The Honorable Distillery — Restaurant in Marquette

My family and I are on vacation visiting my younger brother who goes to school and lives up here. We are a group of 10 and we’re excited to check out a new place, as we’ve all been to the area a couple times. We walked in the door and stood around for a second waiting to be directed on where to go/ what to do. There was no sign saying to seat yourself or wait, or really any indication of what we should do. No one greeted us. We awkwardly tried getting out of the doorway to not be blocking anyone as we are a large group and few of us started to sit at a table, as it seemed you just find a spot wherever? Still, no one has greeted us, or even looked at us. There were three bartenders working, and I would say the area was about 60% full. I have been working in restaurants as a bartender and server for a couple years now and thinks it’s very rude and careless to not greet new guests let alone even acknowledge them. I totally understand we are a larger group and harder to accommodate and would have been totally fine splitting up to be easier to serve. I felt very unwelcome and the overall atmosphere of the place was quite pretentious and uncomfortable. After 10 minutes of us all milling about, trying to figure out what the heck to do, still not being greeted or told what we needed to do, one of our group members asked the bartender if we were okay at a table were trying to sit at. She responded with “can I help you” and then “you have to order at the bar”. Not necessarily rude, but seemed kind of annoyed and short with us. It would have been nice to know that within a couple minutes of arriving and standing around looking clueless, rather than letting 10 minutes go by. At this point we were all over it, very uncomfortable, and felt like we weren’t welcome at all. So you lost out on at least 10 drinks (probably 20) plus another party that arrived at the same time as us who always decided to leave maybe because of the same experience. The first couple of seconds when a guest arrives at an establishment make or break the experience and set the whole impression of what to expect. And this one was not good. Literally, just needed the communication on what to do. So I would say, big...

Visited a few weeks ago. Before you say you "checked your records and don't see I visited" consider that people visit with others who may be the ones paying for the drinks, so that cop-out won't work. I wanted to like the place, the outside looks great, love the historical aspect and the display of the still. It's really impressive. The inside decor is cold and doesn't really seem to fit the building, maybe this is in progress. The service at the bar was fine, the staff were great. However, the way this space is set up, you expect someone will come around to take drink orders on occasion. I expect to order at the bar at a dive-bar, but when a space is set up like a restaurant and drinks are priced the way they are, that's not what I am anticipating. If you don't know that's how it works, it can be very awkward walking in for the first time. The drinks we had (4 of them) ranged from disappointing to mediocre especially for the price. Finally, you can support anyone you want as a business, that's fine. But you're not immune from pushback from the community and don't try to hide it and pretend nothing happened. You support Tudor Dixon? Fine. Then why was there absolutely no advertisement about that event on your pages? At least make it clear what you are all about so we can choose to spend our money how we see fit. I can only assume it's because you knew it would turn people away. Be HONEST with people. Can't recommended...

I was visiting Marquette for an interview and decided to stop in to the distillery. It was a wonderful experience! The staff were lovey, super friendly and informative. The building is beautiful and very cool, the history was so neat and the efforts to preserve the original theater are well done. The whiskey is young and not amazing for drinking on its own but that’s okay because the gin and the drinks are amazing!! I wish I had more space in my luggage to bring home a bottle of the gin. The drinks I had were flavorful and beautifully presented. The staff were working on some new drinks and shared tastes, all I can say is I wish I was staying until next week so I could order them! I will for sure be back! I also loved their commitment to sourcing local ingredients and ethical production. It is always nice to find a place that has good products and a mission you can feel good about supporting! If you visit Marquette and like cocktails this place is a...