Barrel Back Restaurant Review

Food was delicious and well prepared. Beer selection has a great variety of local (state) microbrews. Cocktail varieties were interesting and tasty. Creme Brulee was exquisite. Staff was incredibly attentive and friendly.
There were a couple mistakes on our dishes, but were quickly remedied.

Right on the Marina!! All of the food was fresh and delicious. The Formmagio pizza was my favorite!

Food is good, the service and the view is the reason to come.

Excellent wings, excellent pretzel and beer cheese! The service was spot on!

I went for breakfast. The food was delicious. The waitress was friendly. Clean restaurant. Fast service. Overall my experience could not have been better!

If you're looking for typical pub and grill food.... This isn't it. The beverage menu is top notch! Food, although decently cooked, it just wasn't for my personal palette. It's more pricey items with odd ingredients. The atmosphere is great as well as the views. It's the ideal place to come drink and socialize.

OMG! Some of the best food I have ever had. Very busy but I understand why. Great service as well.

Excellent food. Excellent service. The bread basket was great. The corn bread was sweet and I like it like that. The ribs were super tender. The roasted summer veggies were nicely cooked and flavorful. Loved the coleslaw, its creamy and sweet. Everything was awesome! Can't wait to go back!

The staff works hard to provide a wonder meal,and service. We love to bring out of town guests, we know everything will be spot on.

Place was clean, food was fabulous, waitress was very friendly.

Ate here twice while staying at Hotel Walloon - it had to be takeout because of covid - but we loved it!! The food was awesome, great after-skiing food, and the customer service was awesome. They had someone take the wrong food or gave it out. Doesn't matter, we're human. They told us they'd have to remake it, and we walked around the store, which was fun anyways. It was about 5 minutes, and they gave us a huge discount and a gift card. I think it was too much, honestly. Just totally above and beyond. I feel even better about saying the service is great after this experience, because that is exactly how you treat a guest. Zero question they did enough for such a negligible mistake that didn't even inconvenience us. Thanks a ton! We'll be back soon.

Had a great experience here. It was was goddaughter's birthday and they made it memorable for her

This is an excellent excellent place for gluten free options. EVERYTHING has a way it can be made gluten free, even the four desserts.

It s insane.

Literally I could move here over this restaurant, but that s a much longer story.

Thank you thank you thank you

Fireplace is to die for on a cold day.

OMG! Some of the best food I have ever had. Very busy but I understand why. Great service as well.

Good food, freshly prepared and plenty of it. Waitress suggested considering half a salad with my grilled salmon. Why didn't i listen to her?? It was a beautifully fresh salad with a variety of salad items! Well done, Barrel Back.

A group of us ended up heading here after boyne thunder and while it was busy the waitress was very attentive and nice. We were all impressed with our food and the price was right for the quality you're getting.

The food was awesome and the view was incredible! The service left a lot to be desired!

Fairly regular stop when we're in the Walloon/Petoskey area. Great beer, great view, and in the summer months even better views. The outdoor bar in the summer is pretty great.

Nice wine list, excellent smoked ribs and brisket, generous Caesar salad.

Food and service is always great here. Dishes are unique and freshly made. The smoked wings are one of our favorite menu items. The brisket, ribs, and prime rib are tender and flavorful. Great beer, wine, and bourbon selection. The view of Walloon Lake is gorgeous.

Making the best of 2020 restrictions. Barrel Back has one of the best outside dining option in Northern Michigan. the food, staff and refreshments are top notch.

We only stopped for a quick beer. Service was good and so was beer.

Fantastic food, great view right on the lake, and a great atmosphere! Highly recommend!

Food over all is good - the view is amazing especially after a day out on the lake in the boat or snowmobiling in the winter.

Fantastic food and great views of Walloon lake as you dine. Cannot go wrong with any of their meat options that are smoked in house. I tried the brisket and had a great meal!

This place has, generally, very good food in a great location in Walloon Village

Great view of Lake Walloon from this hidden gem tucked on the Eastern Shore. Food was good, and the menu is creative.

Service has been hit or miss (it was s hit last night). Food is okay. So far out of my 4 dishes I've had 4 pleasant but not mind-blowing meals. The food is overpriced for what you get, but that may be a regional supply and demand thing.

Not quite a BBQ but food is delicious. Brisket is awesome! If you are boating on Walloon lake this is the place to go.

The brisket and taleggio pasta was phenomenal. My wife's filet was great and well prepared. Potatoes were cold but Keisha our server quickly remedied.

Very good barbeque and they are helpful with gluten free and soy free recommendations. The view on the water is beautiful. The brisket was as generous as it was tasty.

Noisy, service was terrible, menu was strange and not diversified at all. Wouldn't reccomend this place.

If you're looking for typical pub and grill food.... This isn't it. The beverage menu is top notch! Food, although decently cooked, it just wasn't for my personal palette. It's more pricey items with odd ingredients. The atmosphere is great as well as the views. It's the ideal place to come drink and socialize.

Have been to the barrel back several times but on April 7th it was a disappointment. 3 of the people in our party ordered the ribeye steak dinners. The steaks were disappointing. Said to have good flavor but did not make up for the overly thin, grisely cut of meat. Since they were all the same we did not complain. Not worth 41.00. Missed the mark on that night.

Wonderful food, drinks, atmosphere and views of Walloon lake.

Great food, great location, happy hour during offseason and live music 2 days a week

We visit Petoskey once a year with friends, and Barrel Back is always on our list of places to stop. The view is beautiful, and the food is always spectacular! The Lavender martini is a must try!!

Food was very good except my French fries were cold.

Good food and great atmosphere. Awesome staff. The view of Walloon Lake is impressive o say the least!

Decent food and friendly staff. Liked the atmosphere and views.

I usually don't eat American food as I prefer ethnic food but Barrel Back does everything right. Prompt, courteous, knowledgeable, service. Great wine and beer selection and even their homemade craft brew is really good. One of the best restaurant IPAs I've had in quite a while. All the food ingredients are made from scratch and have a great flavor without being overwhelming. If you're gluten free they make pretty much anything gluten free. Just like if you're at home they let you mix foods together to make you dinner. Nothing is cookie cutter here. The decor and ambience are really nice too.

If I could bottle up the smell and the view and take it home with me, I would. The wood fire oven makes the entire restaurant smell so amazing, and the view during sunset is to die for. All of their food is amazing, but I highly recommend the nachos and the chicken wings. They have a decent beer selection, and the store housed on the main floor below them is a cool spot to look around while waiting for your table. During the summer, be sure to check out their dock bar!

Very good, great atmosphere, right on the water, a little pricey.

The meal was not very good. We didn't realize so much was GF. I returned the 1st steak sandwich as it was way over cooked. The second one was sort of OK, but the doughy flat bread was too much. My wife's whitefish sandwich was also not good. Not enough fish and bun was not tasty at all and very dry.

Awesome bar! Great atmosphere, great service! Great food. Fun times!

Not able to come here often but when I have the food has been delicious and the atmosphere is AWESOME. Right on the lake and beautiful.

Used to love this place but recently, the food quality has changed and the service was sub-par. Atmosphere is still great.

I have been here several times and haven't been disappointed but also haven't been overly impressed. They always seem to fall short on the details. The way they plate the food has many times lead to soggy fries or chips, which is a shame. With meat they tend to do a really good job cooking if only they could manage not to char the edges. I will definitely give a nod to the weight staff, as they have always been amazing.

This is my favorite summer time place! The atmosphere is airy and fun, the food and bar staff is always spot on and the Moscow Mules are the BEST!

Amazing food, drinks atmosphere, service was great.

Always great food and a great atmosphere - day or night.

They have a really nice clothing line giving Walloon Lake a bit of notoriety. The Quicksilver, Billabong, Hurley brands and a few others have all put Walloon Lake on the map or at least the back of their t-shirts. Oh yeah and the restaurant the barrelback I hear has pretty amazing food but bring your big bills because I hear it's quite pricey.

Great food & drinks. Staff very good. Nice sunsets. Been there a few times always good time.

Great food and atmosphere! Service was great as well.

Our fav HAPPY HOUR spot! The server Joel is AWESOME! Such a positive fun personality! The views are unbeatable! Get there before the summer crowds arrive or there will be a l-o-n-g wait!!

Two of us stopped in for cocktails and dinner on Monday, September 14, 2015 at 4:45 p.m. There were two other tables seated in the main dining area. We were taken to a table in the middle of the restaurant. I asked if we could possibly be seated next to the window since the room was not busy, it was a special occasion, a beautiful afternoon, and was told, "No." I pointed out that there were at least thirty open seats around the windows and we were still turned down. We left and had a very pleasant birthday celebration at the Side Door in Petoskey.