Hill District by North Pier — Restaurant in Benton Charter Township

For decades, North Shore Inn was known in Southwest Michigan as Benton Harbor’s little dive bar with amazing burgers. With new owners and a remodeled interior, Doug and I had to see if their famous Classic Cheeseburger was as good as we remembered. In recent years, the Harbor Shores golf course was built around the joint and North Pier Brewing Company was built directly across the street. Now, both North Shore Inn and North Pier Brewing Company have the same owner and they cross promote their brews and food. Jason was taking our order, and he recommended that we start off our adventure with a Poutine appetizer. This Canadian dish is likely designed to keep one warm in the winter, eh? Traditionally, it consists of French fries and cheese curds smothered in gravy. “We kick it up a notch by adding our beer-braised pulled pork and topping it off with a fried egg,” Jason chuckled. Wow was it good! However, you’ll likely need some help finishing it…especially if it’s just your appetizer. When the egg yolk drips down into the crisp fries and melting Wisconsin cheese curds, it adds a deep richness and the gravitas of the pork puts it in a whole new stratosphere. Next up for us was the Pork Tenderloin Sandwich. Unlike most that I’ve had, you could tell this one was hand-breaded and very moist. Also adding to the ooze factor was the surprise pork gravy condiment. The savory warm notes from the gravy were juxtaposed with cool crisp garden toppings. The sandwich was served with two of my favorite things - house-made chips and French onion dip. Scratch-made French onion dip is one of God’s gifts to let us know that He loves us. Great beer is another such gift from God (ask the monks from the Middle Ages). North Shore Inn features fresh brewed beer from across the street, and North Pier has a Belgium IPA named Buckrider that fits my pallet profile perfectly. And now it was time to see if the legend was as good as remembered. The Classic is a half-pound burger with ketchup, mustard, pickle slabs and onion on a sesame seed bun lightly toasted. Of course, we added American cheese to make all things right in the world. There must be something magical about its kitchen because Norths Shore burgers always come off that flat top griddle with just the right amount of brown crust on the outside and a hint of pink on the inside. The patty was soft and flavor-packed due to a perfect blend of lean beef and fat to make it juicy, yet not greasy. I liked the softness of the bun, because I don’t want to work when tackling a burger, but a range of textures beneath the bun is equally important, as well as some integrity within the bread. Golden crispy onion rings accompanied our burger, and they were spot on as well. The answer to the question is an enthusiastic ‘Yes!’ The North Shore Inn Classic is still a fantastic bar burger. “We use the same meat from the same butcher and cook it on the same griddle by the same guy,” Jason confirmed. “We’ve added some things to the menu and spruced up the place, but our Classic Burger has not changed.” This little burger joint is definitely...

This was our first visit and last. I will start by saying the food was excellent and we had a great experience until the bill came. The staff made it very obvious by their conversation,tone, and eye rolling (which is very unprofessional) that our party of multiple families was an annoyance and inconvenience to them. You need a sign that says large parties or parties with multiple families NOT welcome. Our 5 families travel and eat out ALOT together and this was the first time we have ever been treated this way. BEFORE we ordered we ask the waiter if he wanted us to order our food by individual families and he said NO! So, why be so upset and roll your eyes and then vent to coworkers when we request the bill be divided by families. He wanted to divide the bill evenly by 3! There were 5 families some with one child amd others with 3. I understand your restaurant doesn't need/require out of town patrons to survive but it's very classless and rude to have your staff visibly act in the fashion they did. It was like watching a child throw a tantrum which yes we did confront the 2 staff members on their behavior which obviously escalated their child like behavior. Best wishes with your locals only business and would recommend placing a sign saying large parties...

The service was terrible: -waiter spilled drinks -took over an hour and a half for food to come out (only one other table being served in restaurant) -gave a single burger when we ordered a double -forgot our order of fries -gave 2 orders of mac n cheese when we only ordered one -everyone's food came out at different times so we couldn't eat together (1 person would awkwardly eat while the others watched, then the next meal would come and the same thing would happen) forgot to give the baget that was supposed to come w the meal automatically up charged us 20% for a "large party" and "bring extremely busy" (according to the staff who explained why they put an up chatge on the receipt) when there were 4 adults and 2 kids in our party, we had reservations, and the restaurant was only serving one other table -did not provide silverware to eat with -did not provide small plates for shareable appetizers

The service was ridiculous and one staff member was apologetic, which was nice at first, but then the rest of the experiencewas so poor... I would not go back as it was too disorganized. I felt adding an up fee was pretty ridiculous as well considering...