Black Rock Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Utica

What we ordered at Black Rock Bar & Grill in Utica, Michigan:

• Monster Lobster Bisque $9.99 👉🏼 Opinion: Terrible! ~ It almost tasted like tomato soup with some lobster bisque added to it. It was actually nice & creamy until you tasted extremely small pieces of dry & crumbly textured lobster... like it was that bit of lobster meat that stuck to the shell after they pulled the meat out of the shells & then boiled the heck out of them to make the stock/broth... The "chef" should have strained the lobster stock before making it into a bisque, to have avoided that unpleasantness. And then, not even one small piece of lobster meat was added to the bisque just before serving, as most top restaurants do. It was a sad bisque. ~ Portion: We have no idea why they called it Monster. It looked like a normal size bowl of soup to us.

• TASTY TUESDAY DEAL: 1 Pound Of Ribs 3 Coconut Shrimp French Fries $13.99 👉🏼 Opinion: Delicious! ~ Ribs: Our 1 Pound Of Ribs were 4 ribs (4½-5" in length) They had a Sweet finger licking good BBQ sauce. Meaty ribs with nice Crispy ends. Perfect. ~ Shrimp: Good! Plump but slightly over cooked... therefore leaving no coconut taste. ~ Fries: Yummy & Crispier than normal fries. I think they coat them with batter. ~ Portion: Just Right.

• 3 MAHI MAHI TACOS: Soft tortilla shells stuffed with blackened mahi mahi, our signature slaw, and topped with our house-made mango salsa and cilantro 13.99 👉🏼 Opinion: Bland, Needed help in flavoring. ~ Soft Tortilla Shells: You can tell the shells were homemade, nice! ~ Mahi Mahi: As for being stuffed with Blackened fish, it was NOT blackened... at all. Yet the fish was Good. ~ Signature Slaw: NO Slaw on the taco whatsoever. The chef must have forgotten to add it. ~ House-Made Mango Salsa & Cilantro: As for it being topped with their Salsa, we could see some vegetables... but we tasted NO sauce at all. Portion: Just right!

👉🏼 Drink Opinion: Perfect! ~ We ordered Ice Tea which was thirst quenching. Just the right strength with no bitterness. No sugar was added, so you had the choice of sweetening it or not.

• CHEESECAKE: New York-style Cheesecake with your choice of caramel, strawberry, raspberry-melba or chocolate sauce. $10.99 👉🏼 Opinion: Really Good! ~ The Crust: it was the typical gram cracker crust, nothing special. ~ The Cheese Cake: Soft & Fluffy. Tasted very well made. ~ We had the Strawberry Sauce: Very sweet, as it should be. The whipped Cream mellowed the sweetness out just a tad bit. ~ Portion: Enough for 2 people!

👉🏼 Cleanliness Option: Dirty & Clean. ~ From the start we noticed that the door handles & metal frame to come into the restaurant was quite dirty! A lot of finger prints & smears. (I almost wished I was wearing gloves to open the door, lol.) Yet once entering the place it looked nice & clean. ~ Menus were given... upon opening them not only could you see the finger prints & smears, you could feel the yuck on them. So a mixed review at the start. 👉🏼 Atmosphere Opinion: Nice! ~ Everywhere seemed comfortable with a nice cozy warm decor. It was a large open room with tall step up booths & a big long bar in the middle. The ceiling was quite high, so no claustrophobic feeling here. ~ We ate hours after lunch, so it wasn't crowded at all by then. ~ The afternoon music was mostly Pop Rock at a decent volume... Not loud to talk over at all. Just right.

👉🏼 Service Opinion: Great! ~ Our waiter was perfect! She was honest with her suggestions & was right about them too... actually, I should have listened to her, lol. She took good care of us, like how you'd treat someone that came into your home. She was not fake at all like the ~ Hostess, whose voice & cheerfulness seemed annoyingly forced. But nonetheless, the hostess did her job & got us to our table, lol. 👉🏼 Our overall Opinion: ~ There was nothing seriously wrong with eating at Black Rock. We just have no real reason to...

I hadn’t been to this establishment in years, but I decided to host my wife's birthday dinner here, inviting a small group of family and friends. My goal was to create a memorable experience, especially since our guest list included our children, her parents, my brother, and several of her close friends—most of whom were out enjoying a date night, aside from the kids.

I called ahead and reserved a priority seating time. We arrived five minutes early but were told our waiter was currently attending to another table and would be with us shortly. That “shortly” turned into a 30-minute wait, with no further communication until I requested to speak with a manager. Eventually, a manager named Yousif came over, seated our group, and began to assist.

It took another 15 minutes before anyone came to take our drink orders. While we waited with just water and soft drinks, Yousif manager named Yousif as well returned to check in, and at that moment, I told him things were starting to improve. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.

Our appetizers arrived cold and greasy. The kids' burgers were lukewarm, and all of our hot stones—meant to be the centerpiece of the dining experience—were barely warm, while other tables had rocks that were audibly sizzling To make matters worse, our baked potatoes were served at room temperature, with no sour cream or condiments, despite my wife requesting them three times.

In hindsight, I could have chosen a place with better quality, but I genuinely wanted my wife and our family to enjoy a special evening together. Instead, I felt embarrassed. The experience fell far below expectations, and unfortunately, it became the topic of criticism for the rest of the night—particularly from my brother and father-in-law, who both commented on how far the restaurant had declined.

This post may not matter much to some, but it reflects a real decline in the value, excitement, and service that once defined this place. One thing I’ve learned from my years in customer service is this: everyone deserves respect, and the details matter. The steak not only lacked flavor, it smelled and tasted reminiscent of a buffet chain I haven’t visited in over a decade.

Here’s a takeaway: A satisfied customer may tell 10 to 15 people about a good experience. But a poor experience? That travels much further than 20 to 30 people, easily amplified by social media. Now multiply that by the 12 adults in our party, and you’ll understand the impact of a missed...

We had chosen Black rock for anniversaries on Valentine's Day. There was four of us. They had a special two of us took the special and the other two ordered off the menu. The server was very nice, but one of the worst ever, just little mistakes along the way, which were forgivable at first , serving meals without the sides added on lobsters . They came on a dish uncooked, which I guess is OK but absolutely no silverware to deal with them, No drawn butter, which we asked for 2 to 3 times said that they do not serve butter with them. The one gentleman never received his sweet potato. The other gentleman did not get his baked potato, and then when he did , after the meal was already eaten there was no butter or sour cream had to ask , not to mention the appetizer came at a random time after the salads still OK. as for water four times. Came back to ask us if we would like to add on a dessert which they had options that came with the special the other couple ordered the dessert a mini volcano, not very good. One gentleman was cleaning up the table and took the lobster and threw it in the garbage. We were not even done so we asked him to please get us another one which it showed up taken out of its shell so that we could cook it and another gentleman brought us the butter drawn , now we are asking other server so we can just get through the meal. I know they are very busy but this is only 5:00 the start. Ok now it's time for the bill we asked him to put all of it on one bill, but not at the start and he did , our friends Throwing money at the Bill we were throwing it back so we sat down a credit card with the bill and there was money sitting on the table which we had thrown back for a tip from the other couple. It was a little more than 20%. He comes and grabs the credit card the receipt and the cash ( which was not sitting near the bill) The other gentleman had told him after he came back with the receipt that the cash would be his tip which he already assumed it was without question. That server totally Wrecked that meal Everybody agreed they would never go back and I felt bad that I insisted on going there. he needs to learn his job , Read the specials present the food as it's supposed to be in its order sure there's mess ups, but you can't remember the butter and sour cream for a baked potato. Everything came at its own...