The Thistle is the skiers restaurant after a long, cold afternoon on the slopes. The tapestry, dim lights and large fireplaces makes this pub and grill a cozy place to dine. Known for slow paced service and excellent food, dining at the Thistle is an experience in itself. I ordered the garden burger with fruit and a mixed green salad. The garden burger was delectable. If you're a gluten-free diner, the menu has three dinner entrees specifically marked gluten-free! They also offer a fluffy gluten-free bun with hamburgers (but it's not on the menu yet!). This was a treat for my mom who has celiac disease. One of the Thistle's most famous gluten-free options is the acorn squash dish, my mom's favorite! Not only does the Thistle have great food, but they also serve organic loose tea from a local tea farm. It's quite delicious! The Thistle is right on Crystal Mountain's property, at the base of Buck Hill. They let you dine in your snow pants and everything! read more

really has gone downhill in the last year. previously have had terrific steaks and fish along with local salads and charcuterie apps...this time around everyone's food was bland and lukewarm at best. Chicago prices are ok if the food holds up, but this is ridiculous. the problem is that there just aren't many options for dinner at CM so you are stuck here. stick with burgers and sandwiches and you should be alright read more

Love this place, had honeymoon at the lodge 44 years ago, we come back every few years on our anniversary, changed for the better. Beautiful lodge, dinning on the terrace and liquor from the local Iron Fish Distillery. Love this place read more

Many good things...But Mako Shark on the menu?!? That should be right next to the Panda pâté.

Not the place to go if you or your children have a food allergy. Our son is allergic to dairy and we told our server but she didn't seem to take it seriously. Well guess what happened..... he had a reaction and we had to leave. It was very expensive for the quality. Order pizza. read more

Ate here twice during our weekend stay at the lodge. Dinner one night, was the steak special, which was perfectly prepared and delicious. The staff couldn't have been nicer. Second day had the famous burger for lunch read more

Delicious! We ate here twice during our stay this summer at Crystal Mountain wish we would have eaten here more. Everything we had was great. Beyond meat veggie burger was outstanding, as well as all the different apps. Service was great too. Definitely will be back. read more

Really 3.5 stars. My food was great - I got the lamb. It was overcooked but still good. I love the farm-to-table local food they provide. The service was very slow. I understand that slow service is more acceptable at dinner but we waited 30 minutes to be greeted and get drinks. I would eat here again, though! Don't come here starving because you'll wait awhile. read more

Best Brucetta! I know it's a bit out of the way, being five hours from Chicago and all, but I'd you end up there for whatever reason, try the Brucetta at Wild Thistle. You will not be disappointed! read more

Currently writing this in the restaurant, I have a few things to say which might be surprising for a restaurant to consider themselves to have the best food in Northern Michigan: Horrendous food. Horrendous service. Amazing atmosphere. If you guys want to ruin a good holiday with your family I would highly recommend this place; if not, then I would recommend going to the local McDonald's which would offer better food and service than this place. I don't even know where to start off with this restaurant. The service was the worst I've ever seen in any restaurant. We waited 15-20 minutes for our cokes while the cocktails came in after 5-10 minutes. Really? 20 minutes just so I can get a coke? So stupid... Our waitress also had the attention span as a 12 year old. It was very obvious that she didn't care and it took us almost 30 minutes to get some sauce for our steak and another 20 minutes for anyone to realize that we had no water or coke in our cups. For the appetizer, I had no problem with the lobster-soup-thing but for my father, he had a few problems. My father received an appetizer with almost completely raw meat and a raw egg cracked on top of that, like how are you supposed to eat that? Now onto the mid-meal dish, which we didn't receive at all and the excuse we got from the waitress was that they forgot about it... unbelievable. Now onto the main dish, which was truly a delightful piece of rock called the filet mignon. It literally looked like a rock on the plate with some type of potato dish that looks like some type of pastry, and carrots that I would serve to my child. We all ordered our steaks medium but all of the steaks were medium-rare, and blood was slowly oozing out of the meat. We called the waitress and she called the manager and he gave us 20% off of the total bill, which this will be mentioned again later. For the dessert, we ordered some type of chocolate cake slice, which came with whipped cream and some strawberry jam on the side. When I tried to cut it, it felt solid and when I ate it, the chocolate stuck to my throat and then when it went down my throat was so dry. The food went 100-0 real quick. What made the whole night even worse was when it came down to pay the bill. We looked at the receipt closely and saw they charged us again for the dessert, which totaled around $36 which was what the estimate was for the discount. My final words are that this place doesn't stand up to have the title "best food in northern michigan". If you guys want a good place to eat in the same area about 5 minutes away, I would highly recommend Geno's Sport Bar & Grill. Don't waste your time and money here at crystal mountain. read more

Sadly, so many kitchen mishaps we waited 1.45 hours for our meals and our last night of our vacation was certainly a disappointing dining experience. We had tried to eat at this restaurant the night before but were told by the hostess a party of 14 would make our wait quite long (at least 30 minutes for a table) so we decided to try driving elsewhere even though we were guests at the resort. We then tried again on Tuesday, even sending one of our party of five early to secure a table. All seemed to be working until we placed our orders and then sat for approximately 45 minutes until they brought 2 of our 3 salads and then finally 20 minutes later another salad. We didn't receive our entrees until another 45 minutes later and by this time both children were too exhausted to eat after patiently waiting almost 2 hours for food! The manager did apologize and stated that dealing with no butter(milk allergy)caused 2 meals to be incorrectly prepared. So unfortunate that this experience could happen at a finer dining venue as we have eaten all over the world with fewer mistakes made than in northern Michigan! Even more ridiculous was the fact that there were very few people in the restaurant that night! Not more than 6-8 tables were occupied with small parties. This resort(Crystal Mountain Resort) needs to improve the entire dining experience as in high season they were not opening another restaurant with more reasonably priced food and a better menu. Hope I can visit again but not sure I'll have the patience for this place! read more

My family and I loved this place! Super friendly waiter, excellent food, awesome experience! Fam favorites were the Burrata and Rock Steak appetizers. My kids couldn't get enough of them. Our waiter lit the Rock Steak at the table and the fire was cool! Walleye entree was light and flavorful. Highly recommend this place! read more

Overpriced for what you get although the food was good. Portions were small, everything is $4-5 more than it should be. My son ordered the pork belly Mac and cheese and at the next table to us a kid had Mac and cheese from the kids menu and received twice as much. Service and waitress were very good. read more

Go for the Scotch Eggs! Delicious! Not many restaurant choices in Crystal Mountain. This is a solid choice. Good food. Good beers. Wine by the bottle is a little pricey but lots of Michigan wine choices. read more

Food is average, but service killed our experiences here. 3 meals over 5 days, and they can't get it right. One evening, they told us 15 min for a table. 50 minutes later, 5 tables needed to be bussed and people are standing around. We watched several parties walk out in frustration. Restaurant needs management and some competition. read more

The acorn squash stuffed with risotto was AMAZING but kids macaroni was dry and sticky. Lame, given the capabilites of the chef based on the squash/risotto. We returned a second night and the kids ordered the homemade mac and cheese which they have claimed the best in the world, meanwhile the burgers were average at best. read more

Spent the day hanging out in the Thistle Pub while the kids were skiing. Food and service were great. Try the grey goose ice bar on the patio this winter, very cool! Yes pun intended:-) LOL read more

We gave this place a shot after skiing at the Crystal Mountain Resort during the day. Good burgers, but the veggie burger had seaweed as garnish, which in my opinion made it way too sweet, but everyone else who ordered more traditional burgers loved them. Great fish and chips/fries, the fish was fresh, soft and cooked to perfection. Good place to go and load on calories after an exhausting and fun day skiing. read more

We ate here after skiing at Crystal Mountain. I would say this place felt more like a restaurant than a pub. We had the calamari, which was well marinated so it was very soft then breaded so the outside was crispy. For dinner, my wife had the NY strip sirloin which was perfectly flavored and cooked medium rare perfectly. My daughter had the tenderloin tip steak which was well flavored in a gravy. The yellow squash and zucchini squash was well seasoned. One son had the Venetian seafood which also very well cooked. The mussels were good and the same calamari was sautéed but was still very soft and good. He did not like the sausage, which I thought was good (was like gyro meat but softer). I had the spinach salad which was also good with very sweet apples and candied pecan pieces. I was talking how everything was so great. My older son had the appetizer rib stack and he said it was good. However he could not finish the last 1/4 so I ate it. Because of how great everything else was, I expected it to have been marinated and slow cooked. The ribs were baked dry and plain then dipped in barbecue sauce which was slightly burnt. I was frankly disappointed. The endpiece was as large as a chicken breast. However it was so dry and flavorless, nobody finished it. For dessert, we had crime brûlée which was good. The bananas foster my two kids loved it. It was covered with burning rum which fortunately mostly flowed off the glass to the plate it was on since my kids did not like the strong rum flavor at the bottom plate. Overall every dish was 5. except for the runs stack which was 3/5. The creme brûlée was 4 and the bananas foster was 5. If we did not get the ribs, I would have given 5 stars. My son wants to come back to get the tenderloin tips and my daughter want to grit again too. The wait staff was very attentive and filled out glasses 4 times (glasses were about 6 ounces and we were thirsty after skiing 3 hours. read more

Great service, good food, and decent drinks. Seriously though there are so many fruit flies that it is impossible to enjoy your evening. Talked to a manager and they said they sprayed and are doing what they can, but it is what it is. Tons and tons of them....Just ridiculous. read more

Great food great service! We had a beer flight and the gazpacho with an avocado-lime creme fraiche, that was delicious! The came out with fresh made bread and apple balsamic and extra virgin olive oil infusioned with garlic. SO GOOD. Our entree was the Mediterranean linguine and it was amazing! The noodle to topping ratio was perfect. The portion was generous and display was fantastic. Also the ambiance of the restaurant was so warm and inviting. read more

My family came to Crystal Mountain for a vacation. We ate there on Wednesday and my vegetarian sister was served chicken while my husband was served tomatoes. He's allergic to tomatoes and specifically asked if there were tomatoes in the dish. Our server was a jerk and didn't really understand the implications of his mistakes, "it's not a big deal, right? There's only a few tomatoes". My husband didn't eat dinner. Fast forward 24 hours when this was our only dinner option and we had the same server. Who rolled his eyes when he realized he had our family again and gave my mother attitude when she tried to order an appetizer. I've never walked out of a restaurant making a scene before today. I can't believe how rude he was. I look forward to speaking to the manager tomorrow. Crystal Mountain should know better. read more

I give this a 1 star because we received horrendous service. The sever was very slow getting a singe alcohol drink. She then put in the wrong order and I had to wait an extra 15 mins give or take to get the right food order. My daughter's order they forgot the fries that comes with it. So we ordered 2 meals and the sever messed up 2 meals. Additionally, they didn't offer to comp any part of the meal. The main entrees are $20-$40. At those prices, you expect good food and good service. The food was good. The menu was above average. The ambiance was pleasant. But this particular server killed all of that. read more

We decided recently to eat at the Thistle thinking we were going to get a really nice dinner after a day of skiing...however this was not the case at all. The service was very slow! It took forever to get our food and the restaurant was not busy at all. I ordered a burger at medium temp; however, the burger came out more than well done, if that's possible. It doesn't take a professional chef to cook a juicy burger. My wife ordered salmon; however, it was gamey tasting, dry, and without a doubt had been frozen for a while. On a positive note, earlier in the day we sat in the bar, ordered drinks, and had fast and friendly service. I'm not sure the price of dinner here is worth the value. read more

The service here is horrendous. On top of that, there are fruit flies everywhere. If that isn't a health code violation I don't know what is. read more

Average food with upscale prices. Nice atmosphere. Friendly staff. I would drive elsewhere if you have the time and don't mind a twenty minute drive. They do have a large selection of specialty drinks available from the bar. read more

We spent valentines day skiing at Crystal Mt. Then went for dinner at the Thistle. My wife ordered the Walleye she was disappointed the coating on it was way to thick. I ordered the ribs, they looked good but they tasted average. Service was excellent, but the cook needs to fix the walleye and the ribs. If this is the best taste that up north can offer they need to start over in the kitchen!!! read more

We are frequent Crystal Mountain visitors, have been to The Thistle quite a few times and has always been a good experience, from the food, service, and ambience! Today I went in for a few lunches to go for the fam and sat at the bar, Gage was the bartender and was very friendly and efficient! I ordered chicken strips, Pulled Bacon Sandwich, and Scotch Eggs..... all were eggscellent(hehe), especially the sandwich and Scotch Eggs. Thanks for the recommendation of the Pulled Bacon Sandwich Gage! Will be going back...Sorry no pics as we were starving and didn't think about taking any. read more

I had high expectations for this dining experience. The Crystal Mountain resort is beautiful. We had an awesome time swimming and exploring. For dinner we decided on Thistle Pub which is located in a lovely building. We were quickly seated at a nice outside table. The experience, sadly, goes downhill from there. We ordered the fish pate and pretzel for an appetizer. The fish was bland and incredibly fishy. The pretzel so so salty I could hardly eat it. For our main meals I got a strawberry spinach salad and my husband got a burger. The salad was ok but the thistle burger was very underwhelming. It was ordered medium but came out very rare. The most frustrating part was none of our appetizer plates or empty drinks were removed from the table the entire meal, I even stacked them! It also took over 15 minutes to get the bill. The service was very disappointing and the meal was forgettable. I would recommend eating else where when visiting crystal mountain. read more

I went to the pub and grill today it was a bit of a fancy meal out that we have once a month it's a fun time anyways I was turned off in the bread was absolutely delicious unfortunately were watching our weight using the Skippy that right now so we could only reach it was really good bread and surprisingly one of the best parts was there all of oil and vinegar I think it's called the Blackstock whatever that it was white so nothing we have a taste for normally I hate the black stuff or vinegar whenever you call aunt and this time I loved it it was really great and so I had it with vinegar and the oil I suppose he is having oil and then for my meal I had a 14 ounce New York strip steak we could absolutely delicious the best New York strip steak I've ever had anywhere a smothered in butter going to probably order calories and it was delicious the Greek mass potatoes and Merrimack squash and mashed potatoes would you give me at which you can go to healthy and overall just really bored and was $31 but you have to expect it with a stick of this quality of the presentation on the plate from point of pesto sauce and the plates were beautiful the whole atmosphere was just classy are the golf shop close before we could get there so we can get it on the way out but I like it I think you call the pro shop sometimes to send Josie but got to Navasota that I would bet it was good based on a map place service was great very friendly waitress she can fill the water a lot my girlfriend got my girlfriend got any pasta which she liked a lot but only half of in the fellowship to leave it there but it's OK because let's be honest were people and yet so wrong overall it was a four star review thanks for listening. read more

Excellleeeeent! Loved everything about this place. Beautiful interior, lovely outdoor seating and golf court view, delicious food, great service! We had the Mediterranean linguine and burger. Delicious beyond words! Linguine was refreshing, great fresh ingredients. They also have a lot of gluten-free options. read more

We have dined at the Thistle many times over the years, and it was always quite good. After our dinner two days ago we are going to move it close to the bottom of our dining list. First off we were not very impresssed by the new menu. Our waitress brought us a red wine even though we had ordered a bottle of white. My husband's salad arrived before our beverage. He was not offered bread to accompany his salad. I had to request it to go with my salad entree. My salad, one of the specials of the night came with three shrimp, lettuce, four cucumber slices, a few sliver of onion and a few shredded carrots. When I told the waitress that her description of a salad with vegetables was very misleading she did bring me a small plate of more onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and walnuts. My husband had to flag down our waitress to obtain a second knife as the first went the way of the kitchen with his salad. It seemed to us our server tarried quite a bit at another table and did not spread her attention over all the tables. The chocolate torte for dessert was very good. My husband's chicken dish was good but my meal and the who experience was not very enjoyable. read more