Kirby House

Went there for a lunch/​dinner on Sunday. The wait staff at the front door was quite grumpy/​rude. Definitely did not receive us warmly. Our waiter was good and very available throughout the whole time though, however.
The food was alright; typically bar food that has OK flavor. My sandwich was $ 10 and tastes about equivalent to a $ 6 sandwich. This place is very mediocre at best, nothing stands out. They portions on the fries/​chips are very small so definitely do not spend $ 2 extra for fries; you’ll be disappointed like I was.
Go somewhere else in grand haven or spring lake, you’ll have a better experience.

The gillmores can’t get the service right! I don’t know if the servers are not getting the proper training or what? but the wait staff are extremely slow unorganized even when it’s dead you have to wait and wait they have no clue they don’t come back they screw up the check countless times I don’t get it the bartenders are arrogant and rude the food here is good but the service just destroys the experience they keep having the same olé bands boring I just finally had to vent

Stopped by again the other day. Nothing has changed, still the same menu problems. No french dip, and a pretty empty place. Perhaps they just want to go out of business. I cant imagine the fish selections they seem to want to shove down everyones throat are too fresh considering the lack of customers. You want customers? Bring back your old menu items like french dip, reuben and fries etc. instead of your Black Bean Burger — spicy slaw, avocado, tomatoes, bakery roll for $ 10, how trendy (yawn). As a resident of Grand Haven, I take your lousy menu personally as I really want this place to be a reason for people to visit here and spend their time here rather than rolling their eyes and going to Holland to eat. (or even Muskegon)

My wife and I eat out at least twice a week, we work in Grand Rapids and live in Grand Haven. She worked as a server at Roses in the 90s and we are fans of yours. I frequently bring clients to the BOB and Bluewater Grill. For years we have been waiting for some of the Gilmore magic to find its way to the lakeshore. Last night we reluctantly stopped in at the Kirby after finding another local spot too busy to seat us immediately. We drove the few blocks bringing with us low expectations. We are chronically disappointed with Kirby, but like the location and atmosphere, especially now, after tourists have left.
We grabbed a high top in the empty bar area and were quickly greeted by our server. We ordered a couple of pints and an order of mango Sriracha wings. I had visions your of crispy Hong Kong wings from a few years back. Unfortunately, this wings arrived soggy and clearly re-​warmed without a hint of crispy. My wife had the kale salad. It was delicious and left her wanting more. I decided on a bowl of white chili. From my chair, I could see into the kitchen and watched our server take the bowl from the microwave, garnish, and deliver it to our table. I’m not against the skillful use of the microwave, so dug in with an open mind. Unfortunately the glutinous mass was cold in the middle. I let the server know and watched her carry it back to the microwave. Now hot, the taste and mouth feel of the glutinous mass did not improve. The flavor of cumin overpowered the dish and the consistency of peanut butter and oatmeal was difficult to swallow. After a few bites, I gave up.
It is sad that a local institution with a good pedigree can’t muster up some tasty food. Two stars for good service, Michigan Beer on tap and exposed brick vibe.
The server graciously took the chili off the bill. Nonetheless, it will be months before we breakdown and try again, always hopeful that some of the Gilmore magic finds its way to the lakeshore.

Well what can I say? Came all the way from California to taste the food of Michigan and was a little disappointed. Got the Atlantic salmon and mussels. The mussels were good but the salmon was serviced on potatoes wedges that tasted dry. Little portions for what you pay for. And if you want a real drink go across the street to Tip a few. There you will get a real drink. The service was ok.

Nice atmosphere. Hostess was very accommodating with our party of 7. Waitress was ok and not very attentive. Ordered overpriced chicken Parmesan. Very small portion and did not come with traditional mozzarella or noodles. For $ 17 at least bread for the table would be nice or a side salad. Kitchen was very slow. 45 mins for food. Don’t think I would recommend.

First of all it took forever to get our food and drinks, like 40 minutes and never got the bread. My mom got the Parmesan crusted chicken which was just sitting in a bowl of butter, was all soggy. The asparagus was raw. My dad ordered the trout and got duck instead, they charged him $ 5 for the asparagus that was supposed to come with it (also raw). I got the New York stop which had no flavor and was not clean at all, about 20% fat. Terrible experience, we will NEVER come back. Way over priced for terrible food and service.

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps. Need I say more?

Disappointed by the Kirby House this go-​round.
Back story: my parents and I used to go here all the time from about 2000 – 2004, when I was going to Blue Lake. I remembered the food as being really good.
Fast-​forward to 2015, we came here on a Friday night for dinner. It has a rooftop area of sorts but they only serve pizza there, so we sat inside in the «Kirby House» part.
I ordered a burger and it was $ 11.95 … all you get with it is chips, if you want to substitute fries or onion rings it’s another $ 1.95-$ 2.95. Burger was okay, nothing special. My friends ordered the Asian chicken wraps and the grilled brie; the one who ordered the brie thought it was very good (and I thought that as well), and the one who ordered the wraps seemed like she thought they were just okay too.
I’m a little disappointed because I remembered Kirby as being so much better … I want to say I used to get a steak sandwich there but it’s not on the menu anymore (though I could just be making that up, because it was a while ago). Service was just meh too, it took a while for us to get water refills even though our waiter PASSED BY US carrying a water pitcher, and we pointedly put our cups by the edge of the table.
Check out Portobello’s across the street if you’re looking for a good meal, we had a great Italian meal there the day after.

Fast friendly service, dog friendly patio, gluten free options. Ordered wild Alaskan salmon with fingerling potatoes. The salmon had a delicious flavoring but a little dry. Some of the potatoes were undercooked and raw in the middle. Over all lunch was good but I would try something else next time I’m in Grand Haven.

Went here for the first time with my daughter on vacation. Ordered a few drinks which was made with a lot of tonic water even though not on menu. Watered down and tasteless. Ordered the Parmesan chicken which was delicious but contained three pieces of asparagus four artichokes, and the smallest chicken breast ever. The dish was yummy but needed some angel hair pasta or something. Left hungry. Was like five bites of food. Not worth the price, no bread
basket nothing. ‚;(

I just totally do not understand why those who wants to have dinner here must show the photo ID.

This place is okay. Was cooler when writing on the walls was a big thing.
Fries taste like cinnamon in a good way.
There’s actually no happy hour so don’t count on that. I think they discontinue it during the summer, which is annoying.
My friend ordered Thai lettuce wraps and she got a plate full of the ingredients, had to assemble the wraps herself. Other friend got a salad and everything was kinda soft.
The place is okay, nothing special. Grand Haven institution I guess.

The food and drinks were very unimpressive. We got some lemonade and they cost like $ 4 each and didn’t taste good. They are very pricey here and the food was just not good. The service was pretty bad too. Also bring ear plugs if they have a band playing its so loud you can’t even talk to your table and we were in the back of the restaurant!

The service was solid. The rooftop deck was beautiful with a lovely view. The food, however isn’t fit for human consumption.

Stopped here for a quiet mid-​week lunch. It was a pleasant experience. Wait staff was attentive. I had the salmon sandwich. (Forgot it’s actual name) It was INCREDIBLE! I’m still thinking about it two days later…

While the physical location was great and the food was okay the service was so atrocious that makes it impossible to ever go back.
After waiting nearly 90 minutes for a table upstairs and watching 10 tables that were open and available for an hour but nobody around to bus them we finally canceled our name on the list and went downstairs and put our name on that list.
Wouldn’t believe when the identical thing happened downstairs. Hostess and the waitress were openly complaining about other servers and management in front of us. Five hours after we arrived we finally finished our meal without ever being checked on or asked if we wanted another drink. The worst service I’ve ever had.

So awful. My friend was assaulted by a bouncer after trying to come back to the dance floor after going to the bathroom. She was trying to side step the bouncer when he put two hands on her chest and pushed her so hard that she landed flat on her back. He then preceded to drag her by her upper arms up the stairs, slamming her head into the corners and dragging her back along the stairs, two floors, completely using aggressive physical force to throw her out the back door.
This whole thing was completely unprovoked and unnecessary for a girl who was neither drunk nor unreasonable. Never once was she simply asked to leave or allowed to use her own two feet. The incident was so awful that we called the police immediately to file a report. If nothing else that bouncer needs to be immediately fired. So awful that it’s hard to put into words. Please don’t give this place your business.

This place is great! Great burgers and pizza.
If you sit outside they always have live singing and music. My only concern was the food comes out in 6 minutes which means it’s just frozen meals that they cook or microwave. When I go there, it’s not really fresh or new. They just have spills everywhere and tons of breaking dishes. This would be a choice if I really had to go.

We had a long wait to get a table because we went during Pirate Fest so it was a busy night. It was not a problem to wait at all though because they text you, so you can go walk along the water while you are waiting. Nice. They did underestimate our wait time; it was double what they’d predicted, which is never appreciated. But that kind of thing doesn’t bother me much.
My date and I ordered 2 different sandwiches and shared — they were both really good, but not remarkable. You could order the same sandwich just about anywhere and it would taste about the same. The location is prime and the atmosphere was pretty cool — by the time we got out of here at like 10:00 they had live music starting and it was crowded — but the service was not up to par. We waited at least 45 minutes for our food and never got drink refills, plus our server was just unfriendly. The service really left a bad taste in my mouth after we waited for as long as we did to get into this place. I don’t expect to return. I also would never recommend this place for kids, just due to the long wait for food and the inattentive waitstaff.