Gilbert’s Lodge

Calamari el del gilberts is the best calamari in town by far. As a highschooler we would skip class to go there. Needless to say was worth the detentions. They certainly have some wack ass décor, i never understood what the train has to do with the restaurants theme. Its not hard to find a good beer on tap. Burgers, fish tacos, coconut shrimp, everything ive ever had there has been good. Oh and they have waffle fries.

Food is tasteless and service is horrible. Had to ask for ketchup and a refill. They weren’t even busy but the waitress was no where to be found.

nothing good about this place mysterious fire brought a remodel huh? go to Buffalo Wilsd Wings down the street. much better

Nachos were SUPER GREASY!!! NASTY! Little or no meat but enough oil for your cars engine. Overpriced crappy food. 2 appetizers & 3 Cokes $ 31.00? WTF? Tables feel sticky. It must be the finish on them but they don’t feel clean.

Used to go frequently with my parents, then the fires. Recently updated and looks very nice… campy feel. Decent food. My SO and I go for the small pizza and a couple drinks.

Joined the reopening, after two fires and a vehicle crash. Place looked and smelled great. But the pulled pork sandwich, although tasty, was a bit too shredded and was a meager portion served on a meager sesame seed hamburger bun. Definitely not worth the 7.99 they’re charging. Have this feedback to the owner. He told me that they should’ve served it on a Kaiser roll (no price refund offered). The metal ceiling makes for sound conduction not conducive to table talk. The place looks great, smells good, but I won’t be back anytime soon.

Girls weekend in beautiful St. Clair! First time here and we were welcomed by a friendly waitstaff and patrons. So since this restie/​bar is in MI they went wild with the hunting theme. I hate huntings so was a bit offended by the sheer number of animal pelts and animal heads adorning the walls. Dear Lord they also have a freaking huge replica of a hunting license plastered on one wall! Well we had a drink and then another and then another and the offensive dead animals became quite blurry and less annoying. Then… we ate, Oh Emmmm Gee did we eat. This place has huge portions for cheap prices. Their menu is also huge so if you are indecisive (looking at you Wendy) good luck with that. You want a salad? Covered. A lumberjack burger? Covered. Pizza? Covered. Calamari (really good by the way)? Covered. Pasta? Covered.
They serve breakfast on the weekend for cheap ass prices. Two eggs, breakfast meats (of course), potatoes and thick cut toast for $ 4.99. Take that Chicagoans!
The locals told us this place burned down and was rebuilt. I recommend giving it a shot if in the area.

Over time Gilbert’s has won back my heart. Their food has really stepped up and so has their service. I’m overall happy with this place now.

Good food and always busy here, a good sign for a restaurant. The atmosphere is rustic and has lots of character.

I don’t know why this place averages three stars because it’s a five-​star dining experience. The specials every day are awesome and always changing, while the beers keep flowing and the menu staples stay the same for regulars. I always find something new to eat on their huge menu and have not eaten one bad meal — ever. Do yourself a favor and give this place a try.

I used to love Gilbert’s back in the day, so I was excited to visit again after almost 15 years, and their rebuild after the fires. It was kind of a let down, unfortunately.
I ordered patty melt with seasoned fries. The burger was cooked the way I wanted it, but the bread was soggy from the grease. But still, it was ok. The fries were awful — they were so greasy that they were limp, and it seemed that they consider «seasoned» to mean so much salt that they were barely edible. This combo was served with a small side of dry coleslaw.
My dining partner had to send her soup back because it was barely warm when brought to the table. She was happy with her burger, though.
The service was slow, and not super friendly. Granted, it was busy because there was a Red Wings playoff game on — and that’s one of the good things about this place, there are lots of nice big TVs to view a game.
So. Two stars for the atmosphere, and one for the food. I won’t be back.

First time back after they had reopened and it seemed much improved from before. I admit I don’t recall their old menu so I have no idea if that changed or not, but in the times we came before I never left impressed. This time we did.
The parking lot was packed and we were worried about waiting but we got right in, a testament to how much seating they have. They were very busy but our server was very attentive. I got one of the daily specials (fish tacos) and it was phenomenal! My son got pizza and we tasted it, it too was great. My husband thought his was ok, but wasn’t wowed. All in all we were very happy and we will be back!

I was actually pleasantly surprised with this place it was kid friendly the food was great and they have great lunch specials for 5 bucks I ended up getting the mini sliders stuffed with feta cheese and they were awesome the French fries were crispy and delicious and to go I got the beef stir fry and a cheeseburger which I heard is amazing I also had the pizza they had there which happened to be half off on special today :-) the pizza was very good it resembled a Jets pizza style square loaded with veggies and sausage I had the lemonade to drink and the service was quick and the food came out in a timely matter. For the price overall I will be back I was really impressed.

I wanted to like this place. Thought it had a cool atmosphere, and it was quaint-​ish and had that «up-​north» feel. I ordered their beef barley soup. It smelled and tasted perfect… until I saw the black beetle swimming in my soup cup. :(
I pulled the bug out with my spoon, called the waitress, gave her the bug, she said «oh my god, again?» Took the bug, and said, «you don’t owe anything, you can leave.»
I was shocked, and then just left.
This is my account of my one and only experience at Gilbert’s.

If you’re in need of a late night dinner or just a midnight snack, you’ve come to the right place. The kitchen is open till 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday. I had the black and blue burger with roasted red pepper on a pretzel bun. It was absolutely delicious! My coleslaw was slightly sweet, just how I like it. My fiancé had the seafood stuffed portabella mushrooms, he says they were satisfying. Overall I love the atmosphere, it made me feel like I was on a mini vacation up north. The service and the food both were upstanding. I think I found my new late night dinner spot. :-)

I remember going to this place growing up as a kid and every time my family and I tried to go back recently there was remodeling being done thanks to the fires.
Place is nicely finished. Very homey and camp feel to it with the log stick chairs and cabin feel throughout.
I’m going to start out by saying how awesome the service was on this particular visit today. It’s been a really long time that I have been to a restaurant and have had excellent service throughout the visit. Our waitress answered all of our questions, made sure we always had refills and checked on us pretty often, but not too often where it was too much.
My family started out with saganacki and wisconsion cheese fries. Holy crap! The waitress suggested the cheese fries and we are all glad we got them. Large enough to share! We had a party of five and we didn’t even finish half. The cheese fries are waffle fries baked with cheddar cheese and topped with chopped bacon, scallions and sour cream. So. Dang. Good! We brought leftovers home!
I was pretty full before my entrée arrived but I did end up eating some of my meal and I had pulled pork sliders. Soft fresh bun. Pulled pork pilled high with cheddar cheese and fried onion strings. 3 sliders served and side of sliced pickles. Not bad for $ 7.49.
I also tried my Mom’s spinach artichoke quesadillas. They are just what they are said to be. Tons of cheese, spinach artichoke dip and pico de gallo filled inside flour tortillas served with salsa. Definitely not something I have had before but really yummy! best part was the quesadilla wasn’t soggy at all.
Plenty of seating and TV’s throughout. We received our meals within 15 minutes of ordering. No issues and everything was made correctly and everything was piping hot.
Daily specials, happy hour and trivia on Tuesdays. Very large menu with something for everyone.

After I saw the article in the Sentinal, I have been wanting to try them.
We wanted to sit outside so we waited for a table. The parking lot was packed so I was expecting a long wait… the place is so much bigger that we only waited 15 minutes. The only thing I would change… the channels. I wanted michigan game and was forced to watch michigan state football.
It was worth it. My hamburger was cooked to order and delicious. My friend said his was good too; however, he wanted more bacon… doesn’t everone?
The bar is another story… I think the bartender was new because my drink was warm with little ice. My friends was the same and weak. Hard to mess up cranberry and vodka… I would still give him another chance. Beer please.
Definitely go!!!

post-​fire
What a waste of a good opportunity for this restaurant to revamp it’s look and menu. Failed. It’s obvious money was spent to add details like outdoor fireplaces instead of renovating the whole restaurant.
I don’t even care about how it looks, my problem is the food. The menu is almost the same and it’s the same or worse quality. My table ordered a salad, lettuce was brown and it had about a quarter of a chicken breast on it. Favors didn’t go together, pecan chicken salad.
The menu said «chicken florentine» and had the correct date printed on it, but they didn’t actually have it. So I ate beef barley, too salty to eat.
Seems like the staff is pretty new, it took a long time for us to get service. She was clumsy, forgot stuff, and waited for us to put the money in the envelope.
The positives, it’s a cool bar, but don’t expect good food. Stick to the fried stuff, or appetizers like stuff.
This place will not benefit from the press and spotlight it’s been out in, because the food isn’t good. It could have really killed it, if the food was good. But it wasn’t, so it will just continue to exist as it did before the fire.

It’s obvious that the fire was not totally remediated, as there is a clear burned smell in the building and char marks on the ceiling. I really didn’t feel safe.
The seating arrangement is terribly cramped to the point that even the employees struggle to walk between tables. The food was brought out cold and improperly cooked. The manager didn’t even care enough to apologize after our waitress tried to get her to come over.
I highly recommend Shores Inn or the Great Baraboo, which are all owned by the person who owns Gilberts, and have similar menu items. These two, however, are run properly.

Finally was able to visit after the fires — Gilbert’s did not disappoint! We visited on a Saturday afternoon and were seated at the bar because it was so busy. Our server was great, and the food was good! Great beer selection. While it took a bit longer than usual, keep in mind that almost everyone there is new, and they only had one day to train properly before reopening. If you don’t understand that, you’ve obviously never worked in the service industry.
Love Gilbert’s, will definitely be back!