| rev:text
| - Tried this for the first (and last) time Sunday (06/05/2016) afternoon.
Friends of ours were going out to Dillon's Bayou for a late lunch and invited us to come along. We told them we'd meet them out there because we like Dillon's BBQ, and had not been to the Lake Pleasant location.
To start with, my 2 star review is for the location of the restaurant and the hassle of getting to it. Be forewarned, there is a $6 entrance fee to the marina (even if you are just going there to eat at Dillon's). After paying the entry fee, drive towards the blue canopy, park, and wait for a shuttle (6 seater golf cart).
When you get on the cart; hang on, because the stop signs there are NOT for the carts, just the cars and trucks of the customers. I found this out when we left; because unlike the golf cart driver, I stop at stop signs. If I hadn't stopped, I would have wiped out a group of customers, whose driver doesn't think that stop signs apply to him. There is also a bucket on the golf cart and a sign that says "tips are appreciated", your tip is back at the entrance, where I just payed $6 to park my vehicle. It's about a 5 minute ride down to the restaurant, past the boat ramps, and along a cause way/floating bridge to the restaurant and store area.
About the restaurant...
When we entered the restaurant, we asked if they comp the parking or give you a credit on the bill, no such luck...
The place has the feel of a bar/club (not a bad thing at all, and in nice weather would probably be a lot of fun if you have a boat docked out there, or come out to go boating).
Several Yelpers mention the views and the fact that the restaurant is on the water. The views are nothing to write home about...We were seated behind the hostess station, about 50 feet straight in from the entrance looking north. From this viewpoint, you can look at some covered boat slips, the floating bridge, or part of the bay with a model of a pirate ship. If you look just right, you can see a small view of the rest of the lake. Maybe I've been lucky, but I have eaten at many restaurants with views of a lake when I was growing up in upstate New York; so to me, this view is not worth the $6 parking fee, or the wild ride and exhaust fumes of a golf cart to eat here. Maybe there are different areas that I didn't see where there is a spectacular view; pity, I won't be back to find that out.
About the food...
Junior had a cheeseburger and fries (the usual...), it looked good, if a little to well done; but he was happy with it. The fries are the standard Dillon's steak fries, and while not just out of the fryer, they were tasty and somewhat crisp.
A side note about the burgers...I overheard our server telling our friends that the burgers all come medium well. I don't care if it's a bbq place or not; when a restaurant specializes in meats, you should be able to get a burger anywhere from still mooing to well vulcanized!
My wife had the chicken club sandwich (grilled), it was good sized; and she said it was good, had 2 long strips of bacon on it along with cheese and ham. My wife also choose the steak fries and was happy with them.
I had the pulled pork sandwich w/ the sweet heat bbq sauce, and cole slaw for my side. The sandwich had plenty of pulled pork on it, but it was a little dry. Dillon's pre sauces their sandwich before you get it, and if I had remembered that, I would've asked for my sauce on the side. The pulled pork was served on what to me was a potato roll, it was very fresh and very good with the pulled pork. About the bbq sauce, our server was kind enough to warn me that the sweet heat bbq sauce was very hot; I didn't really notice much heat, but the flavor was good; it was sweet, but not overly so.
I'd give the food a solid 3 stars. As I have eaten at the other Dillon's (World Wildlife Zoo, Arrowhead, Thunderbird), I don't think it was quite up to Dillon's normal standards, but it was tasty and filled us up.
Our bill was $37 before tip, 3 sandwichs w/sides and 3 soft drinks. Not too bad nowadays.
All in all, I wouldn't return. The hassle of paying to park, the wait for the shuttle, the lack of a great view, and food that I can get at any of the other Dillon's means it's just not worth it to me. If you're a regular at the lake, I'd say give Dillon's a try, the food for the most part is solid, and it seems to be a nice place to kick back and re-charge after a day in the sun/water. As for me, I'd rather go back to the one at World Wildlife Zoo and watch the sharks!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)