Short version: With a complete revamp and refresh to the venue, this pace feels modern, inviting and upscale all at the same time. You could wear board shorts and a t-shirt, or slacks and a sport coat while still feeling at home. The food is great, the drinks are well made, and the venue is perfect for any occasion. This place is great, and you need to go at least once, if you can get a reservation after they are up and running at full steam!
Long version: We had the great opportunity to check out the newly remodeled and revamped Yacht Club located in Chandlers Landing. It is a great little venue tucked away behind a gated community and that has kept the yacht club a nice little retreat because many people don’t even know It is there. With a modern facelift, updated furnishings some smart décor choices, the Yacht club is back and ready for business! One of the partners for the Yacht Club is someone many of you have already been a patron for, he owns Dudley’s in Fate. Jordan Carson is no stranger to Rockwall County, with family ties going back many generations. Jordan also owns Christies in Dallas, and a new trending top bar near SMU called Boxcar. If you have not checked out any of these three places ran by Jordan and his partners, then you are missing out. The Yacht Club is his latest adventure. I also think it is the largest coming in at over 21,000 square feet according to public records.
Jordan and his partners have worked tirelessly to revamp and give a huge facelift to this iconic Rockwall venue to create a warm, casual, and inviting atmosphere with plenty of parking for your golf carts out front numerous areas to park in the vast parking lot. As you approach the venue you are greeted with a long-covered walkway to the entrance while being flanked on both sides with grassy seating areas with a circle of 8-10 Adirondack chairs circling a fire pit.
As you walk through the front doors, you find yourself in a vast open room with bright white walls and black ceiling beams and trim. The ceilings must be close to 20 foot tall creating a very open feeling space. This area is the “waiting area” that has a large electric fireplace, couches, chairs, and plenty or tables for beverages. There could easily be 40 people relaxing and conversing while waiting to be seated. There was discussion that they will have a floating server to check drinks and serve waiting patrons. Walking in the front door, directly ahead of you, (about 100 feet or more) are double doors leading into a private venue room, that just so happened to be hosting a wedding party, and on the opening night, that’s bold. The private room was closed, but I was able to check it out a month ago during renovations. It could easily seat 100 guests and is wrapped with floor to ceiling windows that give amazing views of Lake Ray Hubbard and the Marina. It has a small bar in this room as well, so you can serve your guests without lots of in and out.
The upper-level bar is to the left as you enter. The bar feels very modern and clean and has a numerous TVs on the walls for those days you want to catch a game. The views are great, with the full wrap around windows, even with the full tables and standing room only at the bar you don’t feel closed in or stuffy. The bar is very well stocked with tons of a great options for whiskey, bourbon, vodka tequila, wine and beer.
As you walk out of the upper level bar, there are stairs directly to your left that lead to the lower level. These stairs are very wide, with ample room for patrons and servers to run up and down the stairs without being in each other’s way. The lower level has a bar, as well as numerous private rooms and areas that one day may be used as small venues to rent out or meeting rooms. The bar for the lower level is located directly underneath the private venue room upstairs. It features floor to ceiling glass windows along the back that open up to the outside. Giving access to an outdoor seating area, patio, and grassy area. Even opening up the possibility of docking the boat an walking up for a drink and lunch. The little touches throughout have brought this iconic Rockwall venue into the modern era and they did it in style
The menu did not disappoint and offered a nice variety of options Now, please keep in mind, this is day one, for a new venue, that decided to not only go full tilt and run the full menu on day one, but they also decided to host a wedding too. Talk about ripping the band aid off and putting your team through a trial by fire. We placed reservations for 7:30 and were seating by 7:46, that was impressive on its own, because this place was packed with lines of people waiting. We ordered a couple appetizers, 3 entrees and some beverages. I will share what we ordered, and our thoughts on each item below.
Appetizers:
Texas Deviled Eggs $16
Panko crusted egg, jalapeno pimento cheese and egg yolk filling, brown sugar bacon, scallions.
This was served with 5 deviled eggs; the filling was topped with a nice thick slice of the brown sugar bacon. The dipping sauce was a golden color and not mentioned on the menu but tasted great when paired with the eggs! This is a solid appetizer, though $16 does seem a bit high for 2.5 eggs and a strip of bacon, it’s the number of steps involved that add to that cost. Plus, they are so good, you end up not caring anyway.
Red pepper hummus with Crudité & grilled focaccia $15
Roasted garlic and red pepper hummus, vegetable crudité, grilled focaccia.
The flavors on this were amazing, and bright. We were surprised at the serving size. The piece of focaccia that is served with it, will hold about 1/3 of the hummus, and there are a few little romaine lettuce boats for some lettuce wraps. We ended up eating the rest with t a fork, it was super tasty and plentiful. Definitely ordering that again.
Entrees:
Old school Wagyu Burger $18
8 Oz Wagyu beef, toasted brioche, cheddar. Cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, duonaise, fries, Add Bacon $2
This came out looking nice. My daughter said the fries were great and the burger was super juicy and had a great flavor. The burger was slightly undercooked but not bad enough to be sent back. This is likely due to the kitchen going full tilt on day one, so not a mark against them in my eyes. I did steal a piece of burger meat, and it was very good. Salty, fatty, and well-seasoned.
Homemade Tortellini with vodka sauce $19
Ricotta cheese, tortellini, spicy tomato vodka sauce, pecorino cheese add Italian sausage $2
The pasta was cooked well, being slightly al dente, and the sausage was plentiful, especially for only a $2 addition. The sauce was thick and hugged the pasta well, allowing for a great bite every time. Very bright and flavorful dish.
Grilled Idaho Rainbow Trout $28
Potatoes, peppers and onion hash, caper lemon butter.
This was an artistic looing dish. The two trout filets were laid over the top of the hash, then they were topped with the thick luxurious caper lemon butter. The trout was cooked perfectly with a lite crisp to the edges. The hash was cooked well, though the potatoes were not cut uniformly and that meant they did not all cook the same. With some pieces being the size of golf balls, and others the size of grapes, there were some that were underdone. The flavors were amazing, and with better execution on the potatoes, the dish would have been perfect.
Sides:
Creamy white cheddar grits with butter and chives $8
This was flawlessly executed. The grits were =cooked perfectly and were creamy and packed with flavor. Solid option for a side, I just added a touch of salt, everything else was flawless.
Roasted poblano and white cheddar polenta $8
Perfect execution here. Flavors were strong and clear, and the polenta was creamy. I could have had this as a snack and been happy!
Conclusion:
All in all, I predict that this place is going to do very well. Especially once they get firing on all cylinders and working like a machine. Everyone from the hostess, the bar backs, the runners and serves, were all jumping in to lend each other a hand. Yes, they fell behind on seating times, yes, the kitchen. It was overwhelmed and food took a bit longer than normal, Yes being new the servers struggled from time to time with table numbers and locations. Those are normal and expected things for an opening night, and especially when they decided to go full menu, full bar, and open both bars, and host a wedding, all on day one. I must commend the yacht club team, because not many people could have pulled off an opening night like that. If you go in the near future, just be patient and know that the food with be great, the drinks are made correctly, and views are peaceful and relaxing. Such a fantastic little gem here in Rockwall, thank you to the whole team over at the Yacht club for breathing new life into this great venue. I look forward to my next visit and now I am wondering what this team will open next!
The Yacht Club
501 Yacht Club Drive Rockwall, TX 75032
(469) 796 – 1148
Nick Hughes
A 40+ year Rockwall Resident. I own GoTo Nick Hughes. I offer consulting services, marketing, and many other services for your business. If you need assistance or have questions on how you can improve, reach out, and let’s have a conversation. Please shoot a message to [email protected] and let me know a place you want me to try.
