Bessie’s Original Homemade Pasties

if you are «Up North» and craving a Pastie this is definitely worth a stop. Nothing fancy but excellent Pasties!

Great place. Friendly staff. Food was so tasty! Loved it! This is our first time to be in the U.P. And we love these «pasties»!! We plan to stop again as we leave just before crossing the bridge!

Bought beef pasties to go. Not all that great. Very little spice and the meat was tough and chewy. Not going back again. Pasty place in Mackinaw City by the Holiday Inn is much better.

Love this place! Home cooking with fresh ingredients. The Beef Pastie was to die for. Simple food served with love.
I stumbled across this place while riding my motorcycle from Ohio. I’ll be back again some day just for the pasties!

Our first experience with Pasties. It was delicious! I can’t say it was a five star experience but not far off. I think they might have been busy making them in the back for the day (we ate here in the morning) so service was a bit slow in the restaurant and we waited a while to even be greeted. Still the food was excellent.

Delicious! Perfect crust. I could eat 3! They offer «The Yooperman» a double size!
They also had an apple pie pastie! So good!
Service was excellent, attentive, and friendly. I’ll come back whenever I’m in St. Ignace!

Very tasty pasties! The vegetarian was our favorite (although my husband is a confessed carnivore).

Stopped here because our usual pastie place ran out of pasties & boy, are we ever glad they ran out! I like to consider myself a «pasty connoisseur» (I grew up eating pasties because my Dad was from the U.P. so we visited Houghton a few times each year to visit my grandma & relatives) & Bessie’s pasties are the epitome of what a pasty should taste like. We usually get pasties from Weldon’s in Sterling Heights or Barb’s Pizza & Pasties (I know, totally odd combination) in Clawson because we live down state & Bessie’s are very similar to both. The crust is nice & flaky, not dry at all & it’s loaded w/​meat. It’s a perfect balance of potatoes, carrots, rutabega & meat. And for $ 6, it’ll certainly fill you up as a meal for lunch or dinner.

If you love pasties – if what you actually want is a PASTY – you’ll love this place. The Unilocalers who are disappointed because their pasty isn’t a pot pie… um, I don’t know what to tell you guys. These are pasties. They’re to be eaten with gravy, which is on the outside, not the inside. They contain root vegetables only, including rutabagas. Beef is the traditional choice, but chicken’s allowed too. They’re an old-​fashioned workingman’s lunch, not a mind-​blowingly flavorful gourmet experience. The place is friendly and clean, and you’ll be full for a long time. I don’t know where to tell you to find a pot pie, but not here.

Stopped by here for pasties, really good pastie and had homemade cookies too. Reasonable prices and friendly local service.

Best pasties I have had. I can not give 5 stars to such a basic food but this is a winner. The place is basic but the serivce was great and friendly. Get into a conversation with Beasie’s granddaughter or great-​granddaughter. I will retun next time I am in the area.

As usual, the pasties were great – we always order the oversized beef ones, in the combo which comes with gravy and slaw. The flavor was fantastic but the potatoes were slightly undercooked. For whatever reason their credit card machine was down.
We also ordered two kids meals – both pb&j. Slightly disappointed bc if I’m spending $ 5.50 on a pb&j, I would expect it to have more than a very thin smear of each on them. My kids who LOVE pb&j sandwiches barely ate them.

The best Pastie! This place is very good and it is a great family friendly place. The outdoor eating option is great when traveling with a dog. You can also get Pasties to go.

So this place has a huge pink neon sign that blinks «Pasties» regularly. If you weren’t in-​the-​know, you might think the place is advertising something a bit more risqué. But, since you’ve already made it to St. Ignace, you’re probably in-​the-​know.
Since Bessie’s is prominent, it probably gets a lot of first-​timers like me, and I’ll admit that these reconfigured pot pies are quintessential comfort food. The gravy made a suitable accompaniment, all washed down with a Vernor’s float – how Michigan can you get? But I still can’t say it stood out as remarkable, which for a place that brands itself as a Yooper institution, it probably should. The environment is homey and service is friendly, but it should be… so is pretty much every roadside eatery in these parts. Does it jump out? I’ve had better pot pies, and I still feel like there should be something – a spice maybe – that distinguishes this from its better known counterpart. But, at least at Bessie’s there really isn’t. A pasty is a pot pie by another shape. Maybe I need to prove myself wrong the next time I’m in Michigan’s nether regions by visiting some pasty purveyor that doesn’t seem to be resting on its laurels.

If you come to Michigan you have to eat a pasty. And if you’re in St. Ignace you have to eat at Bessie’s. I’ve never had one so since we were staying right across the street it was an easy walk and have my first experience. Try it, you’ll like it. I did and I did.

First time eating a pastie. (Pronounced «paah-​stee» not like «pastry.»
Things I liked:
1. Fun guest books to sign on every table
2. Funny waitress
3. Easy going atmosphere
Suggestions:
1. Definitely order a side of gravy
2. I ordered the beef, which was good, but I kind of wish I had ordered the chicken (tried it and it was so good!)

Heads up: They are only open from April thru October 31^st. 10am-​8pm.
I must’ve just made it in under the wire the day I came, October 29^th. Thank goodness after I had driven all the way out to Lehto’s Pasties 5 miles west of town only to find they were closed for the season, which THEIR website didn’t specify.
I liked Bessie’s, which came highly recommended by the lady at the Chamber of Commerce. I’d had two or three beef Pasties on my trip by now so I decided to try a chicken one. The flavor was good, though I agree with the reviewer who said it was skimpy on the meat. But it had good flavor.
I love that Vernor’s is available in restaurants in Michigan as I don’t usually drink pop in restaurants. This came in a plastic bottle so I could take what I didn’t finish with me and I used it as an extra water bottle the rest of my trip.
There is outdoor seating for warm summer days and evenings.
If you get desperate for some they ship, but I’ve made them and they’re not THAT hard to make at home.

My friend and I went to St. Ignace since I’ve never been to the Upper Peninsula. We decided to cross the bridge from Mackinaw City and explored a little. We stumbled across this treasure… I never knew was Pasties were until I had it that day.
I ordered the Chicken Pasties and my friend had the Vegetable Pasties. Both were delicious! The creamy chicken gravy added a robust flavor to the Pasties. I’ve never had it before so it was a treat!
The customer service was really good. The lady kept us entertained with her gracious smile and friendly attitude. It’s a great place to go for a quick and filling pasties.
Although, I these pasties does remind me of the Spanish/​Filipino dish called «empanada» minus the gravy. I think the gravy is an American thing. :) Nonetheless, they’re both delicious!
Keep up the good work Bessie! Hope to be back soon.