Smoke and Porter Public House — Restaurant in East Bay Township

My party and I had an exceptionally great meal, and after reading this you may wonder why I gave high ratings, but the resolution of our night did warrant it. We accepted reservations at 8:30 p.m. it was a busy Saturday, understandable of course. Our party of 6 was promptly seated, our server was attentive and knowledgeable. The food was excellent, you could tell that the chef was talented, the flavors, layered and interesting and the skill needed to smoke and prepare the meats was evident due to its tenderness and taste. Our main courses arrived around 8:50, after our salads and apps, it was good timing, but then we noticed that our servers attitude began to change and our requests for a few things was noticeably upsetting and the server was very hurried. The kitchen did close at 9, but our orders were in before that time. The server then told us that in order for them to leave to take care of a child at home they needed to wait until we left...no joke, I could not believe this! Our party felt extremely uncomfortable and we were not finished with our meals! The hostess visited our table shortly after this event and I explained everything, starting with how tasty and excellent the food was, along with the good server at first. She listened, apologized and let us know that this was her relatives restaurant. Her response was that of a professional who has pride in her families investment. We had a thoughtful discussion and I made it clear that the food was superb, and visiting again would be top on our list. Sometimes servers have emergencies, and need to leave, again understandable, but it might have been wise for the server to reach out to other staff to finish our table. If that was the case, we would have not had an issue at all, and the server could have left. I worked as a server for a major chain for 4 years in Highschool and College, and then put in another 3 years as a server to put myself through graduate school. It is hard work. I hope this situation we encountered becomes a learning experience, I certainly learned from my mistakes as a server. All in all, I highly recommend this restaurant, the food was excellent, the chef talented and the family that runs it has an investment of making...

This place is amazing!

My wife and I were up here in Traverse for work. We wanted to try a different restaurant than the previous ones we'd tried on previous trips and this one was within walking distance from the hotel we were at. Thank god we went here!

We had the half rack and the Chilean sea bass special. We were definitely surprised at how great the food was - to put it lightly.

The rib meat just fell off the bones. My wife - who is DEFINITELY loves the meat - threatened to leave me for the ribs. The sides - potato salad, veggies, and baked beans - were amazing. Neither of us are beans people. I almost sent my beer through my nose after watching her face drool after a bite of the beans.

The sea bass was amazing as well. We weren't sure what the flavor was, but it was amazing. The fish was moist but not too moist. We're both fish people. We've eaten fresh fish from all over the world and this dish was right up with the best. My wife was talking out loud about how amazing her fish was and a guy a couple tables away knew exactly which dish she was talking about.

We finished the meal off with a cherries jubilee brownie. Like everything else, it was amazing. My wife, who has a serious dislike for sweets, loved it. She actually tried to stab me with her spoon when I went for her half.

Something that we wish we could be in town for is the harvesting of the vegetables planted in the garden right in front of the window. Knowing that they actually do that is making us seriously consider coming back up this way more often.

Paul was our server. He did a great job of selling us on the sea bass. He took the time to answer questions and made sure that we were taken care of. Another server named Kurt? boxed our food for us and took the time to chat with us too. Great service overall.

We will definitely be...

My boyfriend and I were on vacation and chose poorly by picking this restaurant. We enjoy barbecue restaurants, but this one DID NOT taste good. The food and service was unbelievably slow. The barbeque chicken was dry and lacked flavor. The asparagus that was served to me was BURNT TO A CRISP. It was completely burnt black at the top and middle of the asparagus. It was disgusting. I spit it out.

I'm sorry, but this has been the worst bbq food and customer service that I have had in a long time. Especially at a sit-down restaurant. I couldn't enjoy the food that I had ordered. What a shame. What a waste of money. (Over $100 not including the tip.)

What made it worse was that our waitress had an attitude the entire time she had served us. The way she spoke/behaved made me believe that she could be on the spectrum. She had no filter. Maybe it's because my boyfriend and I literally arrived 1 hour before closing time, but come on?! The restaurant didn't have to take almost the ENTIRE hour to prepare the food.

Keep it mind, we weren't the only table in the restaurant. There were only a few tables being served. Somehow, my boyfriend and I were the last table to leave the restaurant. It took over an hour to eat at an empty restaurant?! WHY?

I only gave a nice tip to the waitress because I somewhat felt sorry for her - her unnecessary attitude/behavior made me believe that she is on the spectrum. If she isn't on the spectrum, get a reality check and find yourself another job that fits your "unique personality." Obviously, waitressing isn't your specialty. Waitressing is a difficult job and it's not...