The Cove — Restaurant in Leland Township

Wow! This place is great! If you're looking at this review, you're probably trying to decide if you should come to this "FishTown" place, and if so, what you should do there. The answers are yes, you should go -- immediately (providing that the Cove is open), and you should go to this restaurant.

The Cove is a seasonal restaurant - it closes down sometime in October and opens back up in April - but it is truly wonderful. From the amazing view to the wonderful food and service, this place is one of the best places to visit if you're in the upper lower peninsula. If it's not too busy, it's worth a little wait to snag a table overlooking the waterfall. We didn't bother, but we did notice that tables were opening up rapidly - so I assume the wait wouldn't be too long.

MENU ITEMS: The Cove's Famous Seafood Chowder. Amazing. It looks weird, being served on top of what looks like some fake newspaper, but it's one of the best chowders I've ever had. A bowl is $12. It's not an incredibly deep bowl, but it was enough to split between two people.

Chubby Mary. Looks repulsive. But it's really good - and the waitstaff is eager to explain exactly what to do with the smoked fish that is sitting in your Bloody Mary. It's $16, which may seem a little high. But when else can you get a chub smoked to perfection rising out of a spicy beverage? Get it with the horseradish vodka. A very, very solid Bloody. Here's another, more important tip - try your damnedest to not touch the fish when you're separating the meat from the bone. Try all you want, that smoked fish smell will be on your hands for the next 24-hours. Last tip - it's called a Chubby Mary. Don't get confused and call it a Bloody Chubby. That's not right.

Whitefish Taco. Really more of a wrap. But it, too, is fantastic. If you're slugging down chowder as well, this wrap can be split between two people. It's $17.

COVID COMMENT: The staff was working crazy to continuously sanitize things, and had masks on (properly) the entire time. There was one kid (probably a 20-something-year-old) that was working harder than I've seen a kid work in years sanitizing, wiping, and sanitizing, and wiping,... over and over again. Probably the most aggressive COVID protocols I've seen, but I also didn't see anyone in the restaurant being non-compliant. As if everyone was following the example set by the staff. You can have your own beliefs on COVID, and that's fine, but it seemed to me like the Cove was taking the recommendations and running with them full-speed.

On our four-day, 1000-mile trip around upper Michigan, our visit to the Cove and FishTown stands as the highlight of our trip. So go there. ...

Average food with average drinks. I thought sitting outside would be nice. Don't get me wrong, the weather was beautiful but unfortunately the tall hotel next door obscured the sunset view . The water was a small canal with a dam so it was loud, rushing water. That would have been nice for sleeping but not so pleasant for eating.

We ordered the clam chowder first. It was delicious and the bowl was enough for us to share (me and hubby).

We were told no whitefish that day so every dish with whitefish was substituted with walleye. I've never had walleye so, ok.

I ordered the fish and chips. The fries were large steak fries and I would have preferred them crispier on the outside, they were a bit on the soggy side. The walleye was very good and the tarter sauce was too (I use it so that's important to me!) I got two adequate sized fillets. I could have eaten it all but had to let hubby try too 😁

He ordered the whitefish (walleye) that was cooked in tin foil-I can't remember what it was called on the menu, sorry. It came with the fries as well and same story here.

Our server was friendly and funny.

Price was what I would expect, around $70 for the both of us. Parking is wherever you can find and we were lucky to park right in front 🙂. We had a little wait but the buzzer works in Fishtown (nearby shops which were unfortunately closed) so we walked around before dinner.

Would I come back, hmmm, probably not. Their outdoor seating (4 tables) isn't what I'd prefer for atmosphere so I'd try another establishment in...

Met this random free-spirited guy on the dunes, and he recommended to us: Rick’s Cafe in Fishtown for some bloody Mary’s and some old town ambiance. Fishtown reminded us of Lake-town from the Hobbit movies, lots of 1800s feels. We were hungry and tired after climbing up the dune and hiking all day so we decided to sit down and order food at the Cove. Bloody Mary’s are not my thing but my friend ordered one and said it was top notch. We ordered both the perch entree and the fish tacos and both were amazing. Fantastic flavor and super fresh. Highly recommend upgrading your fries to the pom frites...oh yeah. For dessert we got a slice of the cherry pie and a slice of the key lime pie. Apparently the cherry pie was “world famous”, we thought it was good but not world famous good. What should be advertised as world famous is their key lime pie. This slice of heaven was basically a food-gasm in my mouth. They use some type of gingerbread flavored crust that really puts it over the edge, not to mention the very tart creamy filling. I consider myself somewhat of a key lime pie connoisseur having tried numerous key lime pies all across the country, so I know what I’m talking about:) Hey the cove restaurant, admit it, your cherry pie has some stiff competition considering every other place in Michigan claims to have the best cherry whatever, so why not set yourself apart from the pack and tout your amazing, mouth watering, key lime pie dessert!! Y’all are crazy...