I have been following this thread with great interest and usually do not have much negative to say. We have been to Canoe many times. The food is usually excellent and the service is usually quite good. The more mature hostess has never been welcoming and appears to be doing the diners a "favor" by seating them...this is most unpleasant and if all else were perfect, I would overlook it, but it does not start the dining experience on the right foot. As the season progressed we had more OK meals than really good...the servers themselves tried, but the kitchen/management seemed either distracted or uninterested and the pacing of the meals was sometimes erratic....long waits then hurry-up. We tend to eat early so it is not just that they are busy. Unfortunately, the restaurant business is a difficult one and consistancy is difficult to achieve. But restaurants who succeed long term do so by making the diners enjoy the restaurant experience. In my opinion, the glow of success has blinded the management to this.
As far as children are concerned, this is still a busy restaurant with close together-tables and on the casual side. Well-behaved children should not be second class citizens and if there is a definite policy it should be clearly stated and not at the discretion of the hostess. While the food may be excellent it is not really a quiet, elegant, fine dining establishment and I have rarely seen children as a major issue at Canoe. It goes without saying that everyone thinks his child is well-behaved regardless of behavior, but the point still stands. And I do not have children at the Lake.
