Old Mission Tavern

My wife and I dined there Sunday evening and had a pleasant dinner. We ordered the whitefish spread appetizer which came oven baked with enough toasted rounds to easily feed four. Very tasty.
Bread was a fresh baked small loaf just out of the oven, also great. The mixed green salad which came with our meal was good, not outstanding with a good house made honey mustard dressing.
Both our entrees were the parmesan whitefish, very well prepared and tasted great. The wild rice accompaniment was also good, but the green bean vegetable was just warm but raw. Portions were generous.
The ambience was friendly, appealing, old school with much art adorning the walls. Service was again friendly and attentive, but we felt the food bit pricey for what we received. A good place to take guests for a special dinner when you have time.

This place is open for lunch in Wednesday’s. Don’t know why Unilocal thinks they are closed.

Horrible food. We had to go to a business dinner here and I called ahead to ask if they could accommodate gluten free and they said they could do fish. When I sat down at the table and asked the waitress she said «we can take the gluten off anything» wrong answer to a celiac diner. I asked to speak to the chef and she seemed very put out. The cook came out and explained what he could do. I ordered and the waitress again was clueless asking if I wanted breading. My meal came and after 3 bites I felt ill and had to take Benadryl and a stomach reliever. I did not finish my meal and felt horrible all day and night. There is a reason this place is in the middle of no where.

Totally great food — don’t miss this place if in the traverse city area — great wine list — food is great from burgers to lamb — can’t be beat staff is added value — would highly recommend Tara’s as a waitress…

One of our best meals on the peninsula! Had the whitefish, which was prepared excellently, and the special of the day, a grilled cheese with swiss, havarti, tomato and ham. All quite good. Nice service and a good experience. Not too pricey, either (compared to some other restaurants on Old Mission)

Just an update, since my last review was three years ago. Dinner last night was remarkably delicious, and I recommend Old Mission Tavern to any discerning diner.

We had a great time here. First and foremost, Sandy is an old-​school, ‘right way’ kind of server. She took her time, knew the menu, established a bond with us and took care of us well. Service like that isn’t the standard anymore, so I appreciate it when I experience it.
The ambience reminded us of a little inn-​tavern in our village back in the MKE area (Pandl’s for anyone who knows it). But there was a stark difference (sorry Pandl’s :-() — the food here was excellent.
You must try the smoked whitefish dip. It is a local favorite, but it is now a Bautista family favorite. We went with a couple of glasses of local wine (did I mention the peninsula seems to be Michigan’s wine country?). I had a malbec that was tasty and the wife had a late harvest riesling that she indicated was sufficiently sweet (for her taste — which is pretty sweet).
My wife had the rack of lamb — it was tasty (the shitake sauce was good — I fought her for some [tip: she doesn’t even like mushrooms much]). I had the prime rib and was not disappointed. Both proteins could’ve been fired a little more on the rare side, but they didn’t lose any taste or juice.
Our daughter had the seafood linguini with the white/​alfredo sauce. She didn’t complain and ate all of her seafood out of the noodles with a quickness (which means they must’ve been very tasty).
All entrees came with a salad — which we ordered with the home made bleu cheese dressing. The dressing was a champ!
The two red meat entrees came with both mashed potatoes (which had a pleasant but surprising sweet finish — marzipan?) and asparagus. Good complements, both.
We had to try a dessert, so with it being Michigan’s cherry country, we went with the cherry cobbler (more of a cake than a pie-​style cobbler). It came with a HEAPING scoop of tasty vanilla ice cream and topped with fresh whipped cream.
Needless to say, we rolled out of there happy, round, and en route to catch the sunset a few minutes North (Lighthouse Park). Well done, Old Mission Tavern!

One of my «top ten» favorite restaurants in Michigan. The food is superb without being overly pricey, and the service is consistently good. I first stopped in years ago, thinking that given the name the place would be a «burger and beer» joint, but was pleasantly surprised. I’ve been back a number of times since. Don’t be fooled by the name, the fare is above average and very flavorful. Highly recommended.

One of the top restaurants in North Michigan. Chicken was very good. Rack of lamb was even better. Service was excellent.

Sssshhh! Don’t let this secret out.
We’ve come up north to TC at least 50 times in 25 years. We always try to hit the old favorites and try something new. This was our first time at Old Mission Tavern and is now our new favorite. Fine dining without all the headaches. Warm service, wonderful food. We happened to go on a Thursday and it turned out to be homemade pierogi night. The pierogi were great, so were the sauerkraut and polish sausage that accompanied them. Nice wine list, heavy on local selections. Neighboring tables with fish, steak and lamp chops looked awesome too. And a small thing, the bleu cheese dressing, was stupendous. Loved the art too… it wasn’t stuffy, all local artists, mostly local scenes.
The Unilocalers who rate this among their all-​time best meals? They’re right.

My wife and I ate here in August and had one of the best meals we have ever had. The steak and lobster tail dish was perfect with the sauces for each exactly right. Add to the quality of the food an attractive dining room and an art galley and you have a great place for a relaxed evening out.

Loved this place! Seating was a tad tight, but the flatbread pizza for the luncheon special was great!
Dessert was homemade peach pecan cobbler, served with decadent ice cream. Portion was a great size.
Added bonus for me here is the art gallery; I could spend hours and lots of dollars!

Great experience here. Wonderful service, charming atmosphere and fantastic food. I had the cherry chicken salad sandwich for lunch and mushroom pecan soup. Kid friendly. Great stop if you are taking in wine country.

Wonderful place an Old Mission main stay. Never a bad meal. Chicken artichoke is lovely, good whitefish and comforting chicken dinner on Sunday. The staff is great and fun. Highly recommend.

Had an excellent dinner with the wife when we were visiting TC in June. She got the pierogis with asparagus and I got the Parmesan crusted whitefish, which was amazing. Had Bells two-​hearted on tap as any proper MI place should. We also really liked that the place was lined with local art and had a little gallery in the back.

This place has a very nice and surprisingly artistic ambience. We ordered a spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer, which was great. I ordered a black and bleu burger which was particularly pungent (a little more so than I’m use to). The coleslaw was nice and sweet as well. However, the chips we got looked and tasted like they were just pulled out of a bag. I just expected something more fresh as a side.

I had the steak and all I can say is ehhh. The sauce it was cooked in was not good at all. The steak itself was bland and not that tender. The side dish was small but tasty. The wait staff seems to hate their jobs. The restaurant is way too pricey for ehh food and bad service!

We were a large group and were very happy with the food and service. Fresh tomatoes and lettuce added to making excellent sandwiches. Each time we have visited we have come away with thumbs up on the visit.

Nice quiet place to stop for lunch while sight-​seeing or on a wine tasting tour. I had the whitefish sandwich and the cheddar ale soup. The waitress brought the wrong kind of soup to me at first and when I told her-​she said she would take it off my bill. I protested, but she insisted.
Service overall was very friendly.
I would recommend the whitefish sandwich!

I had an amazing prime rib sandwich here. Super tasty, served on a beautiful bun and very flavorful. My wife had whitefish dip, that might have been bad. It’s hard to say whether it was that or something else. But the service was friendly and fast. My sandwich was awesome. There seemed to be a lot of regulars in the place, which is always a good sign. It was very quaint.