Often I find myself trying to one up my past culinary treks with something new and exciting. I tend to gravitate to places based and meaningful reviews and or friend's advice. This time I used our friends recommendation.
There's a common theme among good eats and to me that's a spartan menu. It makes sense if you think about it. Focusing on making a few things really well vs. making many things good is a better route IMHO.
Spring & Porter isn't located in a particular trendy or fancy location, yet the offerings will treat your senses. The interior is well executed, but not overkill in luxury. I wanted to treat my wife to something special for her birthday. The menu selection was wide enough including land and water based proteins.
I'm not a food critic by any means, yet I've been fortunate to experience Michelin level eateries and I thoroughly enjoy taking food focused trips sampling everything from roadside Tuk-Tuk kitchens to linen cloth tables with suit clad server restaurants. I found S&P to straddle the line between higher end chains like Ruth's Chris Steak House & Michelin 1 star contenders.
I tried their venison steak and sampled my wife's Halibut. I was quite pleased with the attention to detail and subtle taste nuance extracted with precision prep. With our 8 year old in tow it was a little more challenging to get the full experience. The selection of deserts and appetizers was nice as well.
Expect higher than average prices, but also prepare for something made with heart. The next time we're up north I'll try and to go again. I recommend trying this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Rob
The owners must be giving out free dinners for five star reviews because the dinner my partner and I shared was truly awful. We should've stopped at the wine and gone to Wendy's. At least there we would have paid fast food prices for our fast quality dinner.
$60 Bottle of wine: we've had better $5 bottles. $25 Oysters: taste like they were thawed out two weeks ago. And why would you put an old tomato and cucumbers on them? $20 Bolognese: Overcooked pasta. Truly unremarkable. $59 Sea Bass: The fish was just fine. The dollar store ramen and vegetables underneath were the consistency of a microwave dinner. Neither of us could finish.
$200 out the door and we regretted being so polite about the whole experience.
The server seemed like she had almost no interest in making sure we enjoyed the meal. When there were two entre plates with only the fish missing she said nothing then actually came back with dessert menus!
Finally, this award is a joke right? Was there no one else to give it to? This place has the feeling of a repainted Ponderosa Steakhouse.
If nothing else, you at least gave us a hilariously bad experience to bond over.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Rose Wilson
My friends and I had a wonderful time the other night. Food was excellent, atmosphere was welcoming, service was good. Overall 4+
It fell short of 5 ⭐️ due to how long it took for us to get our drinks and food also lack of parking. Otherwise was very happy!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Steve O'Brien
The food was excellent. The wedge salad had an added level of taste with the beets. The food came out warm and well flavored. There was a little wait between courses.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Smitha Varkey
Had a bit of a wait (just 15 minutes) so they gave us our desserts off . They tried so hard to get us in which is so appreciated.The young lady who was handling that part of it kept giving us live updates on when our table would be ready. Our waitress was amazing too .We had the beef tartare the lump crab and the bread butter as appetizers.All were great especially the butter was just phenomenal. Then we had the steak which was very different from what we usually get in other places.We have eaten in many fancy steak places in Grand Rapids. And we are steak connoisseurs.we have eaten in many fancy places and this was very tasty and different from other places. Desserts we had the crème brûlée and chocolate cake .Both were delicious. They gave us the desserts off which was so nice of them and they didn’t have to do that but they did which shows how nice these people are . Thanks for making our bay harbor trip fun
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Creme Brulee
Eeva Redmond
One of my favorite spots
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lee Newcomb
Excellent food, amazing waitstaff, no loud music blaring. It was just a hair too dark inside for me. Made reading the menu a little difficult. Don't let that dissuade you from making a reservation and having a fantastic experience though!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Halibut
Elena Stroescu
Lovely atmosphere, plain and simple and elegant. My husband ordered an Old Fashion and I ordered an expresso martini... presentation great, but we both had better. For appetizer we went with bread and butter, the charcuterie board and the chicken Takashi.... amazing!! Presentation and taste! For the main dish, I ordered halibut with wild mushrooms risotto and my husband went for seared scallops ... amazing! For desert we chose Affogato and Creme Brulee ... once again ... amazing! Presentation was great and our server, Heidi was very polite, very knowledgeable on the menu and very attentive. We would highly recommend this place, even if it's on the more expensive side, it was worth it.
What a wonderful surprise to find in Petoskey. We have traveled to this area annually and have felt a bit burnt out on food options. This year we were blessed to try Spring and Porter and wow, what a nice change of pace.
The filet was cooked to perfection. The bread and compound butter were delicious. I do not drink alcohol and was so happy to see an extensive na list. I had a berry and thyme elixir that was phenomenal and to my great surprise they had an na Champagne option which was delicious.
Our waitress was attentive and friendly and made the entire experience five star. I would without a doubt recommend this restaurant to everyone. 5/5.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tom Walters
Great service. Great food. Had some unique options on the menu which was nice. I really enjoyed the venison. I will go back next time I'm in the area.
Everything was AMAZING! Chef Tommy creates beautiful plates of food!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
David
I must say my wife and I had a fantastic dinner experience here this evening. My wife had the filet and I had the venison. Both dinners were cooked to perfection. Our server, Heidi did a fabulous job. Definitely recommend this place!
Jim
We dine in Petoskey every year and love to try new places. Spring and Porter was recommended to us and we could not have been more pleasantly surprised. We loved it!! Delicious food with a unique menu. Service was exceptional! Give it a try!!
Denece
This restaurant was wonderful! I would definitely eat there again. The service was impeccable, and the food was exceptional. Perfect steak. Tasty sides. Great cocktails. The chocolate cake was one of the best I have had- and I don't usually go with chocolate for dessert.
Jack
A very mediocre experience. Even a bit weird at the time. Sat down and ordered drinks. Server returned a while later and stated that they didn't have Sazerac rye - which is on the menu. Except the bottle of Saz was sitting on the bar shelf. Which we pointed out. Server returned to the bar and it looked as if the bartender was yelling at her. Another 10-15 mi went by and- after asking about the drinks- was delivered at no charge to us. That was appreciated. Food was okay. Certainly not good enough to bring us back.
Often I find myself trying to one up my past culinary treks with something new and exciting. I tend to gravitate to places based and meaningful reviews and or friend's advice. This time I used our friends recommendation.
There's a common theme among good eats and to me that's a spartan menu. It makes sense if you think about it. Focusing on making a few things really well vs. making many things good is a better route IMHO.
Spring & Porter isn't located in a particular trendy or fancy location, yet the offerings will treat your senses. The interior is well executed, but not overkill in luxury. I wanted to treat my wife to something special for her birthday. The menu selection was wide enough including land and water based proteins.
I'm not a food critic by any means, yet I've been fortunate to experience Michelin level eateries and I thoroughly enjoy taking food focused trips sampling everything from roadside Tuk-Tuk kitchens to linen cloth tables with suit clad server restaurants. I found S&P to straddle the line between higher end chains like Ruth's Chris Steak House & Michelin 1 star contenders.
I tried their venison steak and sampled my wife's Halibut. I was quite pleased with the attention to detail and subtle taste nuance extracted with precision prep. With our 8 year old in tow it was a little more challenging to get the full experience. The selection of deserts and appetizers was nice as well.
Expect higher than average prices, but also prepare for something made with heart. The next time we're up north I'll try and to go again. I recommend trying this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The owners must be giving out free dinners for five star reviews because the dinner my partner and I shared was truly awful. We should've stopped at the wine and gone to Wendy's. At least there we would have paid fast food prices for our fast quality dinner.
$60 Bottle of wine: we've had better $5 bottles.
$25 Oysters: taste like they were thawed out two weeks ago. And why would you put an old tomato and cucumbers on them?
$20 Bolognese: Overcooked pasta. Truly unremarkable.
$59 Sea Bass: The fish was just fine. The dollar store ramen and vegetables underneath were the consistency of a microwave dinner. Neither of us could finish.
$200 out the door and we regretted being so polite about the whole experience.
The server seemed like she had almost no interest in making sure we enjoyed the meal. When there were two entre plates with only the fish missing she said nothing then actually came back with dessert menus!
Finally, this award is a joke right? Was there no one else to give it to? This place has the feeling of a repainted Ponderosa Steakhouse.
If nothing else, you at least gave us a hilariously bad experience to bond over.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
My friends and I had a wonderful time the other night. Food was excellent, atmosphere was welcoming, service was good. Overall 4+
It fell short of 5 ⭐️ due to how long it took for us to get our drinks and food also lack of parking. Otherwise was very happy!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
The food was excellent. The wedge salad had an added level of taste with the beets. The food came out warm and well flavored. There was a little wait between courses.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Had a bit of a wait (just 15 minutes) so they gave us our desserts off .
They tried so hard to get us in which is so appreciated.The young lady who was handling that part of it kept giving us live updates on when our table would be ready.
Our waitress was amazing too .We had the beef tartare the lump crab and the bread butter as appetizers.All were great especially the butter was just phenomenal.
Then we had the steak which was very different from what we usually get in other places.We have eaten in many fancy steak places in Grand Rapids.
And we are steak connoisseurs.we have eaten in many fancy places and this was very tasty and different from other places.
Desserts we had the crème brûlée and chocolate cake .Both were delicious.
They gave us the desserts off which was so nice of them and they didn’t have to do that but they did which shows how nice these people are .
Thanks for making our bay harbor trip fun
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Creme Brulee
One of my favorite spots
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent food, amazing waitstaff, no loud music blaring. It was just a hair too dark inside for me. Made reading the menu a little difficult. Don't let that dissuade you from making a reservation and having a fantastic experience though!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Halibut
Lovely atmosphere, plain and simple and elegant. My husband ordered an Old Fashion and I ordered an expresso martini... presentation great, but we both had better. For appetizer we went with bread and butter, the charcuterie board and the chicken Takashi.... amazing!! Presentation and taste! For the main dish, I ordered halibut with wild mushrooms risotto and my husband went for seared scallops ... amazing! For desert we chose Affogato and Creme Brulee ... once again ... amazing! Presentation was great and our server, Heidi was very polite, very knowledgeable on the menu and very attentive. We would highly recommend this place, even if it's on the more expensive side, it was worth it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pistachio Crème Brûlée, Halibut
What a wonderful surprise to find in Petoskey. We have traveled to this area annually and have felt a bit burnt out on food options. This year we were blessed to try Spring and Porter and wow, what a nice change of pace.
The filet was cooked to perfection. The bread and compound butter were delicious. I do not drink alcohol and was so happy to see an extensive na list. I had a berry and thyme elixir that was phenomenal and to my great surprise they had an na Champagne option which was delicious.
Our waitress was attentive and friendly and made the entire experience five star. I would without a doubt recommend this restaurant to everyone. 5/5.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great service. Great food. Had some unique options on the menu which was nice. I really enjoyed the venison. I will go back next time I'm in the area.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Everything was AMAZING! Chef Tommy creates beautiful plates of food!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I must say my wife and I had a fantastic dinner experience here this evening. My wife had the filet and I had the venison. Both dinners were cooked to perfection. Our server, Heidi did a fabulous job. Definitely recommend this place!
We dine in Petoskey every year and love to try new places. Spring and Porter was recommended to us and we could not have been more pleasantly surprised. We loved it!! Delicious food with a unique menu. Service was exceptional! Give it a try!!
This restaurant was wonderful! I would definitely eat there again. The service was impeccable, and the food was exceptional. Perfect steak. Tasty sides. Great cocktails. The chocolate cake was one of the best I have had- and I don't usually go with chocolate for dessert.
A very mediocre experience. Even a bit weird at the time. Sat down and ordered drinks. Server returned a while later and stated that they didn't have Sazerac rye - which is on the menu. Except the bottle of Saz was sitting on the bar shelf. Which we pointed out. Server returned to the bar and it looked as if the bartender was yelling at her. Another 10-15 mi went by and- after asking about the drinks- was delivered at no charge to us. That was appreciated. Food was okay. Certainly not good enough to bring us back.
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