Bliss & Fish Restaurant-Mediterranean & Seafood — Restaurant in Putnam Township

I want to like this place. I want them to do better. There has been a lot of social media hype about the restaurant in and around Pinckney but our first experience there was not good. Owners are supposedly experienced but that is not the impression we got. Management of this restaurant was non-existent. The staff is not trained. There do not seem to be any rules or standards being followed. Here is our experience from Saturday May 10. The place was half full or less at 7 pm. No hostess at either entry door. Multiple workers observed me standing at the hostess stand. Despite MANY workers walking thru the room. No one came until I actually waved at someone. Then I was told I could sit wherever I liked, but after that no one came to greet us, bring menus, water, nothing. We observed a few other small parties of people wander in, some alone some with a worker. Another man got up to go find his server to pay. Finally after at least 10 min we flagged down a young woman and asked for menus. It was at least another 10 minutes until a waiter came. It did not appear that waiters were assigned to specific tables, rooms or areas. Our waiter was very nice he was clearly not trained or there were no standards for him to follow, but he was doing his best. We observed 2 other tables of people get up and leave because after being seated shortly after us no one came to their table. Someone (owner? Manager?) might have finally noticed this as then all of a sudden workers (at least 4) we hadn’t seen were stopping by our table and all saying the same thing “is there anything you need?” It was really odd. I observed 1 server drop a patrons CC on the floor and it just laid there for a few min. I finally got up and pointed it out to another server. Our food came out all at different times. First a salad, then another meal, then a second meal, then another salad. All many minutes apart. We had to ask for silverware. We never saw a cocktail menu. Other tables were clearly having issues too - people kept getting up to look for servers. Lots of workers were rushing around. Multiple tables were piled with dirty dishes having never been cleared despite many workers. The food was ok: Fish and chips were good. Kafka plate was ok but nothing special - I was mostly 3 overcooked skewers on a pile of rice. The Lebanese salad and the Fattoush salad were identical except the latter had pita chips on top. When it came time to pay we found our waiter and he told us that all the POS printers were out of paper except 1 so he was waiting to get our check printed. The check had a QR code on it to pay. So I tried it. But then no one knew how to verify it worked. I could see the charge on my cc so I wasn’t too concerned. Finally the waiter saw a notice on the POS computer that he had received a tip so he saw our payment. To the owners. Whomever is going to manage needs to step up. You need to set rules and standards. You need to train staff. People need to know their jobs and their...

We were so excited for this new restaurant! We love Mediterranean food and not having to drive to Ann Arbor or Brighton would be a bonus. However, the food wasn't worth going back. I expected some issues as the restaurant is new, but I wasn't expecting bad food! The restaurant was packed for their first Tuesday evening. It was great to see a new business so busy in such a small town on a Tuesday.

We ordered the fresh squeezed lemonade. . first we were brought Minute Maid fountain lemonade and I politely asked for the fresh made lemonade. When it came out it was NOT fresh made lemonade. It was Minute Maid fountain syrup mixed with ice. We definitely sent that back.

We ordered the seasoned potatoes, shish kafta platter, and a small fattoush with chicken shawarma added. While the timing of food delivery was off, that was expected with a new restaurant with an over full house. The small fattoush salad was tasty, but TINY. About the size of a bread plate, for $8! The chicken shawarma was dry and unseasoned, like sawdust. There also wasn't much of it, maybe 1/3 of a cup of largish chicken chunks, for $6. Definitely not worth the cost. The shish kafta was decent, the rice was bland. There was an absence of any type of pickle. No pita bread was served with the meal. Toom was $2 for a 2oz container that was less than half filled! It was also extremely oily and not as garlicky as expected. The potatoes were unseasoned chunks of deep fried potatoes that tasted like fish and had sauce haphazardly sponed on top. Simply salting the potatoes would have made this dish much better. They will definitely need a dedicated fryer for non fish items.

It's doubtful we will be back. We'll continue to drive to Ann Arbor and Brighton for decent...

We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and were greeted and seated right away. Our server came by within minutes and took our drink order, which arrived promptly.

We ordered the Combo #1 and the Chicken Shwarma plate. Our selections arrived quickly and our server checked back to see how we were doing.

The beef kabob was tender, well-seasoned and grilled just right. The tawook and kafta were both cooked perfectly and juicy. The falafel is amazingly good. I use Jerusalem Garden in Ann Arbor as my bar for falafel, and this was just as good. The tahini sauce was also well-balanced and great with the falafel.

My only minor suggestions concern the lemon dressing on the Lebanese Salad, and the garlic sauce served with the Combo and Shwarma plates.

Both the dressing and the garlic condiment are intense. The lemon dressing needs either more olive oil, or a touch of sugar or honey. It's quite unbalanced in how acidic and biting it is- like uncut lemon juice. Likewise, the garlic sauce is way over the top, to the point that it tastes hot. But these are very, very minor quibbles which don't detract or negatively impact my positive opinion of this nice little place.

We're looking forward to visiting again soon to try other menu selections. Our server was a real pro, and she was attentive without being intrusive- which takes some front-of-the-house experience to get right.

And for the whiner that complained about not getting a glass for their beer, I figured out the solution- just ask for one. I did, and our server brough a chilled glass right away. Who would have thought it could be that simple?

This is a great place,...