Gin's Tavern — Restaurant in Clinton Township

I never give reviews, good or bad. I always try to see the good and give grace when needed. But I need to express my experience about the “new” Gins restaurant. This was awful! From the moment we pulled into the parking lot. We’ve been going to Gins for 30 years and always loved the atmosphere, the staff and the food. The old Gins was welcoming, cozy, warm and just felt like you were going to Grandmas house for dinner. Let’s start out with the parking, they moved the restaurant across the street so patrons wouldn’t have to walk across that busy road, ( which makes sense). But somehow they made that parking lot more narrow which is difficult to park. There are two sides to it, so if there isn’t parking on one side then , you have to back out and go down the road to the other side, ( terrible design). We walk inside, and it’s immediately a cold icy feel. Not warm and welcoming. Yeah it looks pretty from the outside but it’s now just like every other sports bar! Blah colors, blah lighting.. blah!!! We didn’t have reservations, which you never needed before. But I understand they have been open a month and are still very busy. But it was 4:30 on a Friday, and we thought we’d be ok. The hostess looks at me and just stares. I said, “ hi there’s just two of us!” She said, “ well we take reservations but we also accommodate walk ins… not sure I can fit you in, let me see”. And she had a rude annoyed tone. Okay, I’ll let that pass..but the nice things about old gins was you felt like family walking in. she sits us in the bar area, which at the old Gins was a separate part of the restaurant. My god it was soooooo LOUD!! And now the bar is the focal point. It’s massive and did I say LOUD!!! All the colors are brown and grey and black. The bar is massive with loud people. The dining area looks smaller to me, and they were just packed in there like sardines. Our poor waiter had to literally walk around the restaurant just to get to us and back to the kitchen. Another poor design. We both got the fish fry which used to be great! It was awful, floppy and soft. And it took about 45 minutes to get our appetizer, ( spinach artichoke dip). The dip was good. The chips were burned which made the dip awful. We received our meal about 10 minutes later. We only saw our waiter three times. He was a nice kid and was trying to do a good job. The tables are this faux wood, so you can’t fill out your check because of all the bumps on the table. Not sure who designed this, but they weren’t putting a whole lot of thought into it, ( I know that part is trivial, I was just annoyed at that point). The whole experience Felt very hectic very cold and very industrial. My husband has known the owner for many years, and this is a surprise that it felt this way. But I’m sure he’s happy because his bar was packed. We won’t be going back here. Such a disappointment. We miss...

This place is so hostile. The owner and his wife drink on the job and he started a fight because he and his friend didn't want to share the pool table. Full story: My husband had placed a quarter on the pool table, to play the winner. They played 3 consecutive games, while we stood right next to them and waited patiently for our turn against them. We went outside for a bit to wait them out with our friend group. My friend arrived and we all decided we would like to play one game against each other. Went back inside and they were starting another game. When it was almost over, i asked the one man if my friends and I could play one quick game and then give them the table. He agreed. I racked the balls and then the guy broke them. He was very clearly too drunk to understand what I meant and when I tried explaining it again, the man and the owner started arguing about the rules of quarters. They eventually allowed us to play our game, and we went outside to drink and talk. Everytime my husband went back inside, the male owner would confront him about the rules of quarters. By the 3rd time, my husband was telling him to just drop it and leave it alone. About 3 hours after the initial argument, the owner came outside to see if we were still there. My husband went in to use the bathroom, and he was in his face yelling at him. After this, his wife came out yelling that my husband has to leave. She came out screaming that she doesn't care what happened, we just needed to go. The bouncers came out with her. I eventually got her calm enough to talk, but she had the worst attitude. She said she didn't know exactly what happened. She listened, but kept talking over me. Then she agreed that this was all a misunderstanding. We told her that her husband just keeps jumping him whenever he walked in. We weren't going in and starting these fights. Then the bouncers and the drunk guys we were with just kept repeating that it needed to be dropped. Tensions were very high for a group of people sitting. While this was going on the one starting the fight was pacing back and forth waiting for us to leave. A waitress made sure he was inside before we left. From the way the waitresses were acting, this behavior was something they often dealt with. This business does not feel safe. No one should be harassed at a bar, let alone by the owners. This place is not a safe...

Hate to leave bad reviews but feel it’s only way things can get addressed to better . 1st off the new building is gorgeous and they did a great job on rebuild and parking much better . Have been here 2x since opened , 1st time it took almost 20 min for someone to come to front desk to even greet me ( place wasn’t busy , weekday ) I got a special that evening , it was decent . After eating it took another 30 min for someone to bring me a check ( again wasn’t busy ) . Waitress told me she had forgotten about me sitting there . Still , no huge concern as it was just an inconvenience and nothing more . 2nd visit were given a bit of attitude by greeting hostess , whatever maybe just stressed and bad day . We sat and ordered food , waitress comes out and my order ( wings ) were sold out . Ok , pick new item from menu ( prime rib ) my entire meal minus the vegetables come out so cold that not even butter would melt on a potato and no au jus for prime rib so I politely asked for . Was brought out dripping from brisket grease as an au jus and that was just disgusting to even think about using . Ask bus girl to bring waitress and waitress comes and I express I do not want any of this meal at this point . So they took meal back . Not one apology and not one offer of can we get you something else in place of meal . They did remove item from bill ( regardless I wasn’t paying a dime for bc I didn’t eat more than one bite of ) In end driving to Mcgraths to get takeout so I could eat something at now 9:00 at night . ( we showed up @ 7 ) Again I don’t like leaving a bad review but just do better at customer service . This is def not the gins of old which we all loved going to . Building is beautiful and wish nothing but best but probably will not be returning for awhile until all these kinks get worked out . I don’t feel food quality and customer service should be a kink and should be top of any list to doing a...