I'm not gonna lie. I'm kind of a restaurant snob. I have the luxury of living on the east coast where I'm able to frequently eat at some of the objectively best restaurants in the US. I married a Yooper so I go to Marquette for holidays and family events.

While some of the food at the Portside is hit or miss, they have two things that are out of this world. First, the steak fries. I don't like fries, and I usually won't eat them. But the Portside does their steak fries well, and I always enjoy eating them (seriously, these are like the only fries I eat). Second, and this is the real draw of the Portside, the cheesy garlic bread. I don't know how they make it, but it's some of the best garlic cheese bread I've ever had. It's some hybrid of a traditional garlic bread mixed with cheesy bread sticks you might get from a pizzaria. But somehow (witchcraft, probably), it's worlds better than both. It's also served with an immaculate garlic spread, and good marinara. This dish has no business being this good.

I've usually been whelmed by their entrees, but nothing outstanding. However, I recently ordered the Louisiana shrimp wrap at a family, it was a very good and authentic southern wrap, with perfectly cooked shrimp. Props to Protside for pulling it off so well.

I'm always a little nervous dining out in the UP (again, recognizing my faults as a snob), but the Portside garlic bread is something I always look forward to.

Also worth noting there's an 18% autograt for parties of 5+. I personally support autograt for large parties to prevent groups from stiffing their waitstaff out of a living wage. You can love or hate tipping culture, but you can't ignore that under existing wage laws servers make their living off tips. Even for really bad service I'll still tip 15%, but my default is 20%, or 25% for great service. For the negative reviews complaining about the autograt, you can't afford to dine out if an 18% autgrat is worth complaining about.