Clutch Food Shop — Local services in Pentwater Township

THIS PLACE SERVES FANTASTIC FOOD!!!! I originally reviewed them a couple of years ago, but my wife and I just ate there again tonight (we're back in town for our annual visit) - and were once again blown away by how DELICIOUS and FRESH their food is. We got the Gyros with slaw, and OMG - they were INCREDIBLE. SUPER fresh ingredients; with everything just top-shelf. One of THE best gyros I've ever had - including various Greek restaurants I've eaten at. And their slaw - YOU HAVE TO TRY IT. Amazing. Just the right level of sweetness with BIG flavor. As I said in my prior review (see below), THE BEST FOOD IN PENTWATER, PERIOD. OK, here's my original review from two years ago:

Don't let the "food shop" moniker fool you: Clutch is flat-out THE best food place in Pentwater. Backstory: my family and I have been vacationing every summer in Pentwater for the last 15 years, and pretty much the only "challenge" we've faced during that time is finding consistently good food. The Brown Bear in town has GREAT burgers and fries, but you can't (or at least, WE can't) eat that heavy every night. And the Gull's Landing, while solid, is WILDLY over-priced. But other than those places, you've basically got marginal pizza and lots of ice cream/candy. Until Clutch came along. Simply put, it's SO GOOD. We've eaten there twice this past week, and both times have been EXCEPTIONAL. The "Apples & Greens" salad is to die for, as is "Mary's Onion Bread" (OMG, the latter is fantastic). My wife got their "The Greek" gyro, and even though I loathe lamb, it was DELICIOUS. I've ordered their pita Mexican pizza TWICE, because it was so incredible. And their service is GREAT: the counter person even made a point of organizing the takeout bag so that the hot stuff was on the bottom and the salad on top, so "it wouldn't wilt." Who THINKS of such things!? So yeah, for all you Pentwater visitors and residents, hit up Clutch - you won't be disappointed! Oh, and the "atmosphere" rating is simply because it's more a takeout place than an...

I was excited when this place opened up as it had a couple of vegetarian options. If you live in the area year-round as a vegetarian, it’s quite difficult to eat out due to a lack of good options. And we had a decent first experience at Clutch Food Shop, but the second time I tried to order from here was a disaster. I’m vegetarian and upon asking if the Harvest Bisque soup was veggie friendly on the phone, this was the response I received:

Me: “Is the Harvest Bisque vegetarian?” Employee: “It has squash in it so I don’t know.” Me: “Okay does it have chicken stock or some other type of meat in it?” Employee: “I can’t tell you.” Me: “Is there someone there who can tell me?” Employee: “The one who made it isn’t here right now.” Me (in disbelief): “There’s no one there who knows what’s in the soup…?” Employee: “Let me ask the other one. (Pause) It’s not vegetarian.”

I had a second option picked out in case the soup wasn’t vegetarian, because often soups in restaurants are not. However, at this point I was annoyed so didn’t end up ordering anything.

While being a vegetarian is a choice I make and eating something with meat in it won’t make me sick, I’d hate to try to eat here if I had a health-restricted diet or allergen issues. For anyone that has a restricted diet of any sort, I can’t recommend...

We have gone to Clutch many times over the years and sadly have seen the quality decreased each summer. I understand how hard it is to operate in a tourist town. However, we noticed this summer that the prices seemed to go up while the quality of food went down. The chicken on the Greek salad was literally cubed deli meat. They changed up the menu, which was not for the better (in our opinion). Their famous “knuckle sandwich” can still be ordered, even though it’s not on the menu… however we were disappointed by its lack of flavor. I hope next summer they can focus again on homemade foods and quality ingredients. I’m happy to pay tourist prices, and support local businesses when the food...