White House Bistro

Service was awful. We had to get our own menus and bill. Waited for a longtime for our food. Server never checked in during the meal… The place wasn’t even busy, but maybe they were understaffed.
Falafel — good
Chicken gyro — not actually a gyro. Meh.
House Salad w/​Chicken — Awful. Salad was okay but the chicken ruined the entire dish. They put sautéed chicken thigh covered in grease on the salad. Who puts dark meat on a fresh spring salad? So strange. Half of the meat was chunks of fat & skin. I didn’t eat the chicken. Plus, I didn’t need to even put dressing on my salad because it was covered in oil/​fat from the chicken. Definitely not worth $ 14. I wish I could have a do-​over.

Good food, good beer, good service. Did I mention great food? I will be back. I recommend the fish dish with the mussels to start. Service is friendly and knowledgeable. Compliments to the chef

Great lunch on the patio. My husband had the Sicilian sandwich with curly fries. He said it was the best he’s had in a long time. I had the chicken Gyro with a side of sautéed vegetables. The naan bread was soft and fresh, the chicken was good but should have been seasoned more during cooking. The sauce, etc. on the gyro did provide good flavor. The side of veggies was outstanding — broccoli, zuchini, mushrooms (fresh) and carrots were perfectly cooked and seasoned. Would come back.

Nicole was such a pleasant and sweet waitress. Prompt, but not overbearing. Food was delicious. Highly recommend the seafood bisque!

We arrived just before 10:00 p.m., thinking they were open until 2:00 a.m. (which is what I read somewhere… maybe on Unilocal). It turns out only the bar is open until 2:00 a.m. We were ready to head out but the gentleman who greeted us offered to check with the chef to see if he could accommodate us for dinner. He returned and said the chef would be «delighted» to do so. Plus one for great service immediately!
The beer list was great (Old Rasputin is always a welcome sight!). They were out of the beer my wife chose but offered a few replacement options. She enjoyed the one they suggested.
The food was incredibly good. Very creative and inspired. I had the filet and it came with a variety of sides that had incredible flavors and textures. Wonderful! My wife had a gyro and said it was the best she ever had. Fresh and tasty.
We visited lots of restaurants in Saugatuck and we both agreed this was one of the best. We’ll definitely be back (at an earlier time) when we return to town!

Stopped in here last night with some friends for dinner and we were pleasantly surprised by not only our dinner choices but, also with the service we received from Patrick. His dinner recommendations were spot on and his witty humor was welcoming! We’ve been to Saugatuck many times over the last few years and have never tried the White House for dinner. Needless to say, we will for sure be returning!

The positives: friendly staff and great drinks.
The negatives: while the cost was reasonable, the food was marginal; two of our dishes came with prawns which were not shelled — both were very sauce based which made shelling the prawns impractical. The challenge of the dish was brought to the attention of the manager who did not act on the comments. The wine list is very limited and heavily skewed to MI houses.
We shall not be returning, which is a shame as the venue is very nice.

Very good food. Service was ok. Sat on the patio which was a fun ambiance. My husband got the fish special and I got the falafel. We were both happy with our meals.
FYI– there is no lunch menu so expect to pay dinner prices. My husbands special was $ 26 for lunch!

Quaint outdoor porch served well by an attentive staff. Menu excels in the area of seafood — we loved the lobster roll, which was amazing to find so well done outside of Massachusetts. App standouts are definitely the short ribs. For a finale, try the unique beer float — it’s a killer juxtaposition of bitter, malty, buttery, and sweet. Wins on all fronts, but pricey.

The food was good. My problem was the service. The waitress couldn’t stop asking if she could take our plates. She kept saying «no rush», but was clearly trying to push us out quickly. After I finished my beer, she never bothered to ask if I wanted another — she simply took the glass and left. The tables and chairs were all being moved during the middle of our meal. To top it off, our bill had an automatic 20% tip added on a party of two. I hope my message reaches the management because the food was good. I want to see this place do well. FIX YOUR SERVICE! Let people enjoy their meals! Make your waitstaff provide good service to earn their tips!

The best fish we have had in Saugatuck! Outdoor seating is really a nice touch. Service was great and the food is always very good. Highly recommend the Bistro.

Since we went over Fourth of July weekend I hope that’s why the experience was so poor. After taking over five minutes to be greeted our server was a hot mess. The food was mediocre at best. Our server OFCOURSE took forever to get our bill and didn’t get us a detailed copy after I gave him my card. I’m 99% sure we were over charged but I was to angry to wait longer. I would not recommend this restaurant nor will I ever go back.

We were in Saugatuck on the 4^th of July with our grandson and were looking for a spot to eat lunch. It just so happens we found a parking space around the corner from The White House Bistro.
We had never been before and took a chance. The weather was fantastic so we sat outside on the porch. Our waitress, Cecelia, was great. Very helpful with the menu, very friendly, and attentive.
We ordered a burger for our grandson, oysters on the half shell and fried oysters for appetizers. All were very good. For lunch we ordered a Lobster Roll and an Italian Sub served warm. Both were OUTSTANDING.
The menu was quite diverse and offered a great selection of salads, sandwiches, main courses for dinner, and desserts. It is safe to say that this will be our new «go to spot» in Saugatuck!

Probably the worst restaurant we’ve been to in Saugatuck. We waited for 50 minutes after placing our orders, and finally had to get everything to go as we had to leave, and this was after asking our server to expedite the order as much as possible since we were in a hurry, I can’t imagine how long a normal order would take.
One thing we ordered was the Bouillabaisse based on their recommendation; we were told it was supposed to be a big bowl of all kinds of fresh seafood, what we got was a half full soup container. The worst part is everything was very stale, felt like they just poured a couple of canned seafood and heated it up. The shrimps’ heads were already black and smelt stinky, and everything was extremely salty. It was so awful that it was practically inedible, and obviously we couldn’t even tell the kitchen since we had to take everything to go, not sure if that had anything to do with the quality of the food. The only thing I can say is, definitely stay away from Bouillabaisse!

Good food but especially loved the atmosphere. The two bartenders were very friendly and took care of us all night.

White House Bistro is an exercise in duality. The menu screams gourmet, the presentation is certainly top-​notch and the taste matches. We had the crab cake appetizer, fried oysters and the falafel sandwich and all 3 were fantastic.
The surreal part of the experience is the décor, which isn’t «bad» per se but it’s a kitchy beach house vibe where there’s a giant spoon anchored to a wall, TV’s everywhere and weathered wood panels painted with pastel colors. It’s also fairly-​brightly lit. In some ways it feels like you wandered into a beach house restaurant that should be serving fish tacos and beer but you can easily order a $ 50 crab legs dinner or a filet and have it match even a Chicago steakhouse.
Everyone there was dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, so my date and I felt overdressed, but that was the only negative to be seen. Definitely not a sexy date place despite the «bistro» title, but the food is fantastic so I recommend it without reservation.

My wife and I came to this place on our anniversary trip to Saugatuck. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it is pretty nice inside with white butcher paper on all the tables.
The staff was pretty friendly. No complaints there. The bartender made some suggestions about what whiskey to get in my Old Fashioned, which I much appreciate.
I ordered the Seafood Linguine (by the way, this replaced the Seafood Ravioli on the online menu). The pasta was made with squid ink, I believe, because it was jet black instead of the normal pasta color. The dish was excellent, with the only change I could think of being to go with whole pieces of shrimp and lobster rather than the meatballs that combined the two. The texture just didn’t work for me. The rest off the dish was pleasantly spicy with good portioning.
My wife ordered The Corruption, which was pork loin with vegetables with a pork jowl bacon au jus. It was very good, well seasoned. The complaint about this dish is that it is served in a bowl; it might have been better served by being on a plate with the au jus poured over the top instead of everything in a bowl soaking in the au jus. I tried a couple bites and it was still delicious, though.
Everything considered, it was a good place with good food with good employees. I’d recommend it.

WHB is a good spot for a nice dinner. The food was fresh and offered many outside of the box options. I had the Phish Stuff and it was Peruvian ceviche and it was AWESOME. My wife had the seafood linguini and it was only ok. The other two in our party had 1 great meal and one only ok meal.
The staff was very accommodating and Lexi was a friendly waitress.
Good spot for fresh local food and a relaxed atmosphere

With not many options for a carnivore and vegetarian to agree on, we bypassed the appetizers and got soup. Their hearty and flavorful tomato soup quickly helped us get over the limited apps being offered. We soon found out that the sandwiches were even more delicious than the soup. The «Immigrant» and «Hold the Meat» were extremely flavorful and filling.
My one complaint would have to do with the sides. Not wanting kettle chips again (seems to be a reoccurring theme in Michigan), I was only left with curly fries… which were $ 3 more and not all that good. However, I would still recommend this restaurant to anyone in the area.

New ownership. Super nice staff. GREAT food. The kind of place you can eat an amazing meal while listening to ‘80s hair metal (if that’s your thing).
Turns into a more conventional bar, sometimes with local cover bands (with a few originals) and it’s one of the few places in town that can Phil of catering to both the twenty-​somethings and the older clientele who vacation here.