Hayden’s Lakefront Grill

Favorite breakfast location for attentive service and different options. We often dine with family that includes toddler so we appreciate the paper top for his coloring pleasure while adults enjoy the meal. Nice atmosphere and no rush attitude from servers.

The service was great, Brandy was awesome! Very personable and friendly. I will return because the service and food was excellent.

Have only been here for lunch but have loved everything I’ve had here. Great waterfront patio for pretty days outside. Quiet atmosphere makes for a good place for a business lunch. Service is good and pretty fast. They have a room with a large single table that you can reserve for meetings. There is a food minimum of course. If we don’t meet it, we just order dessert for everyone to go.
My favorites:
Bison burger
Wedge salad
Berry cobbler

Attended a group event tonight (actually ate there last night as well). Service was excellent, Food (salmon) was equally excellent, dessert was very good, if not a little small. Last night I had the lobster dip which was a 10… don’t miss it. Seafood chowder was another must have.
Price seemed to be a bit high for the area.
If anything could be a bit different. the banquet room strikes me as a bit worn… maybe ready for a remodel. But the meal and experience was still a 5 star.

Decent food but not great. No gluten free options but their soups are good. Vegetable and clam chowder. A bit overpriced.

Had a delicious dinner on Sunday night. It’s half price bottled wine night, so that always helps. House salad and house made bread were great and the pork tenderloin dish was cooked perfectly. So much food, I had to take the leftovers home for lunch the next day. Our server, Jill was great. She was busy with a big table next to us, but that didn’t affect our service at all. Good job!

I have a very difference experience than many other unhappy customers. We used Hayden’s for my wedding rehearsal dinner and afterparty, plus most of our guests stayed at the adjacent Century Hotel and received complementary breakfast here. All my guests loved the food at the rehearsal dinner and breakfast alike. Yes it was busy in the mornings but the servers seemed to scurry around quickly to help everyone and get us whatever we needed.
The only reason I did put 5 stars is b/​c during our planning, like 9 months in advance, the catering dept and event mgmt changed hands on more than one occasion. Each time we’d review the previously discussed plans/​promises and then go from there. It did create some anxiety as the event got closer as we hoped there wouldn’t be any last minute newbies who wouldn’t be agreeable to the previously discussed plans. We were very appreciate of the most recent/​current Manager Lisa and her dedication to making sure we were happy and comfortable. We requested a change in how one of our menu items was served before the main event and it was kindly changed. We needed certain props and equipment for the dinner, no problem. The manager was even present during the event to make sure everything went smoothly.
though I cannot speak to a busy dinner night in the dining area, our experience with the food and service was never negative and I’d recommend using them for any of your events– esp weddings since the hotel is next door!!!

Have been going here since it opened a number of years ago. Last time I was here it was so so but this time it is back on top. I don’t know what changes have been made but the service was excellent from Ryan and the food was wonderful. Many excellent choices on the new menu but finally chose a special scallop dish and glad I did.
If you have not been here in a while, you owe it to yourself to return and see what the changes have brought back to life — a wonderful restaurant where you can look out on the lake and enjoy a wonderful meal served with excellent service.

Friday night last minute choice nearby. Tired and just wanted a good small bite after a long day.
Hayden’s outdoor patio made our night replete! Lingered over an evening cocktail and enjoyed the ambience. Friday night’s band was playing on the Lake a ways away which provided our background music and entertainment.
Soup and salads were our choice. They were okay. Food not outstanding, but satisfactory.
Glad we waited to get a patio seat as the bar is really dark.

We came for a late lunch. Sat by the man made pond in the back, very nice. My wife and I both ordered the 3 course executive lunch.
It starts with a salad which was good, in a small bowl but good.
The main course consisted of a small halibut fillet on a bed of mashed potatoes and spinach. Small but tasty.
You pick dessert. I had crème brûlée, which was OK. Wife had brownie with ice cream, it was really more of a scone.
Good price at $ 16.95.

My wife and I went to Hayden’s for happy hour and were very excited to sit outside with a beautiful view of the lake, even in the bar patio area. I was excited to see the new happy hour menu for food and drinks. Our food came quickly and the waiters were very attentive, checking on us throughout the time we were there.
I recommend coming on Friday evenings when there is a concert playing on the commons area by the lake. Good food, good drinks, and good music. I also recommend the blackberry press with vodka drink. My wife had it and I got to try it. YUM!

Used to love this place but has gone down hill more than ever. Order 3 drinks that tasted like sh** and couldn’t even taste alcohol. Told the waitor, who was not friendly and he did nothing responded with «thats why i take shots.» We ordered meat loaf and two sw chicken salads. My mom and i favorite since when Haydens first opened. Our chicken was cold, tasted like freezer chicken and the meat my father enjoyed but also cold and more fat on the bacon than meat.
Overall dont go here. I would recommend apple bees or claim jumper over this place. It is over priced, drinks suck, food sucks, staff sucks although eating outside is beautiful if you like ducks and murky water.

This place would have everything going for it to be outstanding, instead it really disappoints. It has nice outside seating, it’s large, and is situated in a quaint little community.
But, let me give a quick example: we went there for brunch/​lunch on a hot Sunday. Beer came fairly quickly but warm. Food took a bit longer than you’d expect but no taste. Ingredients looked fresh but again, no taste.
Waiter seemed forcibly nice. It seemed as they were doing us a favor to do their job. They also assumed that we didn’t want fries because we ordered a side of salad, they never asked if that’s what we intended, and when we asked for them they returned in about s minute with a plate of fries, which seemed very strange. I thought fries take a while to fry, so one wonders some things… :)
This was the second time going there. We had been years ago and had a horrible experience involving some really badly burnt toast, but we thought we’d give them another shot.
Hey managers, get your act together cause that stinking pond won’t replace good hospitality practices for much longer!

Have you ever gone to a place that has a lot of reviews and a high star rating but you just don’t feel it? It’s more hype than substance. Hayden’s is the opposite of that. Below 3 stars??? How is that possible? I ate here all week while visiting Portland and I was super impressed each and every time. I wonder if people think that this is just a hotel bar and grill, but I will tell you it’s much more than that.
Atmosphere and décor:
So relaxing… this is a beautiful lakefront high end restaurant. I loved watching the ducks float by while I ate my breakfast. You’ll find the inside to be as comfortable and relaxing as well. The bar area is perfect for those happy hour cocktails.
Food:
As many of you know… I love to eat. So to find a locally owned and operated restaurant with consistently great food is a win win for me. I enjoyed the peppercorn bacon, the ham steak, the French toast, and the scramble. I was thinking about my breakfast all day long and looking forward to the next day. I will be returning in July and I am looking forward to sampling some more items off lunch and dinner as well. I have had salads and the salmon there on previous visits and was also pleased.
Service:
As happy as I was sitting inside or outside this beautiful restaurant enjoying great quality (large portions) food, what makes this a 5 star experience is the service that I received from servers like Garrett and Brandy. It’s a no brainer to recommend this locally owned and well run restaurant.

Everything was bad. We order cheese platter and it had just cheddar with sliced strawberries and FE grapes. Fish was over cooked and bland.
The view of the lake is good. It is fine for happy hour and view but strongly discourage anyone going there for dinner.

My husband and I got a gift card from here and decided to do a date night. The evening we went the restaurant was pretty full but there were seats in the bar, and that was totally fine. The restaurant itself was clean, nice interior.
We were seated with menus, had time to look them over and when we were ready to order– no server. We waited about 20 minutes before a server came to take out orders. We placed them, and they left. Then we waited for our food and drinks.
I couldn’t give you an exact wait time but it had to be close to 40 minutes before we got our food… And this was the last we saw of our server. Food was decent, not cooked how I wanted but not a huge deal. Our drinks ran out fast.
No drink refills, no customer service (how is everything, do you need anything etc), nothing. They finally came by and dropped off the bill. We placed our gift card in, expecting them to come back and swoop up the tab… and they didn’t. We wound up leaving a $ 40 tip (what was leftover on the gift card after our meal) only because we had decided we would NEVER COME BACK.
We won’t ever consider going back– the one star is for service. The food was probably 3 stars, good… But not worth it.

A bunch of us met up for happy hour, be prepared to come early for a seat. We ended up moving the round bar high tables together. Their proportion sizes for happy hour was reasonable for one person with the exception of the steak and potatoes. The steak was the size of my friends thumb and the potatoes were lacking, he ended up getting the lobster dip with pita chips which ended up making up for it. FYI — they have your standard bar with mix drinks, but for some reason it’s not on their menu??? What shocked us even more was that the waiter even noted that it’s not on their menu, but listed some drinks off the top of his head. Drinks were fine, it just wasn’t very professional.

Saturday night we arrived at 4pm. Only a mom and her two young children in the dining room having dinner. They left a short time later and then we were the only ones in the dining room till we left at 5. As we were leaving I notice the bar was full.
My husband took a drink of his beer from the four sided glass, just his luck, it was the side that had lipstick on it. He did get a new beer without issue, but still… yuck.
Our oysters were tasty. Never had them prepared this way so it was a nice change.
My husband ordered the tenderloin. The steak was perfect, so tender, the grilled asparagus still crisp. Nice presentation. I would give this 5 stars.
My Chicken Fettuccini Carbonara dish… it was a large portion and I would of waddled out of there if I ate the whole thing… but after just a few bites I could not eat anymore because it was so greasy. The strips of chicken were very hard and were just heated from ready to use grilled chicken strips that come frozen to restaurants. You know, the ones that already have the grill marks on them. This is not fine dining preparation.
This is the first time I did not take home leftovers. My husband did not even want it for his work lunch.
We were not charge for the Carbonara… but two beer, one drink, appetizer, and one steak dinner we paid $ 58 for the two of us. We are not stranger to fine dining but $ 30 a person is quite steep for disappointment. Sorry to compare, but I have never seen lipstick on a glass or cup at Shari’s and they are definitely not a fine dining restaurant.

I’m not sure why the reviews are so low for Hayden’s. I’ve been here twice, on two separate trips to Portland, once for Happy Hour and once for lunch.
The interior is very blah, but we’ve sat outside with a view of the small lake on both occasions which was really pleasant. I would definitely advise sitting outside and avoiding the dining area and bar, which both appeared to be outdated.
They had a good happy hour menu offered a great variety of choices and everything was priced great. This visit was awhile ago and it looks like the Happy Hour menu has changed since then, but overall I thought it was a good spot and would return.
For lunch, the place was practically empty so we got our choice of tables outside. Nice server, not overly attentive, but she seemed to also be tending the bar so understandable. For lunch I got the burger and thought that it was pretty good. My mom’s caesar salad was good too. I forget what my husband got, I think one of the sandwiches.
We’d definitely return when we are in town, probably for Happy Hour though.

Went here for breakfast as part of the package while staying at the Century Hotel next door. The package included a selection from their mini breakfast items. I’d say, unless you’re the type that eats huge breakfasts, the mini size is just fine. I had a craving for the corned beef hash which was on their regular menu so I had to pay a few dollars extra. I’d say the quality of the food was very good. The hash was very tasty. They didn’t skimp on the corned beef like some places do.
Our server was friendly and efficient. She took our order within a few minutes of being seated and had coffee on the table a minute after that.
Overall, it was a very good experience enjoying our breakfast while sitting by the lake soaking up the early morning sun.