Gino's Surf — Restaurant in Harrison Township

Aug 24, 2024 - Was excited to check out the revamped Gino's! Because it was a soft opening day, to be honest, we anticipated the service to be subpar, and servers not able to recommend dishes, etc yet. But with the recent articles written about its chef, we were definitely hoping for 5-star meals, which unfortunately, were not what we received. For what it's worth, here's our low down ... Our server was smiling and had a very sweet personality. She hadn't tried the whitefish entree so she couldn't provide any feedback on it. No big deal tho. 5 stars to Caitlin 😊 The mojito, 3.5 stars. (Have had better ones for that price) The veggie pizza was cooked through, but the mushrooms were slivers of mostly air, and it was kind of on the dry side. 3 stars The Caesar salad, 4 stars. The whitefish entree unfortunately, 2 stars. It was so thin you could barely tell it was a piece of fish, and for someone that loves lemon buerre blanc sauce, their's was blah. It, along with the rice, was barely luke warm to boot. The green beans thankfully were crisp tender tho, just not hot either. The cole slaw was also bland, and huge chucks of cabbage. No wine list. Only house wines. (Was bummed they didn't have the grand traverse select reisling, was in the mood for that tonight.) Also, seeing that there weren't many diners there yet, you'd think the manager would have been visiting all the tables, but that didn't happen. If their soft opening is to get the kinks out, you'd think that they would have given everyone a survey sheet to fill out and drop in a box on their way out. But nope, no feedback from the clientele was being requested. Overall, based on this evening's experience, we're disappointed unfortunately, and are guessing that maybe this place is just going to be a summer spot for folks to be outside to drink and munch on appetizers, pizza and hand held sammiches. The outdoors has more seating area than the inside too, so who knows what it'll be like in the cold months. Will we be back? Sure, we'll give them another try, but going to wait at least 6...

We had a party of 4 on a Friday at 5:00pm, so the restaurant was not yet filling up with the Friday night crowd. We were seated promptly with a nice view of the lake. It took a while to get drinks and appetizer but they came eventually. 3 of us ordered the Lake Perch with the 4th ordering the Cobb Salad.

It took a while to be served the main course and from there the dining experience went down hill. One of the perch platters appeared undercooked and had to be sent back. The other two kept our plates.

My first bite of the perch left me wondering if it was pre-cooked and simply warmed or if it was just sitting too long before being served. The string beans were rather strewn across the plates and they, along with the mashed potatoes were all warm, not hot. It took a long time for the plate that was sent back to the kitchen to return to the table and we had to inquire after its status, leaving the diner sitting there a while to watch us eat.

The wait staff seemed mostly disinterested in us, giving the impression that they saw their jobs as simply dropping off food when it was required of them.

When the bill came it was a significant amount, but there was no pleasantries such as "I hope you enjoyed your meal". Instead, they hand you the electironic bill and wait and watch for you to fill-in the tip amount.

The options were 20%, 25%, or 30%. I filled in 20% but honestly, would have done 15%. When I handed the device back, again, there was no "Thank you so much", "I hope you enjoyed your dinner", "Please come back", etc.

Well, we won't be coming back. It was a large bill, the food was mediocre, and the service was mostly inattentive and disinterested.

It's a pity, because the facility and the venue itself are beautiful. Finally, we left by 7:00pm which was a good thing because the band started playing very loud music which would prevent any hope of carrying on a pleasant conversation with your...

We went to Gino’s for Mother’s Day, and unfortunately, the experience was disappointing. My mother-in-law was in a wheelchair with a long leg cast, and we were initially seated at a high-top table. The hostess left before we could ask to be moved to a low-top table, which was necessary for her comfort. After being reseated, the waitress came over quickly, but it took four attempts to get water and order drinks before we could even place our food order. We ended up waiting over an hour for her to take our order because she’d only take part of our requests before walking away, sometimes mid-sentence. We were a party of five adults with two young kids, so it shouldn’t have been difficult to manage.

About 45 minutes later, the beers my father-in-law and I ordered arrived, but they were the wrong size and type. We could only order our food after my wife went up to the hostess to explain that we hadn’t been served yet, despite asking the waitress multiple times. The waitress had told us to wait, but after another 10 minutes, my wife had to get the hostess involved. Once our food finally arrived, it was good quality and tasty, but we were charged for ranch sides that we never ordered, especially since our kids are allergic and we would never have asked for them.

The waitress didn’t seem overwhelmed, as there were only three or four tables in her section, and the restaurant appeared properly staffed for the holiday. The restaurant itself looked beautiful, especially with the lake view, but the service was a major letdown. I’d be open to trying it again in the future and potentially even modify my review, but I’d never return on a holiday or for any sort of...