Wife and I came here years ago and had a really super meal...this time, not so much. [[HIGHLIGHT]]Kinda like a divey style seafood restaurant, but the real "star of the show" is the shooting gallery behind the bar.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] It is an original piece of equipment from the famed Coney Island amusement park in New York City from the early 1900's. It was brought to Geneva-On-The-Lake in the late 1930's and installed in its current location as part of a small amusement gallery where it was eventually covered over and forgotten. Some time in the early 2000's (during a renovation of the space) it was uncovered and brought back to life. It still works to this day, and the owners were delighted to crank it up for us to see. As for the food, sadly the meal left a lot to be desired. The house salad to start was just fine topped with a balsamic dressing, but the smoked lobster dip and the lobster lasagna were just not good. You could hardly taste any lobster in the dip, and the lasagna was too oily, did not have enough cream sauce and did not taste super fresh. The other couple dining with us that evening was also less than impressed with their meal selections...so although the nostalgia factor was high, our dining expectations were not met. read more

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We had dinner here our first night in town, and I think we have mixed feelings as a group. [[HIGHLIGHT]]It's kind of a divey seafood place right on the strip.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] [[HIGHLIGHT]]When we walked in, it was pretty empty, but did end up filling up.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] They have some local wines, which was nice, and an interesting menu. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The decor is a mish mash, with a creepy lobster tank that may be inhabited by the Babadook, and a still functioning shooting gallery wall behind the bar.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] No shooting, but they turn it on about every 20 minutes and all the pieces move while creaking and squeaking. I ordered the Apple Salad and the walleye special, and was pleasantly surprised with both. The salad had a house honey lavender dressing that went well with the apples and carrots, seemed fresh, and was a nice portion size. The walleye was a generous portion, well cooked, cajun style, and served with garlic and oil spaghetti. I enjoyed my entree quite a bit. My friends were less enthused with their entrees, both prepared well, but smaller portion sizes. It's an interesting place, and maybe worth a visit for a drink or appetizer. Again, I did enjoy my food, but the overall experience was interesting. read more

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My meal wasn't great. I would say the food isn't the reason to visit Sandy Chanty. I would say,however, stop in for a drink. They have possibly the coolest bar I've seen. [[HIGHLIGHT]]It looks like an old-time carnival game.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] The bartender was happy to show off the functioning carnival game bar with a flip of a few levers that looked like Willy wonka operating some crazy machine. [[HIGHLIGHT]]It all comes alive with motion. It's pretty neat.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] read more

Sandy Chanty - It moves! - Bars Near Me - Geneva, Ohio

Wonderful time great owners ask for the show!!!Someone get the lasagna!! Thank you!

[[HIGHLIGHT]]Very cute, retro restaurant, classic Geneva-in-the Lake![[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] The lobster dip was good, but the walleye (not breaded was wonderful! Friendly service plus we got to see the original shooting gallery in action! read more

We love the food at the Sandy Chanty. Everything is cooked to your preference. This sometimes means one dish will arrive at the table before another. Food is always fresh and appealing. They are great about gluten free options. read more

Ownership and service were outstanding! Very sweet people running this place. [[HIGHLIGHT]]Very unique bar vibe and very cool classic carnival game.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Our favorite menu item was the lobster dip! read more

Amazing food selection. It is not fast food so if I'm a hurry, I would suggest you try another restaurant. Every meal I have had has been delicious read more

Great seafood! The lavender lemonade is wonderful! I love the lobster lasagna! Very cute place along the strip nice service!

I wish I could give this restaurant zero stars. The food was subpar and the service was even worse. The cook was observed to be playing with her hair while preparing plates and the waiter blew his nose while bringing out drinks, ew! We were told that specials which were not consistent with every costumer/table. We were informed that nothing would be deep fried or fried, however the dishes served were covered in oil. We ordered the mussels and walleye dinner. The mussels were gritty and very very fishy. They were served with minimal broth and no bread to dip in the broth. The walleye was served with a side of angel hair pasta that was served cut up with no seasoning besides black pepper. Overall, not the best experience. Save your appetite for the fair foods across the street! read more

Might actually be the worst meal I've ever had. We were excited to try the "World Famous" lobster lasagna... OMG... we started with the lobster bisque. Salty and NOT a bisque at all. Then got the creel . That was supposed to be a bruschetta. It was an open face "bisque" sandwich. And finally the lasagna. It was a mediocre lasagna drowning in, you guessed it....BISQUE!! The swollen hands and feet from all the sodium were just a bonus! Skip the lobster, get the fried cheese from across the street. Giving one star because the sweet old server really believed in their product. read more

LOVE this place! The Lake Erie dip is awesome. She makes a scallop primavera pasta that simply melts in your mouth! If you're not a fan of seafood you have to try the 'Fire in the hole" pasta dish. It's a little spicy but oh so good. Make sure to stop out next summer! read more

I almost never leave bad reviews. But I paid $60 for one of the worst restaurant meals I've had, so I want to warn others. The service was slow. By that I mean we didn't get drinks until maybe 15 minutes sitting there--and there were only three other tables (this was a Wednesday night). The food was terrible. I had the mushroom pasta and the highlight of it was the canned mushrooms. The pasta itself was served naked with a big blob of sauce on top, so I had to stir it (never a good sign), and when I tried it, it was flavorless. I had to add a bunch of salt and pepper to even make it edible. I would have sent it back, but the weird menu had nothing else that looked appetizing. The worst part is that the chef herself came out to the bigger table (5-6 people) next to us to see how their dinner was toward the end of their meal, and they told her directly some of it was not good-- and she just laughed it off and said, "ok," and kept chatting with them. It takes a lot for people to tell a chef they didn't like the food, so maybe she should have asked them to elaborate on what they didn't like so she could fix it. Nope. My husband had the walleye and mashed potatoes and he said his wasn't bad. I couldn't believe how high the bill was given the quality of the food. Complete robbery. read more

My favorite part Was the live lobster claw game Kinda sick and fun read more

Came upon this place during a girls weekend. Such a fun dinner! The server was so helpful, the chef came out and described all of the dishes to us and answered our questions. Very mindful of allergies and diet restrictions. We LOVED our food. Grouper and walleye were delicious. Homemade lavender lemonade was so unique and refreshing. Stop in to see the historic shooting gallery game. We had a great time and really good meal. Thank you Sandy Chanty!! We will absolutely stop by again. read more

We were on the hunt for a seafood restaurant during our recent trip to GOTL and decided to give this place a try. We truly enjoyed our meal. The Smoked lobster dip was delicious. Our group had the ruby red trout, walleye and grouper, and the lobster lasagna and it was all really good. The service was impeccable. Love that in a resort type town it has the feel of a small town restaurant. Will definitely go back the next time we're visiting! read more

I've been to this bar twice, and both times had a terrible experience. It's like the bar tenders and staff were annoyed that a large group of people were in there to order drinks. I'm sorry, if you don't want the place to get loud, don't sign up to be a bar for the Big Monster Bar Crawl that included 16 GOTL bars. The bar tender & chef were VERY rude to our party. I'm pissed that I even have to step foot in that bar to get my stamp for the bar crawl that my friends and I go to every year. read more

I had spent a couple of days in Geneva prior to my visit to the Chanty. My diet consisted mainly of flourescent fake cheese-smothered french fries, corn dogs, gyros from outdoor vendors. These items were all absolutely delicious, but on our last night in Geneva, my boyfriend and I decided we would like to have a romantic dinner. "Romantic" in this instance meaning sitting at a table, glass of wine, gazing into each other's eyes. Strolling hand-in-hand down the street I spy a sign in front of the Sandy Chanty proclaiming, "Known for Our Lobster Lasagna!" An italian dish at a seafood restaurant with a main seafood ingredient that is found hundreds of miles from Lake Erie? How could we go wrong?? I'm not a restaurant snob by any stretch of the imagination, but when the smell resembles something along the lines of moldy socks and the stuffing is coming out of the booth cushions, you may want to rethink your plan. I was just so curious about the lobster lasagna. The waitress was lovely. Very attentive. Chardonnay so-so. Probably Barefoot. I wasn't complaining. My beloved ordered Clam Chowder. They bring out our dishes and our food was the EXACT SAME shade of yellowish-beigish-ecruish-brown. There were little flecks of green floating in the sauce. It looked to me like they had used the Clam Chowder to dump over my Lobster Lasagna. Now some people may like the taste of bland, rubbery lasanga noodles and the "lobster" dipped in red dye (come on, people, we ALL know it's some sort of white fish), but I am not one of them. What a disappointment on my last night in Geneva!! Instead of gazing into my beloved's gorgeous eyes, I spent my evening gazing out the window at all of the people who had gotten the most delicious looking pizza from the window next door, mouth watering, jealous of their happiness! read more

Where shall I begin? We were told the prices 'may have changed' when the menus were distributed, then came the 3 year old beer. We couldn't even make it through the appetizers (that were unpalatable). Thank goodness we left at that point. Not long after, someone in our party went #1, #2 AND #3!!! Make your own choice, but don't say you weren't warned! read more

Not a fan. For being a seafood restaurant the seafood offerings were limited. Very slow and poor service from the old man waiter. And the restaurant itself looked dirty and dingy. After sitting for almost 20 mins with no order taken we were about to walk out . He forgot our appetizer and our entrees arrived very late. The food was ok but I was so starving by the time they arrived I ate it in two bites. My bf and I just wished we would of gone for pizza instead. I wouldn't recommend anyone to come here. read more

We were recently celebrating my Dad's 70th birthday in Geneva-on-the-Lake and while looking at different restaurants, this one caught our eye after reading owner Patt's interesting bio. I don't understand the negative reviews because we had a fabulous time. Our group was 10 people including a toddler and we were there for lunch. Patt was more than happy to accommodate us. The food was incredible. My mother-in-law, who doesn't like fish, finished her whole trout. The best part...nothing was fried or drowned in oil. Everything was fresh and my swordfish was tender and yummy. The staffing was limited during lunch and Patt was up-front about that, but the waiter was excellent, the bartender hilarious and ambience fun. The restaurant itself is a converted old-timey shooting range and the carousels still work! Worth a visit and highly recommend. Thanks, Patt, for a memorable meal! read more

Our first trip to GOTL. Sandy Chanty is not much to look at from the outside and it doesn't improve on the inside. We had foully toast, bruschetta, lobster lasagna, smoked mussels & lavender lemonade. Everything tasted great. There were only 2 tables with people but the service was TERRIBLE! read more

I can't even begin to put into words the disappointment at this place!!!! Do yourself a favor and do NOT waste your time eating or drinking here!! read more

From the outside it looks like a hole in the wall... And when you get inside you realize it's a weird ship-esque hole in the wall actually. The food was awful, my significant other and I were craving lobster bisque all day and we went here because they had it. When we received our order my eyes almost fell out of my face because of what it looked like. It looked like canned chicken noodle soup with chunks of lobster in it, and it tasted nothing like lobster bisque. Our entrees were cheap pieces of lobster and roast beef on Texas toast. I can't believe they think it's okay to serve this garbage to people. 0/10 will not eat here again read more

The best food on the strip! The owner/ chef Pat is on top of her game! Serving FRESH well prepared food she definitely puts her touch of everything! The servers were really friendly Jill, James and Joey were so easy to converse with while educating us on the local history. Can't say it enough if you don't have a meal at The Sandy Chanty you haven't had the full GOTL experience! The harpoon tomato salad with homemade house vinaigrette (for me) would be enough to go back. Also their iced tea is phenomenal. The House Salad as well. For someone who's not huge on Seafood the ambience with live music on the weekends and the famous bar crawl crowd that surges through every now and again satisfies the people watching itch! This place is Quality over quantity. read more

Look at the premises and you'll see what you're going to get. This place was dirty, cluttered and cramped. I wish the food was that good. Lobster Bisque was mediocre, They were out of perch. One piece of walleye dinner with some smashed red skin potatoes was $17.50. Tasteless. Waited over an hour for our meal and one person in our party never even got their food. The service was adequate, but the whole place is unorganized and campy. The menu tries to cover everything and is actually very difficult to read. They offer nothing fried, nothing. They sell pasta, steaks, Chinese rice, and seafood. They are trying to cover everything and don't do anything well. A meal at Long John Silver's would have been superior. Beware. read more

Simply horrific food. The service was even worse. I had the smoked crab appetizer it was ice cold, lobster bisque was not lobster bisque also cold. Pasta entree was inedible. We weren't given silverware or napkins until we asked twice. Do not eat here. Not a seafood place. Not sure what it is. Chef talked all about these great specials but they weren't really specials and the food, service and cleanliness was sub par. The Coney Island shooting machine was the only bright spot of this sad place. read more

UNDER STAFFED. UNDERCOOKED. UNDERWHELMED. We've been coming to GOTL for years. A huge group of 20 of us girls do the Monster Crawl and wanted to stop here for some food. We have been here many times and it's never been a huge issue, but we usually just get a drink, watch the gallery, and move on. No one else was there and we were excited to show the newcomers in our group the shooting gallery. As soon as we walked in and tried to sit down the bartender told us the tables we tried to sit in we're reserved. Ok. So we sat at the bar and ordered our drinks and asked for a menu. My mom asked if they could turn on the game for our friends and he said "if you ask the correct way" so the girls all said PLEASSEEEEEE, thinking he was joking. No one ever turned it on for them our entire time. He told us if we wanted to eat - we could only eat appetizers at the bar. If we wanted a meal we'd have to sit at a table. Ok... but they were reserved so he told us which tables we could sit at. We ordered two appetizers at the bar before hearing then no meal rule. After no one taking our food order we asked him to place it and said we'd have to place the entrees with the server (who this whole time we had yet to see). The bartender also told us HE was cooking bc the chef/owner didn't feel like it. We got two orders of lobster dip which was plain untoasted Italian bread with a small portion of what tasted like imitation crab and cream cheese! Our wine spritzer was $6 for wine watered down with sprite. A few people ordered but our table decided not to after the bad experience already. One girl with us ordered a burger medium well/well and when she cut it, blood started spilling out onto the plate. We left as she was waiting to get her bill taken off. Much better places to eat in the area with much better service. They could've made a killing off the group of all us girls! We had heard stories similar to ours from others throughout the weekend so it's hard to tell if this was even a one off situation. Will only be back for a drink to get a stamp on our card.... MAYBE! read more

We loved the Chanty! It is definitely "eclectic" with an old fashion shooting gallery behind the bar and our waiter/host was sitting at a table near the front door eating his dinner when we arrived and it is not the cleanest place you will ever eat, but the food was killer!! Sandy's offers a great selection of craft beers. My husband got a chocolate stout and it was very good. When I asked for iced tea out waiter told me that they had lavender iced tea. Lavender is placed in the sugar pot where it diffuses into the sugar and then is added to the tea. While I was skeptical at first, it was really very good. We started with the Lake Erie dip. It is served with a dry white bread that we have found in a couple of places here. It makes great croutons and works well for soaking up this creamy dip. My husband had the house special lobster lasagna. Loaded with lobster, it was sweet and creamy, yet still very light. I had one of the specials, Hawaiian blue prawns over angel hair. The prawns were HUGE and so flavorful! It was delicious. Our meals came with a simple salad of mixed greens, sweet onion and tomatoes dressed with a phenomenal house made balsamic vinaigrette. As we were leaving, we actually met the chief behind our amazing meal! She was friendly and obviously proud of work. While this place is on this side of "divy", check your attitude at the door because the food is so worth it!! read more

I wish I could say something positive, but just can't do it. Well it has a very cool back bar - an antique shooting gallery. But the food is ok at best and insanely over priced. Charged $16 for the whaler burger that was maybe 3" across. I asked as nicely as possible if maybe they had made the jr version and the sever became irate. read more

Unbelievable gem of a place. They have a 1926 shooting gallery in the back of the restaurant that has to be seen to be believed. It's pockmarked and dented from being shot at by real 22 caliber bullets until 1980. The food we ordered was based on in season vegetables and was delicious. This is not your typical carnie food! Check out this radio interview. This place is the real deal. http://www.wksu.org/news/feature/quickbites/32296 read more

Worst meal ever. Fresh lake perch - should have been good right? Lousy food, service and surroundings. And expensive. Stay away!

Very Very Very Good Owner _Chef a delightful lady and one awesome Chef. We. Had the grilled Walleye with the best fried potatoes I have ever had. Make sure you see the Bar and shooting gallery . cannot Wait to go back. read more

Six of us went to eat at the Sandy Chanty. The owner's husband or I assume co-owner met us coming in the door. At first he said they could not accommodate a table of six because all they had were tables with two and four seats. However, the first table you see when you walk in the front door is a 6-top, where someone had apparently been sitting wrapping silverware but finished. Two of us spoke up and asked if we could sit at that table and first he said no, then one of the girls mentioned that some of us we were ready to eat alot of food and that we were good tippers so he said yes and seated us. We ordered our drinks and those of us drinking pop received warm cans of pop that were set down in front of us unopened with no glass of ice. After he made several trips to the table for menus, our requested drinks, and silverware, we had to request ice because he evidently thought we wanted to drink warm pop. So then we received frosted plastic solo cups not even half full of ice. He took our orders and some of us asked questions and ordered extra items like adding several scallops to our steak dinner at $5 each, to which at the end of getting our orders, he got a little snippy and said "enough from this table". After we ordered, I went to the rest room and it was disgusting! I was looking around for bugs the whole time and even more grossed out and wanted to leave but my friends were anxious to taste the seafood. The mens room door was open so I could see it was equally nasty. Back at the table I was seated two feet from the kitchen doorway so I literally sat there and watched for roaches that might be trying to escape. I looked around the place and the walls were dirty, and the whole place was just really run down and dirty looking. When our food arrived we had to ask for steak sauce and parmesan cheese (from a can) which all arrived in very small amounts in small stainless gravy boats, for six people. My friends were happy with the quality and flavor of their meals, but I was not at all impressed with the amount of pepper on my salad, my $20.95 ribeye, or the very bland pasta that came with it. The scallops were the best part but not seared near enough to flavor them and no juices whatsoever. And the ones drinking had to ask for another beer or mixed drink multiple times. Honestly, I was ready to leave before even ordering when I saw the male owner's eyes. They were both very watery and running down his face and he didn't even attempt to go in the back and dry them or clean them up the whole time which sickened me personally, but I really have to wonder if he was wiping them with his hands when he was out if sight and did he wash his hands? Also, his nose is very small and with the whole draining eye issue it lead us to wonder if he may have some type of disability or deformity so we stayed out of respect. After our meals, we received our checks and paid our bills. We all tipped him well, and with cash and left. He came out of the restaurant after us and started yelling at one of the women in our group over his tip not being enough. Everybody had tipped him, and four of us had tipped him over 20% and he still came out yelling at us. Then in his rampage, he ran back in the door and grabbed the black tip book and ran back outside and waved it in my friends face yelling at her some more. We were all completely shocked and we will never go back plus we will all leave reviews everywhere we can and tell everybody we know how this man treated us! Do not go to the Sandy Chanty!! read more

Don't eat there!! My wife and I stopped in for a beer and appetizer. I order lobster bisque and my wife ordered bruschetta. The bisque was old, it tasted like orange juice, I took two bites, my wife tried it and almost vomited at the bar, her $8 bruschetta was nothing but piece of bread with a can of diced tomatoes on it, soggy and cold, we were disgusted and left, didn't pay, after we got home we both felt sick and vomited. Only giving one star for the shooting gallery back bar. read more

First thing when we walked in we got yelled at by the cook they they were busy and we would be waiting a while for the food, while she yelled at our hostess/waiter for seating others and that we needed to wait to be seated. Lobster dip was so so, and way small for the price. Lobster bisque was definitely not the creamy goodness we were searching for and mine and my husbands came out at different times, and his was steaming on top cold from the center down. Salad was bland. Lobster lasagna that's "featured on the food network" was a mix of the lobster bisque plain noodles little cheeses and fishy lobster that was cold in the center. The waiter said my meal was accidentally over sold and I would have to order something else, then when we decide not to and just split the lasagna, he comes back and says oh we fixed the problem and the kitchen and it will be out in a minute. The scallops were not cooked through and had no sear whatsoever. And we're served over semi cooked veggies and bland pasta. At that point my husband had enough! Then the waiter comes back out and said "oh, and by the way, those scallops were cooked perfectly!" Needless to say, we will never be back! read more