The Sawmill

Average food… it was good. Not complaints from me about it. I expected it to be overpriced because its in Naples and its right on the lake and the VIEW!!! OMG! the view is spectacular!!! So, that makes up for any issue you have.
The food is… good. You’ll enjoy it. The view is great, you’ll love it :)
Great atmosphere too! I love the knotty pine look throughout. Gives you the lodge like feel… in the woods feel. You basically are though. You’re in the hills of Naples, NY :) One of the prettiest places in upstate :) Naples never gets old.

They were out of fish frys but couldn’t tell us till about 20 mins after waiting. We settled on fish sandwiches which were okay. The onion rings were good.
Overall the service was slow and not apologetic or accommodating besides a free basket of fries for our wait. (I suspect they were made on Accident, not as a kind gesture)
View is nice. South end of the lake… I’m going to give them 1 more try I. Hopes that they got they’re kinks worked out! Cross your fingers for whenever that is!

Great setting, worth sitting out on the deck with a drink! If you’re ready for average food, you’ll love it.

Come here for the view and outdoor seating! Large outdoor area overlooking the south side of Canandaigua lake, shaded enough to not feel like you have to squint through your whole meal.
The décor is all-​wood-​hewn (note. name of this restaurant) with saws and such. On Sundays there is a BBQ buffet instead of the regular menu. The buffet was OK, if the food were more exciting this place could have something really special going on but it was alright value the way it was.
Limited draft beer list but plenty of options if you expand your horizons to the bottled variety.

I like this place! For casual lakeside dining it is great. The views are incredible. The cheeseburgers are really good and so are the pizzas. One of the few places on the lake you can get to by boat!

Sawmill. So this place has received some bad reviews over the years so it’s time for an update.
The views here? Come on now! Lakeside and the option to dine outside! Points for that alone! Inside all wood everything! Log cabin meets sawmill meets Adirondacks! What’s not to like?!?
Ok food great! Pizza was fantastic! More than I’d ever expect from a restaurant! It’s light, and tasty. The sauce is superb. Still not a Buffalo pie but very well made. Kudos! The y also make a nice sized mixed drink here as well hint hint.
What this place does need help with is staffing. To me they seemed slow and unorganized. Not sure if they where new or part time help. As bad as that was everything else makes up for it. I’ll stop on back again on a summer ride.

An awkward time for an awkward party, this meal could have gone a variety of ways. We were an eclectic group of Manhattanites, Midwesterners and Connecticut Preppies and our party of seven was anything but easy to please. The Sawmill sat us immediately upon walking in at 5pm (we also called ahead) on their covered patio with a breathtaking view of the lake.
For appetizers, we devoured the day’s special bourbon & brown sugar wings (nicely sized, crisp crunch met with a moist meat inside — not a fan of springy, spongy wings so these were comparatively divine) and crispy artichokes (bread crumb covered and accompanied by a killer dill sauce).
Our entrees encompassed a variety of pizzas: chicken/​artichoke/​pesto (fresh and flavorful), pepperoni/​sausage (thick cuts of hearty meat) and Hawaiian (pulled pork replaces the typical ham for a fun change). These pies had a brick oven smoke with the crispness of a pan pizza and generous amounts of cheese. Each small pie was shared by two people with enough leftover to take home. The burger was grass-​fed, beefy and very juicy (though ordered and cooked well-​done) on a perfectly toasted bun. The side of hand cut potato chips were the ideal compliment.
The menu warns the possibility of a slow kitchen, but early in the evening we weren’t hindered in the least. The manager came by twice to check on us — always appreciated. Frankly, I wouldn’t have minded a slower kitchen, as more time surrounded by this relaxed vibe and serene view would have been enjoyed by our unlikely entourage.
The Sawmill did more than alright by us. Then again, we were not in search of the perfect fish fry.

The Sawmill is located on the southern end of Canandaigua Lake in Woodville. It is a lumberjack’s dream (or nightmare) with rough-​hewn pine from floor to ceiling throughout the bar area and dining room. When the dining room is full, it’s noisy so opt to eat outside where you will have a view of the lake, although it resembles the Sargasso Sea at this time of the year with an overgrowth of algae and other vegetation. On this particular Thursday night, I ordered fish fry which came with a green salad and choice of side. I’m always in search of the perfect fish fry, but alas I did not find it here. The fish, haddock fillet with a breadcrumb crust, was greasy and mushy, which made me think it had been previously frozen and overcooked in oil that was not up to temp and in need of changing. The onion rings were similarly heavy and greasy. This might be a good place to come for an oil change, but I will not be back! I should also mention that the kitchen is slow-​slow-​slow, with our table’s orders coming up and brought out over about a 10-​minute period. The menu warns that the food is cooked to order, so be patient. On this particular evening, the restaurant was not busy so I can only imagine how things get backed up on a busy night. If you come here, be prepared for a wait (or better yet, seek out another dining establishment). As we were preparing to leave, one of the boozy patrons, also on the porch area overlooking the lake, lit up a cigarette. Much to our surprise and dismay, one of the restaurant staff brought her an ashtray. The outdoor porch is completely covered by a roof, so this is against smoking regulations. Restaurant management should know this, and ask the patron to smoke outside.

The Sawmill.
The location is a dream.
The place and it’s furnishings are welcoming, rustic, and promising.
The menu is very limited, which is typically a sign that EVERYTHING is prepared with care and expertise.
BUT:
The food is apparently merely a vague conceptual gesture in the direction of dining.
I would have said it was OK to good, except for several details that made us feel unwelcome, uncared for, and unsatisfied.
– We saw a couple of people leave before we mounted the stairs to the entrance, and we were pointedly told that we just missed the dinner rush. It was 7:30 and the place was empty.
– Fresh fried chips were tasty but dripping with oil to the point of being WET.
– Bruschetta was OK, but it’s the first creamy WHITE bruschetta I have ever seen.
– Meatloaf was drowning in red sauce as if it was trying to hide.
– The house Merlot tasted like cotton balls dipped in vinegar.
HERE’s what REALLY turned us off:
— One of us ordered a turkey pot pie. What can go wrong with that, you say?
— It was SALTED beyond palatability. While we are four individuals with very different tastes and preferences in food, but the four of us tasted it and agreed… NOT EDIBLE. Seriously, I’ve licked water softener pellets as a child that didn’t hold a candle to this.
— Our guest chose a different dinner, and we told the waitress that we felt the pot pie was overly salty and asked her to please put in an order for a DIFFERENT dish. She was very nice and took the pie back.
— Several minutes later she returned and asked if we wanted to put in the order for the other dinner.
WHAT? Translate: THE CHEF TOLD HER TO CHARGE US FOR THE INEDIBLE MEAL, THEN ADD THE CHARGE FOR THE NEW ORDER ON TOP OF IT. We were stunned. Not wanting our guest from several states away (we ourselves live right up the road) to come away hungry, we DID put in the other order, which she changed to a simple burger in the mean time because the rest of us had finished and she felt awkward eating alone.
— My boyfriend and I are 50, his parents are in their 70’s all of us have eaten at 5-​star establishments and dirty-​water-​dog-​street-​carts alike, BUT NONE of us have EVER experienced a crappy meal being thrown in our face and charged for. A simple «sorry» would have gone a long way, and not charging for the meal would have been the common practice. Who do they think they are???
Poor waitress didn’t have a clue.
In the end, I wished we had stayed home and eaten leftovers. I was so steaming mad that I swore I would write as many scathing reviews as possible, and we are convinced that the business is a front. No wonder it always looks closed.
Don’t waste your time or money on The Sawmill. Just bring your own peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sit out on the town dock and you will feel loved and pampered aplenty.
Oh, and the next time you see a salt-​lick, think «Sawmill»

Location is great — south end of Canandaigua, overlooking the water.
They only had a ‘BBQ buffet’ on the day we were there. This meant 7 dishes laid out on banquet tables. Brisket in ketchupy ‘BBQ sauce’, a bean mixture, cornbread… ummm…a couple other things… It was like BBQ night at the old folks’ home.
Brisket was leathery, and the ridiculous bbq sauce wasn’t helping much.
It’s too bad becase there are so few places to eat on the lake. But this one didn’t earn a return visit.