Mystery Diner: Lake House on Pistakee proves great year-round

There are some restaurants and bars that are just built for summer.

The Lake House on Pistakee seems like one, located in Johnsburg off Bald Knob Point near the Boat House.

But don’t forget about them in the winter, because the food and portions are worth the time it takes you to get there.

Like many area restaurants, their menu is conveniently online and you can order whatever you’re craving for from their kitchen.

For me, that also included a special request to have one of the items not include black pepper.

I ordered earlier in the day, the steak tacos ($12), and the restaurant called ahead to clarify to make sure we got exactly what we were in the mood for. The marinade for the steak usually includes black pepper, but they were able to cook it without, and we ended up with some great steak tacos, exactly the way we like them.

The tacos include cilantro lime slaw, cheddar and pico de gallo. You can add avocado for $1 extra. And they’re served with black beans, rice and a side salad.

My order was the chicken burrito bowl ($14), which contains all sorts of great ingredients mixed together with everything besides the tortilla.

You can choose from grilled steak, chicken or shrimp topped with pico de gallo, guacamole, black beans, corn, queso fresco and cilantro. It’s drizzled with lime, Southwest ranch, and salsa verde, all served over rice.

It was a huge meal by itself with a ton of chicken. I ate the guacamole and about half of the bowl and saved the rest for a future lunch.

Keep in mind that, on Tuesdays, the burrito bowls are on special for $12.

Another one of our diners wanted the five-cheese mac ($8) with the $1 bacon upgrade. I thought about it, and it sounded pretty good to me, too.

So I looked further on the menu, under family-style meals, and found five-cheese mac ($20) with the still $1 bacon upgrade. That would leave some for me and future meals, too, I figured.

It was a ton of food and made this one of the best restaurant deals I had come across in awhile.

The family-style menu has loads of options, from grilled chicken, steak or shrimp kabobs ($40) to crab cakes ($40) to Cajun chicken pasta ($30) or the $25 baked potato kit.

If you order 24 hours ahead, you also can ask for the take-and-bake kits for everything from lasagna ($40) to loaded mashed potatoes ($10).

Before I finish, I still need to tell you about one of the best parts of our order. Wednesdays are 1/2-off wing day (traditional or boneless) for takeout or those who dine at The Lake House on Pistakee.

And the wings are good. They’re big, the sauces are slathered on top in liberal fashion, and you can’t go wrong with 24 boneless wings of a variety for $12 (regular $24).

The sauce options are buffalo, barbecue, teriyaki, garlic Parmesan, mango habanero, honey bourbon and jerk.

We ordered buffalo and honey bourbon. Two of our diners preferred the sweetness of the honey bourbon, while another favored the buffalo.

I combined two of our orders and ended up with five-cheese buffalo chicken and bacon mac and cheese.

Did I mention that we got a ton of food?

It was awesome, and we enjoyed it for several days. Conveniently, the mac and cheese came in a container easy to store and reheat.

And I can’t say enough about the portions and quality of the food. If you have some hungry humans to feed, The Lake House on Pistakee can make it happen for you.

• The Mystery Diner is an employee at the Northwest Herald. The diner’s identity is not revealed to restaurant staff when ordering or picking up the food. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a story.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: The Lake House on Pistakee

WHERE: 614 W. Bald Knob Point, Johnsburg

PHONE: 779-704-2903

INFORMATION: www.thelakehouseonpistakee.com