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Restaurants Near Sleeping Bear Dunes

In the nearby towns of Glen Arbor, Empire, and Leland, you’ll find cozy cafes, family-friendly diners, and waterfront restaurants offering stunning views of Lake Michigan. Many Glen Arbor restaurants showcase regional specialties like fresh-caught fish, locally sourced produce, and artisanal baked goods. or classic American fare, including burgers, sandwiches, and pizzas, ...

Please call ahead to confirm restaurant days and hours of service, as these change by season, and most restaurants are closed on certain days in the off-season (and some even close a day or two during the high tourist season). Websites and internet listings are not always current, so please check in advance to make sure you can satisfy all your culinary cravings. Also please check individual restaurant social media listings for current hours, events, and specials.

Art’s Tavern

A perennial favorite watering hole for locals and tourists alike, Art’s is an institution and the Glen Arbor version of the Cheers bar where “everyone knows your name.” Known for their burgers with tots (long before tots made a comeback everywhere) and legendary chicken jalapeno soup on Wednesdays, you can also find a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu and a hearty libations selection. The patio restaurant, in season, serves an abbreviated menu of the inside’s offerings, along with an outside bar. A year-round gathering place to belly up to watch “the game,” make sure to scour the hundreds of college pennants on the ceiling to find your favorite team.

(231) 334-3754
Website
Blu

Blu is perfectly located on the shores on Lake Michigan with lovely views of Sleeping Bear Bay. In summer, there is dining service on their outdoor patio. “European techniques fused with local ingredients and the finest from afar” is their descriptor, including craft cocktails and an extensive wine list. Look for their weekly supper club specials in the winter months, each with a specialty theme.

5705 S Lake St, Glen Arbor, MI 49636

(231) 334-2530
Website
Boone Docks

Known for their lively outdoor deck and circular bar in the summer months, year-round you can also slide into a cozy booth or belly up to a friendly bar inside. Come here for appetizers, burgers and sandwiches, soup, as well as steak, fish, and seafood entrees. In the warmer months, Boone’s offers music on the deck, and in the off season, a variety of nightly specials.

5858 Manitou, Glen Arbor, MI 49636 

(231) 334-6444
Website
Broomstack Kitchen and Taphouse

Broomstack is open year-round with family friendly fare of appetizers, pizza, burgers, salads, tacos, pulled pork, and the like. Attached to the restaurant is the Leelanau Curling Club, and you can chairs and a table and eat while watching any ice play in action – or sign up for a class and give it a go yourself!

172 W Burdickville Rd, Maple City, MI 49664 
 

(231) 228-8869
Website
Cherry Republic Public House

More of a cherry campus than a restaurant, “Cherry” has something yummy for everyone. The Public House serves lunch and dinner, from tacos to pulled pork to chicken cherriyaki lettuce wraps to burgers to soft pretzel sticks with beer cheese to ice cream, to be complimented with wine, cider, beer, or a plethora of cherry pop flavors. Each offering showcases products found next door in the Great Hall for purchase, so find your favorite and learn how to make it at home! Depending on season and weather, outdoor dining on the front patio, including in igloos in cooler months, or the back beer garden is delightful, with outdoor games for all ages. Be sure to check which nights feature live music or a friendly team trivia competition and join in the fun.

6026 South Lake Street Glen Arbor, MI 49636

(231) 226-3033
Website
Good Harbor Grill

Good Harbor Grill is nestled right in the middle of Glen Arbor and offers up a bunch of everything. Offering service on the intimate front patio in summer and the cozy dining room inside, diners have many choices for all meals of the day, as well as of wine, beer, and cocktails. Eggs, pancakes, sandwiches, salads, soups, fish, chicken, steak, seafood, and more – lots to enjoy.

6584 Western Ave, Glen Arbor, MI 49636 

(231) 334-3555
Website
Joe’s Friendly Tavern

Joe’s is your quintessential old-time tavern and offers a full year-round menu for each meal of the day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a full bar. A newly added beer garden is also open in the warmer months offering burgers and daily specials, as well as grab and go drinks and food options to consume onsite or takeout. Cozy booths and small and large tables allow for convivial gatherings to enjoy before or after you enjoy a day in the sand and surf and playground or bask in a warm sunset at Empire Beach.

11015 W Front St, Empire, MI 49630

(231) 326-5506
Website
La Becasse

La Becasse offers French country dining in a charming 1940’s cinderblock building on the shores of Glen Lake. Patio happy hours, 3-5 p.m., are a fan favorite during the summer months, continuing into September, Thursday-Saturday. French classics, an extensive wine list, craft cocktails, and warm ambience will greet you year-round. Chef Guillaume graduated from Ecole des Arts Culinaires et de l’hotelerie in Lyon, France, which is now known as L’Institut Paul Bocuse, a French icon. Keep an eye out for winter specials.

9001 S Dunns Farm Rd, Maple City, MI 49664

(231) 334-3944
Website
Millie’s

In the heart of Glen Arbor alongside the Crystal River, you will find a relative newcomer offering pizza, sandwiches, salads, and ice cream. Call ahead for takeout or come snag a picnic table and enjoy the view of the river.

6281 Western Ave, Glen Arbor, MI 49636 

(231) 835-2235
Website
Pegtown Station

In Maple City – previously “Peg Town” where shoe pegs were manufactured – is this local favorite offering up three square meals. Folks line up for the Eggs Benedict, omelettes, and pancakes before dining service switches to hot and cold sub sandwiches, pizzas, and salads. Dine in or sit outside in fair weather on their side patio, or grab a pizza or sandwiches and head to the beach.

8654 S Maple City Rd, Maple City, MI 49664 

(231) 228-6692
Website
Shipwreck Café

Shipwreck sandwiches serve up a variety of scrumptious on locally baked bread and pretzel rolls with daily soup and chili rotations. Excellent for takeout or to eat on their outdoor picnic tables, and frozen custard is available daily as is pizza on weekends during the summer months.

11691 S Lacore Rd, Empire, MI 49630

(231) 835-2580
Website
The River Club Glen Arbor

River Club is one of Glen Arbor’s most recent additions – the self styled “Vibeyard”! Open seasonally (spring to autumn), diners can choose to dine at several places around the spacious property, including along the Crystal River or on a deck overlooking town and the river. The self service menu includes burritos, tacos, bowls, chips and salsa/queso/guacamole, churros, and the like. The bar menu has something for everyone – wine, beer, cider, and cocktails, including a local favorite frozen hibiscus margarita. The River Club is also a 18-hole putt-putt golf course, so come and play and dine or dine and play! Live music is regularly featured on the bandstand and tv’s in the outdoor dining space allow you to enjoy your favorite sports.

5963 S Oak St, Glen Arbor, MI 49636

(231) 835-2016
Website
The Village Inn

The “VI” is a local watering hole with a varied lunch and dinner menu, including appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, pizzas, and a full bar menu. In the off season, keep an eye out for weekly specials such as tacos, wings, and ribs.

11601 S Lacore Rd, Empire, MI 49630

(231) 326-5101
Website
Trattatoria Funistrada

“Funi” – as the locals affectionately refer to it – has been a culinary destination on the eastern shore of Glen Lake for close to thirty years (with the restaurant operating over 90 years), offering up Italian and chef-inspired dishes. Regulars keep coming back for fan favorites such as Angel Hair Carsoni and Anniversary Chicken, while new dishes and weekly specials pop up to compliment old favorites, as well. Keep an eye out for winter specials.

4566 McFarlane Rd, Maple City, MI 49664

(231) 334-3900
Website

Deer Widows Weekend

Calling all deer widows and anyone looking to enjoy a glowing weekend on November 15th and 16th. As part of your stay: enjoy an innkeeper reception Friday evening; MDV Aesthetics Botox specials; Saturday evening wine tasting and appetizers with a local wine expert; and breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.

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