Honestly, not the worst, and I know price inflation on the island is bad so it should've been anticipated, but this restaurant would not survive like this if it was anywhere except Mackinac Island.
First, the positives:
- The food was delicious. It was all...cooked well, seasoned very well, and all around delicious. I was particularly a fan of the brisket, the cornbread, and the coleslaw.
- The service was very fast! They seated us before our reservation time. Great!
- the location is very beautiful! It was such a lovely day too
- the service was fast! We didn't have to wait long for anything, and considering how we were a party of 10 it was pretty good.
-the server was nice! he was very good! he did his job! A very nice young man.
Now, the reason for 2 stars instead of 5
We were a party of 10 adults (all family). We had returned from hiking 6.5 hours in the woods. Needless to say, we were quite hungry.
We had reservations, (large party) so we looked ahead at the menu and saw their family style package for 4. It advertised, verbatim, "Half Smoked Chicken, a Full Rack of Our Signature Smokehouse Ribs, One Pound of Smoked Pork Shoulder Or Beef Brisket, Coleslaw, Baked Beans, Macaroni & Cheese, Jalapeno Cornbread"
We figured this would be enough for half our party, so we would get two. Mainly, the "full rack of ribs", the "half smoked chicken", and all the sides listed, we figured two would be enough. It is also worth noting, one of these portions was $75. Two of these was $150. Split 2 ways, this is $15/person before the included gratuity, which is pretty decent for a meal on the island.
By the time we got there, we were very hungry from our long walk. We sat down, ordered, and then all took a double take when our food came out. The portion sizes were very small. Comically small. The half chicken was actually 4 pieces, with a chicken breast cut in half as one of the pieces. The brisket was 6 thin strips. The ribs were the shortest ribs I'd ever seen, the size of my pinky finger. There were only twelve of these per meal. The sides mentioned, save for the cornbread, would never have been enough to split more than two ways; imagine a standard ice cream scoop of mac n cheese, split 4 ways. Same with the coleslaw and the beans. Even for island inflation, it was ridiculous.
Again, the food was delicious, but there's inflation and then there's near robbery. If you're a party of two adults, it'd be enough food, but a party of 4 no way.More