The place from the outside looks so nice but the service and food is not so nice. The chicken tenders were hot but awful. It was pressed chicken inside. Yuck. The fries were ok. When we originally placed our drink order, it took the waitress about 15 minutes to bring our Bud Lights. We wondered where did she have to go to get the beer! The waitresses were rude, bumping into people and not apologizing. This place definitely needs to change their food and service!
Review Source:Ok, so I saw all the negative reviews prior to going here. Â When my "apparent" group of friends all decided without consulting me, that we'd all go to the Dixie, I was a bit reticent to tag along. Â We were up for the Zoo de Mac bike event, and I didn't really wish to have a mediocre meal the night before a 50 mile bicycle ride! Â
I'll cut to the chase - I was surprised.  Our large 15-person party was seated  after a minor wait, our waitress brought our beers fairly quickly, and our orders came in without a delay - very smooth indeed.  I ordered the Perch Dinner, after quizzing the waitress on what they had for fresh fish (only Perch and Walleye are fresh - aside from seasonals like smelt).  I wanted Walleye, but she said they'd not gotten any in that morning - I appreciate the honesty.   When my Perch dinner arrived, I couldn't believe how much they gave me - about 8 large size fillets of perch!  That's a big portion.  The breading was light and minimal, and nicely flavored, deep fried of course, but perfectly cooked.  The coleslaw side was nice, but the side veggies (broccoli, carrot, etc - the usual) tasted like it'd been microwaved - yuk.  I ate a few just to get some fiber!  But, I was there primarily for the fish, not a plate of rabbit food. Â
I can't speak for all those who had a rough go of it at the Dixie Saloon, but I have to say, that on that Friday night, the service + food were pretty darn good. Â Give this place a try, or a second chance at the very least. Â It's pretty good (if you order what's FRESH!)
We had good service and food but the prices seemed very touristy to say the least. No prices on the drink/beer menu and we were shocked to find a domestic beer on tap for $6 .... seriously. Â We settled for iced tea but on the way out noticed a special on three types of beer for $3, too bad out waitress didn't suggest this to my husband. It was also very loud, even though it is way off season and wasn't very busy. Â We both commented that it would be a sh-- show if full of people in summer, but then Darrows would be open. Â LOL
Review Source:I can't say much for service since we ordered take out. Â We ordered and picked it up within ten minutes. Â The fries were...Eh. Â I'm pretty sure they had been sitting out for a bit. Â The burgers...Meh. Â It was ok. Â I love bar burgers but these didn't do much for either one of us. Â It was the condiments that gave it the flavor. Â Too bad it's winter and our dinner options are really limited.
Review Source:We went around lunch time with a group of about 9. The atmosphere is great with a very "Up North" vibe. It was probably my favorite part about the restaurant. Some people in my group had lots of fun adding to the years of writing on the walls. It also has a great view of the lake and the park.
Our service was not good. Our food took over half an hour to come out. We also rarely saw the waitress for refills/questions. All the serving staff seemed pretty rude, not just our waitress.
Reactions to the food ranged from pretty good (burgers, fish basket) to meh (chicken wrap, salmon). I ordered the chicken wrap and found it to be very drab. Definitely could of used more flavor. It was also a little on the expensive side.
They do have a decent selection of beers from brewerys across Michigan.
Food was good. Location great. Service ok. Comfortable seating for groups of four or less or more than 8. We had five and sat at table where one had to straddle a 14" board. We asked for more comfortable seating. Apparently they don't want groups of five because the hostess said they couldn't set us at a nearby table for six because we only had five. Really?!? Lousy. Unhappy after that.
Review Source:Overpriced for one. Secondly, they were understaffed. We asked to sit upstairs for the view, but they didn't have enough people to cover it. But MOSTLY, the food was nothing I'd go back for. I ordered whitefish (cajun style...supposed to be spicy), with the redskin potatoes and the vegetable of the day. I got a large piece of bland fish, red skins that were crisp...not nearly cooked...and the vegetables were a frozen mushy medley. My daughter ordered macaroni and cheese....it was way too dry to eat, plus not very hot. My husband will eat any burger and didn't complain, but I could tell he wasn't impressed. The bill for 2 kids and 2 adults was $50.00 and 2 of us had water. Rip off.
Review Source:Believe the reviews... The exterior of the building is very nice and the inside has a nice log cabin feel minus the carvings on the table and writing on the wall.
My family sat upstairs and the service was absolutely horrible. It took an hour from walking in to receiving our food. The food wasn't even warm either! All the meat on our sandwiches was cold and the melted cheese had hardes it had been that long. Our server even had the nerve to lie to us and say that it had just come off the grill too! Took another 15 min to get new warm food. When we finally we able to eat the food was average at best. The chicken sandwich was alright but someone else in my family said the veggie burger was good but not worth the wait.
Don't let the log cabin look fool you, avoid this place as the service is horrible and the food is average at best.
Also the public bathrooms in this place were not the cleanest either.
I sure wish we would have checked the reviews prior to coming. Â This restaurant is right in downtown Mackinaw City and from the outside, looks GREAT! Â Great location at the end of the street by the Ferry. Â Beautiful outside. Â When you walk inside, it's like a giant cabin. Â Wonderful decor and very inviting! Â After a 30 minute wait, my family of 5 was seated at a 4 person booth (side chair brought in, so I was actually sitting in the very busy aisle way). Â The perch platter ($20) was ok at best. Â The steak was bland, but with enough A1, edible. Â The fries were so old/greasy they weren't edible. Â Our waiter was sooooo busy that we didn't bother him with a request for newer, fresher fries. Â We couldn't get refills on drinks without having to flag him down as he zoomed to and fro. Â And don't even think about getting a dish cleared throughout your meal. Â Next time, we know better.
Review Source:I see quite a few bad reviews and understand it. This place is "over done". it looks fantastic, great location, but the menu is overpriced badly. I would have liked to have a steak, but they've driven their prices up $8 minimum for everything beef. Too much.
The inside is eclectic and loud, so I'm told. It is a tourist trap restaurant, indeed.
However, I had a lovely experience here. I asked for a lemonade and red bull. The waitress was intrigued and I stated "or just combine them into a lemon bull" and she liked that and charged me just for the red bull. Great!
I had a perch sandwich (really was perch!) and fries. It was decent. The service was slow... but productive, let's say that.
So so bad! Â It's unfortunate because the place is cute and is in a good location, they obviously use this as an excuse to serve horrible and overpriced food.
The fish & chips were so overcooked that the fish was like rubber, hard to chew. Â The vegetables were clearly frozen and not even reheated well- cold and soggy. Â Other people in my party had different dishes, all with similarly bad reviews. As a nice kick in the teeth, we got to pay about $16/plate for this nearly inedible food. Â Seriously, we were so hungry and STILL couldn't make ourselves finish eating this food. Â Grr! Â Wish I would have remembered to check Yelp before deciding on a restaurant in Mackinaw City!
The reviews are right...skip this place.
We ate here our first night in Mackinaw City. It looked like a cool place and we were exhausted and hungry. When we entered we were told we could sit wherever we liked. We decided to sit upstairs so we could overlook the lake, big mistake! Our server was so extremely slow and basically non-existent. It took at least a good 10 minutes before she even showed up to take our orders. The hostess happened to walk by before this and noticed we didn't have drinks so she took our drink order and brought the drinks out.
The food really isn't anything special, and in my opinion, overpriced. We ordered chicken fingers and a salad plus 2 soft drinks and the total was around $40.
There are a lot of other options in the area.
Visiting family near here, the wife and I took off on our own, there was a 10% coupon for this place, so we tried it. I wish I'd looked this up on Yelp before. My wife's red potato side was cold, and to be honest the shrimp I had is bettere at LJS or Red Lobster. Waitress didn't put enough ice in oour drinks. Prices are outrageous for what you get, but then they know it's mostly tourists coming in.
Review Source:Wow! Â What a tourist trap. Â Nice looking place, with a great location and view, but the positives pretty much stop there. Â
Who is managing this place? Â We were told to seat ourselves and someone would come over with menus. Â They did, but only after we waited for 10 minutes. Â 5 minutes after that, someone gets us silverware and tells us our waitress will be there soon. Â Another 5 minutes or so go by and she finally shows up and takes our drink orders -- and our meal orders since we've already had lots of time to look at the menu. Â When were were finally waited on there was no apology for the wait and no enthusiasm.
We contemplated bailing on the place before even ordering because the prices were pretty expensive, but we had just spent 9 hours in the car and were starving. Â Since the place seemed pretty slow we decided to stay there, in hindsight we should have just left.
The food was below average. Â So much of it was obviously frozen and served lukewarm. Â The food took almost 30 minutes to get out to us and there was no reason for it. Â The place was NOT busy and there was plenty of staff to go around. Â We had 5 people in our party. Â When the food finally did get to us it was lukewarm to cold. Â How does this happen?
I will never go back here.
Wait staff friendly and competent but frazzled. Â Some man came by to ask us about our meal. Â He was large and fully bearded looking a bit like a Scary Santa. I think he may have been the manager. Â Hard to tell who he was.
The tables were all carved up by patrons as were the booths. Â While OK for a bar not so sanitary I would think for a restuarant.
The food was horrible. Â My husband and I both had the broiled whitefish. A must have in northern MI and one of our favorites. Â It was tasteless and nasty and seemed liked it was a day or two old. Â Not fresh tasting at all. The veggies were from a bag and my husband's potatoes were hard and old and had been microwaved. Â Our salads were OK. Â The prices were outlandish for what you got. Â I would NEVER go there again and would recommend anyone going to Mackinaw City to pass on this one.
Stopped here for lunch while visiting Mackinaw City. The outside looked nice, so we took a chance. It was midday on a Wednesday in September, so not very busy.
We were seated right away, and immediately noticed that the restaurant had a kitschy graffiti theme. There was graffiti carved into tables, walls, windowsills, benches, chairs, pillars, you name it. Normally, this would not bother me, but the tables were so carved up that the wood table top had taken on a tacky, sticky feeling and was rather gross to eat off of.
I ordered an entree salad and my spouse had rotisserie chicken. The salad was NOT fresh, in fact there were a lot of completely rotten leaves, slimy and really unappetizing. The chicken on the salad was fine, but I could not eat it, knowing it was sitting amongst rotting lettuce. As for my spouse's meal, the "rotisserie" chicken looked like the ones you get at the grocery store, only not as good. It was bland and tasteless. The veggies served with it were obviously frozen, and had been cooked until mushy.
My spouse complained to the waitress on my behalf, and she offered a new salad. When she returned with it, she chirped "we opened a fresh bag of salad for you". Â Ummm...why wouldn't you do that in the first place? Who serves rotten food?
I would never eat there again.
This restaurant is NOT good. Â It is incredibly loud with kids and music and just a ton of noise throughout the two levels. Â Our server was young and friendly; nothing wrong there. Â The food was awful and rather expensive ($18 for fish and chips?!). Â My husband thought they were the worst fish and chips he's ever had. Â The table is carved completely with initials and things, which I suppose is part of the decor, but is really unsanitary. Â Bottom line is that the food is NOT good, but the other details (expensive, loud) make this a total bomb. Â We were wishing we had gotten fast food, which is not something that we ever ever say. Â Cheesy tourist trap, should be ashamed of itself.
Review Source:A restaurant manager these days knows that people are going to review it online, right? If your business gets enough one and two star reviews, one would hope that maybe something will eventually change.
But maybe not, if you have a prime location, and are one of the only places in town that can seat a party of ten. We just had four, and the  hostesses still crossed our names off the list before we were seated. Â
Nothing from the previous reviews to add. It is loud, and it is crowded. The food is average, and I'm pretty sure that the prices on the menu don't match what I was charged. A customer complained about being "nickled and dimed" as they walked out the door. The wait was long, and the service and kitchen were extremely slow.
The view from the second floor was about the only positive note, and the only reason this was not a single star review.
Got a seat on second floor looking out over lake. Â Awesome view. Â
Ordered wings and blackbean dip to start. Â Both ok.
Chicken Caesar and and Fish and Chips for mains. Â Salad pretty good and really big. Â Fish and Chips ok.
Service was fine on a Saturday at 1 pm.
In summary, food was ok and view was spectacular.
To be fair, we did not eat here...just had a couple of beers. Â The service was great...the atmostphere was great for a married couple without kids (music was a bit loud). Â I really liked the roomy, bright feel of the place - LOTS of windows and bright light shining through...bar stools that look like saddles, high ceiling wood "cabin" with a huge loft upstairs that overlooked the first floor...pretty decent music - found myself singing along.
Review Source:We stopped in on our way back from Canada to Ohio. I kept telling myself that we should hit a small mom and pop style restaurant, but this place kind of pulls you in. The log cabin feel is really pretty and creates a cool atmosphere. However, I would never, ever visit this restaurant again. I ordered fish and chips, my staple anywhere near water....the fish was rubbery - so either it was not fresh or it was overcooked. I didn't complain, because I just didn't care - wanted to get back on the road again. Anyway, based on the other reviews, it looks like service and food are low on the totem pole. People will come for the atmosphere - The restaurant's motto should be "Build it and they will come.....and be unimpressed"
Review Source:Dixie saloon looked really nice from the outside and cool atmosphere. But the inside was a different story it was very loud we sat up stairs for dinner which was very cool the windows looked outside to the bridge. But the food was so bad I orders fish it was cold and the tarter sauce tasted like mayo and my husband ordered a stake med and it came well dune and very cold to. I would not go back again service was OK for how many  people she was wating on  but the food was very expensive for what you get.
Review Source:When you read their website, you would think that the Dixie Saloon (in its current incarnation) has been around forever.  Not true.  The original Dixie Saloon  became a Mc Donald's, and when the Mc Donald's closed (it was the only Mc D's in the nation that wasn't open year round, and finally just folded altogether) it was torn down to make way for the log-cabin-looking thing that was supposed to resemble the original Dixie Saloon.  This new Dixie Saloon has no connection to the original, and was opened in the early 2000's (so don't be fooled by it's "history").  It is exactly what the others have stated: it's high on glitz and price and low on food quality, service, and atmosphere.  Although I will say that the view is really nice, and the place is clean.  Maybe worth having a drink or two while watching the sights then, like some of the other reviewers have suggested, heading over to the Keyhole.
Review Source:I have to say I had a better experience at this place than the other reviewers. Went there with five more friends for lunch on Saturday and the place was full but we got a table immediately.
Food was average... can't really complain at all on the sand winch I had.
Drinks were also good and the server was nice and friendly.
Prices were also right.
Not to bad of a restaurant at all!
On our way down south from pictured rocks to Detroit, my friends and I stopped in Mackinaw City for a bite. As we drove past Dixie, one of my buddies and I both immediately said "Been there, over priced, nothing special." So we looked for something else. Not a whole lot in downtown restaurant-wise. Ended up entering the Irish bar next to Dixie Saloon and surprise! they're connected. Shrugged the shoulders and decided to sit down upstairs in the Dixie to give it another try. Great interior, great view. This is where the positives end.
Wait staff was kind but terrible. Overstaffed for the number of customers but had serious trouble getting help. Slow on drink order, slow to get 'em, wrong appetizer, never came back to check-up, extremely long time for our food, food (fish and burgers mostly) were not bad not great, one of our group did not get his order written down (oops!) and had to wait while we ate, ALL of our food was luke-warm at  best....okay let me take a breath. Really, I promise this all happened in one visit...
Obviously we wanted to talk to a manager - there was no manager present. That's right, no manager at 5:30 (note we got there at 4:00). Wrong bill (extra entree and waitress could not split it up as we asked, ended up pooling the tab and we did not all have cash). As we worked on the bill she would come back with new versions trying to correct the extra items and also give us a 10% discount for our troubles (this is the most she was able to do). She came back and the bill was $7 more! Gratuity was added... So we waited some more as we watched tables around us empty out their second sets of customers...
After alerting 4-5 staff members that somebody better give us some real help or we might might walk out (illegal, I know), we eventually received help from a senior wait-staff (her name was Q) who was utterly helpful. She phoned the manager, took the gratuity off the bill and gave us an additional 30% off. We paid, left 5 for tip on a 120 bill (at the insistence of a former waiter in our group - most of us left nothing) and just under two hours later we were out.
There was much mumbling how this ruined out trip (it didn't, we just finished an amazing hike through pictured rocks national forest), but needless to say we were bent out of shape.
Whew!
Don't go here! Maybe they will get new management in the future, but for now their service and food are very, very poor for the price.
Ask a local in one of the shops where they eat! I'm sure the Dixie Saloon ain't the place.....
Ok, I'll admit that the dixie isn't amazing, but in Mackinaw City, your options are few and this is one of the more decent ones in my opinion.
First of all, the building is lovely, made of logs, and has a great view of the lake.
Karaoke night is fun.
Fried fish is tasty and plentiful.
Maybe Mackinaw has lowered my standards, but I've actually recommended this place to people as one of the better options. The Keyhole does have better food, but it is far less family friendly and scenic.
My wife and I went there the summer of '08. Â It was terrible. Â We hoped that we just had an isolated bad experience. Â She went there again a few weeks later with her parents to give it another try. Â HA! Its just a bad restaurant.
I had walleye. Â I thought I was getting a filet. Â I got walleye flavored salt nuggets. Â It was gross. Â I hardly ate any of it and left the rest as to not harm any dogs with a doggy bag. Â My wife ordered some form of cheeseburger with everything. Â It was missing things like lettuce, tomato, and onion. Â We had to ask the very nice but very bad waitress for the rest of the cheeseburger. Â We waited far to long for her to return. Â The cheeseburger was bland except for the sawdusty taste. Â
They have a decent beer selection. Â Nothing awesome just a larger selection of mediocre draught beer.
I suggest going to the Keyhole Bar.  Have dinner and  few drinks.  If you feel like a better view go over to the Dixie saloon, have a beer upstairs, don't order any food because you'll only ruin your evening, watch some ferries, chat with friends, leave, go back to the Keyhole and have a good time.
2 stars because the for 2 redeeming qualities.
1. Â Â 1 star for the view. Â Its a really good view
2. Â Â 1 star for its history. Â Dixie highway used to end at this spot. Â They are lucky they are were they are. Because its their location that is the only thing they have going for them.
But
3. Â Â -1 star because I'm still angry.
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