Gary's - <a href

I hesitated writing this review because times are tough for small businesses, and I know dependable staff is hard to come by. However, after our poor experience, and reading very similar reviews of several others, I am hoping this additional review will raise awareness to the owners and/or save someone else from a not great experience.We had received a gift certificate for Gary's for $50. Arrived at 6:00pm, no one else waiting to be seated. We waited 10 minutes without being greeted by either of the two waitresses. We finally ask the bartender who said one of the wait staff is around somewhere and will be with you shortly. Now, 20 minutes standing waiting (we drove 40 minutes to get to the place and we had the gift certificate to use otherwise we would have left), we see one waitress set a table for 4, she approaches us and said your table for 4 is ready. We said there is just two of us; she asks us....what happened to the party of 4? Once seated at the table, we wait another 20 minutes. Once the waitress arrives, we order our drinks, sampler tray appetizer, and meal all at once (we were told they were out of side salad). She asks if we want dinner rolls and we say yes. Within 3-5 minutes our water and soda arrives; also, we are told that they are out of mushrooms for the sampler platter, so we said jalapeno poppers can be substituted. We wait 15 minutes and I flag the waitress to ask if the dinner rolls were supposed to be served before, or with dinner. Waitress says I'll get them now. Another 15 minutes goes by and we receive our sampler platter. Of the TWO jalapeno poppers received, one was the same color as my husbands coke, burned. The breading on the onion rings fell off as soon as you touched them to pick one up, and the pizza rolls were super crispy. Still....no dinner rolls received. As we're eating our appetizer, we see other tables being served the side salad that 15 minutes ago we were told they were out of. Upon our meals being brought, we had to ask for our mac salad and dinner rolls, as well as a refill on the water glass. My fish was very good, but sweet potato fries were burnt; my husbands pasta for his chicken parmesan was very chewy.This is clearly a local place, as people going/leaving the bar were greeted by first name, and we love to support that. The view is beautiful. We left the waitress the normal tip as we would if the food and service had been great; she apologized for the wait and said she appreciated our visit. However, I believe this was the worst restaurant experience we have ever had. I would have rather been greeted immediately (instead of being ignored) and told we would have a 30-45 minute wait before we could be seated, and we would have happily gotten a drink and sat at the bar or walked outside. I truly hope for the best for Gary's as it has been around a long time and has great potential.

Gary's is a perfect spot for anyone looking to enjoy the view of the lake. The Buffalo wings were amazing and Linda was very informative about the area as my family and I are from out of state.The atmosphere is very homey and I would highly reccomend this place to anyone.

A great place to eat. A wonder view of Oneida lake. It's our favorite place . The owner is so friendly.

Stopped in for lunch with my husband and 1 y/o son. Approached the restaurant as it was right on the water. Didn’t look like much from the outside but figured we’d give it a try, we appreciate a good dive. The inside is rather rustic and could use a remodel-pretty dark and dingy. Again, we perservered, as we have eaten great meals in joints just like this. PWalked in to an empty restaurant, apart from a lone worker who appeared as if she would rather be ANYWHERE else. We were in the restaurant a mere 5 minutes and the amount of nasty interactions we had with this individual were too much to bear. She acted like we were inconveniencing her by being there and rolled her eyes at us when we asked what beers were available. Finally just got up and left because she clearly didn’t want us there. She huffed at us for leaving, as if she didn’t understand why. Many other restaurants around, don’t go here.

We thought the food was exceptional. You did have a wait because food is freshly prepared. The waitress was exceptional and was the only one except the lady who sat you and took your drink order, who was also so nice and accommodating . First time there but would definitely go back.