The Chuckwagon — Restaurant in Mackinac Island

My kids and I had lunch here twice because they loved the vibe of the place so much. They wanted to sit at the counter and watch the cooks prepare the food and LOVED the music. The cooks were amazing. When it came time to pay for our meal, and I pulled out my credit card, they said the machine was down and pointed me in the direction outside to go get cash. The ATM machine across the street was not working and I came back in and told them so. I asked them to write down my number and run it once their machine was up and running again. Magically, they pull out their square credit card machine and run my card. Ok cool, problem solved.

The next day my kids had so much fun here, they wanted to come again so we did. Before sitting down, I confirmed that their machine was working and this wouldn't be an issue again. I was told "it'll be fine", and we have another wonderful meal with great ambience. When it came time to pay, this older stern woman told me the same story "our machine is down and go across the street to get cash". This seems odd that this is not something that is told to the customer before they sit down. This is a problem with "their business". Instead, this place makes you run around to 2-3 different ATM machines around the downtown scrambling around to look for cash, paying for ATM fees. How did the girl run my card just the day before? I would have been completely fine if they told me before we sat down and we could have gone to a different restaurant. They did it on purpose, and seems incredibly dishonest. Sorry to the rest of the staff that is working so hard for...

My family came here for lunch on a Saturday afternoon knowing nothing about it, aside from the menu in the window. I had the PB&J Burger, which had peanut butter sauce, habanero jelly, and bacon it - I wasn't expecting the bacon, but I may have misread the menu. The burgers come with chips, or they have other sides available at an additional charge. Overall, I was pretty happy with my meal - the peanut butter and jelly went well with the bacon and burger, the bacon was salty and crispy, and the burger was cooked ok (I usually prefer mine more medium, but I'd say this was probably closer to medium well, with just a little pink in the center). I liked the pretzel bun, and the chips were perfectly normal chips. It came with a few slices of dill pickle on the side, too.

The meals are expensive, but they're on par with other restaurants on the island. They also had sandwiches and salads, as well as what looked like a pretty robust breakfast menu, though we were there too late to try it.

This is a very tiny restaurant that seemed like it was packed with people the whole time we were there. The music, conversation, and background noise were pretty loud, but not so much that I couldn't hear my companions or the waitstaff. I was lucky enough to sit on a stool right by the door, so it didn't feel too enclosed, but if you're someone who doesn't like having their back to the main paths through a room, there aren't a lot of ideal seating options for you (though there are a couple small tables further into the restaurant which might work...

Food is so good!!! Fresh! Served hot!! Highly recommend! Will note, they don't serve chicken. Fries were fresh, light & crispy like our son makes at home. My husband had a burger he kept raving about saying this is a REALLY good hamburger! (Hence the name) I wasnt as hungry so went with a BLT which was a good sized sandwich on large buttered toasted bread. It was one of the best BLT's I've ever had, so good! Our son got a basket of fries. There were ALOT of fries he couldnt even finish them. Our sandwiches came with lighter original chips. We were told by our carriage driver that you get unlimited refills on fries & drinks. We had drink refills but no offer on the fries though, wasn't needed. We all left full and our son full enough but headed to the nearby Bistro for chicken for him for lunch. We would definitely eat here again! Not much seating and were told by carroage driver it'd be standing only as its always packed fkr good reason. However we hit it at a good time and when we left, were the only customers! Felt fortunate & blessed like that all day. Place was clean. Fresh food, friendly staff that kept our...