I’ve listed seven of the best restaurants in the Petoskey Area in alphabetical order. Each offers something unique, from a dinner theater to a dining experience at a restaurant that was once a Hemingway hangout. You’ll want to take time to experience them all.  

Thank you to the Petoskey Area for hosting some of these foodie experiences.

The Back Lot Petoskey

The Back Lot Petoskey features a bar area with a permanent structure and then seven of the best food truck restaurants surrounding an outdoor eating area. The food trucks include Happy’s Tacos, Phoxie’s Phillies & Grindage, The Reel Deal Fish & Chips, Cheese & Co., Mim’s Mobile Grill, Full Moon Pizza, and Snickerdoodlz. What I like about this venue is the variety. My family often can’t agree on where we want to eat simply because we’re all in the mood for a different type of cuisine. Even when ordering pizza for delivery, we often order from two different pizza places. With the Back Lot Petoskey, problem solved!

The Food Trucks

Happy’s Tacos offers tacos with various protein options, a burrito and a burrito bowl. They also have a vegan menu with several taco options, a burrito, and a burrito bowl.

Phoxy’s Phillies & Grindage features Philly cheesesteak sandwiches with sharables such as fries. Add a milkshake as a beverage or dessert.

The Reel Deal Fish & Chips allows you to choose the type of fish you’d like – Alaskan Cod, Great Lakes Whitefish, Great Lakes Walleye, Grouper, Perch, or Haddock. They serve fish and chips baskets with fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce.

Cheese & Company offers everything from white cheddar cheese curds to grilled cheese sandwiches to mac and cheese. They also have a wide variety of bowls including gluten-free options.

Mim’s Mobile Grill has gyros with various proteins on a toasted pita. They also offer dishes with Mediterranean specialties such as tabbouleh, falafel, hummus and pita, grape leaves, and tzatziki.

Full Moon Pizza features wood-fired specialty pizzas; and you can build your own.

Snickerdoodlz is my go-to food truck for dessert—frozen yogurt, soft serve, and hand-dipped.  

Grab your food at one of your favorite food trucks and seat yourself.

Piper’s Pro Planning: Check the website for each food truck’s open days if you want something specific. Not all food trucks are open daily.

Chandler’s

Located in Petoskey’s Gaslight District, Chandler’s serves progressive American cuisine. The chef changes the menu daily, so what I found on the menu most likely won’t be what you see. Seasonal offerings make the menu special, using local, seasonal ingredients and fresh cuts of fish and beef. It all equals great food.

The venue features three distinct dining rooms — the main dining room, which includes the bar, a patio available in warmer months, and Symons wine cellar. Each location is unique, but all provide an intimate feeling.

My granddaughter wanted to try sushi as a starter, so we went with a California roll that included lump crab, cucumber, avocado, pickled ginger, wasabi, and a combination of soy and mirin. These choices were outside of our typical picks, but we enjoyed it.  

On Saturdays and Sundays, they add some breakfast items to their lunch menu for a weekend brunch. I went for the breakfast skillet that included harvest hash, poblano peppers, shallots, chorizo, cheddar cheese, two eggs, and green onions. The chorizo and poblano peppers added a bit of zip to the dish without making it too spicy. I added a mimosa to accompany it for a proper brunch atmosphere.

While reservations aren’t required, I highly recommend them.

Piper’s Pro Planning: Click here to view their wine list, which is available for pick-up or delivery.

Palette Bistro

Palette Bistro, reminiscent of a restaurant sitting in an art gallery, creates a complete artistic dining experience from its décor to the views and the presentation on the plate. They offer Mediterranean-inspired cuisine, which you can enjoy in one of three areas—the indoor dining room and al fresco dining in either the street side patio or the upper-level deck. You’ll have views of Little Traverse Bay from the dining room’s large windows or the upper-level deck.

The menu features exceptional food with several vegetarian options that are more than a salad. For example, you’ll find an exciting forest floor soup with roasted mushrooms, stewed leeks, cream, and a hint of Fustini’s white truffle oil. Even non-vegetarians will enjoy this filling soup. Other vegetarian dishes include vegetable paella, Margherita pizza, and the Palette salad.

Their large plates include Amish chicken, beef tenderloin, pork chops, and fish and seafood dishes, like salmon, walleye, and seafood paella. The menu showcases a wide variety. I feel confident you’ll find something that pleases your palate.

Piper’s Pro Planning: Palette Bistro has one of the best restaurant water views in all of Petoskey! They’re open daily with weekend hours for brunch.

For an article on restaurants in nearby Traverse City, check out “13 Best Restaurants in Traverse City, Michigan.”

City Park Grill

Located in downtown Petoskey, the City Park Grill is a historic Hemingway haunt history-buffs will love. You can imagine Hemingway writing and smoking at the second seat from the end of the bar, where the charred indentation from his cigar stains the otherwise polished bar. When Hemingway hung out here, the then saloon was the Annex, most likely the inspiration for the saloon in his story The Man of the World. He played billiards and watched bare-fisted fighting in the nearby park when not writing at the bar.

These days, rather than playing billiards or watching boxing in the park, go on Friday night for some karaoke to wind down the week in a comfortable atmosphere.

What to Order

I chose the French onion soup, a classic crock with croutons under a blanket of Provolone and Swiss. The chef dressed up this warm comfort food with a sprinkling of green onion tops for an Instagrammable presentation. To round out the meal, I had a small City Park Salad. Even if your lunch is soup and salad, you won’t need the larger salad, as the small one is large enough even for hearty appetites. The salad started with a bed of mixed greens, then added one of Michigan’s star ingredients, dried cherries. Then came the toasted walnuts, red onion, and crumbled bleu cheese, all topped with a mustard-herb vinaigrette. I added some grilled salmon as a protein.

My dining companion, a local, chose the City Park club and sweet potato fries, which is a rotating favorite. The generous sandwich featured house-smoked turkey layered with Plath’s bacon, Provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. Open wide!

Piper’s Pro Planning: City Park Grill is open daily for lunch and dinner. You’ll find convenient paid parking in the lot across the street.

Petoskey Pretzel Company

Petoskey Pretzel Company features soft, fresh baked pretzels in sweet or savory varieties and over a dozen dips and sauces. You’ll even find seasonal specialties that include the fall’s favorite pumpkin pretzel.

While I typically think of soft, fresh-baked pretzels as an ideal snack, our family quickly made it a light meal at Petoskey Pretzel Company. For a late breakfast offering, you can easily choose the cinnamon and sugar pretzel with cream cheese frosting. We were heading home to Lansing after a weekend in the Petoskey Area. The cheese pretza added protein for a perfect road trip breakfast. It was mozzarella cheese wrapped in house-made pretzel dough and brushed with butter. Either of these pretzels makes a great grab-and-go breakfast.  

Try a Louie’s of Traverse City grilled frank wrapped in the house-made pretzel and brushed with butter for lunch. Add a bag of Great Lakes chips and your favorite beverage to make it a more complete lunch.

Piper’s Pro Planning: They open daily at 11:00 AM.

Pierson’s Grille & Spirits

Pierson’s Grille & Spirits in Harbor Springs features an après ski theme that’s fun any time of the year. They offer upscale pub food while you’ll be comfortable in their casual dress environment. They have a dog-friendly patio, so you can even stop by while taking Rover for a walk and enjoy a refreshing beverage.

Any night is a great time to visit; however, on Thursdays between 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM through Labor Day, the patio is a great place to enjoy Harbor Springs Street Musique. While dining on Pierson’s patio, you can enjoy various local musicians’ music.

Their menu includes upscale entrées like seared Walleye with a beurre blanc served atop a saffron – Parmesan risotto. They accompany it with asparagus for a satisfying meal. For a more down-to-earth meal, you’ll also find pub-style burgers that are equally filling. All the seared burgers are eight-ounce prime Angus, and you can choose various styles. You can go for a standard burger with lettuce, tomato, and onion on a toasted bun or enjoy an olive burger, one of Michigan’s specialty dishes. You won’t regret it, no matter which of the four burgers you select. I opted for a bacon cheddar burger and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you prefer a vegetarian option, you can substitute a Beyond Patty, or if you don’t feel like beef, they also offer chicken breast burgers.

Piper’s Pro Planning: I suggest making reservations as their patio dining is popular during summer.

The Young American’s Dinner Theater

The Young American’s Dinner Theater offers a complete dining experience in the Highlands at Harbor Springs. This dinner theater is unlike any dinner theater I’ve been to in that the theater cast members are also your servers. I found it fun to get to know the cast members more personally while they acted as your servers and then watched them perform. The evening lasts for about three and a half hours, and this is how they orchestrated it.

When you purchase your ticket, you select your meal. You’ll check in at 5:45 PM and prepare for the cocktail reception, which begins at 6:00 PM. At the reception, you’ll find a cash bar and passed appetizers. When we attended, the appetizers included cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped dates and potato croquettes passed on trays by a cast member.

At 6:15, the fun begins, with a grand entrance and kick-off to dinner. As you’re seated, you’ll find a charcuterie board waiting to enjoy while the servers take the stage for another quick song, setting the tone for the evening.

Dinner

The garden salad and house-made rolls came quickly as the young performers hustled to begin presenting our meal. The rolls were so tasty I was left wanting more. I chose the maple bourbon glazed Atlantic salmon garnished with a medley of corn and dried cherries. They served mixed vegetables and mashed potatoes. The other entrée options included a massive piece of oven-roast prime rib with au jus, lemon herbed airline chicken breast, and wild mushroom risotto, the vegan, gluten-free option. What I found notable is that the team could provide excellent service while performing. Our drinks were always full.

After our entrées, but before dessert, the show continued. This year’s theme was the ‘80s, so the song and dance routines brought back memories. How fun!

Finally, they presented a chocolate dessert, and mindful of my nut allergy, they provided a large bowl of fresh berries to top off my meal.

One of the most fun parts of the show was when the cast took the stage for a Question & Answer session. The audience had the opportunity to ask the cast questions, so we got to know the performers even better.

Piper’s Pro Planning: When planning your visit, be aware that the dinner shows run Tuesday through Saturday, late June through mid-August.

Pin this to your favorite Michigan Restaurant board.