Knot Just a Bar — Restaurant in Leelanau Township

I will start with the good things. The views are unmatched. This is a beautiful building and it’s got a stunning deck. We had a great server who got everything right, was very sweet, and was prompt despite it being a busy Saturday night and the place being understaffed.

Unfortunately the rest of the experience was an extreme let down. To be frank, the food is terrible. The prices are quite expensive for what you get, and the only thing you are paying for is the quality of the view, certainly not the food. We started off with the pretzel bites as an appetizer. The bites themselves did not seem to be made in house. They were served with a ghastly “beer cheese” sauce which seemed to just be heated up velveeta cheese to me. Maybe they tossed in some beer I guess. My girlfriend got a cheese pizza. The pizza is huge. 14 inches. I wish it was smaller because it was so bad. The crust is clearly store bought. The sauce is clearly from a can. The cheese is clearly just from a bag. The pizza is essentially the quality of a large Lunchable pizza that was stuck into an oven. I had the burger. The meat was well cooked and the texture was good. It was well portioned but not oversized. I thought it could have been better seasoned, but I guess I’ll take it. It was fine but certainly not worth the $18 I paid for it. We didn’t get dessert because we didn’t feel like the restaurant deserved anymore of our money.

Overall our experience was extremely disappointing. They did happen to mention that the kitchen is understaffed but honestly being served clearly store bought pizza crust and sauce is a decision made out of laziness and a lack of culinary passion, not out of being understaffed. The menu even specifically states that the soup of the day is made “almost” every day. As if to prepare you for the poor culinary experience to come. And for the beautiful look of the outside, the inside is quite drab. I took a peek inside the wine tasting side and it looked beautiful and had a nice bright finish with lots of natural light. It’s a bummer the restaurant doesn’t look more like the wine tasting side of the gorgeous new building.

I think this restaurant should honestly shut down and start their menu and vision over from scratch. I know it’s probably tough to find staff for a restaurant in a small town up north, but truly with the location and beautiful building they could have one of the best restaurants in Michigan if they had the right culinary drive. I hope management decides to take a mulligan and start over. The only reason for the second star was because of the view, the nice building, and because the service and wait staff were doing a good...

So I was in Suttonbay, Michigan for my cousins wedding, I went to this restaurant I got the KNOTS SEAFOOD CHOWDER, . The waitress said it was just like clam chowder which it wasn’t. My mom, and I both ended up in the hospital with hives and an allergy to shellfish, I called the restaurant explain what happened. She had the call me. He was very inconsiderate and calling me. Dumb for coming to a seafood place what I was allergic to stuff, which I clearly said I was allergic to onions and shellfish. But she continue to bring the soup. All three of us had it and two of us had a reaction. I will never go to this restaurant again, me for my bill or anything the owner was very unprofessional and was laughing at me and calling me names. Remember, we have these reviews for your restaurant so none of my family will be coming there and I will spread it around because I am very upset and karma is coming your way. I was in the hospital. My throat was closed. I had hives all over my body. I almost died sir and you laugh at me. My mom had the same thing it’s not clam chowder people. It has other things in it and they should have that in the menu.. I hope this Help with somebody’s family member or children because this is very dangerous not to have it in the menu specified. What’s exactly in your soup I hope you’re happy. You’re very ignorant, and you don’t know how close I was to you alive and you still laughed at me. I hope you can...

We went for lunch today at The Knot. We have been here many times, as we are long time residents of the area. We even take our boat there frequently for lunch or dinner. Food is always average, but view is spectacular. Today I ordered the “prime rib” sandwich. As you can see from the picture included, it was about 75 percent fat, and really unappetizing and extremely poor quality. It was also a very thin, well done, tough piece of meat. I complained to the waitress, just anticipating a replacement or choice of a different meal. Well the owner came out and was very confrontational. He said that is the way they prepare it, and to just order something else next time. I told him I would be extremely embarrassed to serve such a fatty, terrible quality meat to a customer. He did deduct it from my check, but did not offer to serve me another meal, even though I would have paid for it. He made me very uncomfortable, and it was obvious that he wanted us to just leave immediately. I then had to go somewhere else that I could be served a nice lunch in an enjoyable atmosphere. Very sad to say, I won’t be returning anytime soon. I am 61 years old, and have never before been treated this way in a restaurant. I try to support local business, but just can’t justify this quality of food or treatment by an owner. I will not be able to recommend to any of my friends, both local and visitors alike. I will gladly share...