Mukwa Bar & Grill
1080 S. Nicolet StreetI’m not eating exclusively at casino’s on this trip despite what it may look like.
I got to Mackinaw City around 3:00 and decided to head over to the Island to do some things before my job actually started on Wednesday. It was easier to get my equipment over there and leave it at the job site knowing I was going to have to hit the ground running Wednesday morning.
I spent a couple of hours on the Island and decided to come back to the mainland for dinner. There’s nothing over there that’s really unique and it’s all pretty expensive. Even when eating on the company dime, I don’t like over spending on meals.
I got back to Mackinaw City around 6:30 and decided to head out for dinner. I’ve been coming to Mackinaw for several years now so I’m running out of new places. I’ve kind of made it my mission to eat at every restaurant in Mackinaw City if I’m going to keep coming up here once (sometimes twice) a year.
I noticed last year when I was here there is a casino near the highway. Like I mentioned in my blog from Chicken Guy!, I’m not a gambler so that part really doesn’t do much for me but I noticed they had a restaurant so I decided to check it out.
Mukwa Bar & Grill is inside the Odawa Casino on Nicolet Street between the I-75 interchange and Old US Highway 31. The casino sits a little ways off the road past a huge surface lot that was 80% empty on this Tuesday night. Many years ago, this property was home to Thunder Falls Family Water Park but that closed in 2012 when it was bought by the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians and eventually turned in to a casino in 2016.
The casino is not big. There are no table games. It’s all slot machines in what is essentially a pole barn. I walked in the casino past three security guards who all greeted me and headed towards the far end of the casino floor where I noticed the bar.
The restaurant was empty as the few people playing slots were just coming up to get drinks and going back to their machines. There’s a decent sized dining room with tables and chairs plus the standard TV’s playing sports.
I just chose to sit at the bar which was a little bit (ney, big) pain the ass because all of the bar stools were sitting in front of video poker machines. I get the idea but I was just there for dinner and had no interest in gambling. I’m the weird one though because who does that?
I saw a tap for Horny Monk from Petoskey Brewing. A Belgian ale sounded good at that moment so I ordered one while I looked over the menu.
I wasn’t really feeling a burger so I ordered the French Dip. The sandwich is shaved prime rib with provolone cheese on a sourdough roll. There’s a cup of au jus for dipping because that’s what makes this a French “Dip.” The sandwich was really good. The meat was packed pretty tightly into the roll which made it perfect for dipping. The au just had a bit of a bite to it that packed a punch. Looking at the sandwich I didn’t think it was going to be much more than a snack but this was actually a really good meal.
The sandwich comes with chips but the upgrade to fries is only a buck so I went for that. These fries are frozen, out of the bag battered fries. As I’ve mentioned many times, these aren’t my favorite. There were a lot of them on the plate though and I much appreciated that. I noticed a bottle of mustard hiding behind the ketchup the bartender sat down in front of me so I grabbed that and acted like the small town boy I am and dipped my fries in mustard.
My bill, before tip, was a little over $25.
Honestly, this wasn’t a bad meal. I didn’t have high expectations for a casino bar and even less higher expectations when I walked in. It’s not that Odawa’s Mackinaw casino is a bad casino. It just doesn’t look very casino-y. If ya like slots, this is your place. Mukwa Bar & Grill, on the other hand, is pretty on par with any pub in town. Tasty food…but wish I could sit at the bar without navigating around a video poker machine.
SW Michigan Dining 