The Fenton Hotel

I really like The Fenton Hotel. The building is very old and the vintage charm shows through. Copper-​plated ceiling in lobby, old photographs, dim lighting, nice little touches throughout. It’s a neat place. The menu has information on the history of the hotel and stories of it being haunted. That freaks me out, but I still like the place.
I’ve been here a few times and the food has been quite good each time. You will be served warm doughy breadsticks, and they are amazing. Entrees include salads (house, or asian with ramen noodles), and entrée portions are generous. I have tried two chicken dishes — the sherry chicken that was creamy and rich, and the Traverse City cherry chicken that was almost too sweet but still tasted good.
One of the visits here was for a birthday, and they supplied us with a big, albeit thin, slice of chocolate layer cake. It was a great (and delicious) ending to a nice meal. We’ll definitely be back — they also take reservations which is very helpful.

My wife and I had a wonderful meal here Thursday celebrating our wedding anniversary. We both ordered steaks that were cooked perfectly and very flavorful. She had the Filet and I had the NY Strip. We enjoyed the salads and the side items as well. We both had a wonderful dessert to finish our meal. We were both impressed with both the quality of the food and the service received that we made reservations for Mother’ Day Brunch for the entire family. We look forward to this experience.

Sat at piano bar for over 20 min without any service whatsoever. No one saying I’ll be right with you, no one saying hello, nothing. Sat there thirsty with $ to burn and not a chance in hell we were going to be waited on.

Great food, good service, live entertainment on some nights, classy atmosphere. Great for date night. The only con is the place is super crowded on weekends. I recommend making a reservation, especially if you’re hoping for a seat in the bar area.

Best place to eat in Fenton! We go here all the time and are never disappointed. They have exceptional service and outstanding food. The menu is changing daily which can only mean one thing… FRESH! Been going here for years and have no complaints.

This restaurant is beautiful and holds a lot of charm but the food lacks any kind of depth. The Caesar salad was wet which to me is just salad 101. Secondly, when you have a dish described on your menu, prepare it as described, don’t just do something else. The «crusted» fish was just breaded in crumbs.
The macaroni and cheese was decent. I can’t say the service was spectacular but it was adequate. For being an «upscale» locale, I was really expecting a lot more.
We were very disappointed and for the price, it was a big let down.

Friends took us to dinner here it was very good. My husband and I both had the French Onion soup, it was delicious, not too salty like some can be. Our meals were excellent, I am sure not a lot of people order liver and onions but it was cooked perfectly and was yummy. Highly recommended, bread sticks were very good hot and crispy but soft in the middle served with real butter. Service was great as well. We will be back for sure.

I have to amend my statements about the food; I went to the Fenton Hotel recently and ordered a Cubano sandwich… Omg, it was amazing! Unfortunately, when I went again later it was no longer on the menu. It must have been a special. Bummer!

Had my bridal shower here and everyone LOVED it! The service was unbelievable and the food was amazing! We had over 40 people and everything went great! I highly recommend a shower or event here!

See Joe at the bar for drinks sit bar side for music and enjoy the weekend crowd for a hot night out with your lady friend

Great bar, good place but the food comes in small portions for the price. And being that I live in the neighborhood, I really wish they’d stop the flocks of smokers from standing on the corners and having their drunken smoke parties in between cocktails. Respect the neighborhood please:)

The food and atmosphere are second to none!

We came here on an early Thursday evening for dinner. My wife and I always prefer bar area when available. It has an awesome dark wood bar with the old school speakeasy vibe and Joe the bartender is super nice and can keep a full bar humming along like a pro. They have a very decent tap selection of Michigan Micro brews including the elusive Hopslam (Jackpot!)
They had a early dinner menu that you can order from up till 6pm that has some amazing deals. My wife got the Perch dinner and I got a strip steak. We both opted for the Shellfish Bisque soup upgrade that comes with the dinner and they also come with breadsticks.
These breadsticks were amazing. Hot from the oven and generously salted, they were delicious. And the soup was perfection in a bowl… Oh how I feel bad for those poor souls who are allergic to shellfish, for you shall never know this amazing treat of the Fenton Hotel. If you are not allergic or even mildly, do yourself a favor, bring the eppy-​pen and order the Shellfish Bisque, it’s that good.
The Perch was a huge ocean perch fillet that was lightly breaded with a perfectly crunchy crust and was a very mild tasting fish cooked perfectly.
The Strip steak was also cooked a perfect medium rare and was very tender for a strip cut. It came in a nice pool of beef gravy that tasted home made and real mashed potatoes with lumps and all. Finished with some mushrooms on top, it was a solid meal.
We left smiling, painfully stuffed and with leftovers. As for the few bad reviews that seem to center around the customer service — Joe the bartender was very friendly and super attentive throughout our meal despite having a packed bar on an early Thursday night, that was NEGATIVE 10 DEGREES! which is a review of sorts in its own right for this awesome place!

I’m a big fan of the Fenton Hotel. The bar is warm and inviting, and the food never disappoints (get the coconut shrimp when they have it). For me though, the best thing about the Hotel is the ambiance. The bartenders and servers are always very friendly, the other patrons are always happy, and the experience is great. This is a perfect first «fancy» date location, special night out with your spouse location, or dinner with friends location.

We had a delightful time here! I don’t see why there are so many mixed reviews, but I suppose it is a good thing that I didn’t see any of them before arriving here. :)
Two of our friends had been here before, and had a fun time, so when we had wrapped up a movie-​filled night, this was a great place to hang out, grab some drinks, and munch on a few bites. Not to mention, we did this pretty late in the evening (~9:30pm on a Saturday night), so it was nice that they were still open for dinner service.
Parking is a cinch, and the entrance to the hotel is charming. There are two restaurants that are separated from the lobby — one is a tavern, and the other is the grille. Based on the volume of people, I’d say that the grille is the part of the hotel that remains opened later.
Once we stepped into the space, I immediately noticed the live music and the fun vibe. Loads of people were hanging out by the bar and table tops, having a great time. Though it was loud, the music more than made up for it. The guy who was seeing cover songs was seriously talented!
We walked by the dessert tray, to which our friend exclaimed, «Oh I got to have me some of that!» All I noticed was that the desserts were HUGE!
We sat down, and perused the menu. Husband and I decided to split their pumpkin, roasted apples, bacon soup ($ 2.99 for a cup), chicken française, and a bottle of newcastle beer. Soup was good, though a bit too sweet. Good texture, nicely puréed, and good portion. Enough for two people to split. Chicken Française was a very generous portion (~8 oz. of chicken meat) with an equally tasty linguine tossed in a garlic olive oil mixture. I would have liked less oil, but it was still delicious nonetheless. For $ 13.95, the price was a total steal. We were happy campers.
The beer rounded out the meal and was refreshing. I haven’t had a newcastle in quite some time, so it was a nice change of pace from my usual Short’s, Bell’s, Founder’s, or OddSide beer.
I have to say that the only thing that perturbed me was our server, but he was a nice guy. He seemed very scatter brained and disorganized.
Overall, this is a great local place to enjoy fab music and good eats. It’s not fine dining by any means, but the character of the place, warm vibe, and satisfying food, make it worth coming back to over and over again.
If you happen to find yourself in Fenton, give this place a try. It’s great for families, and also with friends. :)

My wife and I visited the Fenton Hotel on our date night. We were both equally disappointed. We were so looking forward to a wonderful evening and a great meal but instead got bland and cold dinners. My Jambalaya was tasteless with the consistency of oatmeal. LaChoy or even wieght watches could do better! My wife was blessed with a cold, bland slab of Prime Rib which is a hard meal to botch! We both taste tested each others meal for positive confirmation of our disbelief of such mediocrity that usually is only witnessed at a bad experence at Big Boy with your grandparents! When then decided to send both meals back after the 2 small bites and pay for our drinks (which were good) and get something actually palettable elsewhere. Unfortunately, management felt we should pay for the prime rib (full price) as they could not serve it to someone else. Hmmm. We may have given them a second chance had they admitted their mistake. Instead, they agreed it was cold and stated that they really didn’t do anything to season their meat so it is bland and then charge us full price! Hint… go to The Laundry, Fenton Fire Hall, or Fenton House before you waiste your time and hard earned money at The Fenton Hotel! Or just go to Big Boy with your grandparents for the same meal and save $ 100! Moral of the story… date nights are too precious to waiste at The Fenton Hotel! FYI… we love our grandparent.

The salmon pâté is now white fish pâté, the prime rib which they were known for they didn’t have. I ordered the pecan crusted fish, it was overcooked and it was as if they spread jelly and uncooked pecans on top. The ahi tuna had no spices or finishing touches. My veggies tasted as if they came out of a microwaveable steam pack. The food was so bland, and the service was struggling. This place is not what it used to be. The best part of the night was the guitar player. He played every single request, and played them WELL. DISAPPOINTED the prices went down and so did the quality. I’d rather pay more for better food.

I really like the atmosphere here, very dim and cozy. I’m always a fan of old places with character, it adds to the ambiance. The food has always been great here. The service is ok.

The drinks were great, the food was good and I would have loved to give this place at least 4 stars. However, the managerial staff is beyond rude and terribly insensitive and I couldn’t justify rating this place more than one star.
I attended a funeral for a man who was tragically killed in a traffic accident. After the service, the wife called ahead to let the Fenton Hotel know that a large group of about 20 – 25 people were coming for dinner and drinks. We arrived and made our way to the bar area (the dining room was completely empty and the bar was about ¹⁄₃ full). We took up a large table in the back and about 10 of us decided to sit in the first two booths. We immediately started ordering drinks and a few ordered appetizers prior to making their dinner selections.
The manager came over with her snotty attitude and in her most condescending voice told us, «if any regular diners come in, your group would have to leave the restaurant because I can’t allow you all to take up tables just for cocktailing.» We politely told her that we WERE regular diners and that we weren’t just having cocktails, we planning on eating dinner and had already ordered appetizers. «I understand that, but I am going to either have to move you into the dining area or you’ll have to leave.»
What?!?
Everyone had already ordered appetizers and at least one drink — they were going to kick us out? I thought it was rude and tasteless to treat a group of customers like this especially because we were practically the only customers they had at that time AND they knew we were all coming from a funeral. It was disgusting and I know many of us wanted to leave and go somewhere more welcoming… we stayed but vowed never to return. They just lost 25 potential regular customers.

Grew up in Holly, worked in Fenton for 8 years, never went here til yesterday. We sat at the bar and Megan was our bartender. She was extremely pleasant and the food was phenomenal! I had the Chicken Francaise and my husband had the Lake Perch with Seafood Bisque! AMAZING!
My only complaint was we didn’t see any spirits of days gone by… maybe next time.