Nolan's at Sandy Point restoring prior glory
 

We recently had dinner at the new version of Sandy Point now taken over by Nolan's. A refreshing change from the past 3 years or so when things there were terrible.

The place has finally been cleaned up and somewhat renovated. The menu has most of the traditional Sandy Point dishes as well as many of Nolan's Italian fare.

Although we did not try the lobster or prime rib dishes, we did have their Caesar salad, which was great with what tasted like homemade dressing, and
grilled salmon with a spicy béarnaise sauce, which was also excellent.

Servers seemed mostly very young and inexperienced but friendly & enthusiastic and the front of the house hostess was much, much nicer than under prior ownership (of course, it would have been hard not to be nicer).

We will definitely go back and tell our friends that Sandy Point is Back!

And they are now taking reservations!

Docking
 

Can anyone tell me exactly where the docking is? From the lake, facing the point, it looks as if the closest and right side is shallow and a swimming area? On the left, it looks like there may be something there but I didn't want to risk going into an area I'm not familiar with and risk my prop. If that IS the docking area is there plenty of depth, unmarked rocks?

Thanks.

We couldn't find this the other day!

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The restaurant or the dock?
 

Not sure what the question is? Here is the location:

http://sandypointbeachresort.mynetwo...-us/5453180/2/

We were looking at the other side of the point!

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I know where the restaurant is, I could see it from the lake. But there is no docking on the northern side. This Google map snip shows docking on the southern side. Is the dock for the restaurant marked?

Is the dock access clear, deep water?

Your aerial view
 

In your aerial view the right hand dock system is the restaurants but only 4 spots the outer (horizontal)dock, the right hand side of the dock (facing from the water) and the 1st 2 inside spots on the left hand side. It is shallow but no rocks. Advisable the first time you do this make sure its daylight. The original Sandy Point had a dock attendant, not sure Nolans does

I was at Nolan's recently with friends and all of our meals were excellent. Hostess was warm and welcoming, servers sweet and efficient and Tizzy was making the rounds with all the customers with her effervescent personality! It was a lovely evening.

I love that they take reservations. That alone guarantees our return. It will be our definite dinner stop after a movie in Gilford. I live less than five minnutes from Nolan's in Wolfeboro, so that will continue to be my favorite restaurant in town.

Left side of dock is not for restaurant
 

The restaurant dock has a sign indicating for RESTAURANT and it is adjacent to the small swimming beach in the aerial view. The long right side of the dock and across the front are the 3 spaces reserved for the restaurant. The shorter finger docks on the left side are for leasees staying at Sandy Point for the season. Perhaps they let you dock there before the leasees put their boats in for the season. I know last week there were 3 boats (including ours) that were still not in and 2 of those docks were used for the restaurant. Now those boats are in for the season. Last weekend there was a wait for dock space for the restaurant. In past years, the restaurant would advise people to drop off their passengers and then dock down at the public dock. The restaurant provided a shuttle to the public docks. Don't know if Nolan's is doing the same. If business picks up, they really need to have a dock valet again.

As far as the 3 spaces for the restaurant, the water is more than 6 feet deep off the end of the dock and there are no rocks, just a nice sandy bottom. The inside dock on the long side is okay right now, but gets a little shorter as the lake level goes down. But, the bottom is just soft sand, no rocks.

we are getting ready for an annual group dinner in
August. We usually go to sandy point for baked stuffed king lobsters. Has anyone tried this dish under the new ownership

King Stuffed Lobster
 

I dont think they offer this anymore :(:(

Hello everyone, we are serving our baked stuffed "king" lobsters with our delicious seafood stuffing which has fresh lump crab meat, lobster, shrimp and scallops. come give it a try you won't be disappointed.

Chef Jarrod; I would like to recommend that you cook (steam) the claws separately from the lobster itself, and then add this claw meat to the stuffing.

I recently ate your Baked Stuff Lobster and it was excellent except for the attached claws themselves as they became very dried out when baked in the oven with the lobster itself.

Thanks for reading!





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Menu
 

On the website for Nolan's @Sandy point doesn't work.

http://nolansbrickovenbistro.com/sandypoint/

We noticed that this morning. Also the weekday hours of 7am to 11pm must be for Wolfeboro only. A call asking about lunch resulted in the answer of dinner only.

Yes, I called Nolan's Sandy Point yesterday and was told they were open from 11am to 11pm. I went there today and a sign on the door said "Opening at 4pm, no more lunches". Bummer.

I can't speak to the food quality because I didn't get to eat anything but it's pretty annoying to call to check hours and to be given wrong information.

I went to Shibley's and had a great lunch.

Better Choice
 

Nothing ever wrong with Shibley's

hard to present
 

I appreciate any feed back I can get good or bad it just makes me a better chef. me and my culinary orchestra do indeed cook fresh lobsters and pick meat for our seafood stuffing. The only problem I can see with that is it would be hard to sell a whole fresh stuffed lobster with no claws, to me that is the fun for the lobster to come to the table basically looking almost as "natural" as can be. Again thank you for your feed back, hope to be serving you time and time again cheers. happy summer to you all.:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):) :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Been to nolans at sandy 2 times this summer, food was very good. I had the calamari and a salad. The first time. Calamari was very good cooked just right. Had spaghetti and meat balls the second time still very good. Service needs some tweeks but I think that can be said everywhere. Over all very good. Much better experience than the past few years at Sandy point. Went there last night thought we'd drop in but was full there. Not problem though. Hope it continues to improve.

Bad experience
 

Went to Nolan's on Tuesday 7/5 for the first time, had a very nice waitress Kayla but... Waited an hour and 15 minutes to get our meals after we ordered. Kayla kept apologizing to us for the wait. Usually the meals at Sandy Point are large so we don't order appetizers. BTW rolls and bread are considered an appetizer and are a separate charge. When the food finally came, my plate contained 5 scallops and a dozen fries, $26. The scallops had so much lemon on it that was all you could taste. My wife's lasagna was uneatable. Went down the bay after for ice cream. We always look forward to our meals at Sandy Point but as long as it's Nolan's we won't be back. Don't mind paying well for a good meal but this wasn't one.

OK, cross this one off the list.

Where is the best place for lobster near the lake?

Best Place
 

Home:liplick::liplick::liplick:

Nolan's at Sandy Point
 

Went to Nolan's this evening. Was not sure what to expect after reading the comments here, but was very pleasantly surprised! We ordered the calamari for an appetizer and it could have been a meal. It was fresh, lightly battered, and plentiful! Hubby ordered the fried clams which came with very delicious hand-cut fries and cole slaw. I had the fried scallops (10) with onion rings ($2.00 extra but worth it!!) We traded a few scallops and clams. All were delicious and fresh! Our neighbor had the 2 lb. stuffed baked lobster (same as "king" in former establishment) which looked yummy! Next time for sure!
Glad to welcome Nolan's to the Bay! Continued success!!

Did your neighbor have any comments on the baked stuff with the new seafood stuffing

Cost?
 

Just wondering if you wouldn't mind discussing the cost of the meal. The menu shows most seafood items as "Market Price".

Baked Stuffed Scallps are $25

The menu link is still broken. This link says it can't be found.

http://nolans.truecapturemedia.com/w...int_menu-1.pdf

I was hoping they might have brick oven pizza to order for takeout like the spot in Wolfeboro.

I sent them an email to let them know it's broken.

cost
 

Both clams and scallops were $22.00 (as stated earlier, onion rings $2
additional)

$22 for whole clams, not strips ?

That is cheap!

Six of us went last night for our annual losbster dinners. First the place has definitely been cleaned up but for a Friday night was not very busy. I was very surprised even when we left at 8 it was still only half full. Now the lobsters. First they were all a little undercooked and mine at least appeared to be less that two lbs. the stuffing was good but far less than last year in fact usually we would eat the stuffing and be able to bring much of the lobster home. I was able to eat it all very easily . Prices were similar around 55 for baked two pound stuffed but for that price I certainly would have expected a better meal. Looking at the menu the restaurant is primarily Italian and I am sure that food is excellent so I shouldn't have expected the lobster dinners would be as good as the old Sandy point which was their specialty . So if I was going again I would not order the lobster at least the stuffed at those prices. We will need to find another place for our annual lobster dinners.

Delicious
 

My wife and I were up last week for one of our week-long stays in West Alton and decided to try Nolan's. I had probably the best chicken saltimbocca I've ever eaten. They actually did it in a masala sauce (probably because they offer chicken masala). Boy, it made my night. My wife had the chicken and eggplant parm, also yummy. We both took ample surplus back to the cabin for dinner the next night. Can't wait to go back when we're up for 10 days, the end of August!

I have been going to Sandy Point my whole life, we look forward to Prime Rib and King baked stuff lobster. We went once this year and the meals were far from what we expect from Sandy Point. I think Nolan's would do a lot of good if they take the time, contact Wally and Jean to get the recipes for the Sandy Point signature meals.

If the word got out that they are doing Lobster and Prime rib like the old days the place would be full every weekend all summer. Hopefully someone is listening....

I too have been going there all my life....I totally agree Wally & Jean were the best!

And New Hampshire was a better place before all of the Interstate highways began to bring in the flatlanders. Wally and Jean retired and the second new group is doing their own thing. If YOU want Wally nd Jean, then open your own restaurant. and do Wally and Jean. Could even call it that.

Nolan's at Sandy Point ... My prediction.
 

Went to NSP last night hoping to experience a little of the charm, service and great food we've had time and again in Wolfeboro. Really bummed, we got none of that. It is a total head scratcher that the folks running a successful restaraunt (Nolan's Wolfeboro) would put their name on a place where they didn't have menu control. The result is big plates of below average food with no freeshness or personality... Food which bears no resemblance to the name on the sign.

Our dinner included seafood, steak, a sandwich and a pasta dish... So a wide cross section...Maybe we got the wrong dishes but ours was a diner I'll quickly forget. I have to say that I don't understand the quest for nostalgia, things may have been great in that different time, but forcing a menu on the new operators of the restaraunt will be the reason this location doesn't work for more than a season or two at a time.

I was told that last night was the last night of the season... What... on August 28th... That's nuts. Earlier this year NSP stopped serving lunch... Unfortunately things don't appear to be going that well. My prediction is that it'll be hard for NSP to succeed with the menu they've had forced on them.

We desperately want NSP to become a crazy success... I want to complain about long weekend waits. I don't think that'll happen until the menu is completely rebuilt around Nolan's style fare. I don't think that'll work until people want to go there twice a month... Not just once in a great while. I don't think that'll happen while folks are still trying to capture a great meal they used to get way back when. The old kitchen and team were great, the new kitchen and team (Nolan's) are great - but they are NOT the same, it's crazy to say they have to be.

Let Nolan's be Nolan's.

My two cents.

Do you think it could possible have something to do with the fact that getting good reliable staff in nearly impossible right now?? College kids have gone back to school and finding locals that are interested in cooking in hot kitchens etc is been VERY DIFFICULT in the Lakes Region and elsewhere. Of course the owners want to make it a success but IMHO the owners can not take every shift and step in and cook etc when a staff member is slipping.

I agree with much that is said here by Alton-Acton. I also think that when NSP reopens in the summer of 2017 that it will be totally reincarnated to be much like their current Wolfboro operation, including a Pizza oven.

It will be very interesting to see if the woman who owns Nolans decides to take this route and tries to duplicate her current successful operation in Wolfboro rather than looking back at recreating past glory from the former Sandy Point operation.

I think this summer has proven that Sandy Point's previous glorious past can not be brought back to what once was and it's time to call it a day and get a fresh start.





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To me, the WB location has always had less of a "labor of love" feel to it than a "big ROI," which is better suited to production pizza than to artful Italian cooking, anyway. Haven't been to Sandy Point.

Sure, But, It's not the customers responsibility to be satisfied. If you want to stay in business you have to figure it out. It's not easy, just the way it works.

I'd be willing to bet you won't see Nolan's return for another season...
Inconsistent hours, poor reviews, empty parking lot on a July Saturday night just to name a few.

Went by tonight and closed.... Wow, really! Not a way to run a seasonal business...

August 28th was their last night because the majority of their staff are students and they are heading back to school. No help, no service. As far as the menu is concerned, When Sandy Point Resort leases the restaurant, they want the signature items that have been part of the menu for 50+ years to continue. When the Damons took it over, they did just that. Unfortunately, the last two leasees have not been able to pull it off successfully. Too bad. I have enjoyed Sandy Point in the past, not so much over the past few years. Quite frankly, based on comments from several different friends, whose comments were mostly negative, we opted not bother going this year. Most negative comments: high prices, and service not the greatest. Most positive comments : nice bar area and good beer selection.

I live here... I am always Upthesaukee.

My one data point is we went in early August and on a Friday night the place was half empty. I agree they should focus on what they do well or they might not make it

I agree with you. I bet they don't return.

We wanted to go there one day over Labor Day weekend and was shocked to see it closed. I am not a fan of the Nolan's in Wolfeboro (no place to wait for a table so they sent us outside in the rain) but was willing to give this place a try.

I get that the kids go back to school, but considering every other place was still open - and most were still open over this past weekend, for that matter - I may pass until a verdict is in.

Seems to me they signed a three year lease, at least that's what I was told, so I assume they will be back in the spring. Hope they learned something 😯

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Sub lease
 

Heard they would be happy if someone else finished out the lease. They did the same thing as previous leasee, kept cutting hours & jacked up prices. They packed up for the season on 8/27!

we went to sandy point for the baked stuff lobster. it was not good and I wont return under any circumstances

really?
 

Pretty strong prediction considering your signature line.

You are actually correct . I also have a grad degree in economics and always and never are hard to prove. But given that I live on the exact opposite end of the lake from sandy point and only went once per year for the baked stuffed lobster and given the good Italian food that Nolan's is known for, I would doubt they will concentrate on the baked stuffed. So I will revise my prediction that it is highly unlikely I will go back again :)

Word around town is they are considering coming back next year.

Adding a brick oven, and having a similar menu to the Wolfboro Nolans

Baked Stuff Lobster and Prime Rib days may be over at Sandy Point

Happy Trails