After picking up my CanAm Spyder from the dealer for a service, I felt a little dizzy. I remembered that I hadn't had eaten since breakfast, so I figured I'd better stop somewhere before I rode the 50 miles to Mom's. Pine Squirrel was close so why not. When I walked in I was greeted with friendly smiles and Welcomes. I sat in the bar area. The server took my non-alcoholic drink order within a few minutes of sitting down. Another server came by a minute later thinking I hadn't been served yet. I felt special. I wanted something light so I ordered a Taco salad small with beef/chorizo. Never had a small Taco Salad before. It was really good. They used spring mix lettuce. No skimping on the meat. Instead of a taco shell they form a shell from taco chips. The place was packed by the time I left satiated. As I was leaving I got a "Have nice day". I'll have to stop in again whenever I go up to Gaylord. Don't expect anything special in the decor. It's a bar/restaurant. I don't care as long as the employees are friendly and the food is good. read more

Was leery to order a steak, but went for the ribeye. Thumbs up!! Tender and cooked perfect. Haven't had a bad meal here yet. Sat at bar - great service! Love the rustic up north ambiance. This place is a gem. read more

Pine Squirrel - decor. - Bars Near Me - Gaylord, Michigan

The food and service are always great! It's one of our favorite places in the Gaylord area!

Visited Gaylord over the long weekend to do some snowmobiling with my family and found the Pine Squirrel. What a great bar with fantastic food. We ate every dinner and lunch there. So fun, great staff including the Bartender called One-Star. If you like crispy wings this is your place. Thanks for the great times, we will be back! Oh, BTW try their blender drinks. read more

The food is amazing typically. But the staff are ruder than rude. Never in my life have I met such nasty rude ladies. Honey you earn your tip. Be rude and you won't get one. The man that brings the food out is so dang nice too. It ashame. We have been there four times and won't go again because of the rudeness of the staff. Food is great. It's too bad. The girl with the bob and glasses is the worst. If you can be nice in the service industry, get out of it. Seriously. read more

On a road trip from Cincinnati to the UP and was asked to find a decent 'Mom and Pop' place to stop for lunch. The location is less than a mile off i75 so easy access. Cute joint with a cabin'ish vibe, lots of bar seating and a large dining area in the back. Our server Holly, was an absolute gem, super nice, informative and attentive. Food arrived quickly. We got the walleye sandwich(he wanted walleye meal but not available until after 4p), the Squirrely Burger and the French dip burger. They both stated their dinner was fantastic but since I ordered the French Dip Burger I'll write about this. It was perfectly seasoned and cooked to medium as requested. The flavors of the garlic toast, hamburger, chipotle jack and sautéed onions were so good. I don't know who came up with this but they deserve high accolades. We will for sure drop by if we are ever back in the area and look forward to supporting the nice folks who run this establishment. #SupportLocal read more

See all

We picked this place for lunch because it was close to the highway and we wanted something fast (but not necessarily fast food). This was the perfect spot. The menu is a good size and has something for everyone! Burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, salads, tons of apps / bar snacks. It was hard to decide what to order! I loved the taco salad with seasoned chicken and my boyfriend absolutely loved the prime rib burger, that was served on garlic toast, and came with au jus and caramelized onions! What a creative concept for a burger and was juicer than some of the prime rib steaks I've had! I wasn't really wowed by the fries, but I didn't try them until several hours later. We also got the jalapeño popper dip, which was good, definitely had a lot of cream cheese and not overly spicy. The service was great and the drinks were good too! The food came out fast which makes It a great quick stop. We thought it was very affordable as well! I'd love to come back next time I'm in Gaylord. read more

Pine Squirrel - Awesome atmosphere! - Bars Near Me - Gaylord, Michigan

See all

Walked in and sat out selves as the sign stated, we were completely ignored for at least 15 minutes while the only waitress, I'm assuming the bartender spoke to and served other tables intentionally ignoring us. I've never walked out of a place before. Extremely rude. read more

Got there ahead of dinnertime crowd, on a Tuesday. We were the only table, not on the bar side . Waited 20 plus minutes for food after ordering . Food ( a nacho) was room temperature, chewy soggy chips , and meat wasn't fresh tasting. Waitress 's or kitchens fault ? Idk. But , it was awful. And, how long of a wait would it be, if they were busy ?!? read more

Food was good and the service was very good too. The reason for the low star is they charge you to use credit. It was on my bill before they even knew how I planned to pay, 3% surcharge. Our dinner bill was over $90 so I had to pay $3 extra to pay for it with my card. Would have given 5 stars had it not been for the surcharge fee. We will never visit again but not due to food and service. read more

Would never go back to this place. People were so rude, we just walked out without ordering. Wait staff completely ignored us and made it pretty obvious this is a locals only place. Terrible. read more

Excellent food and service ! We stopped on our way passing through and will definitely stop again when we are in that area.

We headed for dinner on our way to the Mackinaw City and we're happy with everything about this place. The parking area outside is quite dimly lit so our friends with kids we're initially not sure if it's a kid and family friendly place... but it turned out to be really nice. And the menu was quite varied which helped as our group had people with varied tastes. So two of my friends ordered the 3 topping personal pizza and the flat bread from kids menu, and substituted the pepperoni with chicken. They loved their food and so did their kid. We ordered the walleye sandwich and the sweet and spicy Thai chicken. The walleye was fresh and perfectly made and it came with potato fries (which were pretty nicely shaped, not the regular french fries). The Thai chicken dish was also very well made with lot of veggies like onions and bell peppers and had a balanced taste of sweet and savory. The waiter lady was really nice, and provided hot sauce, ranch on request. Also she very quickly wiped off the water from our table that we had accidentally spilled. There's a bar inside which looked pretty vibrant but we didn't get a chance to drink that night. Overall a nice place for dinner! read more

See all

Whitefish fantastic only beaten by the service. We are a sandwich by the baseball field with our dog then came back and got takeout dinners. Wonderful!! read more

Amanda our server was an enthusiastic and a passionate waitress, one of the best we have ever had! Now moving on to the food. We started with the nachos half order large portions. Hallelujah no cheese sauce. Moreover the chicken wings did not disappoint. Amanda suggested the brisket prior to ordering. So we decided to indulge post appetizers with the coleslaw brisket with ribbon fries. All of our selections were phenomenal!! We will definitely be back the next time we're in Gaylord Michigan. Great job!! read more

Pine Squirrel - BBQ brisket - Bars Near Me - Gaylord, Michigan

In Gaylord as part of a color tour. Service was prompt and friendly. Walleye was excellent! Nice ambience. We'd definitely return!

Nice local eating place. We had good food and good service. The restaurant door is on the side, the bar door is in front - I got confused but the locals knew which way to go. read more

Wow! Visiting friends in Gaylord. They took us here. Nice little pub. Service was fantastic, and that says a lot these days. Amanda (dark haired young lady) was *awesome*! We started with the smoked salmon dip for the table. Yum! I had the sloppy burger. I gotta say that it was the best burger I had in a long time. Hubby was looking forward to the walleye. It didn't disappoint. Our other companions had a burger and nachos. All were delicious! Cold brews. Good food. Good times. Love it! read more

Pine Squirrel - Night view. Oops! Forgot to take pic of the food. - Bars Near Me - Gaylord, Michigan

We walked in with 16 people, because of a last minute decision and it all worked. Drinks were served, food was ordered, it had some opportunities, however I've had worse. All in all, it's obvious we were customers that were appreciated and because of good service and respectful food I'd go back. read more

It is a great example of a northern bar. The decor is rustic and the food is good. The Irish nachos were more like a Reuben on French fries, but that is a good thing! Very tasty. The Mac and cheese was decent (I'm hard to please on this one). read more

We have been here once since moving to Gaylord about 2 months ago. We enjoyed the food. We had the pizza and the Irish nachos. Both dishes were good. The ambiance is a little noisy and busy, but not distracting. It reminded us of the show Cheers, where there were "regulars" at the bar and the staff was family. The wait staff was attentive. The food is priced well and the serving sizes adequate. Nice place to go with coworkers, family and friends. Cozy and food came out fast. We'll go back! read more

This is the place where the locals hang out. True sports bar, softball fields, pool , air hockey etc. great service, great food and keno! read more

Pine Squirrel - Chili cheese fries! - Bars Near Me - Gaylord, Michigan

Everything was excellent. Service was good Friendly place. Seemed like everyone knew everyone. Cheers read more

Great stop on our way to the U.P.! Very fast friendly service with catchy menu item names. We had the hangover burger and it was delicious! Juicy with great flavor! We asked for the fries instead of chips and when they were delivered I've go to to say ive never had fries like this before. They looked like they used an apple peeler or something like that to make thick curly curl pieces fried to perfection! They were so good! They had several tvs on the wall and a couple pool tables for entertainment. We had plenty of space to find a seat. With super friendly service and great tasting food I will definatly come back the next time I'm passing through. Thanks Amanda for the great service on 11/13/19! read more

Pine Squirrel - Hangover burger with fries. - Bars Near Me - Gaylord, Michigan

See all

Great stuff! Good food and people. Love the personal pizza baked fresh. Soooooo good.

Highly recommend! Food and service were great!! Really cool atmosphere! Definitely will go back when I'm in the area again!

Their chicken tenders and fries are amazing. The waiters were very nice and the food came out fast. Their little squirrel decorations are adorable and there is a baseball field behind the restaurant. Five stars for sure! read more

Solid mediocre-ish good bar food. Kids got nuggets and Mac n cheese. I got a salad which was very good and medium onion rings. And husband got nachos with a lack of cheese. Everything was fine, not great. Menu on yelp is out of date but I forgot to take a picture. read more

Came in very hungry and they served my family of 5 quickly. The burgers are awesome and get the French fries. They are cut in an interesting manner. It has a diner/bar vibe but if you're hungry give it a go. read more

Great drinks and friendly service along with an amazing French Dip Burger. Yep, a French Dip burger with the beef cooked as you wish (medium rare is my preference). It was placed between two luscious pieces of garlic toast with sautéed onions, mozzarella cheese and served with au jus on the side. Their side salad was excellent too. Make sure to try the Pineapple Cider (6% alcohol) which was fantastic. They also have pool tables, dart and pinball machines. read more

Pine Squirrel - Bars Near Me - Gaylord, Michigan

See all

Blustery, windy and gray day so we headed out for lunch after a paddle boat ride on Otsego Lake. Server, Amanda, came right over to take our drink order (early lunch so just tea this time ). We ordered the buffalo shrimp to start and Amanda was quick to inform us it's a dip with pita bread..we appreciate the clarification! Everything came out hot and it's very blue cheesey tasting, but Amanda did warn us. Plenty for 2 people to share. We then ordered the Blind Dog (2) to share. The dogs are pretty big, I couldn't get through one. I had the beer cheese on the side, I'm not a fan, but hubby said it's delicious. Great food, great service, will definitely stop in again when we are in the area. read more

Pine Squirrel - Blind dog - Bars Near Me - Gaylord, Michigan

See all

Awful experience, would have chosen no stars if allowed. We are not from the area so me, my husband and 2 kids were traveling all day and pretty hungry. someone suggested this as a nice place To have a meal. We weren't greeted, the sign read "seat yourself" so we sat at the only table available which had several drinks and dishes left from the last crowd. We patiently waited 25 minutes without even so much as a drink. when we did finally get up and leave empty handed it was very obvious we were being discriminated against as there was lack of urgency to get us to stay. took our business elsewhere and do not recommend this place at all. Very disappointing. read more

This was fantastic place to go for a good meal and drink. Great food options and beer selection. Waitstaff was friendly and helpful. Place was super clean and had a wonderful menu. Pizza, nachos, grilled cheese were out of this world! read more

See all

Traveling through and looking for a break. Gaylord is a great spot between Jays Sporting Goods, Cops and Donuts, and Pine Squirrel. I'll fully admit that my wife and I are a bit of snobs when it comes to food. By snobs, I don't mean fancy or expensive, I mean quality. We don't eat fast food, and are mindful of what we eat and when we decide to splurge. Pine Squirrel atmosphere was welcoming and nice. The staff was incredible. Genuinely nice. The kind is nice that gets nicer the further north you go and it feels genuine. Our table got a combination of baskets, grinders, and burgers. The portion size was large and from first bite to last bite it was delicious. The price for 4 entrees and 6 beers was very reasonable. We will certainly be back! read more

We had great service and our food was good, four of us had salads pizza's and wraps .

Stopped as we are traveling through. We researched and the food looked great, awesome yelp reviews and parking lot was packed. We got a seat right away and took a few minutes for a server. She was super sweet and helpful. She informed us they were out of many items already. Ended up ordering a Chicken Caesar salad and French dip burger with onion rings. She said it was going to be a little bit and we were patient. However, after a long time she came over and told us that there was a problem with orders going through to the kitchen. I believe it took over and hour till we got our food. Chicken salad was nothing special and the burger had no flavor even with the aujus sauce! The onion rings were so overcooked! The server was great, atmosphere was cool but the food and the long wait was a downer. read more

Bad service more interested in serving alcohol, then serving people. would not go back for a while till they get their act straight. Sure, they may have good food, but aside from that I didn't get even served. They would rather serve everyone else, but the woman appears to have a male, phobia, or some kind of prejudiced against men. read more

Love this place, the owners are amazing...beer and drinks are great. They redid the pizza and it is Amazing!!! We love going here. Never a bad moment at the Pine Squirrel! Softball games in the summer for those who want to watch. read more

Great service and food! Great atmosphere! Would definitely visit again. Menu was diverse and pricing was reasonable. read more

Everything about this place is fantastic, from the food to the service. You will not be disappointed here.