Tinney’s Tavern

I’m a big fan of this place. I’ve been here twice, and both times the food was really good. If your looking for a handmade/​woodfired pizza. This is it.
The whole place is pretty nice too, oddly enough, cleanest restrooms I’ve ever seen. If your anywhere in the area, I strongly suggest you stop by. They got shuffle board, darts, good beer, and good food.

Friends had been discussing the wood-​fired pizza served here and an internet video of their pizza being baked. But other than one of them who had only been here a number of years ago under previous ownership, none of the others had. And so it was that we plugged the address into our car’s GPS for our first ever visit.
The kitchen closes at 8 pm on Sunday and we arrived at 6:15 to an empty dining room, a nice warm wood stove, three customers sitting at the bar, a football game on one TV, and NASCAR on the other. We even received a friendly «Hi!» upon our entry from one employee, and a «Good to see you again!» from another. As we selected one of the tables closest to the wood stove our server promptly informed us of two Specials that night as she handed us menus. We asked what was on draft and chose the Davidson Brothers Brown ($ 4.50/pt) over three others which included a Sam Adams Oktoberfest and maybe a couple of Budweisers.
One of the Specials was an Appetizer Sampler ($ 6) which included 4 wings, 3 mozzarella sticks, 3 onion rings, and 3 chicken tenders. We ordered this while we perused the pizza offerings. The wings were the hit on this platter — crispy, meaty, and moist, with our choice of honey habanero sauce. The platter was served with sides of blue cheese and marinara sauces. I forgot to request the melba sauce for the mozzarella sticks. But the blue cheese was actually excellent on the sticks, rings and tenders. The tenders had a nice breading but the chicken was overcooked and only saved by that blue cheese sauce. The onion rings and mozzarella sticks were typical of the frozen variety.
We skipped over the second Special of the night, an 8-​cut cheese pizza that was maybe a couple dollars less than usual, so that we could try the Sausage and Pepper version ($ 10.50). The crust edges rise nicely in the oven and have a good flavor. The center of the pizza is heavily weighed down with cheese. It’s a really tasty cheese that is not overly oily and easily stretches with each piece you remove from the try. But the cheese will prevent you from attempting to pick up a slice in your hand to eat.
The house-​made sausage on the pizza is crumbled bulk that hardens in the oven, giving it a crispy and contrasting texture to the cheese and dough. My preference would have been for some noticeable fennel flavor in it. The thinly sliced peppers appear to be previously sautéed to the point of some becoming translucent. They did not add any noticeable flavor. Maybe it’s just that all that cheese overpowers the other flavors.
The major discussion between my wife and myself once the pizza was served, however, was whether the dominant flavor we were experiencing was smoky, charred, ashy, or burnt. I preferred to use the first two while my wife said it reminded her of burnt toast. Certainly, if you look at the pictures I took you would not recognize any burnt crust. But if you looked at the bottom of a slice you definitely would see some brown and black spots. I backed my opinion on the fact that while the thick and airy, crust edges had this flavor they were a nice golden brown. She backs her opinion on my photo of the top vs. bottom photo.
The bottom line is that I really enjoyed the pizza (and the wings). It’s probably not going to get any rave reviews from someone preferring a NYC style. And I probably should have stopped eating after my share of the pizza, but the chalk board listed slices of pie from Smith’s Orchard and Bake Shop ($ 4.50). I chose the Blueberry over the Apple and skipped the ala mode. It would have been better if the chill from the cooler had been taken off the pie before serving it. Otherwise, I still have my weakness for Smith’s pies.
This is a really friendly place and probably very popular with snowmobilers in the winter. Hopefully, the lake in the Summer also keeps enough customers coming year round.

Brilliant tavern. Food is modestly priced and really good. They have wood fired pizza, house smoked meats, and pretty much everything is made from scratch. The beer assortment is decent. And it looks out on a small Adirondack lake. Its definitely worth a drive.

We decided at the last minute to go out to dinner this past Sunday. We decided to try Tinneys Tavern after hearing good things. We arrived at approximately 6:30 ish, seated ourselves. It took a while for the waitress to arrive at our table to deliver menus and order drinks. There were only two other tables eating at this time. Sodas arrived, which were flat by the way, and our orders placed for cheeseburger, fish fry and turkey melt, nothing complicated. We were talking amongst ourselves and after approximately 45 minutes started to wonder where our food was. As we were waiting, we noticed that one of the waitresses/​bar person kept wandering out onto the deck playing with a dog. The dog was jumping up on her, kissing her and petting him. Not that I have a problem with being affectionate with a dog. I am a dog lover, but if you work in a food establishment and are handling food, drinks, utensils etc there is a time and place. She was not wearing an apron to catch the dog hair. She kept coming back in and not washing her hands then handling drinks, plates, silverware, etc. We were going to have a problem if she brought my plate of food over after witnessing her not wash her hands.
No one came over to refresh drinks etc. After another 10 minutes the waitress Jeanette came over to table to inform us that «she forgot to put our order in». No apology offered. I inquired how much longer it would be, «it will only be 15 more minutes.» 20 more minutes passed, no food. Another female came over, no apology offered again. She offered an appetizer, but at this point we really wanted our dinner. I asked again how much longer and was told only a few more minutes. It was now 7:40 pm. Getting really frustrated and hungry at this point. We knew that there really was no place else to go to grab a bite this late and where we were located.
I then told her we would like fresh water since the soda was flat. We waited, then another female came over, she offered the first apology and offered 50% discount. We inquired again how long and was told minutes. We waited for 5 more minutes then walked out. You would think that if you made the mistake of not placing a food order for your customer, you would have the common courtesy to apologize over and over and make sure that the food was prepared and delivered promptly. With all the staff there, not one of them noticed how long we had sat there with no food, no fresh drinks, etc. Poor customer service and we will not ever be going there again.

Went for a late lunch with my kids. Kate was the only waitress and did an awesome job making sure to check in. The food was unbelievable and the scenery was gorgeous. Will definitely be back!

I recently moved to the capital region so I’ve been exploring quite a bit. Lake Desolation randomly popped out on a map (I’ve spent some time in desolation wilderness California, what a cool name!). My first visit was during winter and I didn’t notice the actual lake when I stumbled upon a cozy restaurant (the lake was iced over and unrecognizable with snow mobile’s zipping around). The wood stove in the corner and old ski’s hanging on the walls created a warm ambience. The waitress was friendly and attentive even though a large group arrived shortly before me. I over heard that the chef was new but OH MY GOSH he is amazing! I had to try the shrimp and grits special. Beautifully grilled shrimp over creamy grits with an incredible smoky and slightly spicy BBQ sauce. On my second trek I was astonished to find the same cozy restaurant was actually nestled picturesquely lakeside. There are really neat tables on the patio that look new and custom built. This time I went for the triple stack sandwich special because I was told it was going to be on their new menu. House smoked brisket, pulled pork AND house made kielbasa. If that’s not mouthwatering enough it was topped with slaw and the most divine zucchini pickles! The hand cut fries were perfectly seasoned and crispy. The service was lacking with only one other table in the dining room but the quality and quantity of food more than made up for it. Tinney’s tavern is definitely worth the drive but I still wish I lived closer to eat here more often.
Note: A previous review seemed appalled that they close at 11 on weekends but I think it’s completely reasonable. Most restaurants stop serving food at 10 o’clock anyways and it is a fairly remote area (refer to lake name above).

We had a great weekend celebrating a family event with the BF’s fam. We decided to make a lunch stop at one of the «local eateries» (I’m told). We drove by a gorgeous lake and was surprised to find this little cabin like restaurant propped up looking over the beautiful body of water outside. You walk in and you’ll see this cozy little place with a small bar and a sit yourself down wherever you like atmosphere. Their menu consists mainly of burgers and sandwiches and their specials are hung on the wall. I was torn, really between the burgers which everyone else seemed to be getting and the blackened chicken sandwich was caramelized onions on the board. I opted for that given that everyone else had burgers! The sandwich was very nicely cooked, handled carefully, full of flavor and juicy. It was sweetened with the onions and the fries, o my the fries!, were awesome. They were steak fries fried until slightly crispy with a slightly spicy seasoning that was overall not very salty. Perfectly done. I eyed the egg burger that other family members were eating which was devoured within seconds. Definitely a nice place to be with great service. Beautiful view and a great drive up!

What a hole. Closing up at 11pm on a Friday night in April.
Previous to that I was there for the end of snowmobile season party in March and the chik that waited on my table was a complete idiot. No napkins or plates for the appetizers and had to walk back up to the crowded bar for drinks.

They’ve reopened, under new owners. We’ve not yet been to the new Tinney’s. I’ve had to give this a rating to post, so I’ve only randomly selected 3 stars. We look forward to trying on our next trip to the area.

CLOSED. There has been no sign of life in my last many trips through Desolation Lake, so I have to conclude that Tinney has moved on. Two stars for the memories.

Went upstate a few weeks ago to the family’s lake house and we thought we should try this place. Had the beef brisket, but it did not taste like it was real slow cooked BBQ brisket, it was tough and chewy. Would not go out of our way to come here…