Here’s a shaded lakefront patio grill in Fort Worth for burgers, beer and spicy queso
The Lakehouse already had nearly everything a marina restaurant needs: a scenic view, a good burger and a half-century of lakefront charm.
Now, it has added two essentials: A canopy shading its patio overlooking Eagle Mountain Lake, and fans to keep the air moving at what has become Fort Worth’s go-to sunset patio bar-and-grill.
The new, improved Lakehouse is a cool, comfortable vantage point for watching lake activity by night or at lunch on weekends at Harbor One Marina, 9307 Boat Club Road in the Lake Country neighborhood west of Saginaw.
After two years in place of a series of steak and catfish restaurants, the Lakehouse added a patio roof this summer, covering eight tables cooled by eight giant fans.
“We love this place, but one of the problems was that it was so hot in summer,” said co-owner Brett Fields, who also has a Denton daiquiri bar.
The setting sun was beating down on the Lakehouse and its rows of outdoor tables. It was so oppressive that some families went only for lunch (Fridays through Sundays) or after dark.
The new pergola gives the Lakehouse more of an oasis-type atmosphere. TVs for football viewing are on the way, Fields said.
He and co-owner John David St. Germain worked their way up in corporate restaurants and decided to take a chance on the Lakehouse location, a fishing lodge-like marina bar and restaurant that was showing its age.
“We truly believed this was a prime location, and it’d work if we could just bring back a comfortable lake vibe,” Fields said.
The last two years have come with some giant stumbling blocks: a destructive windstorm, a now-18-month-long pandemic and this year’s winter freeze.
“It has been a wild ride,” Fields said.
But customers love the Lakehouse. It has one of the highest ratings on social media for the simple menu of burgers and salads, basically better-than-average bar food with thoughtful execution.
The “lakefire” queso is everything queso should be: white cheddar and pepper Jack in a family-sized portion ($7.99). A Cajun chicken quesadilla ($9.99) comes with generous helpings of chicken, or choose shrimp.
The burgers ($10.99-$11.99) are thick and served on sweet brioche buns with a choice of regular or sweet-potato fries.
The “lakefire” flavor shows through in a jalapeno-pepper Jack burger with caramelized onions and chipotle mayo, all on a jalapeno brioche bun. (Plant-based burgers cost an extra $2.)
More menu picks: the po-boy chicken or shrimp sandwiches ($10.99) or the Shiner-battered cod and chips ($11.99).
Choices also include a jalapeno sausage sandwich with chipotle mayo, a 10-inch chili dog and basic grilled chicken or Buffalo chicken salads.
Desserts are brownie sundaes, carrot cake, Key lime pie or pineapple-coconut “pina colada” cheesecake.
(This is probably the only restaurant where I would be satisfied with an all-yellow dinner — queso and the pineapple-coconut cheesecake.)
The Lakehouse opens at 5 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m. Fridays through Sundays. It’s on Farm Road 1220, 4 miles west of North Saginaw Boulevard (Business U.S. 287), or 7 miles north of Texas 199; facebook.com/thelakehousefw.
This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
