The Windlass

5 Reviews on “The Windlass”

• Celeste Werfel

  We had an outstanding experience at Windlass and can’t wait to go back again!The wait staff was friendly, on top of everything from bringing out iced tea and soup right out to making sure we never got to the bottom of our glass! We started with the delicious french onion soup and followed up with a cheese steak sandwich and one their specials of the day, fried scallops that were lightly fried and very tender. We ended our visit with delicious coffee – both regular and decaf.The view of the lake was wonderful and the entire establishment is bright and cheery. The food is moderately priced but most importantly it was delicious and hot. The whole experience made it a great afternoon outing.

  May 20, 2017, 5:35 am

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• Amy Katona

  We arrived early for our 6:30pm reservation on a Saturday night figuring they’d be running behind schedule. Unfortunately after circling around look for a spot for nearly 15 minutes we couldn’t find one anywhere at Nolan’s Point. We parked near the J House & had to walk back. Once we were seated we noticed there was more parking available if had we come by boat! Upon walking into the Windlass you can smell the septic/sewers just before opening the front door. The new restaurant is clean, open & bare! This seemed like a diner without booths. We requested to sit outside since the noise level inside without any partition walls was very loud. After the sporadic walk through the dining area, since there was no clear path to get outside. There also seemed to be too many tables packed to seat as many people as possible, I had to squeeze through chairs on the path the hostess took us. We ordered two cocktails, and I asked our waiter about an appetizer of pizza dough & multiple different sauces, the waiter informed me they didn’t have anything like that & I must be thinking of the other restaurant, once I checked it is in fact on the bar menu. When the waiter came back to see if I had found what I was looking for I decided to order the Tavola Battilardo for 2. He was confused again. It said it came with 3 meats & cheeses, etc. He said he would have to go check on that since it’s very different than what it said 2 nights prior. That we could pick the options of meats & cheeses but there were only 3 of each which lead us to believe that it came with all 3. It did. The order is likely large enough for a party of 4. My fianc & I just kept eating it since it was still there. We ordered another round drinks, one of which was completely water & the other that had all the alcohol, to which we informed our waiter & he offered to put it back in a shaker to divide amongst the two martini glasses to which we did ourselves. Food was taking a long time to come out but they’re new so maybe they’re just busy. The waiter realizes how long it’s been & comes over to let us know that he would go to check on the status of our meals. We had ordered Chicken Cordon Bleu & Chicken Parmigiana. He comes back a few minutes later stating that our order should be out soon that the kitchen is just a little backed up right now. So a few more minutes go by, still no dinner… I’ve now seen the chef come out to socialize with a table near ours, multiple times while I’m still waiting nearly an hour or more on my dinner. He says a few nice things to us as he heads back to the kitchen. Then the waiter comes over to tell us that just now he learned that there is no Chicken Cordon Bleu available tonight. He does not know why they did not tell him this nearly an hour ago so he could give us the option to order something else. He offered to have the chef make something else & even offered to bring a new menu. Very polite & accommodating! I asked since they have Veal Francese on the menu would it be possible to make Chicken Francese instead? He said he would check into it & that the manager would be over to speak with us about the situation shortly. Then Sam came over & apologized for the confusion offered to accommodate us with our meal, etc. Finally the meals came out. The waiter was going to check on the possibility of getting Chicken Francese and get us a menu in the meantime not place the order for the Chicken Francese but I can see where that can get lost in translation being a server in my teenage years also. Especially since my fianc liked the Chicken Francese which I ordered on his behalf. I did see the option to only get a half portion for $3 less per plate but for that little a difference I’d rather take half home for lunch the following day. When it came time to wrap our dinners the waiter took our plates away & took care of this for us, returning the containers to the table. He then had to go get us a bag from somewhere else. While he did this I asked him to bring a Dessert Menu & a Martini list as I remembered a Chocolate Martini. Before dessert arrived we decided to switch seats as it was a bit brisk outside even with my sweater on since it was nearly 9pm. The waiter came back with both menu’s & left them with us for a few minutes. I realized then that all entres were supposed to come with a House Salad which we never got & at this point it was much too late to mention it, and we were mostly full. So instead I ordered dessert.Overall, we had a nice evening. I feel for the caliber that I am used to at Alice’s the staff could’ve been better informed. I would certainly give them another shot to get this right and I’m looking forward to trying their gourmet pizza’s but I may wait a few more weeks, which will remove the opportunity to dine outside and I’m not looking forward to the decibel level inside.

  December 21, 2015, 10:36 pm

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• Margie.rogers4

  Awful on all levels!. I remember coming here as a kid with my grandparents. Perhaps I didn’t know any better at the time, or perhaps times have changed. The service is awful. I won’t tell the whole horrific story, but 4 servers later and 2 hours passed before we received our food. My BLT essentially came out as toast with lettuce. The chicken sandwich my sisters boyfriend ordered came out half made with most of the ingredients on the menu left off. The only thing that looked edible was my nephews grilled cheese (hard to mess that up.) Our glasses and silverware had to be brought out in plastic form because the ones they gave us originally were dirty. GROSS! The smart patrons got tired of waiting for food and left. It was horrific. I will never eat there again. I am calling a manager to try and get my money back.

  August 28, 2014, 7:36 pm

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• PM

  It’s a treat to go here!. Yes, it may seem like a small step back in time to go here, but I happen to think that is a special treat. I love all of the classic dishes. The few times I went, I was very satisfied and happy. And the setting! Right on the lake! If you have a boat, you can pull right up and dine casually outside or elegantly inside. When I have relatives come to visit I like to go here with them. As a special treat.

  June 17, 2014, 1:51 pm

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• MadCityCurler

  The atmosphere is fun and a little kitschy — like stepping back in time about 50 years or more. (One could spend hours looking at all the local memorabilia.) The tables are tight — especially by the windows.The food is acceptable. (The draw here is the lakeside dining anyway, right?)But the service — I didn’t know we could cause a server so much inconvenience — just by sitting down. She looked positively traumatized when I ordered sparkling water. Other tables were attended by what seemed to be more attentive servers, but I can’t say for sure. Regarding speed of service — let’s just say there’ll be no breaking of any land-speed records here. I wrote this while waiting for our bill…

  September 23, 2013, 1:04 am

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