The wait to be seated took forever despite the restaurant not being very busy. It seemed to be staffing issue (& it seems like this is a common complaint no matter the time of year). The serving staff was nice, however, but they didn't know the menu. She had to go ask if certain desserts were even available & the ones we wanted were not. Food was sub-par & very pricy for the poor quality. Breakfast was buffet-style & not included in the price of the stay (it was $17/person). The coffee was awful! I took one sip & spit it back out. No amount of cream & sugar could help. Would rather have eaten breakfast at Ihop or Waffle House. Service was slow once seated, again despite not being very busy. The restaurant was closed between 2p-5p & again after 9p leaving limited available dining times. The view of the lake out the expansive window was beautiful; however, there were dead bugs & animal droppings all over the windows & sills, making it very unappetizing for dining. Would not dine here again (or stay at the lodge for that matter, see separate review). Would not recommend. read more

Terrible. Horrible. Awful. This is one of the worst restaurant experiences I've ever had. Our server, Neveah, knew absolutely nothing. Didn't know what cocktails were available, didn't know which entrees were available, didn't bring our bread rolls, once she did finally bring bread she left us with no plates, I had to go into the kitchen myself to ask for plates, blamed us for not asking her what flavor salad dressings they offered, just overall HORRIBLE customer service and I would recommend to absolutely no one. Food was NOT worth the 1.5 hour wait. 0/10 would not recommend. Should've gotten our meal comped for the lackluster service we received. read more

Awful! One of the worst food experiences. Way over priced for the awful food we received. 6 of us had dinner there Saturday evening. Our family members staying at the lodge were told by a staff member in the morning the prime rib special was really good. Low and behold there was no prime rib that night. We opted for sirloin and pork chops. Sirloin was pounded so thin, not sure why. It looked like a frozen meal dinner steak not something to be served in a restaurant. Pork chop was barely edible. The only thing good were the rolls and butter. Service was just ok, not the worst but certainly not the best. Will never to back. read more

don't eat at this restaurant! we camped at the state park, and decided to eat supper at the lodge, We waited over an hour to get our food, there was no air-conditioning, there were no lights in the dining hall, our drinks were not refilled, and our food was cold when it finally showed up. When the manager asked how we liked our food, we told her our complaints and she did not offer to comp. the meal. read more

Overall experience at the lodge and this restaurant. Great place to go if you want to hike, bike, boat and so on but before you do, here's my overview of the experience: "I spent over 500$ for two nights and the best meal of the trip was in the local pizza establishment about 10 minutes from the lodge, the room was priced for a 4 star rating and they were not the cleanest or quietest. Had to deal with some resonant vibrations from some type of equipment hidden away in the bowels of the lodge. Wasn't our AC unit since it continued well after the AC had shut down. The balcony's were covered with dead bugs, acceptable to some degree given the lodge is out in the woods but wouldn't hurt for the staff to dust away the carcasses prior to the next guest arriving. Speaking of the staff; best described as not too friendly, luke-warm at best. Even the bartender in the lounge was more interested in yacking it up with the locals than she was in acknowledging a guest at the bar. I will give it to the lifeguards at the pool. At least the one young man there was very friendly. I understand the challenges such businesses have with the aftermath of the COVID mess but at no time did I ever see anyone that looked like a manager or a person in charge, step in and try to assist his youthful team of employees and ensure that the paying guests were getting the service they paid for. (Oh and yes, we paid for the breakfast, and it was basically a continental breakfast that most Motel 6's offer for free. It's a beautiful park but recommend you pack a tent and a few meals to grill out." read more

Rafter's Restaurant - One of the views from the trails. (Best part of the whole experience) - New American Near Me - Mount Sterling, Ohio

Awesome food waitress and chef are awesome. Pizza is delicious Highly recommend lodge is under construction but had a great time

Went here for Mother's Day, the menu was lunch special sandwich & fries, only, we thought we could have dinner menu. Waitress was helpful, she was the only one serving and told us only had one chef in the kitchen. Should have a special meal for Mother's Day or a buffet style, was very upset, should have more help, waitress and chef's. My husband and I have been going there for years for anniversary. Atmosphere is delightful. You really need to plan for these special days. read more

Rafters restaurant at Deer Creek Lodge. When I Pay extra for Breakfast and on the weekend not given a choice. So I cant just get an omlet for $8.95 --you have to get the buffet. The coupon was good for 12.00---the buffet was 11.95. the first day OK fine all even. The second day the girls says---oh you have to pay for the Cofee and the juice---What? they charged us $6.00 ---. What a rip off. So I paid to make my own Waffles--- read more

The experience My family had at rafters was kind of a train wreck. There are so many bad things to talk about, where to begin? We went for their all you can eat fish fry. Except they ran out of fish. The fish we actually got to eat was good. It wasn't til after our dinner was eaten that we realized we were never given any rolls, so we asked and some were brought out. I'm 98.5% sure they were Sister Schuberts brand rolls that you can buy in the freezer section at Kroger. I ordered the veggie burger, and the description sounded delicious. House-made this, fresh that....Liars. Once again, this tasted like something I could buy in the freezer section at the grocery store and the ingredients absolutely did not match up with what was on the menu. I don't have anything against a grocery store veggie burger, but if what you are serving me is not what is on your menu, I'd like to know that before placing my order. I won't begin to dive into how bad the service was. Use your imagination. The view of the lake WAS gorgeous though. read more

We stayed at the lodge and had dinner the first night and breakfast (with the purchase of a B&B package) at the restaurant. The view is awesome! Great prices considering the beauty of the location, but we felt that the entire lodge was affordable in every way, from gift shop items to room rates. Very pleased! I do have one comment about customer service in the restaurant because it really put me in a bad mood when I had a conversation with the manager at our table. We ordered 2 strawberry shortcake desserts to share, our family's favorite. It was their seasonal special. It was very disappointing. Tasted exactly like frozen Sara Lee pound cake and it was sitting in a pool of thick strawberry jam. Really unappealing. Had one bite and let the kids finish it. This woman, presumably the manager, approached our table and asked how we like the strawberry shortcakes. I wasn't going to say anything, BUT SHE ASKED. I replied, "Well, kinda disappointed to be honest. I wouldn't call this 'shortcake' because isn't it just frozen pound cake sliced up? And the jam on the plate....not a fan." She went all scowly-faced and got angry. Insisted that it was freshly-made and hand-selected from the farmer's market in town. She was pissed. You know, if you're not prepared for customers to occasionally not be 100% pleased with their meals, then DON'T ASK. I smiled politely, complimented the strawberries (they were really good) and refrained from informing her that I was familiar with the farmer's market; we had purposely arrived early in town to visit it on Saturday and it was so crappy we didn't even bother to get out of the car. Breakfast the next morning was excellent! Biscuits and gravy from heaven! We plan on returning soon and we'll eat in the restaurant again, but I hope this manager can learn to be a little more friendly and less defensive and abrasive. Really ruined my evening. Sorry I didn't love your strawberry shortcake, lady, but it was TERRIBLE. And guess what? I'm entitled to my opinion. Acknowledging that I have a right to not like something I'm PAYING FOR....maybe even offering something else or taking one of them off the bill is how good restaurants do things. BTW, our bill was well over $150 with all of us having prime rib and a couple cocktails, so taking $4 off wouldn't have hurt anybody and would have gone a long way toward inspiring me to rate this place higher. read more

First, let me note that the restaurant iFirst, let me note that the restaurant is reviewed a few time within the general reviews for Deer Creek Lodge. We decided to check this place out for a Christmas Eve dinner. The service was very very slow, and our waitress did apologize. Perhaps the slow service was because of Christmas Eve and not very telling of other visits. The views and the atmosphere are pretty much unbeatable as one might expect. The flavor and preparation of the dishes (we had a group of 5) was really good. The chef seemed professionally trained. The 3 humus dips we received seemed prepared just for us and were really good. In addition to the slowness (I think we spent about 2 hours from walking in to leaving) there were two issues: 1) The waitress not only asked for temperature preparation of my steak, but also my wife's salmon, and my daughter's chicken. Perhaps I am wrong and this is just unusual rather than wrong. I've certainly been schooled to think chick must always be cooked thoroughly if not also for salmon. 2) Everyone received their meal but my youngest son who ordered a simple cheese burger with fries. All of us finished our meals and we finally had to stop the waitress and tell her to take the burger off of our bill. There is sometimes a fine line on whether or not a restaurant made the grade. For the reasons mentioned, I think Rafter's fell onto the wrong side of the line for our visit. I really think they deserve between a 2 and a 3. They could easily be a 4 or 5 by fixing some simple problems. The website states that: "Reservations are not required but are certainly appreciated", but no phone number (as of 1/13/2014) is provided to the restaurant. The number I provided above is the "General Inquiries" to the Lodge itself.s reviewed a few time within the general reviews for Deer Creek Lodge. read more

My wife and I tried to have breakfast at Rafter's this morning, but we were told that during weekends all breakfast customers have to have the buffet. Orders from the menu aren't allowed. All we wanted was two cups of coffee and the "hiker's breakfast" of granola and yogurt that we had ordered a few weeks before, but no, we had to order the $11.95 buffet. We went elsewhere. read more

Whether you are staying at the resort or the campground do not waste your money. The pizza was awful, our order was wrong. It was $32 for pizza, fries, coke and bud light bottle. read more

This restaurant has good points and bad points but the bad far outweighs the good..The food is actually pretty good but that could be because by the time you get your food your starving and anything would taste good. It will take a good 2 hours to get your food regardless of what is ordered or how busy the place is .The hostess who sat me and my husband was extremely unfriendly and awkward but the waitress ( by the way she was the ONLY waitress there ! ) was very nice and did the best she could. The prices are crazy .. the food is priced as though it was a four star place but in reality it was more like a one star, truck stop diner ! It's best to just stay away but it will work if it's all you got , ya know ? read more

This review is of the restaurant only. The banquet food and service we experienced were Excellent and obviously run by different staff than the restaurant. Service in the restaurant is terrible. We had reservations for a party of 14 adults and 2 children at 6:30. The place was not crowded, yet it took 1.5 hours to get macaroni and cheese for a 2 and 3 year old. 8 PM, and then only when insisting that waiting so long for a child is not reasonable nor a wait for the poor quality. It finally came after 8 and the children and their parents had to leave for their bedtime. Even then it was stone cold and the cheap Kraft type with tiny noodles and fake cheese. Because they had left, the children did not get the remainder of the meal, which was a package, and no one offered to get the items to send to the room. Their parents had to have their food brought to the room by a family member about 8:30 when it finally arrived. A hamburger that was to be well done was bloody and rare. Like they just realized they needed to cook one. Adults main courses took more than 1.5 to 2.5 hours and no one came to see if we needed more rolls, water refills, more drinks, or explain a problem. We had to inquire when some did not have meals after nearly 2 hours. A $29 rib eye steak was not edible - it was all gristle. I have never had to send food back but this was beyond reasonable. They did a new one which I had to take to the room refrigerator because it came after 9 PM. it was better but still not good, especially for the money. read more

What a disappointing experience. This place should appear on one of those restaurant makeover TV shows. The service and food were both lousy at best, and the prices are nothing short of exorbitant given the quality of the food. First, we ordered appetizers. The pretzel sticks weren't bad, but given the $9 price tag, the cheese-wiz style sauce that came on the side was disappointing. We also ordered the sweet potato fries. I've had much better, and I'm pretty sure they served them with Aunt Jemima syrup on the side. Needless to say, the syrup and the fries didn't go together so well. I ordered the BBQ bacon cheeseburger on the pretzel bun with fresh cut fries, and my brother and my cousin ordered the same thing. When the waitress asked how we wanted our meet cooked, my cousin ordered medium, and my brother and I ordered medium-rare (I know...food safety...ground meat...blah blah blah). When our burgers arrived, the waitress had no idea which of the burgers was medium and which were medium rare. She just guessed. It turns out it didn't matter which was which. All of the burgers were severely overcooked, and I suspect they started with overly lean meat. I felt like I was eating a very dry hockey puck. Almost as disappointing as the meat was the lack of toppings. How does a $10 burger come without a single vegetable on top? No lettuce, no tomato, no onion, no pickles. The fries were equally disappointing. I'm almost certain they came from the freezer isle of the grocery store. Two of my cousins also ordered the veggie burger and were quite disappointed. It also came with virtually no toppings. The service wasn't much better than the food. In addition to the waitress not knowing which burger was which, we had to ask for silverware twice, and it didn't come until a couple minutes after our main dishes arrived at the table. We also had to ask for plates with our appetizers. The wait staff seemed generally uninterested in providing efficient, friendly service. I hate to be so harsh in a review. Most people working in restaurants work hard and don't make a lot of money, but I can't recommend this place to anyone. read more

The menu here has a nice variety of food in varying price points, and also includes several locally sourced options, which is always a plus. Our table had the Saturday night special smoked prime rib, an onion petal appetizer, an arancini appetizer special, lobster bisque, house salad, and 'spicy carrot ginger' soup. Everything was pretty good, but nothing really stood out as great. The prime rib was thinly cut and too salty and fatty for my taste. The green beans that came with it were crisp and delicious, however. I really enjoyed the carrot soup, but it was not at all spicy. I also found it odd that they didn't mention that it had a coconut milk base (which is fine by me, but I know plenty of people who hate coconut). The service was also just ok. Our waitress was nice, but she had difficulty who ordered which item, and she didn't offer us free samples of the specials like we heard the waitress at another table do. The entrees are probably over priced for what you get, but the appetizers and salads looked reasonable. We also had a veggie-hummus plate in our room, which I am mentioning here because it is likely the same hummus as is served in the restaurant, and it was very good! I definitely enjoyed the jalapeno hummus. We had some drinks in the lounge when we visited the resort as well. I'm not entirely sure if I should include that experience in the restaurant review or the lodge. But the bartender was pretty bad. He didn't know what went in a mojito or a bellini. The stand out of this experience was absolutely the fantastic view of the lake. Even better than the dining room are the terraced tables on the patio. I don't think you can get waiter service there, but you can order drinks at the bar and take them out yourself. read more

We went to Rafters for breakfast. Our waitress was excellent. The omelette was perfect - perhaps the best I've ever had. The potatoes were great and the chef added a still warm muffin. Couldn't have been better. (Except for the dirty windows) read more

Had dinner with a group of 8. I think 5 of us were displeased with the quality of our meals. Our service was not good but it was difficult to blame our server. He seemed to be trying very hard but it was painfully obvious that he had not been trained to do his job. read more

It took almost 15 minutes to be seated in an almost empty restaurant. The service was interminably slow only to put forth the most dismally prepare food. I had the Filet Mignon....which came covered in a plastic like white sauce with no discernible taste. The meat was overcooked...and quite gristly. This was the most expensive dinner entree...truly ghastly. Additionally, the plates which the food came on looked as though they were poorly washed but they might have been a trick of the light and the age of the china. read more

Awful service. The food is okay but not good enough to make up for the terrible snotty attitude the staff gives off.

The food here was horrible what we got was not worth the money we spent. Food was not only cold and tastless the portions were so small. For instance I ordered the po boy and there was only four small pieces of shrimp on it, it was such a disappointment. The service was horrible and the waitress was all over the place. I would never go to this restaurant again which sucks because there is not many places here to eat. read more