Uri's Landing

When we first walked in I was unsure of this place, but the food sold me. It was all fresh and delicious! The waitress said the made all of their own dressings. We all had fish, and chowder. Oh man, the chowder was so good! Each meal came with bread, soup, rice, and fresh corn. It was a ton of food and so tasty. We all liked the Lake Perch best.

Our waitress was great the first night. She told us about the dishes and beers they had. The second night we had a different waitress and she seemed disinterested in us. We had seen someone order a cotton candy martini, and the bartender came over to serve it. Great presentation!

The decor was ugly, but I heard they are moving to a new location. Hopefully they get a makeover so that their restaurant can match their awesome food.

Uri's Landing is named after Uriah Raymond, who came to what was then called Bark Shanty and opened a general store on the beach in 1850.  This restaurant, which is one floor up from the Marina, is built on that same spot. I feel that it has, unquestionably, the best waterfront view of any restaurant north of Port Huron.  Dress code is casual but most people wear sport clothes or nicer.  The menu is varied and there are usually specials based on the freshest fare currently available. The fish here is great, especially the Lake Perch.  You've got to watch yourself in this part of Michigan.  In many restaurants what's offered as Walleye is often Alaskan Pollock, and if they call a fish Baby Perch, Jumbo Perch, or just Perch, ask if it's real Lake Huron Yellow Perch or not.  It always is at Uri's  

This isn't a place where you'll be whisked to a table, have your meal in front of you in five minutes and find the bill on your table ten minutes after that.  This is casual dining.  Come in, have a second drink, order an appetizer and relax.  Oh, and leave room for desert.

Uri's is a weird place to me.  The chef there clearly knows what he's doing and seems to be making efforts to pull off 4 star food.  I felt like a food critic seeing some of the dishes they've got there.  Presentation is definitely not lost on Uri's.  We got the crab taquitos as an appetizer and damn were they good.  Looked good and tasted good.  The other meals here seem to be slightly inventive takes on standard food that you'd expect in a place like this.  Most items seem to have a little extra here or there to keep the cuisine from just being bland Big Boy type fare.  

We had to wait 10 minutes to get a table.  Not because there was a wait; there was just no one at the front of the restaurant.  We were about to leave when someone finally stopped by and said "oh, the hostess will seat you in a minute."  Our waitress was lacking at best.  Never came around for water refills, slow with the bill and takeout boxes, waited forever between drinks and appetizers, etc...

I think if this restaurant got some fresher decor and somehow renewed the vigor of their waitresses this place could definitely be the place to go in the thumb for a bit of finer cuisine and a nice view.