Thousand Hills Lakeside Dining

We visited this state park while our granddaughter and granddaughter participated in Truman University, the restaurant Essen was delicious, the park is beautiful, the pavilion of the family was amazing and I would suggest that everyone visiting this area visited this park. Friendly people, beautiful park, it's just amazing!

My husband and I visited the Lake Sat. July 15. We were so impressed with the grounds and the camp area. We had dinner at the restaurant and listen to Dave the guitar guy. The steaks were cook prefect. It was so nice to look out over the lake and watch the boats coming in, almost forgot we were in NE MO. It was a nice treat for sure.

This is a beautiful lake with super facilities throughout that 's run by some of the nicest folk you could hope to meet. We 've been visiting Thousand Hills for over 15 years now and have had a boat moored there for the last 5 years and thoroughly enjoy our visits every year! Jeremy Robyn that run the marina, restaurant and cabins are super helpful and it 's always a pleasure bump into them as we visit. The staff that they have found to help them are always very helpful, polite and knowledgeable about the area and what is available. We love our annual visit and look forward to returning every year. The marina is well laid out with slips, which are well maintained throughout, are easy to access from the parking lot and easy to manoeuvre a pontoon boat in and out of. Once out on the lake the swimming docks are super handy and a great place to meet new folk if you end up sharing one during the day. Our kids, age 7 11 just love jumping in to the water from them or simply fishing from them. The swimming docks are located within 'no wake ' areas so they are super safe and even when there isn 't a lot of free space on the swimming dock there is plenty of room to drop an anchor and swim from the pontoon boat. We have always found the water to be clean and clear though on occasion after a heavy spell of rain it can be a little murky but thats the same everywhere. The marina shop is well stocked with everything you 'd need during a visit to the lake from snacks and drinks to sun cream to fishing tackle. You are able to purchase fuel and oil for the boats at the shop and there is always some one there to give assistance. The lake restaurant is a beautiful location to have a meal with great views over the lake from nearly every table, we have family reunions there regularly and the staff are always ready to take reservations and provide extra space if required. The food is always good and is very reasonably priced to, I recommend the fried catfish, that 's always very tasty! We 've also stayed in the cabins now for the last three years and they are super comfortable and very handy, this year we booked both sides and a kitchen of a single cabin and had a super visit sharing the cabin with family. The kitchen is well stocked with utensils and appliances though we preferred to cook outside over the fire pit. We 've always found the cabins super clean and in excellent repair with great air conditioning. If you can get it, we recommend reserving a cabin closets to the lake as they offer a super view over the water and are perfect for sitting outside watching the sun go down. During our visits we have fallen in love with this place, it 's very beautiful, is very well run and very safe with a park ranger as well as a local policeman that are very friendly and kind. We 've gotten to know the policeman (Ray Jagger) very well and are always reassured to see him out on the water making sure everyone is safe. The park ranger was also good enough to teach me how to fillet a fish a few years back, I can 't speak highly enough about these two gentlemen. If you are thinking about taking a visit my family and I say stop thinking and just do it! You 'll love it!

I love everything about the park and the restaurant; would love to just live there.

I love the lake! Great people and great food!! Must try if you are visiting the area!