fuel bar + refuge — Restaurant in Spring Lake Township

TLDR: Decent food, awesome cocktails, nice beer, great indoor atmosphere and decent outdoor atmosphere.

If you follow me, you know I take months to do a review- we ate here in May- hence our jackets 😝- so don’t mind those, and please be aware that if anything is seasonal, what I’m reviewing may not be available currently.

We started out with drinks: I ordered the flower berry spritz (valentine white blossom vodka, raspberry purée, bubbly, sparkling water, lemon twist), which I quite enjoyed! He ordered a margarita (corazon tequila, triple sec, house sour - spicy upon request) which he also enjoyed. Also ordered were a Hamm’s on tap and a chipotle peach margarita (chipotle infused blanco tequila, peach schnapps, house sour, tajin). Everyone seemed happy with their drinks.

For an appetizer, we ordered the shrimp ceviche (shrimp, lime, mango, habañero, red onion, red pepper, cilantro served with tortilla chips) which was kinda just ok. We ate it, but I didn’t scarf it down like I would normally do to a ceviche.

For entrees, we ordered the chicken burrito bowl (|vg, v, gr upon request| al pastor chicken, cilantro lime rice, corn + black bean salsa, tomato, jalapeño, pickled onion, pineapple, chipotle crema) and the spicy pesto pasta (/vg upon request| with asparagus, ricotta, pasta w pancetta - I got it without pancetta). We both really enjoyed our meals. The pasta was super good and SPICY, which is not actually what I expected. Yes, it says spicy but we’re in west Michigan, so I rarely believe a description, but this one is ok to be believed!

Also ordered were the hawaiian pizza (|vg| red sauce, ham, pineapple, red onion, jalapeño) which was said to be “ok” and the fish + chips (house breaded haddock, fries, slaw, house tartar, lemon) which was said to be really good!

We finished off with a painkiller for dessert 😅 (a classic summer tiki topped with nutmeg). This is one instance of a drink that I think is better when I make it at home, but it is what it is 😂.

We ate outside, because that’s what we do when it’s even remotely nice out, but I think that because of the proximity to the road, eating inside is actually nicer at this particular restaurant. It’s got a beautiful aesthetic, so we’ll probably visit again in the fall or winter.

Overall, the service is pretty nice here, which is good, as you don’t really get that everywhere anymore.

I’d say the drinks are better than the food here, on the few occasions I’ve visited, but it’s not to say the food is BAD, it’s not- and it’s a refreshing change from other Spring Lake and Grand Haven...

The food and drinks were top notch, the waitress was friendly, and I loved the atmosphere. BUT we were asked by a staff member if we could leave early so someone else could have our table, we had been there 1 hr and 30 minutes, had a reservation, and I still had a full drink in my hand I ordered 15 minutes prior. It felt like, “Thanks for coming, but we want you to leave now”, which is bad hospitality. Some of our appetizers and entrees came out at the same time and everything felt rushed. When I'm paying $33 for my entree, and I'm sure the bill for our table exceeded $400 based on what our group of 6 ordered, I expect to be allowed to stay at my table as long as I please. My husband and I have worked in restaurants 21 years combined and this has NEVER been acceptable. We also had two prominent local business owners with us, not that we're special but I thought it was tacky and made a bad impression on them as fellow business owners. It was bad etiquette for a nice restaurant, this isn't a pub or Denny's. It really took this place down a notch for me and left a bad taste in my mouth despite the food being really good. I literally had to finish my full drink at the door! So be sure to hurry up and eat your island salmon and filet because their "refuge" is a limited time offer I guess. If you take reservations you have to honor that time. Not trying to be negative, my intention in writing this is hoping they don't do this to anyone else. I will definitely be going back but hope they educate their staff that this is a...

Myself and two coworkers went to Fuel for dinner. Our waitress really sucked. She was rude and not friendly.

Obviously it is understandable to check ID for alcohol since we are all in our 20’s but she was very skeptical of our IDs being fake. Even mine, and I’m almost 30. She was very short and kept looking at it and looking at us. Then, since she was in such a trans with the IDs, we had to repeat our drink orders 3 times.

Then when she comes back to take our food order, I ordered soup, a salad and an appetizer. She was like judgmental of what I ordered like it was too much for myself? She had a surprised tone in her voice and then raised her eyebrows and was like “oh okay”.

Then when she brought us our checks, we all paid cash. She brings back the change and says “I just included the change in the tip so you didn’t get coins back.” Without asking us if that was okay first? If you ask first then it’s totally fine. But you can’t just not give us back our full change. I felt like that was super unprofessional.

I like their food, but our waitress was rude and judgmental and kind of stole that...