The fire started on Saturday night, October 10, at the ESSE restaurant at Reynolds Landing, Golfweek reported. The call came in at about 6:30 that evening. Greene County Fire and Rescue's Engine 9 arrived five minutes later and found the 20,000-square-foot building almost fully engulfed. Lake Oconee News reported that the building held the ESSE Restaurant, the Landing clubhouse, a fitness area, the golf shop and five guest rooms, and that it was a total loss. High winds made the fight harder, and firefighters stayed through the weekend putting out hot spots. Nobody was hurt.
Nearly three weeks later, the people who live around the Landing face a simpler question that keeps coming back. Where's dinner tonight? The answer now depends on the night of the week. Reynolds has announced one fix, and it covers Mondays. The independent restaurants a short drive away each close on their own schedule. Planning around those closed nights is the new routine on the Greene County side of the lake.
What burned was more than a dining room
The Landing course was the first built at Lake Oconee. It opened in 1986 as Port Armor Golf Club, and Reynolds bought it in 2005. The restaurant beside the clubhouse was renovated two years ago and rebranded as ESSE, the Latin word for "to be." It took second place in the remodeled private food and beverage category of Golf Inc. Magazine's 2025 Golden Fork Competition.
That renovation turned a club restaurant into the neighborhood's living room. "When the restaurant was renovated, it became a new hub and gathering spot for the Landing community and a very popular spot for our members," Reynolds Director of Marketing Brian Gaydica told Lake Oconee News. Members described the same thing to Atlanta News First: birthday lunches, company meetings, and a family atmosphere among members and staff.
"You could go into the restaurant and see a family with the kids having their textbooks, doing some homework. That was not uncommon to see at all."
A Reynolds member, speaking to Atlanta News First
Reynolds' fix covers Monday
In its message to members, Reynolds said its teams were rescheduling every affected tee time and ESSE reservation, along with fitness classes, events, Landing meeting-room bookings and overnight stays. For dinner, the one concrete step was opening The National Tavern on Monday nights. The Tavern already serves lunch and dinner at The National, according to the Reynolds dining page. The added Monday service is meant to fill the gap ESSE left.
The rest of the Reynolds dining lineup runs on narrower schedules. The Overlook at Great Waters is listed for dinner Thursday through Saturday. Great Waters Waterview Pub is the casual lunch stop. Eighty8 Kitchen + Cocktails covers breakfast, Sunday brunch, dinner and cocktails. The Creek Club and Richland Pointe Restaurant are limited to Platinum members, and Kathy's Café at The Lake Club is member-only. Your membership level decides which of these doors open for you. Reynolds posts day-by-day hours for most of them through member channels, so check the member calendar before you count on a table.
The rest of the week, night by night
The independent restaurants around Lake Oconee Village are the other half of the answer. Their closed nights fall on different days. The grid below uses the hours each place lists, either on its own site or in the Lake Oconee Life dining directory. Hours shift as fall turns to winter, so a quick call ahead is smart.
| Restaurant | Address | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Table at the Lake | 1010 Cowles Clinic Way | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Dinner | Brunch only |
| Filet Steak & Seafood | 1000 Parkside Main, Suite 101 | Open | Open | Closed | Open | Open | Dinner | Closed |
| Amici Lake Oconee | 1101 Parkside Main, Suite 105 | Closed | Open | Call | Call | Call | Open | Closed |
| Santoro's Italian Kitchen | 1061 Village Park Drive | Open | Open | Open | Open | Open | Open | Open |
| 5B BBQ and Brews | 1017 Park Place Boulevard | Open | Closed | Closed | Open | Open | Open | Open |
| Tee Time 44 | 1027 Georgia 44, Eatonton | Open | Open | Open | Open | Open | Open | Open |
Amici's directory listing gives hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for Tuesday and Saturday but doesn't list its midweek hours, so call before you go. A few patterns stand out in the rest of the grid.
Wednesday is the thinnest weeknight. Filet and 5B BBQ are both closed, so Table at the Lake's 5 to 9 p.m. service, Santoro's and Tee Time 44 are the listed options that stay open nearby.
Sunday night has gaps too. Table at the Lake serves only brunch on Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Filet and Amici are both closed. Santoro's stays open until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 on Fridays and Saturdays, and it takes walk-ins as well as reservations. That makes it the steadiest option in the Village.
Monday works on both sides of the gate. Amici is closed on Mondays, but Table at the Lake, Filet, Santoro's and 5B are all open. Add the new Monday service at The National Tavern, and the night Reynolds chose to cover already has several public options too.
Tee Time 44 is the newcomer. It held its ribbon cutting on September 10, a month before the fire, and combines indoor golf with a restaurant and bar. Lake Oconee News lists hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 11 p.m. Sunday. It's on the Putnam County side of the lake, so getting there from the Landing means a drive over the water.
Some nights call for staying home. Café 44 at 1051 Village Park Drive, Suite 101, is a weekday breakfast-and-lunch stop, open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 3 on Saturday. It also sells family-style take-home dinners Wednesday through Saturday, with pickup by 4 p.m. and the weekly menu posted on Tuesdays, according to its Lake Oconee Life profile. Ordering a Café 44 dinner for Wednesday takes care of the hardest night in the grid.
The Ritz-Carlton runs every night of the week
The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds is the one place on the lake with published hours for every day of the week, and several of its restaurants never close. According to the Ritz-Carlton dining page, these are the current schedules:
- Linger Longer Steakhouse: daily, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
- Gaby's by the Lake: daily, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., walk-in only
- Amore del Lago: dinner service from 3 to 9:30 p.m. every day, with later hours on Friday and Saturday
- Lobby Lounge: opens at 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at noon Friday through Sunday, open until midnight
- Oconee Cove: 6 p.m. to midnight on Monday and Wednesday through Saturday, closed Tuesday and Sunday
- The Coffee Shop: daily, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
One summer favorite is already done for the year. Splash Shack runs seasonally from April 1 to October 15, so it closed five days after the fire. With walk-in tables at Gaby's every night, the Ritz is the closest thing on the lake to the no-reservation weeknight dinner ESSE used to offer.
What comes next at the Landing
The plan for the site is still open. In its message to members, Reynolds said that "over the coming days, weeks, and months, we will work hard to determine the next generation of The Landing clubhouse." Gaydica told Lake Oconee News that Reynolds plans to replace both the clubhouse and the restaurant, but that it was too early to discuss rebuilding. Atlanta News First reported that the cause was still unknown, and the Georgia State Fire Marshal's office was working the site with Reynolds.
On the night of the fire, Reynolds said, one member family brought food and a cooler of drinks to the firefighters at the clubhouse. Until a new clubhouse opens, finding dinner nearby means knowing which nights each place closes: Wednesday at Filet and 5B, Monday and Sunday at Amici, and Sunday evening at Table at the Lake.
When the plans for the next Landing clubhouse come out, I'll be watching what they mean for daily life around the Landing, and I'm glad to talk through it with anyone who lives nearby or is thinking about this side of the lake. Reach out to Traci Nelson and let's talk about where your week on Lake Oconee happens. Find Your Lake Lifestyle.
