Mari Vineyards — Attraction in Peninsula Township

What a freaking joke!!! $11 for some pimento dip and a 2 ounce bag of store bought pretzels!!! I can't even begin to express how much of a joke this menu item is!!! The menu says pretzel chips, so I was expecting a nice homemade sample of pretzel chips with the pimento dip. WRONG!!! A freaking 2 ounce bag of store bought pretzels and a tiny sample of pimento dip served in a plastic cup. I expected class and a wonderful memory, instead I got something that wouldn't even pass for a treat at a little league game!!! Don't stop at this venue. Overpriced and nothing special. There are so many other quaint and charming and wonderful vineyards to visit in Traverse City. This one is an OVERPRICED tourist trap!!! You should be ashamed Mari Vineyards!!! UPDATE: In response to the response from the owner, this review originally appeared in August 2023 and was prompt. The following is an example of the ineptitude of the response from the owner. They state that they were unable to stock their usual chips due to a supply chain issue. Yet, they did not inform the purchaser of the change and kept the price where it was for a cheap bag of pretzels. So in essence, they provided an inferior product and sold it as if it were the original. That is like manufacturing an automobile with inferior parts due to a supply chain issue and selling it to the consumer at the same price knowing it is inferior and may cause issues and injuries down the road. The owner's response basically states "we knew were in the wrong and tried to pass it off on the consumer". What kind of representative for a company thinks it is ok to state their ineptitude and then try and pass it off as a supply chain issue? The proper response from the owner should have been along the lies of, "We terribly regret our decision to try and remedy the situation with cheap pretzels while keeping the price inflated. We should have told the consumer of the switch at the time of purchase and then reduced the price equally. As an apology, we would love to have you visit our winery again and as a token of our ineptitude, provide you with a bottle of wine and a food menu item of your choice at no cost to you." Unfortunately, the response legally claims that a bait and switch maneuver occurred and they knew all about it all the time. Shame on you Mari Vineyard for your tactics back in the summer of 2023 and shame on you for trying to explain what happened by legally admitting what you did was wrong! Please take some courses on ethics, the law, and...

Let's talk about Mari's Whitefish Board! We visit Mari Vineyards every summer. They have arguably the best view of any winery, their wines are fantastic, and their terrace and lawn are dog-friendly. We always look forward to our visits to Mari. When we visit Traverse City, we habitually eat a late breakfast, an earlier dinner, and our lunches consist of wine. One lazy Monday afternoon this past summer, we were feeling a little hungry while we relaxed in the shade of Mari's terrace and took in her view. We looked over the menu, and noticed the Whitefish Board ($32). The Old Mission wineries aren't known for their food (it's a super long story), so our expectations were rather low when we ordered the Whitefish Board. Holy mackerel...or should I say...Holy whitefish!!! Ok...first of all, the platter was HUGE - far larger than we expected! And the serving of whitefish pâté was far more generous than we've ever received at any other winery serving any sort of pâté. The naan bread was warm and fresh, the crackers crisp, and the little gherkins tart but sweet. There was a tin of whitefish fillets, and a little heap of red onion. My wife and I shared the Whitefish Board, and it lasted us long enough to drink a couple glasses of wine. The whole experience was delicious and decadent. We talked about it the remained of the evening. The next day (Tuesday), we continued to talk of it, and returned for another round. On Wednesday, we didn't return, but thought about it all day long. On Thursday, we resolved to return for another, but the day grew late, and we went to dinner instead. We left Traverse City on Friday, but we made Mari the last place we visited before leaving town. We couldn't leave without enjoying one more Whitefish...

I have given this winery 3 separate chances before writing this review because I do not want to judge somewhere off of one experience. 1st time the service was poor and seems disinterested in talking to us about the options, very disinterested in us as customers the entire time. 2nd experience we were going to get engaged here because yes it is SO beautiful, they told us we couldn’t take pictures outside of the place because they don’t want people ruining the “aesthetic” by posing for photos, we asked the waiter for a recommendation said what we normally like and he said “it doesn’t matter what you get it’s all good” and wouldn’t talk us through anything and just kept repeating that until we just picked a wine that he told us we can “read about it ourselves” I honestly felt so uncomfortable we asked our proposal photographer to relocate to a different winery on the strip because we didn’t wait this to be our forever memory. Finally, 3rd experience and final chance today we ordered a cheese tray I asked where the wine jelly was because it’s listed on the description of the food and our waitresses said “I don’t know it’s not on there it must be on a different tray” I showed her the menu she said well there’s a dip in place of that, 2 dips were on the tray and the menus says “dips” she shrugged then walked away, I thought she was going to get the jelly, nope. I asked her for a glass of water because we were 3 people and she only gave us two glasses she came back with an attitude that made our entire table uncomfortable and said here’s a glass and a whole bottle just for you and passively aggressively stormed off. We felt so uncomfortable we got up, paid, and left.

Positives: the building is beautiful and the hostesses have always...