy, apologies.
My experience with Lakeview goes back 35 yrs, going there with folks and now as an owner myself. It's always been a great value and good food. We as owners "own" it, it's not open to public and of course the prices are reasonable given the give and take of Board...bless their hearts... and residents, and the weird dynamic that it can stay in business while losing money. Yet with Lakeview's value, I don't go there often enough, and most owners don't go at all...some sell their food cards at a loss.
Last night I had salmon, she had soul picatta. It was very good! Chicken noodle soup a minor misstep and not the end of the world. Buy top shelf soup from a purveyor and be done with it. Continuing... "Flaming Desert Station" nice but waste of time and manpower, a gimmick that has to go. Include a dessert served from kitchen. Don't charge $2.25 for coffee.
The restaurant is not open to public so I'm not giving away anything and the residents of P.I. already know, but, we're only open 2 nights a week and there is no chef! Kudos to Alan for more than holding up his end upstairs and downstairs in Chippers!!! Alan is a valuable asset.
The hoity-toity menu has to be phased out, i.e., Baby Lamb Chops etc. The Board might have found some solution of sorts for breaking even by being open only two nights plus Sunday buffet, but seriously, there's no rent or owner needing to make a profit, there's no extravagant Chef salary...it's an imperfect solution.
Lakeview should be a crown jewel of P.I., adding value to P.I. The fancy menu made sense back in day. Alan has figured out how to do that menu with no spoilage, only open two days, that's incredible! The food was good last night! Don't take away the Sat night menu from the loyal folks that do go there for fine dining at very reasonable price.
I humbly propose this first step in making Lakeview an asset instead of liability. "All You Can Eat Ribs/Shrimp" on a Friday night. Admit Friday is a work in progress and start on high side of price always explaining to resident's that the Friday idea is to fill the place but not have it overrun on day 1 by giving away the meal, and price will be adjusted accordingly.
And maybe some sort of "mission statement" posted outside saying that demographics always change and Lakeview is a work in progress, but we all fail if we don't support our own restaurant. Ask for support from residents if we are ok losing a bit of money temporarily, but on high volume, not low volume like we have now.
To the Board...and some of us have said as much at meetings...give us comfort food and great value on Tues, Wed (already in place) Thurs and Friday. Frequent reminders that it's our restaurant. Double the price of the food card if these changes work. It could be a virtuous circle. What restaurant wouldn't die to have 3000 units worth of $175 ($350) food cards as guaranteed revenue. Everybody mumbles as much under their breath.
Open the ballroom doors even if it's not used. Would give a feeling of spaciousness to go along with fabulous view of lake.
p.s. the staff upstairs and downstairs is fabulous. Shout out to our CBS's John Dickerson lookalike. I showed him a pic of the CBS news anchor last night. He, Alan and the rest are really good people.
Last question is to me. This is a weird place to post, will anyone ever see? Might be a good thing. This kind of short story critique doesn't usually go over well. read more