NOTL Golf Club dining room open and ready for season

The course isn’t quite ready for golfers, but it won’t be long, and in the meantime the Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club has been spruced up and is open and ready for diners to enjoy the spectacular location with its lake view.

Looking out over the course last Friday, a beautiful sunny day, golfers seeing the carts lined up and ready to go would have been anxious to get out with their clubs. Eva Reif, one of three owners of the club, says the maintenance crew is working hard to get the course ready, and if the weather cooperates, it should be soon — but stay tuned for something more definite.

While the course is public and open to anybody, the attraction of the club, including the dining room, is that it’s local, says Reif — the owners have been local, most of the members are as well, and the course, right here in one of the prettiest locations in NOTL, is the oldest in North America, and in two year’s time will celebrate its 150th anniversary.

“There is no place like it,” she says, with its history and the best view in town, overlooking the water, which draws people to it.

The club, Reif clarifies, may have some new touches, but is not under new ownership. She, Rob DiDomenico, and Jim Forbes were partners with John and Jill Wiens for many years. The Wiens have retired, and Reif, DiDomenico and Marc Forbes, having taken over his father’s share when he passed away, remain partners.

As Eva explains, many locals think Klaus Reif, her husband, is also an owner. He is not, she says — he focuses on running Reif Estate Winery.

Forbes has taken over the day-to-day management, and he is the right person to run the golf club — as a well-travelled golfer he has “a really good eye” for all things relating to golf, says Reif.

She has sold The Grand Victorian, the elegant bed and breakfast on the Niagara River Parkway beside Reif Estate, and she and Klaus now live in their lake house in Port Colborne.

When the club partnership was first formed, Eva was busy with the Grand Victorian. “I put my heart and soul into it,” she says, but when COVID hit and travel was restricted, she realized she was exhausted from the day-to-day running of the inn, and knew it was time for a change.

The market had exploded, and it was the right time to sell.

Looking back, she says, “it was totally the right decision. It allows me to enjoy this,” she says, gesturing to the club dining room, “and it frees me up to enjoy the lake house.”

While she loves being at the club, it’s not a full-time job for her — she has a young granddaughter in Port Colborne whom she loves babysitting. However she has enjoyed being involved in making small changes in the club dining area.

There have been some updates members and regulars might notice, she says, but she considers them superficial — new curtains and a coat of paint in lighter colours, along with a new carpet, present a brighter, fresh new look, but nothing has affected the traditional relaxed, friendly ambiance locals cherish.

As the partners get closer to the 150th celebration of the club, she says, “we’ll continue to do a little more refreshing and other minor changes.”

But it remains “a great place just the way it is,” she adds, “and as they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

As Brenda Breen, a long-time server says, “this is like a family. It’s a very comforting place to come to. We know the members,  and most of the staff have been here for a long time. We’ve gone through life with them, not as staff, but as family members.”

There is, however, “a wonderful new team in the kitchen,” and Chef Jeff Hicks is expected to “get creative” with a few items on the menu, says Reif.

There will be some new seasonal items, without giving up the old favourites — although she admits liver and onions will be gone, but may appear occasionally as a daily special.

“The menus are going to be fun,” says Reif. “We want to go for a light-hearted atmosphere.”

Although she’s not ready to give away new menu secrets just yet, Reif was excited to reveal there will be a brand-new, “amazing dessert menu,” and to make the desserts extra-special, when she left the golf club before heading home Friday she was going shopping to choose some new, elegant dessert plates to match the delicacies soon to be offered.

And to go along with the fun atmosphere the club offers, Bobbi Wanamaker, “a bit of a mixologist,” says Reif, will be keeping up with the “light, refreshing changes” by adding a new selection of cocktails, again, “without giving up the old faithfuls.”

The popular music trivia night is back weekly, on Thursday evenings — an event the staff enjoy as much as the participants, Reif adds.

“This is really a local place and always has been. Some think the town now feels more touristy, and the locals feel left behind. This is part of the community, part of the NOTL psyche. Come and have a coffee, have a glass of wine, a full-course meal or an amazing dessert,” she says.

“Or just come and say hello.”