The White Buffalo Bar & Grille — Restaurant in Mackinaw Township

Easily the best restaurant in Mackinaw City.

I dined with a group of 11, we were seated on the upper floor in a very nice and airy space, I really enjoyed the simple décor.

Our wait staff was fantastic! Our server Iri knew the menu, checked in consistently, and the other staff worked great together, supported each other's tables and hustled the entire time. We actually ran in to Iri the next day at a different spot, we were glad to see him!

Drink menu had some great cocktails, saw some really beautiful drinks delivered, with "ooh you gotta taste this!" flying around the table. I stuck to the beer menu, which had several things I've never seen or tried; a rare treat. I went with a tall glass of honey lavender wheat beer, which was delicious, followed it up with a delicious blueberry ale. The beer and cocktail menu are clearly put together by someone who loves their craft, something I very much appreciate because I love craft beer.

Food menu was interesting, with a single vegetarian option, several whitefish dishes using local whitefish, a salmon dish. I always appreciate a seafood menu that doesn't contain fish that don't live in a 2,000 mile radius, I could see that these dishes use local supply.

I went with chef's cut, which happened to be the mighty New York strip. Ordered it midrare. Food came out in a very reasonable time, impressive for an 11 top table on a fairly busy night. When I cut the steak I saw it was a minute over midrare, but oh man. The cut was excellent, and it didn't matter at all. Great flavor, great texture, I am jealous of the steak supply; really high quality. Bearnaise was tasty, I also ordered a mushroom sauce, which seemed to be a sort of mushroom bourguignon, also delicious.

I will definitely be going back -- when we're in Mackinaw City if there's dinner to be eaten, we'll be eating at White Buffalo. I regret not pausing to take some photos, but I was too busy eating...

After a long day on the island, this was so conveniently located across from where our ferry let off and they sat us immediately. Service was good, slow on refills, and woth only 1 other table, probably shouldn't have been an issue. We ordered a steak, a fish dish, a bison burger and something else I don't recall. Steak was decent and the bison burger was definitely not bad, had better, but truly above average. The fish dish in the other hand, was good for the first few bites until the first fish bone was ingested. UGH! Ok, its not ideal, there shouldn't be any bones left in a fish, but it does happen time to time...but the time we found the 3rd however, that was the end of that meal. When I let the waitress know to tell the kitchen, no I didn't ask for a manager and no I didn't request a refund, she merely said they try their best to get them out. (Sounds almost as though she has heard it before.) She went to the bar to refill drinks and came back and never went into the kitchen in that 2 mins, and said the kitchen was so thankful for the heads up. (I get not wanting to upset the kitchen, but that is a failure and one the head chef needs to make sure prep chefs are doing well.) Ultimately, we paid, tipped the waitress well and I did leave a note on the receipt saying that "no bones in the fish are acceptable", even just one, is not acceptable in a $35 dish. I figured this was the way to get the managers attention to alert the kitchen, but again, they wouldn't get it until we were gone and wouldn't feel they need to make amends and offer a refund or anything. Just wanted them to correct some things.

Not bad, probably wouldn't go again, as there are other, cheaper options in the area. Not a bad...

My husband and I decided on this particular Resturant because it appeared to be what we considered fine dining to celebrate his birthday. We were totally disappointed by the service received. From the hostess to the server was the worst experience ever especially for the type of prices. We requested a booth and were told we couldn’t have a booth We were told we could have a table near a window or one not near a window then we were led back to a table that hadn’t been cleared and told we would just have to wait then told to come sit again and still the table wasn’t prepared. Very embarrassing and everyone was starring at us as if we had done something wrong. After being seated we placed an order prior to the meal coming out which took about 30 minutes to get the salad and bread. Then we waited another 30 minutes for our entree to come out. No suggestive sales for desserts nor was our drinks refilled throughout the time of our wait. We watched two different parties come eat and leave while we waited for our server to return to our table. I will say the food was delicious and very tasty but upon placing an order for dessert after waiting 20 minutes just for the menu. We finally requested our check because it seem to be forever for our dessert to arrive. After our dessert arrive mine had melted and I was served an item I asked them to leave out due to allergies (whip cream) and upon the server finally returning to the table. I reminded him of the request and he apologized but still charged me for the item. I just couldn’t deal with the service any longer so I paid our check and we left. For such good food the service should be better. I...