River Street Station

My wife and I are always happy with Riverstreet and stop there while passing though Manistee, as it is just a short distance from the highway. We don’t like corporate restaurants and prefer this type of local unique dining. Sitting on their deck right on the riverfront where you can watch the boats or inside with the 100 year old metal ceilings. I love draft beer and they always have a great selection. They will even fill my growler so I can take some home. The fish on Friday nights is the best around. They make their own soups and gumbos and will even cook you catch for you if you bring it in! They typically have new menu items and last time we tried deep fried pork rinds, awesome good. They have a wide menu selection and everything we have ever tried has been delicious. We highly recommend Riverstreet.

Every time I come here I swear it will be the last time, but this time I mean it. The service is always terrible, but we generally watch the poor management as entertainment. This time was beyond humorous. We came for a few drinks and some appetizers. It took an hour for mozzarella sticks and deep fried pickles. We only spoke to our server when she stopped by to apologize. The owner wanders around completely clueless while guests are disappointed. I am not sure how this place makes a profit as each server makes their own drinks. Anyone with a brain knows that this is the best way for an owner to get ripped off by his employees. We watched servers drink on the job and order food to eat on the owners dime. Could be a great place with an owner who had a brain.

Stumbled upon this place while in town. Was starving and was the first place we saw. Food was basic bar food but nothing special. The bartender did not seem to know the beers on tap. Told a Bells Octoberfest was a Oberon. Had a old style tv which was fine. Had a problem with this bar not having the Big Ten network during football season. I could not watch my Wolverines.

Anyone who gives this place less than three stars is not considering it’s the local bar in a town full of tourists 6 months of the year. So I gave it three stars.
They used to have bands on New Year’s Eve, but no longer. Long live Machine Gun Rodeo.

Came in here on an off day for lunch, it was quiet and chill, the patio was too cold so we sat inside. Got the mini tacos for an appetizer, they are store bought but deep fried, so it was whatever. The Ruben was decent and Orange mandarin chicken salad was good too, but it seems like all the food is from a food company and not home made. I will def not come back during my trip but I have been to worse.

Don’t waste your time! Only two waitresses working on a holiday weekend. The inside was not busy and we still had to wait almost an hour for food. Two tables even walked out after waiting so long was no update on their food orders. The worse part was the owner was there and did not offer help to the staff or apologize to the customers. Food was average and not worth the wait.

I am currently on vacation in Manistee for the fourth of July and, understandably this place was packed from the holiday.
I work in the restaurant industry, so I understand and can deal with slow service when a holiday is going on, and I understand Manistee is a tourist town.
With that being said, the experience I had here was god awful.
We had time to kill before fireworks, and wanted to grab a beer and food.
We sat ourselves on the patio, and waited for the waitress to come over.
She started out by saying that they had been extremely busy, kitchen is backed up, and it would be an hour and a half for food. We appreciated her honesty and since we had time, we decided to stay.
It took her 20 minutes to even get our drink orders, because she felt the need to clear off tables, and warn incoming customers about the wait, before even helping us.
By this time we all had decided what we wanted and wanted to get her attention and order everything at once.
First I wanted the cedar planked salmon, she told me to not order it because it would take even longer than the hour and a half since it’s cooked on a cedar plank. I asked if they could grill it, she said no. Then I asked for grilled cod, and she said that would take too long, and to order it fried. Which I didn’t want. So finally i settled for a burger. When I wanted a salad as a side she discouraged that too, and said it would take to long and to go with coleslaw? Uh how does a salad take so long?
Finally after we all settled for what she talked us into ordering, she finally got our drinks. My mom’s diet Pepsi tasted like RC, not Pepsi. In which my mom couldn’t even complain, since the waitress went on and on about how she works two jobs, and has worked all week, and blah blah blah. I zoned her out.
I work two jobs with long hours in restaurants too. I NEVER give sob stories to my tables.
She came back with refills on beer we never ordered, but left everyone’s sodas untouched. When we finally asked for refills she TOOK THE GLASS BACK TO THE RESTAURANT instead of bringing new ones. And held the glasses by the rim. GROSS.
Finally our food came out MEDIOCRE at best. My burger came on rye bread, not even a bun. I hate rye bread and had no idea it even came on it because I didn’t have enough time to figure that out because I didn’t intend on ordering a burger in the first place.
I understand it’s the fourth of July, but COME ON, it is not hard to refill drinks, even with a full section.
The worst part of this was my aunt and I really liked the t-​shirts that the servers were wearing, when we asked if they had them for sale (since we are tourists and would like to buy a few for us and family back home) she said they were in the attic and she’s not going up there to get them. (By that time the bar cleared out, and I’m sure someone could walk upstairs and grab a few shirts.) That was the point where she could have won us over and gotten a great tip. NOPE.
Horrendous.

Very slow service. Friendly, but slow. It wasn’t the waitresses fault, the two that were trying to wait on the whole place on a Saturday during lunch time in late June in a very touristy area of Michigan. That would be management’s fault. The food was subpar and the patio had these itty-​bitty umbrellas that left most of the people at the table in the direct sunlight.
I would have given this one star but those two waitresses kept a smile on their faces and were very apologetic. Poor gals were obviously stressed out.
Our daughter and her friends were getting ready to head in to this restaurant as we were heading out. We told them what was going on and they went somewhere else.

Great location and hidden bar gem. Poor planning on a holiday weekend left us waiting over an hour to eat. Two waitresses for 26 tables.

Nice bar in downtown Manistee. There’s a great patio for the summer months right on the river so it’s nice scenery.
The inside area is pub-​like… nothing spectacular. Solid… good… pub food. Good prices. Ok selection of beers.
One of the few restaurants in downtown Manistee, but a good one to go to!