Lyon Grill — Restaurant in Lyon Charter Township

Stunning food with a delightful though rather small selection of craft beers. The waitress, a member of the family who owns it (who employ master chefs as well as being master chefs themselves), was super friendly and helpful on an incredibly busy Christmas Eve.

She gave me a taste of an awesome flavored Stout, the Sheboygan cherry. I immediately picked that one out of several mostly low- to-medium quality choices (many lawnmower beers), but they did offer several highly rated amber ales and stouts, including Alaskan Amber and stalwart local favorites (Bell's, Witches Hat, Atwater) and local IPAs which I don't prefer, in bottles.

Next up: an incredible tomato bisque soup, nuanced and satisfying, affording tantalizing subtle hints of spices I could not name, and creamy but not overly so. The best I have ever had!

Hungry as I was, it was very difficult to choose among many many delicious sounding choices. Being Christmas Eve I chose a holiday favorite, the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner. The mashed potatoes were real with bits of skin, firm with a nuanced and buttery and creamy flavor. The turkey was very very good and the gravy could not be better! Like the soup it was nuanced and creamy, but not very heavy. Not light, it struck a perfect balance. the stuffing was unique and delicious!

The cranberry sauce/jam: delightfully fruity and sweet, original and perfect and homemade. Not the canned cranberry jelly that plops out, then jiggles a few seconds like a frightening unusual sea creature plucked from an ocean, nor was it the typically overly sour cranberry sauce, though it did boast actual cranberries, cooked to a welcome softness.

The cherry flavored stout perfectly accompanied and contrasted with the meal, echoing the cranberries and a nice counterpoint to the savory mildly salty flavors in the meal.

A very friendly family allowed me in next to them at the bar, which turned out to be the only way to avoid a 1 hour plus wait! They were friendly and conversational which made the evening so much nicer than it could have been, spending a very rare holiday evening alone in an unfamiliar restaurant.

The entire experience, except for being in a restaurant/ bar, reminded me of the warmth and friendliness and joy of a family holiday meal. Except this...

Where do I start....I understand the situation with staffing. Everyone does, but it can't be the excuse for every mishap. This place has the reputation of having the best food in South Lyon. That may be true, but that's not saying much. The $22 charcuterie board looked wonderful. Plenty of meats and cheeses, but only 4 pieces of toasted bread, no crackers of any kind. Well that leaves 1.3 pieces each for the 3 people at the table. There was plenty of items on the board for a 6 person appetizer, yet just 4 pieces of bread. So I asked for some more so we could utilize the remaining goodies. As it turned out it was a $4 up charge to furnish enough bread to properly finish the boarded items. It showed up 10 minutes later with a side salad for an ordered entree. Here comes the entrees... ....Not so fast. They forgot one. Sir, they didn't read the ticket correctly and didn't make your pizza. No problem I said. The almost $30 blackened fish was paper thin, and the mashed potatoes next to it were cold. It happens, still no complaints. Fast forward another 10 minutes, still no pizza. Server comes over and says the manager has authorized me to buy you, and only you a Budweiser. There's 3 of us so I said no thanks. Pizza shows up, and the rest of the table is done with their food and drinks. I power ate 1 piece and cashed out. For a place with such a wonderful reputation they sure aren't real keen on smoothing over their mistakes. This is how it works in this industry... ..."Sorry about the mistake, can we offer a round of drinks, or remove the pizza from your bill." Either has a net cost of about $5. Consumers are growing tired of the excuses, and the poor me attitude of this industry. Remember if not for us there would be no Lyon Grill. I live literally a stones throw from this restaurant, and a 75 cent Budweiser isn't...

My wife, myself and a 4 friends were seated in a timely manner but once seated the service was AWFUL. It took a long time to get drinks and have our orders taken. We received our salads which looked good so I dug in and found a long black hair. Hey anyone can make a mistake so I set it aside and told the waitress...I didn't even ask for another one. Once dinner arrived, my wife received the wrong order so she asked about it and they looked at her like she was stupid and said what she ordered wasn't on the menu.....it was but whatever. We were under a time crunch so she just asked for some of their special dipping sauces as stated on the menu....it took them about 30 minutes and 3 requests and they brought her ranch dressing.Well my steak looked good so I cut into my medium cooked meat and it was well done. Again not the end of the world. I took a few bites and once again pulled a long, black hair out from under my steak. Are you kidding me? I called the waitress over who did say she would take it and see what she could do. I told her to forget it, I lost my appetite. Obviously there was a preparer in the kitchen that was combing out their mane or something. In any case the waitress came back and told me the manager said I wouldn't have to pay for the steak HOWEVER since I did eat some of the salad before I found the hair, I would have to pay for the salad. I told her to tell the manager to rethink that plan. I was EXTREMELY unhappy. The manager never even came over to see if there was anything she/he could do to fix the problem . I understand that nobody is perfect but when something does go wrong, it's how you handle the situation that counts-they failed.The restaurant has potential but based on this experience I would give it a 1 out of 5 stars and I...