Address: 3100 N Service Rd
Phone Number: (905) 562-6777
Website: lakehouserestaurant.com
City: Vineland Station
Category: Mediterranean
While this restaurant is very much south of the 6ix, we thought we’d give a little nod to our followers/readers in the St. Catherines area. Year round, lots of people visit Niagara or Buffalo as well – if you’re one of those people, keep reading!
You’ve likely seen the Lake House on your drive to either side of the Niagara Falls border – a quaint, black and white house that backs onto our beloved Lake Ontario. The restaurant, which specializes in Mediterranean fare but offers a varied menu, has both indoor and outdoor seating options. You can enjoy the view of the lake as you enjoy your meal, which is visible both from the indoor dining area as well as the patio. Inside, the restaurant has an elegant, yet homey feel. The only drawback to our experience was that there were a lot of flies in the dining area – likely from the opening and closing of the patio door. But with that aside, we still enjoyed our dining experience. Staff were friendly and very accommodating. When making reservations, you can let them know if you are planning on attending for a special occasion (an anniversary, birthday, etc.) and they will decorate the table appropriately (we went for an anniversary dinner for which they sprinkled heart-shaped confetti on the table – an extremely adorable touch). They also throw in a free mini dessert at the end of your meal, but we will go into more detail about those later.
Lake House Restaurant has an excellent prix-fix dinner menu, which we highly recommend partaking in. For 41.95 (excluding tax and gratuities), diners can choose an appetizer (the soup of the day, baked brie, baby spinach salad, or classic Caesar salad), an entrée (veal parmesan, pecan crusted salmon, chicken supreme, or Moroccan lamb shank), and a mini-dessert (made in-house, and including a vegan cheesecake option).
We tried the baked brie as an appetizer, which was absolutely delightful. Warm, gooey brie cheese is enveloped in a crispy, flaky layer of filo pastry and topped with roasted garlic and cranberry jam. The entire thing sits on a bed of baby arugula. Every flavor perfectly complements one another. The combination of creamy brie cheese with the sweet taste of jam and peppery arugula is one that cannot be beat.
In addition to our prix fix appetizer selection, we also ordered some sweet potato fries which were delightfully crispy. They were the perfect thickness as well – not too thick, but thin enough to get that lovely crispy exterior. The chipotle aioli it came with was very tasty also.
For the main dish from the prix fix menu, we selected the Moroccan lamb to see how the restaurant lived up to its specialization in Mediterranean fare. This dish was super filling and packed a hard punch of flavor. The spices were wonderfully aromatic and delicious, and we were obsessed with the way it combined with the sweetness of the yogurt drizzle. The accompanying vegetables (green beans, beets, and cauliflower) were good as well, although we may have liked the green beans cooked a bit more. The garlic mash was a welcome side as well (is garlic mash ever not welcome?).
Prix fix aside, we also ordered the 10oz Grilled New York Striploin. We ordered the steak medium-well (characteristically, the steak should be slightly pink in the middle but cooked through otherwise), and it came cooked well-done, with no pink in the middle. While this was not necessarily ideal, the cut of meat itself was tender and flavorful. The juniper and rosemary jus tasted good, but if we are speaking from personal preference, we believe steak doesn’t necessarily need a sauce – it should be the sole star of the show. The parmesan roasted baby potatoes were cooked nicely, although we still preferred the garlic mash as an accompaniment. The green beans would receive the same feedback as those featured in the Moroccan lamb dish.
By dessert, you will be full. That’s why we appreciated the mini dessert selection, brought out on a long, dark stained wooden plank and served in tall shot glasses. The selection included a vegan cheesecake option, as well as a variety of other dairy-based cream desserts. We tried the skor cheesecake and Nutella mousse. The cheesecake was super creamy and tart, which complimented the sweet, crunchy pockets of skor nestled in the dessert, which was topped with a piece of the chocolate bar. The Nutella mousse was delightful as well – not too sweet, and just the right amount of Nutella flavor. The dark and white chocolate pumpkin seed bark was a bit thick for a light dessert and the pumpkin seeds were an interesting pairing, but we’re not about to complain about a big chunk of chocolate topping our dessert. One of the desserts came with the prix-fix dinner, and the other was complimentary for our anniversary dinner.
Overall, Lake House Restaurant is a wonderful spot that we recommend visiting – in sum, we would stick to the prix-fix menu for the value and all-around deliciousness of the dishes that they offer. Also, make sure you get lots of pictures of the view! It is stunning.
North of the 6ix 
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