Went last Saturday night. Called ahead at 4:45 for party of nine. Arrived at 6 and were seated at 7. Had drinks and opportunity to talk, during the wait, before dinner. Worked for us.
BTW it appeared that coming around 7:30 might have had a short wait.
Oh yes, the food was great!

We went last night after the Bach With A Beat concert. Called ahead when we left Savannah Center, had just a 5 minute wait for our party of five at 8:00. Gotta love the Mac & Cheese :)

The mac and cheese is the best! I love that place.

Sand Bar is a great place to hang and enjoy the day. Awesome atmosphere...

Went there for dinner Wednesday night. Got there around 5:30 and the place was packed inside and outside. Tried to call earlier to make a reservation and they were not taking any. We, party of 6, waited outside and finally had to go inside as the weather cooled down. Packed inside also with people waiting. We were finally seated 2 hours later, around 7:30. Main problem was there were large parties of 12 or 18 that were seated, so serving time and the lack of tables for smaller groups were used up.
Once seated though waitress was right there to take food and drink orders, and our dinners were served in a short amount of time.
It seems as thought the restaurant is going to have to limit the number of large parties to be seated at the prime time of the dinner hour. We did see a number of people leave when given the waiting time.
Food was very good with a varied and unique choices.

Was there last Friday. Party of 10, we called ahead. Got there at 5, seated at 6, orders taken at 625, food was served at 740. We are thinking that the kitchen can't handle the load. On our way out (about 830-ish), I overheard someone remark "how can there be a 45 minute wait when they have open tables?"

We sat upstairs with a great view of the lake and beach. The setting and view is the big selling point.

IMO the food was OK and flavorful, I had the salmon. One of our group had the shrimp and grits, which he said was overly creamy and somewhat cold. I took his word, I'm not a grits person....

Our opinions may be tainted due to how long it took to be served....

maybe will settle down in spring, with less wait time..its worth a try

Just to be accurate, Eaton's Beach is not a new restaurant. It has been there for years since the early 1900's at that same spot. It has just been modernized over the last year.

They don't take reservations...................call ahead and ask to be put on their list.
Doubt they will be limiting any parties.
Those people that left, had that choice, wait or leave. This is not the fault of the restaurant.

Its a brand new building the business has been there

We've been twice to Eaton's Beach. Both visits were on busy weekends, once in December, and again in March. We go in mid afternoon to avoid the crowds, but of course the place is so popular it's always crowded. However we got a table overlooking the beach with a minimal wait time.

The venue has great views and you can feel the energy radiating as you approach. Good food, professional servers, it's a really great spot!

When a good restaurant is understaffed, they will leave tables open rather than subjecting their customers to poor service.

I have never been able to figure out why anybody would want to go out to eat in a group larger than two or three couples. There is no way to converse with most everyone at the table without shouting. Also, it is harder to get seated and a burden on the kitchen and your servers to get everyone served at the same time. Quality absolutely has to suffer.

You are absolutely right about the size of the group. In my above post our party of nine experiences that when we go out to dinner. Several mentioned the enjoyable evening we had at Eaton's Beach................one of the reasons; during our wait we had a lot of time to talk over a couple drinks.

Well, they are at fault to a degree. Assume the large party of 18 took up 5 tables for at least 2 1/2 hours. I believe a restaurant wants to turn a table every 1 1/4 hour. So 5 tables seating 4 (20 total) and a possible turn of 1 1/2 to 2 turns in that time period vs serving 18 and one turn, can add up to a substantial loss. Add to that coffee and dessert for some means more time lost. Also more than one waiter is going to be needed, cutting the availability of staff waiting on the other tables that are seated. Then, the time that the kitchen staff is taking to plate and serve so most of the large table can eat at the same time. Then the kitchen staff has to get back up and going to take care of all the other tables waiting for their dinner which is now back logged all the way to the patrons waiting to be seated.

Kind of like a whirlpool.

So? Its their game and they set the rules. And there does not appear to be a lack of customers.

True for now. Because think about the potential patrons that left because of the long wait, and told their friends about it and they told their friends also. Plus the 29 posts on TOTV and all the readers checking in on the posts. What may happen is potential customers will not take a chance on driving out there and not being able to be seated in a reasonable time, or leaving after a long wait and looking for another place for dinner much later than the wanted.
It may be their game for now, with a long wait, but the upside will be when less people go there for dinner, ergo, shorter wait time!!

Everyone I know in The Villages is planning to try Eaton's Beach. After two successful visits, we will certainly go back again. It's a hugely popular place right now, and deservedly so! Good food, good service, amazing ambiance = success!

We had lunch their yesterday. Second time for us and very enjoyable again.

Sunday afternoon at 4:00 there were 14 of us that were picked up by the bus for Eatons Beach.After we arrived we were seated right away outside on the upper deck.We sat for maybe 10 minutes looking over menus and talking when the manager came over and apologized for seating us and not having a server come over and take our drink orders.None of us had complained,the manager did this on her own.She said she was bringing to our table 3 different kinds of appetizers at no charge.And not just 3 plates,it was 6 plates so we all could share. The manager and staff are wonderful.

There's always one... My wife and I stopped one recent afternoon for some wings and beer. The wings were half done and very fatty. I'm talking visible fat under the skin. Complained to the waitress and she didn't offer to fix anything. She just said that's the way chicken wings are and there was nothing she could do about it. Now, I have eaten my fair share of chicken wings and these were NOT the way chicken wings are. But what irked me more was that nothing was going to be done to try to please us. We drank our beer and left the wings. We are in no hurry to get back to EB.

How about discussing with the manager??

My wife and I did "call ahead" there last night. We called at 4:45 and were told it would be 45 minutes so we left TV immediately. Arrived at 5:15 and were told it would be at least an hour wait. They have a system there were they take your cell phone number and call just before your table is ready. A couple who walked up when we did was told the wait would be 2 hours. We left, ate somewhere else and went home. They called at 8:15 to say our table would be ready in ten minutes.

Where did Eaton Beach's bus pick you up from??

(the bus for Eatons Beach) I did not know we had a bus to Eaton Beach?

Not so good
 

Last night 8 of us went with a call ahead. Waited about 1 hr after getting there. They put us at 2 separate tables that could not be put together. also had 2 different waitresses so the checks were confusing as the men sat at one table and ladies at another. I had salmon which was very dry and not hot at all. Told waitress but nothing was done. On the other hand I had a very good experience at lunch a few days earlier, go figure......

Was this some kind of a test for the wait staff?

I've heard - but don't know any details - if you have a large group you can call Eaton's Beach and they'll send their bus for you.

I've eaten there 4 times and have had a great experience every time - love the shrimp and grits!

Eatons Beach bus service
 

The bus for Eatons Beach picked us up at the home of the couple who organized the group.We all met at their home and were dropped off there when we got back from the restaurant.We asked the driver about picking up people and he said that he goes to SweetBay parking lot to pick up groups also.There is a requirement of 10 people and no more than 14.Each person pays $5.00. The driver also came by our table to see how we were doing and to let him know when we were ready to go back.

interesting!! the last time I was there (about 6 weeks ago), I asked about have their bus do just that for a group and was told they did not do it. I will dif talk to them again!

tks

They have a form to fill out, describing all the details (date, time, place, contact, party size). Must be dropped off or mailed in advance and they will confirm your reservation by phone.

Skip

Tks Skip

We went Saturday. Had a great time watching patrons arrive then wearily leave much later. Nice clean place, good food, band playing, and a 20 mins ride to "the beach" from Buttonwood - BTW you can call ahead for dinner reservations, and there are no coolers/food/drink allowed to be brought in. Gotta buy there.

Saw the bus when we went there tday, but didn't know what it was for.

A word of caution - probably too late now, but worth putting out: We arrived at about 1:30 this afternoon, after having found Gator Joe's jammed. Were told that it'd be almost 2 hours wait! Already hungry, we came back to the Lighthouse and were seated virtually immediately!

Should note much of the crowd were young - we suspect a horde of Spring Breakers. Probably not a good idea to go there (or even to Gator Joe's) on a nice Sunday in late March - early April.

After our snowbird friends go back north and kids go back to school, maybe we'll try it again.

SWR
:beer3:

I wouldn't plan on the younger crowd going away.Those are mostly locals and will actually increase as it warms. You think it's crowded downstairs or on the beach, wait till summer.

And I say, Good for Eaton's Beach!

agreeance

I agree, it's predominantly a younger crowd. From the beach volleyball to the bikini babes, I think Eaton's Beach is definitely a hotspot for locals.

The tables were given by the restaurant, all the women were there but the men walked in later and sat at the other table. That is when we found out there were 2 waitresses.

Had dinner there and really enjoyed it. We got there about 3:00 on a Tuesday and had no wait. I heard its been really busy, but the wait is worth it. I had the pastrami plate and it was wonderful. Would highly recommend this restaurant.