Shepherd Bar

This place is a whole new world compared to the small town diner/​dive bar it was when I last visited it about 15 years ago. First, it now takes up three full store fronts. Second, it has a WAY more «upscale» feel than it ever did. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a small town bar/​restaurant, but they have put a LOT of time and money into «classing» it up. And the food is leagues better than I expected. We showed up for the Sunday Brunch Buffet (which is a hell of a bargain at only $ 8.99) just before they opened their doors at 10. The waitress was super friendly and let us in a few minutes early and got our drinks while they finished putting out the last of the buffet items. Once we got started, I was quite impressed with the lineup of goods. There was fried chicken, scrambled eggs, hash browns, homemade sausage, bacon, French toast sticks, Belgian waffles, macerated strawberries, biscuits, sausage gravy, vegetable strata, corn, mashed potatoes, Salisbury steak, bread pudding, and cinnamon rolls. There might have been more, but I think I got it all. It was all quite good, too. The sausage and gravy were clearly home made as was the bread pudding. The chef came out to make sure everything was going smoothly and you could literally see the pride on his face as he smiled over his work. That’s when I spotted the likely reason for the extreme attention to detail: he was wearing a well loved hat from The Embers. For you young’ns, The Embers was Mt. Pleasant’s long standing fine dining steak house that finally closed up shop several years ago. I asked if he had worked there and he said that he had for over 16 years and that both the vegetable strata and bread pudding recipes were of Embers origins. I gotta say that I was pretty impressed and had not expected that level of cooking expertise in Shepherd. Our server was a star also and was constantly on top of things. Then to make things just shine, I saw on their tap list that they have beers by Right Brain from Traverse City, and my favorite, Rochester Mills Milkshake Stout (so very, very, VERY good!). All in all, I’m pretty damned impressed to see what this place has become, especially in light of what it was. Kudos.

Had a great dinner here. Yummy steaks, baked potatoes and club sandwiches. Staff is very friendly too.

A great small town restaurant and bar with really good food and friendly staff.
My first visit was on a Friday night. It was busy but the staff, including our waitress Sara, were on their game and made it a really pleasant dining experience. Wife and I had the cod dinner and golden shrimp dinner while the kids had chicken tenders.
Everyone really enjoyed their meals and it was reasonably priced, totaling $ 40 for our family of four, including two adult beverages.
If you’re in the area and looking for a good bite to eat, I definitely recommend it!

I visit the Shepherd Bar every time I am in town. It has great and friendly service, a pretty good size menu and is a clean and fun restaurant/​bar. It is Family friendly and you will always see every age from small children to senior citizens. Good selection of cold beer, wine & mixed drinks. I can’t hardly get past ordering the broasted chicken as it is so delicious, but every thing that I have had on the menu has been hot, fresh & tasty. My boyfriend always gets the steak hoagie and he says it is one of the best sandwiches he has ever had. Fun place & casual atmosphere. Prices are very reasonable. I love it.

Every time we visit my Grandma the kids look forward to having pizza from the Shepherd Bar. It is hand tossed and very yummy When my Grandfather was alive he loved this place and it hasn’t changed in the consistent quality of food. This last time I had the Chicken Cherry Salad and it was so very yummy. We can’t wait for next year!

We went to Shepherd Bar when they had a limited menu at the tail end of the Maple Syrup Festival. The downtown area was pretty dead, but this place was hopping — filled with happy people drinking good beer and enjoying the evening. The Sunday special (broasted chicken) was quite good, and the «signature» hoagies received good reviews from our group. The maple syrup beer (brewed by Saugatuck Brewing) was excellent.
Unfortunately, the pizza was just okay. It looked great, but fresh toppings (instead of what tasted like canned) would have improved the taste a lot.
All said, this is a great little bar/​restaurant in a region of Michigan where it’s hard to find a decent place to eat. With most of the good Mt. Pleasant restaurants closed on Sundays, this may be our future go-​to place, especially on a Sunday.

went in a few hours ago while heading up north for the weekend. people were nice and all buy my food was ok at best. it greatly dissappoints me when i go into a bar and i order a burger and it is a pre formed frozen patty. and there is no recouperating after that. glad i tried it out, but will never be back

One of the best places in Shepherd to eat. I love their breakfast. Everybody knows everybody and a very family friendly place. Must try the ham omelet. Its the best I ever had!

Surprisingly good. I headed over here on a Friday around 6:00 p.m. for the sole purpose of having a locally-​produced beer that happens to be on tap here. I hadn’t ever been to the place, and frankly, I wasn’t expecting very much. Shepherd is a tiny town, largely agriculturally focused, and so I was expecting to be in a small-​town, dingy bar, filled with rednecks and barely passable food.
Boy was I wrong.
While it does have a full bar, the place has a sizable restaurant side to it, and the whole place was very clean and tastefully decorated. It’s not upscale by any means, but it has a great «homey» and welcoming feel to the place. Plus, I was surprised at the crowd — and it was very large crowd on this early Friday evening — was comprised of people of all ages and walks of life. This was clearly a community gathering spot, ranging from young kids to senior citizens.
The huge crowd was also indicative of another thing… the food is fantastic. I went for the basic hamburger, but it’s easily one of the best burgers I’ve had in a long time. It was a full ½ pound of meat, and and tasted like it was fresh off a backyard grill. Plus, it was tastefully arranged on my plate, and served with fantastic crisp-​on-​the-​outside-​fluffy-​on-​the-​inside french fries (which lacked any sense of «greasy-​ness»). My wife had a quesadilla plate, which she also complimented as being quite good, and it certainly looked appetizing on the plate.
Besides the basic «pub grub,» their menu indicated a fairly wide range of dishes, including some that I certainly wouldn’t have expected to find in a small town (that night both frog’s legs and cod loins were featured as specials. Seriously).
My wife and I sat at the bar to eat (like I said… it was really busy that night), but the bartender was extremely pleasant, and looking around the room I saw plenty of smiling and apparently happy wait staff. These folks clearly seemed to want to make sure you had a nice time while you were in their establishment.
To sum up: great food, great service, and in a clean family-​friendly environment. It was not at all what I was expecting from a small town «bar.» It’s well worth a stop off the highway if you’re traveling on US-​127, or for the quick 7-​minute trip down from Mt. Pleasant if you’re staying up there.
Kudos to Shepherd Bar & Restaurant… you’ve got quite the place.