Great Turtle Brewery & Distillery — Restaurant in Mackinac Island

The Great Turtle was recommended to us by a St. Ignace local who we bought some fudge from, and she recommended right!! My husband (the photographer) and I absolutely loved our meals!

We got there at 1pm, so it was pretty busy, but our server, Pearl H., was so attentive, quick, and efficient with our table. She was kind and helpful and gave great recommendations for meals.

I had the Somewhere in Time cocktail cause I always go with the gin cocktail, and my brother in law got the flight of cocktails, so he tried them all. He agreed that Somewhere in Time was the best. My husband got the Off the Dock cocktail, the vodka selection. He was also very pleased with it. My brother in law liked the whiskey cocktail and the rum cocktail the least, but they were certainly well crafted drinks, just depends on your personal alcohol preference.

We started with the fried calamari and it was, with the whole table's agreement, hella delicious! I absolutely recommend people get the fried calamari.

I got the tacos with grilled chicken and WOW was I impressed. They were delicious! The chips weren't anything to write home about, but who goes to a restaurant for chips? I usually skip the chips anyways. The tacos came with tortilla chips.

My husband got the Cali Chicken Sandwich, and while it was MASSIVE and slightly messy to eat (he even lost his avocado to the floor and our server, Pearl, was kind enough to replace it), he was very pleased with his meal. His sandwich came with kettle chips, which he liked more than my tortilla chips, but again, nothing to write home about. I might recommend paying the extra couple dollars for fries or onion rings.

Despite the lackluster chips (again, who cares? The rest of the food was amazing!) we were very pleased with our food and service. Give Pearl a raise cause she worked hard AF given how busy it was. We will be recommending The Great Turtle to others we know who may visit Mackinac Island. We left with great...

Wish I would of read the reviews before choosing this restaurant. The hostess was nice as was the busser. Our waitress was not very friendly, I don’t even know if she told us her name. She wasn’t very informative when it came to any items on the menu except the beer. The food was HORRIBLE, over priced and nothing to write home about. I seen the prices had no problem paying them just expected that quality of food not frozen veggies cooked on the microwave, mashed potatoes tasted the same I believe those were microwaved as well. The whitefish was over seasoned with what looked like all season salt and tasted like salt, had a lot of bones swallowed a few. My friend had the ribs and well Chili’s ribs are a lot better if that says anything. The baked beans were pork n beans probably Vandercamp. I asked for a coke to wash down my fish bones the server went and grabbed it but talked to the bartender for 3 minutes before she walked it 15 feet back over to my table. I set my plate aside and had one staff member ask me if o wanted a box I said no thank you it wasn’t that great she said do you want me to have it recooked I said no thanks and she walked off. Our server also asked if I wanted a box when she came back to our table and I said no honestly I’m disappointed my expectations were higher and my friend had whitefish in Mackinac City last night that was delicious and half the price. She apologized and asked if we needed anything else. When she brought the bill to me she said here I took your meal off. So I thanked her and most people would be like well there ya go that’s what you wanted right. Well no I would of rather paid the bill and gotten the 5 star quality food and service the restaurant claims. If you go just drink the beer...oh and the...

On 9/18 our party of 6 opted to stay for dinner even though we it was an Italian place on prior seasons visit to island but stayed cuz they were going to have live music buy a guitarist named Will (he was THE GREATEST). We were shown to a large booth then asked for a table. Place was moderately busy so the hostesses had no problem pushing 2 tables together. Sat down ordered round of drinks &looked at menus. At this time we realized we were directly under the air vent & it was on full blow. It wasn't hot or stuffy (they had the front doors open so the breeze could come in) temperature was fine. We asked waiter Chris if he could shut the blower, it was blowing hair, napkins, it was harsh. He 'Yeah'd' us & walked away. 15 minutes later asked again, same 'yeah'. Another 15 asked a hostess can she do something? 3 minutes later she had the bartender come & got on a chair & ta da it was fixed. Waiter Chris attitude was snippy & rude entire time. Later we found out this random looking guy standing in the entrance texting was the MANAGER. we thought he was waiting for friends! He saw & heard everything that was going wrong with blower & our comments about Chris' attitude & did nothing. Just lazy. But thanks to Will & a table of other 'we're going to make this a great time' attitude patrons, we ignored the workers who evidently have cashed it in...