We went here two nights for dinner and had two very different results. The first night was on a Friday in the summer and were sat immediately (my wife and I). We got a pretzel appetizer which was great (it had a cinnamon sugar/butter side and a mustard side for dipping-the butter was MUCH better as the mustard had too many seeds in it and didn't stick to the pretzel), though it only had 3 sticks in there-we would have liked to see 4 sticks for what we paid. We got the lobster roll and the pasta with vodka sauce. This lobster roll was better than the one at Lobster Reef, and cheaper too ($17)! It had just the right mix of mayo and seasoning, and a fairly generous helping of lobster. My wife said the pasta was pretty good. Cocktails here are a bit expensive ($11+ for the specialty cocktails but if you grab a gin and tonic it's only $6). We liked it so we decided to try it again on a Sunday night-absolutely horrible. I got the Jeremy Pizza which is supposed to have a garlic/olive oil base with mozzarella, chicken, and some pancetta I believe, but all I saw was some mozzarella and dried chicken on it and it tasted like olive oil. It actually tasted like a Freschetta pizza, so that sucked. My wife got a salad with chicken. The cucumbers and lettuce were actually wilted and the chicken looked like it was the Perdue shortcuts you buy at the grocery store. It was all so unappetizing. So there you have it-maybe they put better staff on Friday nights because they know it will be busier? I e-mailed the restaurant/hotel when they asked about our stay and haven't heard anything in over a week, so that's pretty disappointing. read more

Poor service!!! Rude rude rude! Staying at High Peaks Resort (2 floors above the restaurant). I called for carry out. The restaurant was loud and busy. I called before closing and was told they weren't taking any more orders even though I called before closing (20 minutes). I asked to speak to a manager and was put on hold 2-3 minutes, then disconnected. I called back and was hung up on. I called back again. The call was answered and I indicated that I was waiting to speak to a manager. Again, the staff hung up on me. I'd already eaten here because it was convenient. The food was just ok and priced high for what it is. Plenty of options to eat in Lake Placid. I'd recommend Black Bear right across the street or any place else with 4+ star reviews. There's a reason this restaurant doesn't get a great rating. Never. Again. read more

We stopped here on a Saturday night after hiking Cascade and Porter Mountain. They don't take reservations, however we only waited about 20 minutes for a table, which allowed us time to walk around the area. We ordered two beers, a pizza and the brussel sprouts. The sprouts were tremendous and I'd recommend them to all. The pizza was about average but still tasty with some red pepper flakes. The staff was friendly as well. All in all a solid experience and we would visit again if desired. read more

Just got into town with my wife and family and decided to give Dancing Bears a shot despite the lukewarm reviews. Turns out we should've avoided this place after all. The food and atmosphere were...okay, but the service was pretty terrible. Our waitress completely ghosted us once she took our order, which was unfortunate since my son's pizza order came out wrong and we were desperate for water halfway through the meal. We flagged down the manager and he got another pizza back out relatively quickly, only for it to be wrong AGAIN (even after multiple, specific instructions). It wasn't a complicated request, so I'm not sure why they couldn't get it right. They didn't comp it, either. When we were ready to leave and ready for the check and our only drink refill of the night, we had to flag down the manager again. Our waitress finally came back at this point and curtly sent us on our way with no apologies or care. Plenty of other options at the price point with better service in the area, I suggest you go to one of those instead until they can figure out how to hire servers who actually want to serve their patrons! read more

Visited this place while exploring Lake Placid for the first time. We were seated quickly and all Covid precautions in place. I ordered the HUMMUS WRAP: roasted chickpea with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, cucumber, tzatziki, and fries. My husband ordered the PORK CARNITAS: three soft tacos, ginger lime slaw, crispy onions, and fries. Both meals were delicious and filling. We had to take the rest home(we enjoyed the midnight snack). We paired each meal with a glass of the PONGA SAUVIGNON BLANC from New Zealand and were not disappointed. Prices were great for a tourist area and you recieve great food and the amount for what you would expect at that price point. Oh and the fries! So good! We cannot wait to visit again! read more

The place is nice! Frank Strack is the best bartender in town. He knows all athletes and takes care of everyone kindly. Love the guy! Throw him good money He's got kids to feed read more

We enjoyed sitting at the bar. There are huge windows so we could see Whiteface Mountain and the Main Street of Lake Placid. We even saw a wedding party walk by, getting ready for photos in front of Mirror Lake. The ambiance was great and so was the food. We shared a scrumtious shredded beet saled with pistachios and a good sized plate of veal bolanaise. Friendly, fast service topped it off. read more

We went for a lay 3 PM lunch. Here's my opinion. What was excellent: 1. The view on the outside deck. 2. Reasonably priced wines. 3. The hot Bavarian pretzel with the Cinnamon butter. (The honey Dijon mustard was just overly spicy - even for me and I am a Sriracha fan!) What was poor: 1. The dry rub ribs: Completely charred, burned and dry. Inedible. In fairness to the Bear, after pressing our waiter twice, he finally conferred with the manager, who removed them from the bill. 2. Undercooked burger: medium rare burger that was so rare and undercooked, it wasn't even warm in the middle. We sent it to be grilled more and it came back completely well done. Their kitchen needs a meat thermometer, cost approx. $5. However, another member of the party had a burger and it was cooked better and very tasty. 3. The $10 crock of soup: broccoli cheddar which was good, came with a pack of saltines instead of some type of bread for Dipping, which is typical, especially for the price. 4. Bland shrimp scampi. No seasoning at all. My son added pepper so it would have some flavor. Overall, I think the cook was not very good, or poorly trained, and the waiter should never have served the ribs or burger, after picking them up from the line. I hope the restaurant can improve from this review. read more

We stayed at the resort and ended up wandering down to sit on the patio and enjoy the live music. The views were beautiful, the appetizers were complimentary (for Happy Hour), and we were introduced to a local craft beer, now one of my favorites: Paradox. It was a perfect start to a fun night out in Lake Placid. read more

Dancing Bears Restaurant - Loved this local brew. - American Near Me - Lake Placid, New York

Avoid. Breakfast here was terrible. Eggs overcooked, greens were old and my eggs Benedict had untoasted English muffins. Awful. Slow.

Dancing Bears is a fairly large restaurant. It was empty when we got there at 9. Bad weather and they close at 10. The maybe 15 bar-stools around the bar were occupied but that was it. There were a ton of open tables. But when my sis asked if we could use a small one by the bar for drinks (not food) the waiter said to order drinks you must be seated at the bar. Which is insane. My friends and I wanted to give you money. For drinks, the easiest thing to make. We're from Brooklyn, we would have stood and drank if needed. Again, this place was dead empty. There was no reason to turn us away. Can't help but assume my friend's dark skin had something to do with it. POC tourists beware :/ read more

Only come here for drinks, the bar tender tony is great! But the food is below average

This is the 4th time we've tried to go there and have yet to be successful. This time we were told it would be a 45 minute wait, which would've been fine. Ten minutes later we were told they were closing at 1pm (in 20 min) and would not be seating anymore. This was a waste of our time and should've been told when we first arrived, instead several groups of people were waiting and were then turned away. When we asked for the manager, the hostess told us he was "no where to be found, as usual." This place is very poorly run and we will not try again. read more

Good bartenders but kind of an odd layout. The bar was busy and they were hustling. The restaurant and bar are essentially one room and one of the servers politely had to ask bar customers to remain in the bar area. The line of demarcation was where the tiled bar met the carpeted restaurant. Simply not enough space. Seems like a big hotel that does numerous conventions/conferences would make more room for all paying customers. read more

Ordered steak and egg breakfast, how hard can that be? Steak was underdone, potatoes tasteless, gravy blah. Large coffees, though, and nice ambience. read more

Great food, great drinks, great/personable/fast service, and awesome for kids. My husband ordered the fish sandwich, i had a Mediterranean salad with salmon (both had mules) and my son had eggs and sausage. I was surprised by some of the negative reviews and glad we took a chance and went here. Well worth it!! We will go back for sure!! read more

This was the best food and service we had in lake placid. We brought two kids and sat on the patio upstairs. Great view of the lake and delicious food- can't go wrong. read more

I only had the cheese plate and the chili. The cheese plate was more of a bread plate (meh) but the chili was a big portion with good guacamole and very spicy (in a good way). I'd recommend the chili. Update: Had the French onion soup and it was delicous. Had a more meaty and almost tomato taste to it and was exactly what I was looking for (wings were good too.) read more

My boyfriend and I had an absolutely wonderful experience here. We got to dine on the rooftop with an amazing view of mirror lake. We started off with thai chicken wings, a duck quesadilla and a warm mushroom salad. Everything hit the spot. The wing sauce was a light yummy sweet flavor tossed onto well done wings. Perfect combo and may be my new favorite wing spot. The duck quesadilla was packed with flavor with each bite. The warm mushroom salad was good but didn't have a lot of flavor. I actually ended up using the guacamole from the quesadilla to eat the salad and it was really good. Or entrees were mahi mahi fried fish tacos and a turkey rueben. I have been craving fish tacos badly since I moved here and I will say these definitely hit the spot. My boyfriend said his sandwich was good too. The service was also great. The chef even came out and asked us how everything was. Prices are very fair compared to other places in town. We have been recently hitting up all the restaurants in town and this has been our favorite food, service and view so far! read more

Dancing Bears Restaurant - Rooftop views - American Near Me - Lake Placid, New York

OK food, great bar tender. Used to have the areas BEST French onion soup on the menu but it's GONE. WHY? Nachos are totally average. Similarly the rest of the bar menu. Uninspired. read more

Great food! The chicken pesto pizza was delicious! The staff were so kind and friendly! Would definitely dine here again.

While walking down Main Street, we were caught in a sudden rain. We decided to stop at the Dancing Bears out of convenience and ended up pleasantly surprised! Dancing Bears is a step average your average pub; the black bean burger was absolutely delicious and the pizza was pretty good as well! This place is great for vegetarians, which is a rare find for pubs! read more

Dancing Bears Restaurant - Black bean burger - delicious and veg-friendly! - American Near Me - Lake Placid, New York

Just visiting lake placid for the weekend. Decided to give this place a shot. Over priced food that comes with the worst service. Our waiter barely spoke English, so he couldn't understand what we were ordering. I had the calamari that was so over cooked I felt like I was eating rubber bands. The bread in my Rueben was so hard it cut my mouth. My friend ordered a medium rare burger that came out well done. The view from the place was phenomenal too bad the service and food was so horrible. read more

Went on a night not super busy. Service was great. Not a big menu. Limited items. However they are more high end menu. They food is fantastic. Every one was very happy with their meals. Little bit on the pricey side but then again its Lake Placid. Would definitely come back. read more

Nice place with good service. A very clean bathroom. Food was pretty good (not anything I would rave about). Has TVs to watch sports game and a good bar. read more

Occasionally, my wife is 100% right about something. She said, "Prepare yourself to be disappointed by this lobster roll." I hate it when she's right. Dancing Bears is just one of a long line of similar-looking tourist trap restaurant-bars on Main Street in Lake Placid. We chose to eat here, over the others, based on one single criteria: their prominent advertisement of their lobster rolls. Now, to preface this, I live in the landlocked Midwest, about 1,000 miles from the natural habitat of Homarus americanus, the Maine lobster. This geographic misfortune severely limits my opportunities to eat genuine East Coast lobster rolls. So, don't dare mess with me on this. Don't promise me a lobster roll and then under-deliver with some weak-ass substitute that looks like it was built using a misappropriated ice cream scooper at Subway. Especially when you are conspiring to charge me $15.95 for the aforementioned sandwich. And yet, that is exactly what Dancing Bears did. They served me up a microscopic, mostly-mayonnaise, downright betrayal of this timeless classic. I couldn't believe how tiny this lobster roll was. It was like two small dinner rolls with a little lobster, celery, and mayo tucked inside. It barely would qualify as an appetizer. Did they donate the other half of my sandwich to Haiti? What the fuck kind of bamboozle shit is this? (Yeah, I know it's lobster, and lobster meat ain't cheap...but remember you ARE charging me $15.95 for this, Mr. Bear. Price it at $20 if that's what you have to do, but gimme me a real goddamn American sandwich, not some teatime British finger-food snack.) As for the remainder of my experience (....which was inconsequential compared to my disappointment over the lobster roll), the chowder was weak, the service was slow, the staff unfriendly, and the atmosphere felt like a chain restaurant but with obligatory, cheap Adirondack-themed artwork. I left feeling hungry and ripped off. I hope the real bears come out of the woods and maul you, Dancing Bears. read more

I thought of trying this place out for breakfast. I went inside and waited for a table.. and waited and waited. I stood there for 15 minutes going unnoticed at the enterence and had to get the bartender to get someone to serve us. Quality of breakfast food was alright. Orange juice was warm. Also Really over priced food especially for what you get. Cost table of 2 people $60. Would I go here again? Maybe but only because it's the only close place that serves breakfast. And everyone was drunk at the bar right across from where I was eating at 10am.. though that's how all of lake placid seems. I love the adirondacks and lake placid but the restaurants around town kind of suck. Update: 1 yr later: went here again at 10:30AM and they told us they were done serving breakfast and the kitchen isn't making food for another half an hour. This place is an utter joke. You stop selling breakfast at 10AM? SERIOUSLY? come on guys. Never coming back here again. Mistake. read more

Couldn't get past the door. Hostess had a bad don't-care attitude. No attempt to help seat or serve a group of 7. Just said simply no, without any reason such as it'll be a little wait or we would have to do this or that. Place had booths and tables open everywhere, a whole section. read more

Rarely have I ever had to write an update to note a restaurant drastically in decline, but this sadly, is one such case. While my prior review was glowing, this one is about as poor as it gets. I've been here about 6 or 7 times in the last two years and it has always been great, but last week the food was short on.......well.......food. I dont know if it's under new ownership or if there's financial decline, but everything was skimpy at best. The lady friend ordered bacon mac & cheese, and with no hyperbole I SWEAR to you there was virtually no bacon. It was as if they took a cheese grater and shredded a tiny bit of bacon on top (and I mean top only). It was basically mac and cheese with no bacon. I ordered the French Onion soup, and my croc was only about 3/4 full, if that. And the full size chicken nachos had me wondering, where's the chicken? In short, on everything we ordered there was barely ANY of the key/main ingredient. It was an obvious attempt at raising profit margin, but what it did is ensure that THESE customers, who formally made it a point to eat at DB every time we're in Lake Placid, shall not return. There's just too many decent dining spots in the area to "risk" a similar experience. Very sad to say that given how much we used to enjoy the place. read more

This is an OK place too cool your jets or warm your fanny while in Lake Placid, but there's only one Yelpable item here: The Nachos. The Classic Nachos are so good, but I submit to you that you should grab the Cheeseburger Nachos, which adds ground beef and pico de gallo. Some of the best nachos you'll find. read more

This is a fun place for a large group. We ate here the night after Ironam Lake Placid to celebrate with a bunch of friends. We ordered a large order of nachos and fries which included sweet potatoe fries for the table. Everyone ordered wine and on there way to the table the waitress spilled all of them on our friend...so sad. They were very nice and offered to pick up the dycleaning bill and they also paid for all of the wine. I thought this was nice. The food was delicious. Most of us ordered burgers. The lettuce was local though which from previous places in town that we ate at means...it's bad. But besides that I thought the food and service was good. read more

This place is incredibly average in terms of food. Expect very typical bar food with one or two interesting additions. However, the interior looks very nice, and their was always a lively crowd every time I've been there. Not a bad place for Lake Placid. read more

We stopped here because we could get in fast on a Monday night. Food was OK, but wasn't anything fantastic. You won't be sorry you went here, but you won't be dying to come back anytime soon. Great location but look around before you settle. read more

I ordered the smoked salmon benedict with potatoes and a latte and my girlfriend ordered the lumberjack (plate of eggs, bacon, potatoes, french toast and asparagus). The latte was good but not anything fancy (although it was served in an awesome mug and I bought 2 to take home) and the salmon bene was ok. They could've put a bit more salmon and béarnaise sauce on there and it would've made it a bit better, especially for the $14 price tag. The lumberjack's best part was the bacon and eggs. Everything else was mediocre. The french toast wasn't fluffy and it was super dry and the asparagus didn't have any type of butter sauce to accompany it and was bland. Would I recommend this place? Yes, if you don't want to spend more at the other options on the same street and don't have high expectations for breakfast. read more

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Great menu. I love "build a burger." With all those options how can you go wrong? After a 6 hour hike there's no other place I'd rather eat. The sweet potato waffle fries are a great compliment to the chicken or bean burger platter. Love this place! read more

Came to the Dancing Bears after looking around on Main street and wanting to spend one last night on a patio. The upper patio floor at Dancing Bears offered a beautiful fire pit and decent service, albeit a limited menu due to the separate kitchens on both floors of the restaurant. Because it was the end of the season, the bar menu was also fairly limited, but since it was happy hour downstairs, we just had to walk down to order our own drinks. I had the Steak Nicoise and others at my table tried the turkey burger, lobster roll and BB&B burger. All were satisfying, although the burgers look to be the best option here. My steak was overcooked and a few items I requested to have omitted from the salad still arrived on the plate. Overall, it was an okay place, and the patio and outdoor space was what really made our night. read more

We came here for dinner and breakfast. We only came for breakfast due to free vouchers from the hotel due to a screwup. Nachos at dinner were tasty, cheese sauce and melted cheese. The signature salad was yummy with lots of interesting things. The French onion soup was fine, quite average. The chicken and pasta had a strange tasting sauce, but that could have just been my taste preferences. Strange service at breakfast, the hostess seemed very put upon and then all staff disappeared for a long time when we wanted the check. Smoked salmon Benedict was fine, as was the combo with French toast, eggs, bacon and home fries, but we would not have come here without the hotel vouchers. Overall very average, but pretty views at the window table hightops of the lake. Also be aware that the top floor (inside and deck) is now a more expensive restaurant called "the deck." read more

Looking at the reviews of this place, I bet we just got lucky. Had the Fish and Chips, best fish and chips I've had. Everyone in our party liked our food, and the waitress was very nice, and took a picture of us. Overall, I would come back. read more

The hostess did not say hello and acted like we are disturbing her, she really needs to find a job that is not customer facing. Food was sub par: Chili was way too salty, Chicken Fajitas had some sort of a strange sauce on them and the tortillas were half frozen half hard, probably right from the microwave. Chicken with mustard and maple sauce was poorly done as well. The server Paulina was charming, they should really keep her and change everything else. read more

The Dancing Bears has good food and fast friendly service. We got nachos, burgers, sandwiches, etc. Of the restaurants we went to, it was the one I would most like to hang out in and relax (if there was no covid). It had really nice atmosphere and was happily buzzing by the time we left. The kids enjoyed their visit and pronounced the burgers as the best they had all week. They liked the individually wrapped (covid-free) crayons and coloring sheets, and were happily distracted by the US Olympic Hockey team memorabilia on the wall. read more