Located on Harveys Lake just a short drive from campus, Lakeside Skillet is a popular destination for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and is frequented by both locals and students.

Situated just off the scenic road circling the lake, the restaurant has several great options for whatever time of day you plan your visit. Despite being a larger restaurant, it offers the feeling of an old-fashioned train car diner. This is achieved not by decor or the restaurant’s physical footprint, but by the simple and filling fare and “sit anywhere” seating of a traditional diner experience.

Lakeside Skillet has both a breakfast and lunch/dinner menu with items served all day. If breakfast for dinner is your idea of fun, this is the place for you.

We have sampled both menus and each is equally excellent. Starting with breakfast, we ordered the Chunky Monkey Pancakes, a typical stack of three chocolate chip pancakes with bananas inside as well as on top, served with O’Brien potatoes. The dish is topped with whipped cream, powdered sugar and chocolate syrup. If you think this sounds like a lot of food, you’d be correct. The potatoes were good, as well, pan-fried just long enough to get a little crispy outside, while retaining a soft inside.

Other interesting pancake creations grace the menu, like Oreo Cookie Pancakes and Cinnamon Roll Pancakes.

If you’re in the mood for lunch or dinner, you have a lot of options here. We tried the Chicken Parmesan Melt, served with fries, and the Chicken Quesadilla.

The Chicken Parmesan Melt was the best we’ve ever sampled. This dish used chicken tenders rather than a single patty of chicken, similar to what is done in a Chicken Parmesan sub. With just the right amount of cheese and sauce, incredibly tender chicken and grilled bread that was crispy, but still offered an easy bite, this melt was the perfect combination of every variable.

The Chicken Quesadilla was also very good with tender chicken similar to what we saw in our stellar melt (albeit without breading in this application), as well as a crispy tortilla. The quesadilla was another solid choice on a great lunch/dinner menu.

Lakeside Skillet also offers a daily rotating selection of homemade soups, great for warming up during these waning cold days of winter.

Its Facebook page is a good place to check and see what they are offering on the day you plan to visit. You can check out the breakfast menu at www.menusnepa.com/lakesideskillet.html.

Like many restaurants on the lake, Lakeside Skillet is a place where Back Mountain locals flock because they know they will find some of the best food offered in the area.

The restaurant is open Sunday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.