We ate here twice while camping nearby. They have a great menu selection. Much better than typical bar food. I was surprised. The prices are a bit steep for what it is but understand that they have to make their money during the tourist season. Glad both visits were excellent. The second visit was a Monday evening and the place was packed. They were short staffed so it took an hour for our food but the nice (very tall) young person kept our drinks full. Small parking lot but easy to find and across the street from the ice cream shop. read more

Empire Village Inn - Grilled cheese - Bars Near Me - Empire, Michigan

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Pizza is good!! Customer service is less than pleasant. The lady who answered the phone today seemed annoyed that we called for a take out order. We were quoted 45 minutes and waited 1.5 hours. Just one of those experiences that makes you not want to go back. read more

We ate here on a recent trip to Empire two times! We had pizza on 12/16 at about 7pm - it was packed for Taco Tuesday! However, I was in need of pizza! We ordered a medium with mushroom, pepperoni, and extra cheese. It did not take long, and it was perfect. Piping hot and traditional pizza (my fav). It's expensive ($25), but it's worth it, and you tend to see higher prices in destination areas. Max was our server, he was great! So great we went back to try their sandwiches last night! I had the BLT and my husband had the Philly. Both were good, we did not add a side. I wouldn't get the BLT again because I would try something more exciting for the price (LOL). The ambience is warm and friendly, you feel like a local, and if you're lucky you'll meet Max! read more

A rustic exterior showed promised considering a bevy of cars in the parking lot. Staff were quickly attentive and competent checking on drinks regularly while our order was made. My burger was made to perfection with wonderfully fresh produce atop. My family raved about the pizza, two examples were nicely served considering table space. Thanks for a great dinner, we will be back! read more

VI is the best food in Empire! If only they can be open when they say they will! Loved just about everything about dining in at Village Inn. Definitely more of a locals place, vibes are immaculate. Started with the pepperoni chips...order these! Gluten free, keto friendly deliciously addicting! I'd order these every time! I had the Salmon burger, and it exceeded my expectations! It's an actually filet of Salmon, no weird patties here. Healthy, fresh tasting, I would order this every time as well! Sweet potato fries had good flavor. Husband ordered pizza and was happy. They have the root beer Friendly's has, which is awesome, because the food at VI is so much better! Service was excellent too! We did inquire about their 4th of July hours, and though they said they were to be open for lunch, they were not. :( I get it, it's a tiny beach town, they can do what they want, but it was a bummer, because the food is special, and because there are so few options. All in all, I wish I was able to try out more of the menu at VI, maybe next time! read more

Looking for dinner & options in area was somewhat limited based on the time & the place. We got them right before closing & they was still super friendly. We ordered a pizza and ate outside at a covered picnic table. It was a perfect evening with one of best pizzas we have had in awhile. Two of us ate the whole thing. read more

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Oh my goodness! Proper fish and chips with salt and real malt vinegar! Great service, hot food and an amazing Salted Caramel porter!! A delicious Friday night fish fry. read more

Empire Village Inn - Bars Near Me - Empire, Michigan

$24 for an average greasy Philly chz steak Sammy and fries. Fries are poor. Salmon burger straight from the freezer also poor. This is average dive bar food at a high price. No thanks read more

We were looking for a place that had gluten-free options for one of our friends, and we're in town on my bachelorette trip this weekend. We wanted to go to the Empire beach afterwards, so we chose this place. It's a bit pricey - sandwiches are $12-16+ and a side of fries, onion rings, etc. is $5 extra - but everything was good. We also got the fried pickles as an appetizer, which came with some sort of dipping sauce, and it was delicious. They do have a lot of gluten-free options, my gluten-free friend is also vegetarian so she had the grilled cheese on gluten-free bread with a side salad. Overall I would come here again but I did find it pricier than some of the casual restaurants in Traverse City, which was interesting. read more

Stopped in for a pizza and some drinks. Peach margarita was delicious and beer was cold. Pizza was good but a little on the pricey side.

Over priced for mediocre bar food. Two kids meals and two burgers, only one of them with fries (which is extra charge), 3 pops and a water = $85. read more

Best pizza EVER. Like in my life. So, so good. If you 're in Empire, it's a must try. Great crust, toppings and it wasn't at all like those chain places. Service was great. It was a little bar with store items (like for camping) as you walk in. Ten stars for that pizza!!! read more

The food is delicious The service is friendly and efficient. It is an Empire/ Glen Arbor pub with good food.

Pizza toppings on our " BYO" were sparse & looked like they were thrown on from across the kitchen.

We come to empire every year and a trip to the pizzeria is a tradition. This year we tried the grateful veg pizza and were very impressed. I feel like the pizza has improved this year more toppings and less bready .It's not cheap (like close to $40 for a large specialty carry out) and not sure why the menu has a $2 charge for sauce ( hello, it's pizza)? But it's the best we've found so far. Grab a pie and some wine and take it to sunset! I was really bummed when my son got to my leftovers before me the next day. lol read more

This place was a nice surprise with its understated exterior. Ended up here for my birthday meal. We only had pizza x 2 and both times delicious and were from Chicago so we've had some really good pizza. The prices are reasonable and it's makes for a good sunset food!! They have a large selection of tap beer too. Try the Parmesan crust for pizza! read more

Burger was nothing special, just what you expect from a typical burger, the brioche bun was a nice touch. The real treat was the pizza and the appetizers.The Deluxe Pizza was amazing, had a good crunch to it with each bite. The drum sticks were literally drum stick sized, had a good crispy crunch to them too. Fried pickles were tasty as well. If you were thirsty for an adult beverage, there's a full bar available as well. The service was on point too, making sure everything was good with us a number of times. read more

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Pizza, wings, salads were fantastic. Good atmosphere. Great service very friendly. Great local pizza.

14.50 for just a grilled cheese. No sides. That is 2 pieces of bread and cheese bro. Wtf is that. Ridonkulus. Walked out and went down the street to the EZ Mart and bought 2 pieces of za for 5 dollars. Go to Shipwreck cafe instead. read more

Love this place. We go here every year we come up here. Food is fantastic and the staff is very nice.

Both inside and out, this place looks well aged. But it's a gem. Great beer list and delicious salads and pizza. We were completely knocked out by how great this place was. And service was friendly and helpful. read more

We got a deluxe pizza and breadsticks. The pizza was decent! The breadsticks were bland and not my favorite. Without the sauce it is not very good and we needed 2-3x sauce for the right ratio. Overall it's decent and we'd come back and try something else! read more

Wanted to give a shout out to Lilly and the crew at Empire Village Inn. We were traveling through and stopped in for dinner and to celebrate my (turning) 8 year old daughter's birthday. I asked if they sang or anything and she said typically no, but she would ask the crew if they would sing and boy, did they! Daughter was in heaven and wanted to thank the whole team for making my daughter's birthday great! They even let her have a delicious ice cream as her "cake" which was icing on the cake! Btw, we had the Porto fries which came out piping hot and super delicious as well as the medium deluxe pizza which we had to take some home. Husband and I were both stuffed and kids both enjoyed their mac and cheese, and shared the ice cream treat. Thank you again to the whole staff! read more

This is a definitely must try/have. Seems very small or quite place but once your there. You will not regret it!! Hands down one of the best pizza places around. read more

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Had the Brussel sprouts and the Michigan grilled cheese sandwich and it was amazinggggg. Definitely recommend! read more

Service and food here is excellent! Going to the empire bluff trail there wasn't much around in terms of food except this place. I had no expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. They are known for their pizza. The mr. Meaty was to die for. I don't even eat pork like that. I picked off some toppings because I should have ordered the pizza. I however ordered the Buffalo chicken wrap. It was big and good and spicy. But that pizza!!! Get the pizza!! Oh we also ordered beer flights. I'm not a beer drinker but wanted to try the local craft beers. They were all pretty good. The pear apple cider was one of my favs. The honey lavender was also pretty good. Oh the berry one was good too. They were pretty too. read more

Empire Village Inn - Beer flight - Bars Near Me - Empire, Michigan

Always better than it has to be! Great pizza, excellent cubano sandwich, and highly recommend the Parmesan fries. read more

Empire Village Inn - Parm fries! - Bars Near Me - Empire, Michigan

A amazing experience, the food was great. We didn't expect it to be that good. The burgers and the brussel sprouts exceeded my expectations. Julie our server was sweet and accommodating. Great location after a long hike. read more

Great food and service! We were all in the mood for something different to eat and this hit the mark! Next time we're visiting Empire we will definitely eat here again! read more

Best pizza I've had in a while. Great spot, worth the wait if they're busy. Make it a regular stop on your trip up north. read more

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Man, they suck. We waited for an hour, had to tip before we were served and wipe off our own dirty picknic table. After the food came out, we had to request plastic ware, napkins, and plates. How else were we going to eat the food? There were a total of about 5 tables that they are serving and they just can't do it. Just don't go here. There are plenty of other places that will actual have service. The food was mediocre and tasted old. The Brussels sprouts and mushrooms were slathered one a spicy sauce so you couldn't really taste the food. read more

Empire Village Inn - Wonderful garbage next to our table. Again, about 5 tables total. - Bars Near Me - Empire, Michigan

Pizza was hot and fresh but ambiance is pretty loud and sitting at the end of the bar I kept being brushed past by the servers. Coming with a group would have a different experience since it seems geared for friends and families. Pizza has a thicker crust than I like and I felt sauce was a bit skimpy for my taste. Toppings were generous. Not a lot of choices near Empire. Their front room is stocked with a grab and go food items for camping or weekends at the dunes. read more

Kings of pizza! Had a lovely salad as well. Our server was a delight. They were super busy, but it was worth the wait

My husband and I stopped here for lunch when we were passing through. we had a burger and fries. The burger was cooked to perfection. the lettuce onion and tomato were all fresh and good. the bun was perfectly toasted. the fries were excellent. my husband had a draft root beer and I had ice tea. both were excellent. The service was great. I highly recommend this place! read more

We ordered pizza and salads for take away. My daughter ordered lamb added to her salad and it was so good! Our Shroom Momma pizza was yummy! The order took about 25 minutes and was ready when we arrived. read more

Very tasty pizza. We picked up a build your own pizza. The crust was tasty and the ingredients were fresh and tasty. Definitely a good spot for a pizza night. read more

This place is a hidden gem! We had a party of 9, and everyone's food was delicious. Our waitress was super friendly, very helpful, and answered all our questions. The guy doing all the cooking was great also, his recommendation for next is the kimchee sandwich. I was watching food come out of the kitchen and it all looked amazing, made for a hard decision. Decided to go with the Mikeza Jerk specialty pizza and it didn't disappoint. If you're in the area this is a must stop for food. Great job Village Inn. read more

Great chicken drumsticks and pizza! Glen Lake IPA was excellent! Very good friendly service.

Food was good and the staff was very friendly. My only issues were the price of the food compared to the amount that you get and the service was pretty slow. The most expensive appetizer on the menu, "Porta Fries", was a very small serving of fried portobello mushrooms for $21. Pretty darn good but not worth the money. The pizza and two sandwiches (Cubano and Philly) were really tasty but again small portions compared to the price. Also, fries not included ($5 extra for fries)? Just saying. I get it though, these touristy locations are usually higher in price but wasn't expecting Disney World prices. The cooks we're working their tails off back there but our waitress (though very nice) never filled our drinks without having to ask and she seemed to stand around a lot while the other wait staff were running around. I can't remember the last time I tipped under 20%. read more

Garlic fries, outstanding. Deluxe pizza was really good but the staff was what put the exclamation on this place. Didn't expect to find this kind of menu at a small town tavern. Stop by, you won't regret. read more