Started with a 6666s. That's a beer. Yum. Ordered up the Whitefish, pan seared. A slow, sleepy night in Big Rapids, which I never heard of until it was the only place with available hotel rooms south of Cadillac. A fancy upscale traditional steakhouse feel and decor. Four golf elder statesmen across the street getting ice cream as dessert recommended this place. The bar was just me and the tender and at 8:30, the staff was wrapping and cleaning up on the 8/2 Wednesday evening. No tv, minimal noise and subtle indistinguishable background music but catchy to my blues and R&R ears. So...the food... when the plate was put under my nose, I knew it was going to be culinary special. Everything and all of it was special. The Whitefish, perfectly tender, seasoned and mouthwatering. The risotto was creamy and soooo tasty. The broccoli and cauliflower, taken to a new level so it's not just good for you. Finally, the service was great with the young friendly guys, Jesse and Jackson, being very attentive and gracious. Thanks to the four guys who recommended this restaurant. Now, for a guilty pleasure serving of small town homemade ice cream where I asked them "where to eat"?? read more

More like Boo Cow. The food was good.... HOWEVER, the service and management were amateur at best. Double booked the back room on us at last minute, after reserving it a month prior to. Took 20 minutes just to get water. Actual drinks took about 30 minutes. Plates arrived at least an hour after placing the orders. One of the plates was completely incorrect. Executive chef Isaac came out with several excuses and ended by blaming the server. Communication between kitchen, servers, (there were no runners or bussers) was non existent. Management was nowhere to be found. Absolutely unacceptable. Good luck selling the business. read more

Traveled 2 hours to meet friends at Blue Cow for lunch. We had a table of three and there were just a few other diners. We were celebrating a 70th birthday and had a couple other friends face-timing for a few minutes. The owner came to our table and told us we were being "rude and irresponsible". Granted, we did have a few laughs with our phone friends but her approach was totally out of line for a business owner. How about, "Hey ladies, sounds like your are having a wonderful time, but could you not do the phone call much longer? And thank you for dining here today." She most certainly is not a professional. Only one waitress (no bartender) was new at her job, and doing ok. She was sweet and tried to fill drink orders, even though not trained on the bar. A couple small mistakes but we understood her situation. First and last time at the Blue Cow. read more

Ordered cheesecake to go. I got home and opened the container and the cheesecake was demolished and looked like someone smashed it. So disappointing when you spend so much on something. On multiple occasions I have heard kitchen staff, servers, and bartender openly talk about customers. They are extremely rude and unprofessional. It makes for an uncomfortable experience and I would never recommend. It took over 10 minutes to get our first drink and I sat over five minutes with an empty glass before I could even ask for another. Once I asked, I never even received it. We continued to sit and wait while others in our group finished their drinks, all of this while you can hear staff speaking about you. Then we sat with our credit cards out on the bar for over ten minutes before I could cash out. After years in the service industry I cannot imagine having a staff that treats patrons that way. Extremely disappointing in a small community. read more

Blue Cow - How the cheesecake looked when I opened it. - American Near Me - Big Rapids, Michigan

Great spot for fine dining in Big Rapids, high quality food and professional service!

Wonderful menu, quiet venue with great service in downtown Big Rapids. Nice place to go to at least 2-3 times a year.

First time the other day and what a terrific surprise! Dinner was terrific and everything done great. Not a single complaint or suggestion on what to improve. We will be back very soon! read more

Big Rapids turns out to be a fine food desert, in the sense that Yelp lists Taco Bell as the best Mexican restaurant in town. In fact, The Blue Cow seems to be the only quality restaurant in town. Despite that, the staff and management of the restaurant work hard to deliver an impressively high standard of food, drink and service. Not to mention they comped our desert because we're cycling newlyweds. read more

Blue Cow used to be a staple of Big Rapids, but it appears their time has come and gone. In a city with 10,000+ college students this restaurant rarely has more than 2 servers. During our last 3 visits we've waited over 15 minutes to receive our initial cocktail order (on a slow night). I used to be able to overlook the poor service, but now the food has followed. The menu has been virtually the same for years, and during our recent visit with 8 people, only one person said their meal was remotely decent. Three of the meals were extremely bland, the fourth meal was a steak requested at medium and it was basically mooing upon first cut. There are plenty of other options in the area I would gladly spend half the bill and receive twice the product. You can stick a fork in this place, it's done. read more

Great service - very comfortable setting - admittedly we didn't challenge them - two bowls of absolutely delicious French onion soup and an order of fries. But, I hasten to add, it was the best bowl of French onion soup‼ As the say, "It ain't bragging if you can do it!" And they have a great French onion soup..... read more

I enjoy going here for quiet date nights without our kiddos. I enjoy their mussels and lamb chops. I honestly haven't had a dish that I wasn't satisfied with. Clean and cozy restaurant in downtown BR read more

Very quiet, great food and great service! Great for fine dining! Loved the pictures of all the cows along the wall! read more

Blue Cow - a wine glass and menu - American Near Me - Big Rapids, Michigan

Nice location. Good food. Kitchen was a bit slow, but food was worth the wait - enjoyed by all. read more

See all

We ate there on the way up north & planned our time back to GR so we could eat there again! 100% delish, great wait staff & loved the ambiance. read more

Blackened whitefish was amazing! Great service and atmosphere as well. Liked it so much we went back for brunch the next day.

Service was good. Food was decent. The salad had good flavor. I ordered the curry. Which wasn't bad by any means. But just needed more flavor. Rice honestly tasted like instant. Maybe I just ordered the wrong thing. Beautiful place nice patio read more

Big Rapids best! Grateful to have some fine dining in Big Rapids. Food and service were good, portions appropriate. Bathrooms were clean.

Gods food. Best in the area by far. Service was great also. Great recommendations. Super friendly. And nice cozy atmosphere. Seemed like a real find. read more

A group of 5 of us went there for the happy hour. It took a long time to get waited on even though we were the only customers, and the server didn't know anything about the drinks. I ordered the escargot and got 3 (the happy hour specials are small plates) of the smallest snails I've ever been served. The mussels were good even though they were also very small. Had to go up to the bar to get my drink I had ordered, we finally asked for another server, ours had disappeared, totally incompetent. As usual, the food quality was spotty, along with the service. read more

While the lunch menu looks interesting and novel, the dinner menu is dated and needs updating. The food was good, but presentation was more like food from a diner. Might suggest adding a burger to the dinner menu for kids, as the dinner menu does not have much of interest for kids. read more

When you live in a small town and you mention it's your Anniversary. Our meal was delicious and our dessert was amazing. Thank you for making our day special. I love the Blue Cow read more

Blue Cow - a plate with a cake and a cup of coffee - American Near Me - Big Rapids, Michigan

The best Duck ever!! Service was great!! The French onion soup and pizza are wonderful starters.

Not sure, if just us that feel the quality of their food and services has declined, over the last few months, I have reviewed them in the past with 5 stars, but the last two times we ate there they have not been up to their old standards. For mother's Day we decided to go to Antlers Fireside in Canadian Lake, the wife's Ribeye Steak was outstanding my fish was also very good. We just wish the Blue Cow would please come back up to their standards, we like to stay in the local community, having lived there for over 30 years. read more

The fact that I'm a Big Rapids local and I've been to this venue several times, I should be utterly disappointed that this is my first review of it. My son and I enjoyed a mother son date tonight and this was his first real fine dining experience. For our appetizer we had the honey goat crostini. This is my favorite appetizer here and I may be guilty of not ever trying another. For dinner I had the champagne chicken and my son had the kids cheese pizza. He said the pizza "was almost professional." He's so funny. The champagne chicken was awesome! The chicken breast was juicy and tender. The Parmesan risotto was creamy but I felt it was a bit over cooked in my book. It was mushy like rice pudding. Having been here several times however, I can say that this is not the norm though I have yet to have it cooked perfectly. The flavor was there for sure! Service was excellent! I truly appreciate having this venue in our local area. I also appreciate where they source their food. I will be a long time supporter. read more

See all

Beautiful atmosphere with local art (many items for sale). The waitress was excellent, kind, attentive and overall did an excellent job. The food was absolutely delicious. We got some local beef from the brewery next door, and some fresh bread and seasoned butter to start, and the meals followed at a timely manner. We will absolutely be back. Oh and we ordered canned local beer to go from tap. Excellent choice! The Raven has fantastic beer! read more

OMG this was the best food I have ever had. We started with the Honey Goat Crostini which was warm and creamy on toast that was buttery, crispy but not hard. For our main course my son and I shared our meals because we couldn't decide what sounded better. I had the Champagne Chicken and he had the Chicago Black and Blue Tenderloin and a cup of soup. Everything was perfect. The ambiance, the food, the staff were fantastic. The food was just perfectly cooked, seasoned and sauced. I would highly recommend trying this restaurant if you are in the area. read more

Blue Cow catered our class reunion event. Not only was the food delivered promptly, but it was hot and servings were generous. They provided a gluten-free version of the main course at no extra charge, and it was delicious. Service was excellent. Highly recommend. read more

Blue Cow - Champagne Chicken, summer vegetables, risotto, salad w/ dressings, and artisan bread with garlic butter on the side. Excellent! - American Near Me - Big Rapids, Michigan

We've been here several times. The drinks always seem a little too strong. The food will go from good to very good. The cheese plate, very well crafted. Had the special last night (Scallops w/Parmesan Rissoto) and it was phenomenal. My hubby had the ribeye and he likes med rare-he said it was cooked to perfection. Depending on where you sit it can be very romantic, so if you want a romantic evening be sure to ask for a romantic seat location. It is pricey but when you feel like dressing up and splurging, it works! read more

One of the best steaks and meals we've had in a long time. Will definitely be going back and would recommend.

Pleasant lunch stop in Big Rapids, MI , heading north.. Downtown across from a Kilwin's. The Smoked chicken flatbread is tasty, fresh and warm; the salad equally fresh. Not busy at 12:15 on a Monday; pleasant. The waitress is very nice and efficient read more

See all

My favorite place to go for a nice dinner in Big Rapids! The champagne chicken is my go-to and never disappoints! I also love the fish dip appetizer. I was very pleased when I was given a cute sundae free for my birthday :) read more

Blue Cow - a happy birthday plate with ice cream and chocolate sauce - American Near Me - Big Rapids, Michigan

See all

Went on a Sunday evening. The drinks were fine with a fairly extensive wine list and some good choices by the glass. The special cocktails were fine but the copywriting exceeded the final product. Food was good though the french onion soup was...underwhelming. Overall good service nice atmosphere perfectly fine food. read more

Had high hopes for this place. Stopped for lunch on our way up north. I just ordered a simple burger. They were out of fries, and don't have any mayonnaise. Ordered my burger medium rare and it came out super well done. So dry I couldn't even finish it. Seems like it was cooked a few says ago and just reheated. Also out of their dessert special. Still got charged $18 for a burger with fries, even though I didn't get fries. $70 for lunch for two. This place is a rip-off. read more

We always have a great dinner here. The blackened whitefish and the Champagne chicken were awesome tonight. Great service too!

Can I get my food, please? Can I get my food, please? Can . I .. get. My. Foood..... PLEASE?? Why such a long wait on a Sunday with only 2 other tables? I ordered the Louisiana brunch. Not meant to eat if your hungry, had to load up on bread and bloody Mary's. read more

See all

Literally the best Walleye ever. Worth the stop. What a wonderful find. This place should be packed. Great, friendly staff. Thank you. read more

My husband and I found this gem through Yelp while vacationing in the Canadian Lakes area. It was an easy drive and we loved the quaint downtown area where this restaurant was located. COVID protocols were followed and we were comfortable eating inside. Tables were well-distanced. There's outside seating but it was cold and rainy. SERVICE- Waitress was upbeat and mindful of distancing while being attentive. Service was excellent. FOOD- upscale, healthy, and delicious. We shared the tenderloin salad and whitefish with risotto. Love them both! DRINKS- nice wine selection. My husband enjoyed the local beer. I highly recommend the Blue Cow! read more

This is the best casual/formal spots in Big Rapids. I have eaten at some of the worlds best restaurants, for being in Big Rapids this is a great restaurant to show case the evolving food culture in Big Rapids MI. The Menu is very neat and "Get to the point" The dinning room was very relaxing, and the staff were friendly. I personally recommend the Local Pork, it was very succulent and the sauce complemented the palate. They also have an excellent cheese platter with Local Michigan cheeses that is accompanied by house made crackers. Thank for delivering a great dinning experience! read more

Went some friends for dinner. New disappointed with Blue Cow. Service was great as well as the food. My wife had the scallops which she thought was excellent and the portion was large. My friends had the mussels and salmon which both thought were excellent as well. My daughter had the penne pasta which was also good but a little heavy with sauce. I had the paella which was good but not great. The seafood was good but it could have used more saffron and less oil. All in all a great meal. The staff is courteous and service is excellent. You are never rushed. I strongly recommend the Blue Cow to anyone looking for a great meal in Big Rapids. read more

Not many being served, slow service, never asked for second beer, when food finally came this was the roast pork I received read more

Blue Cow - This was the roast pork - American Near Me - Big Rapids, Michigan