Brewster's New Buffalo — Restaurant in New Buffalo

I have been coming up to New Buffalo in the summers for the past 35 years. Every summer I have so looked forward to the house in U.P. I enjoy the sandcastles, Big Bertha the innertube, the Dunes, and driving down the scenic Route 12. Ramberg’s Bakery was always a joy, the cranberry muffin recipe was one I would try to recreate some 20 years later when I was comfortable baking. Ramberg’s is now Black Currant Bakery. An English berry, the currant is so popular in England it’s not considered rare or fancy, but here we wouldn’t see it any other way. I always look forward to their almond milk and honey matcha tea. Recently I decided to try to make a life here. I wanted a fresh start, and was lucky enough to gain employment at Brewsters Italian Café in New Buffalo. The staff are one big beautiful family. I’ll never forget the way you automatically relax when you know Celeste is at the bar as she is 20 steps ahead of everyone. Emma is like our collective little sis but the truth is she runs a household of her own. If I ever had a question I knew that Fig had the answer with a big smile on their face. They will never let you down. And I will always remember Jenn’s kind manner. Katie and her son Ryan are sosteady and reliable. I could compliment every single employee but I would run out of space here. Confidence is key at Brewsters and the training is through to give you that boost. The back of the House tries very hard to working seamlessly with the Front. The hard work pays off. Timing is so important and we do everything we can to ensure an orchestrated service. I found new gems in South West Michigan and am so grateful to include this on on my list. Brewster’s is like a secret garden with something for everyone. Maria is a master of flowerbeds and when you go to her patio be ready to be transported to a lush tropical garden full of pink, yellow, orange and green. The flower to people ratio is far greater on the flower side. Tunnels of fire cascade around you as her choice of patio warmers is divine. Originally a coffee shop, Brewsters evolved into pm service with pasta, pizza, and fine entrees. It still holds true to it’s roots by serving the best cookies you’ve ever tasted and making most of the desserts on site. It also has an espresso machine and gourmet matcha, so the café roots run deep. Consider heading over there next time the line at Starbucks gets you down. You can even order a hummingbird cake for your upcoming birthday.

Next time you go ask for the house made lavender syrup on vanilla ice cream. Tell them I sent...

We dined in for a family members 60th birthday celebration with a group of 12. While our waitress made good recommendations, she did not tell us how small the portion sizes were for appetizers (although we assumed small) they were definitely not the best for a large group to share. My dish (a delicious pizza with mushrooms, arugula, truffle oil) was outstanding. The lasagna was a family favorite. The crabby cakes that were also gotten were good, but it was mentioned they were slightly dry and needed more sauce.

There was a basil chicken dish that was picked by two members in our family. That dish was extremely sweet and disliked by both of them. (Rather than complain to the waitress and demand a new dish, they ate the elements from the dish that were not sweet.)

The dessert options were absolutely devine and we all enjoyed in a dessert rather than doing a cake for the birthday celebration. Pecan cobbler, Italian lemon cake, ice cream sundae, carrot cake and the cookies were all fantastic. The cookie was enjoyed by my great grandmother who said they were as good as her mother used to make them.

Drinks were enjoyed by all and while we all got something different, our waitress did a great job making sure our table had whatever we could need (more drinks, plates, bread, etc.) and it was much appreciated for our celebration dinner.

The one down side to our celebration was how tight our space was. We requested a reservation on February 3rd for the 18th and we were originally supposed to have 13. 2 tables were crammed together and 12 of us sat around it. We asked for more space and they said all the tables were reserved. (Mind you our dinner reservations was for 4:30pm) If 13 of us were there, it would not have worked for us and the waitress even said they would have had trouble accommodating us.

While I am writing this review, I am not complaining about the food but to just explain about our experience and the dishes we had. While we were visiting from all different states, this would be a contender to go back but with the hopes we could have a few things go differently for...

We’ve eaten here once before, in the summer, and had a great experience. Today, not so much.

It always puts me off when you walk into a place and the mat in front of the entry door is dirty. Sweep before you turn on the open sign. It really does turn people off, and makes us wonder about the cleanliness of the place when that is the first impression. Also, we waited several minutes before anyone showed up to greet us. Another turnoff. We were there on a Monday afternoon at 1, so they weren’t super busy. Not sure why the loud doorbell letting them know a customer had entered didn’t prompt anyone to come up to the hostess station. A kitchen worker had to call for service as he walked by.

All this could be seen as minor, I’m sure, but remember that Brewster’s is more of an upscale dining establishment. I expect more and hold them to a higher standard, as I do my own business as a retail store owner. The final moodkiller was when the hostess, who also turned out to be our server, started to seat us by offering us a 2-top table jammed into a corner that we would have had to disrupt two other established tables to squeeze into. There were several other empty tables, so we asked if we could switch. Although they let us, they were a little salty about which server it would go to. What patrons ever want to sit in close proximity to others when there are roomier spots clearly available? The area only holds 6-8 tables total, so figuring out whose is whose is pretty easy.

We split a sandwich, each had soup, had the ricotta and honeycomb appetizer and I had a lavender latte. The sandwich was average, my husband found the soup (potato and leek) to be gritty. The latte was good. The appetizer was tasteless in every way, sadly. We had it when we visited last summer and it was wonderful, but this time it was entirely forgettable. Bill was $55.

All in all, a disappointment. I don’t plan on coming back, and I’m sure they’ll be just fine with that, as New Buffalo has a huge tourist influx and one poor review won’t effect their business. However, this is for owners and management, who...