Thunder Bay Grille Rockford — Restaurant in Rockford Township

My husband and I get together with a group once a month and we like to scout places ahead of time to see if they are worth taking the group to. Thunder Bay Grille (TBG) did not make the list.

I do not understand the glowing reviews for this place. First off, the atmosphere, this place needs an update.

Secondly, I will say the service was good. Our server (Sarah) was friendly, polite and attentive and I have no complaints about her.

However, the food leaves much to be desired and the prices are really expensive. TBG loves to throw the word 'roasted' around on their menu but it seems the kitchen doesn't know what roasted means.

We were there about 4pm on a Monday. I didn't see any other diners in the restaurant until we left. They appeared to be getting ready for a large group in their side room. People started to arrive slightly before 5pm for that.

My husband got the $32 walleye. (I forgot to take photos of his) He had to pay a $2 upcharge to get a Caesar salad, which is nitpicky. It shouldn't have cost him extra with the price he was already paying. He said the salad was good.

He got a decent sized piece of fish. The menu says it comes with roasted potatoes and roasted veggies. They looked steamed. He said there was no seasoning or flavor on anything. There was also no presentation. All these white foods came out on a white plate. It just looked so boring and unappetizing.

He got a soda and it was $3.79. Our server was good about getting him reills and he didn't have to ask for them but she probably should have asked to see if he wanted more.

I am a plant based eater. They had a vegetarian menu and I needed to ask for it but I was informed they were re-doing the menus and the prices could be different. The menu said $15, I was charged $14, so that was a pleasant surprise. On a side note, I understand that can happen but a restaurant should never charge more than what the printed menu states so I hope they aren't doing that.

I got the Balsamic Portobello. This is what the menu said "grilled portobello mushrooms, pan roasted cherry tomatoes, roasted mushroom medley, couscous and balsamic reduction, served with garlic crostini"

What they sent out was a bowl with lebanese couscous (which is the very large type, not what you most often see) and it was topped with chopped portobello (I highly doubt I got a whole portobello, it wasn't much food), mushroom medley (which just seemed like regular cremini mushrooms to me) and tomatoes.

It looked terrible. They should have served a whole grilled portobello with the couscous as a side item topped with the mushroom medley and tomatoes. The tomatoes were grape, not cherry and they were just cooked down until overcooked, the mushroom medley was not roasted and the portobello was not grilled. I think the portobello, mushrooms and tomatoes were all chopped and tossed into a pan and pan cooked.

The crostini didn't come out with my meal so the server had to go back for it (not her fault). It was slight, overcooked and seemed like it wasn't freshly made,. Again, on a Monday, nothing needs to be made ahead of time.

I chose the side salad, it was a decent size but it was obviously pre-made and refrigerated. At 4pm on a Monday, they didn't need to be pre-making salads. The greens weren't very fresh and the Thousand Island salad dressing was obviously a low cost food service type dressing. At these prices, they should be making fresh dressings (especially Thousand Island, it's very easy to make) or at least use a higher quality product. It was something I'd expect from a cheap diner.

They also put the tomatoes in the salad before placing it in the refrigerator and you shouldn't refrigerate tomatoes. It makes them inedible so I had to remove those from my salad.

Our bill came to $56.84 and I left a $11 tip. This meal, at best, was maybe worth half that cost. We have no issue paying higher prices for good food, this place, was expensive with mediocre food. I cannot recommend. Rockford has much better places...

Celiacs beware - this restaurant has a gluten sensitive menu but not a dietary restriction trained staff. My son and I ordered burgers from the gluten sensitive menu. When they were delivered, the buns looked like normal buns so I confirmed with our waiter that they were really GF and expressed my concern that they looked like regular buns. He assured me that they were GF and went on his way. I took one nibble and knew. Called another waiter over who confirmed that it was indeed a regular bun and not gluten free. Thankfully my son hasn't touched his yet but I had already taken a small bite and with celiac, that's all it takes. I was devastated and left the restaurant to collect myself as we were part of a family party and I didn't wish to cause a scene. But when you know what's coming, it's hard to just brush it off. The last time I had gluten, I ended up in the hospital getting an endoscopy and was on medication for 6 weeks. After I collected myself, I returned and the manager, with both waiters, stopped me to apologize. While the senior waiter (who confirmed the bun was not GF) and the manager did seem genuine in their apology, the younger waiter, who should have confirmed the food was correct before it ever left the line, seemed more stunned than remorseful. I tried to explain the the staff the importance of training around dietary restrictions ESPECIALLY if you are going to have a gluten sensitive menu. Your staff needs to be able to look at your normal buns and your gluten free buns and see the difference. It isn't hard. When they eventually brought me a turkey burger on the correct bun, it was VERY plain to see that the bread was different.

I'm now on my second day of being incredibly ill after my experience at Thunder Bay Grille and suffice to say, I will never return. While I appreciated the ownership and the staff's apology, none of that will stop my immune system from attacking my own body for the next several weeks. So while the incident is over for them, it's only just beginning for me.

I'm sharing this feedback, just as I shared with the restaurant staff, in hopes that it will lead to training AND also to warn folks that if you have dietary sensitivities, this is not a place I'd recommend eating. There are a ton of restaurants with engaged staff who actually care about making sure you can eat safely. No need to waste your dollar or your time with a place...

Our reservation request was not honered and we had to wait for seating upon arrival to the restaurant. It took quite a long time to meet our server and place drink orders once seated. She apologized when she got to our table, but then proceeded to ignore us the rest of the evening. Several larger parties seated near us received ample service. The wait time we had was uncomfortable. We watched our drinks and appetizers come out on a tray with another tables’ orders. She went back and forth between our tables serving our drinks and appetizers which was also uncomfortable. Once our food was received, the medium steak that was ordered was well done and the jambalaya my mother ordered was very spicy, and inedible. Normally not an issue to send food back, but our waitress never came back to check on us. We had to waive someone down to send one of the orders back. They apologized, and a replacement meal was ordered. The server finally came back to check on us after 15 minutes and was surprised that no one told her there was a problem with a meal. Around the same time we were told we would have to wait (again) for the replacement meal because the order went in after another parties order. At this point I split my meal with my mother. We asked for the replacement meal to be boxed, and for the bill. At this point it had been 2 hours and we were ready to go. Our waitress was (again) busy, so I had to go to the front of house to pay the bill. We should have been comped at least 1 meal for having to send it back, but were still charged the full amount. Normally we always enjoy eating here- but considering the apologies that were offered for the wait, we continued to have long wait times

for everything while larger parties around us seemed to be prioritized. Sad to say but due to the lack of service and quality of food…this used to be one of my favorite restaurants but I will probably never...