The Thistle — Restaurant in Weldon Township

We ate at the Thistle last evening. It was the first dinner out solo my wife and I have had for a long time. Our server was excellent and so was another woman who checked on us.

The manager was polite but it was one comment from him regarding our overly fishy $48 Seabass special that really sunk the experience. The fish itself was so fishy that the flavor even seeped into the risotto it was served with. My wife and I are no strangers to eating fish or dining out and when the manager asked how the food was we told him. His response was delivered politely but felt pretty condescending:

“Have you ever had sea bass before? It is a white fish and is does have a more robust flavor.” Something to that effect. We were pretty sure that was not our experience so quick search yielded this result. (See picture) I guess decide for yourself. As a token of goodwill they offered a free dessert which we took and it really was disappointing. It was an espresso cookie that seemed like it was maybe a few days old.

My chicken sous vide was delicious and we both ate all of that. Together we ate maybe half of the Seabass, we even ordered more sauce to try to balance or mask the fishiness, but shame on us for not...

We had dinner there for my birthday last night. I can't say enough about the food. Our appetizer of Brussels Sprouts was great. It had an unexpected sweet glaze which I wouldn't normally like, but this was fantastic. My girlfriend had the vegetable turkey soup which was great and I had the chili. Again it's a sweeter chili which is not my favorite, but was still delicious. For our main courses she had blackened grouper. It was fantastic. I had the Suze vide 1/2 chicken. I only ate the leg thigh and wing because by now I was full. It was amazing. Even better than the grouper. My girlfriend secretly ordered caramel apple crisp for dessert which came to the table with a candle.

The chicken was recommended by our wonderful waitress Kelli. Kelli was awesome, attentive and personable and helped make my birthday dinner special. I cannot give enough praise to Kelli and this place in general. They comped our desert for my birthday.

I almost forgot to mention. My girlfriend had the Wipeout. A warm chocolatey/minty drink which was fantastic. I had regular hot chocolate. Maybe the best I've ever had.

If you're ever at Crystal Mountain, have a meal at the Thistle. You...

Food was just ok and server forgot our child's drink and didn't come back for a long time so we had to ask the person bringing our appetizer to get it which she promptly did and that was nice, but then the other server who wasn't our actual server who brought us our food- I very politely asked-" I see everyone else was able to get the jug of water for their table would we be able to get one as well please?" I then get told by skinny dark haired name starts with an "A" Kid- " uhhh...well that's a really odd question" and then walks away. He did bring us the water but seriously? Why is asking for water we didn't get that everyone else got odd?(and I'm pregnant I can't be drinking booze or soda pops like everyone else here😠) Why tf is that weird or odd. I'm supposed to feel bad asking for more water when the waitress didn't come back all of us were out of drinks and it's odd to ask for a refill? Thanks for being EXTREMELY RUDE to your guests just bc they wanted some Pretty Basic service 🙄😒 Well be...