Ampersand Bay Resort

This is our new favorite restaurant in Saranac Lake. Have been three times and have always been satisfied with the food, service and atmosphere. I highly recommend the Sunset Bistro for lunch or dinner. Time your reservation for the evening sunset. You won’t be disappointed.

We had dinner there this week. The waitress spent our entire time chatting with friends and the next table. She did not tell us or the adjacent table any of the specials which we only learned of when we heard a waiter tell another table AFTER we had ordered. She lied and claimed she had given us the specials. The steak was ordered medium well but was served rare. When “ refired” it came back rare again!

My friend and I stayed in 1 of the rustic cabins this past Labor Day weekend and were appalled by the physical state of the cabin and the lack of attention by staff. We paid quite a lot of money to stay in the cabin, and expect basic amenities and safety. That was not the case. The good news is that the beds were extremely comfortable!! First, and in some ways the least important but still important -- there was no coffee maker in the cabin, as advertised. We had to go to the self-serve coffee bar near the office to get coffee, and when we were there the coffee maker was rarely working. There were a number of safety issues left unattended in the cabin. First, the door to the screened porch was completely off its hinges (see attached photo). The back door of the cabin that opens to the screened porch does not lock. Only the front door locks. Once when we returned to the cabin the back door was wide open into the living room, leaving all of our personal items available to steal. I brought this to the attention of the office staff who said they would send someone to fix the door right away. No one ever came to fix the door and we continued to stay there with our valuables left in an unlocked cabin. Having the door to the screened porch off its hinges also let in all the bugs! The door to the main bedroom was hanging by a thread, with screws laying on the floor or falling out of the casing. The door was ready to fall at any moment, potentially on one of us. The bathtub was really disgusting - the calking was in such bad shape it wouldn't be acceptable in a low-income housing unit. Twice in 2 days I found bugs in the bathtub. The faucet to the sink would not stop dripping no matter how hard we tried. I notified the front office but again, no one came to fix it. I was also appalled that for the money we paid, we might have been provided with some minimum toiletries, like shampoo/conditioner/lotion. Instead, there were two mini bottles ----only half full!! Someone else had already used them! The wiring and electrical outlets in the cabin were unsafe. This is an electrical fire waiting to happen. Finally, we were looking forward to relaxing and hearing the music advertised for the Saturday night we were there. But apparently it was cancelled - yet another disappointment.

We had a fabulous time at the Ampersand last week. The location is ideal and access to the lake and all the area has to offer is right outside your door. There were a lot of activities on site and you can be as involved or as uninvolved as you’d like. Are there bugs? Of course, there are bugs… You’re on the lake in the middle of Adirondack State Park, it comes with the territory, but that absolutely would not deter us from coming back. We head up to the area at least twice a year and will definitely be back to stay at the Ampersand.