Big Moose Inn and Restaurant

The Big Moose Inn is an outstanding little piece of history right on big moose lake. It's a charming guest house to stay in with an attached gourmet restaurant with exceptional food and wine that's second to none in the area. For later in the evening there's a bar with great burgers, beers and a couple of TVs to watch the games. Really everything you need right in one spot for a lakeside Adirondack getaway.

Had one of the worst breakfast experiences of my life this morning at the Big Moose Restaurant. The wife & I talked our 4 hungry teenagers out of the mainstay Pancake Houses of downtown Old Forge for a (what we thought would be) " higher end" brunch experience in rustic Big Moose, 20 miles to the north. Entering the dining area, our hostess pointed us toward a table in the corner which was without utensils and wet from rain blowing through an open window. Our server then brought out the menu's which looked like index cards with half a dozen menu choices in fancy font with large prices next to them. Three of us opted for the buffet and three of us chose waffles from the menu. The buffet was OK if you like fruit and bagels a la a Super 8 Continental Breakfast. The piece de resistance, though, were the waffles. Waffles that likely came from a box. A box that not 10 minutes prior to us arriving was sitting next to the frozen peas ! The three still cool squares the size of playing cards were plopped on a plate 5 times their size and garnished with a strawberry and four blueberries. Likely in an attempt to make the waffles look bigger and feel warmer. Since we didn't see much of our server, we had to put the waffles in the buffet toaster just to get the butter to melt. The coffee was not very good either. It tasted like it had been sitting in the pot overnight , then put in the microwave for a minute thirty. Then the three of us who got the buffet, were charged for the coffee too ! As we passed the ever popular downtown breakfast places on our way back to our hotel, my stomach half full of cantaloupe and little debbie cinnamon rolls, I vowed to my kids that on our next visit to Old Forge I'll get up a little earlier, put our name on one of the waiting lists downtown and put the money we spent on our breakfast bust toward our next car payment.