Spectators Sports Bar & Grill

Spectators is a typical sports bar/​restaurants. Nestled just a few minutes away from downtown Saugatuck and the marinas, it is an easy fix for some «bar» food. Although, I will say it is pretty good for bar food.
Menu is big — pizzas, nachos, wraps, salads, sandwiches. It goes above and beyond your typical sports bar eats. Drinks are cheap — which isn’t always the case in Saugatuck. Definitely a change of scenery for the touristy downtown center. You can tell it is a regular joint for locals.
Service is meh. Nothing exceptionally good or bad to say about it. Doesn’t ever seem to be a wait when I have visited which is a plus! So next time you get quoted 2 hours for a table downtown, I suggest Spectators!

Stopped by for lunch quick service giant chicken sandwich. Nice patio the waitress was very attentive and food was good and hot !! I will come back!

Spent the afternoon catching Lake Trout and Coho Salmon at Best Chance Charters and they suggested that Spectators would prep for us. Each type of fish was fried, blackened and baked. I have never had such great fish in my life. The non-​fish eating eaters ordered off the menus. We called ahead of time to make reservations as this is somewhat unique opportunity. The Best Chance Charted had already cleaned the catch and all the chef had to do is skin and cook. The cooked even skinned out some of the catch that wasn’t prepared. Friends with us from South Carolina and Kalamazoo were absolutely blown away with the quality and taste of the fish. All this on a busy Friday night. Unforgettable.

«Specs», as it is known to locals, is a Saugatuck institution. The owners are super friendly and almost always on site overseeing every aspect of the customer experience. Not to be cliché, but it’s the kind of place «where everybody knows your name» and if they don’t, they will by the time you leave. Great food, and even better service, make for a great time, every time at Specs!

My husband tried this place last year after Christmas shopping and we have been back there many times since. The service is wonderful and everything we have tried so far on the menu has been great (pizza, prime rib, lake perch, burger plus many more items) It is always busy and summertime is even more so but that should be expected since it’s in a tourist oriented town. And even when it has been busy, service is fast. My favorites are the Prime Rib special — practically melts in your mouth! (the best I’ve had since the Pub in South Haven closed YEARS ago!) and if you like Lake Perch you won’t be disappointed — I got 5 HUGE pieces with the dinner I ordered. And it was the best Lake Perch I’ve had other than what we cook at home. They also have great desserts! It is a Sports bar so there are TV’s going constantly and sometimes it gets a little loud but the good food and service outweighs that to me. Looking forward to our next dinner there! Keep up the great standards.

Menu is outdated. Everything I tried to order they don’t make anymore. Finally I just gave up and said just being me some homemade chips and dip. Well they tasted alright but were homemade yesterday not fresh made. Won’t be back.

The place has a strong odor of bleach and the mensroom smells of urine. Very off putting, I doubt if I’ll return.

A restaurant with a pleasant atmosphere, great service, good food, & good drinks! I highly recommend Spectator’s salads!

Went to Spectators to enjoy the Belmont Stakes Saturday. Found a booth in the bar, place wasn’t busy at all. After twelve (12) minutes, none of the wait staff or the two women behind the bar came to our table. Three wait staff were chatting nonstop by the hostess stand, two walked by but didn’t acknowledge us. We looked for the owner, but he wasn’t there. Seems like the servers play when the boss is away… Went to Wick’s and had water, menus and drinks within five minutes. Guess we found a new hang out!

Good food. Great variety of beer. I ordered the prime rib which was good but maybe a little over priced. This place is busy year round but in the summer months expect huge crowds.

Good atmosphere since it is a sports bar with plenty of TV’s. We went during the NCCA Tournament so it was bound to be busy for dinner. Bar and other dining area are fairly isolated, which isn’t all of a bad thing, but you are in lie two other places it seems like. Burger was good, as was the rest of my food. Service was decent. I have visited there a few times and it is always one of the places I enjoy going to. Right off the highway and if you head into Saugatuck, you won’t miss it at all. Parking is decent. Come here if there is a game on as you’ll get the best experience in my opinion.

My sister brought me here for a birthday lunch yesterday and we both ended up getting their burrito special. She had the beef burrito and I had the chicken burrito. She declared that hers tasted great. Mine was also very good. The chicken in mine didn’t seem to have any taste of either grilling or seasoning being used on it, but when you combined it with the rest of the flavors in the burrito it ended up being tasty. I would not hesitate to order it again if I find myself in the area and am hungry. Our server was friendly and the rest of the patrons in the bar area where were eating seemed to be having a great time so overall it was a very good experience. I’d better stop rambling on and on since I’m getting hungry just thinking about my meal yesterday. Check this place out.

Spectators is much more than just a sports bar. Yes, they have a number of televisions and are happy to put your game on and yes they have a nicely stocked bar but this is one of best sports bars I’ve been visited for two reasons. They have a diverse menu of well prepared and delicious food. You can eat healthy if you’d like or dig into «bar food». Their staff is top notch. The Owner Pat personally welcomed us and made us feel at home. Brooke was an exceptional server too. If you’re looking for great food, great people and would rather feel like you’re at a friends place than a corporate restaurant then go to Spectators. You won’t be disappointed.

Tried to eat there tonight. Worst service and food I’ve had for years. Ribs must have been In The warmer since noon and sirloin steak was a stretch. You’re on your own on this one, YUK! Never saw server after ordering. Brought salad after entrée. Never again!

Ok… I loved this place. Nice portions for the price. Waitstaff was great! Filled with locals. So if that says anything to you. Honestly best food I had in Saugatuck. Oh and the beer was ice cold!

Good food and brew. Service excellent! Reasonably priced. Would definitely recommend.

I love Sports Bars, of all shapes and sizes. Spectator’s is your perfect run of the mill sports bar. We showed up, pulled together a couple of tables and watch us some football. It was great. The drinks were quick and cold and the food was on the top level for sports bars.
The fact that you can play Keno in Michigan at the bars is pretty sweet as well.
They have a great not-​so-​little patio outside that I would love to hang out on in the Summer, the mass amounts of snow coming down that day steered us inside for our viewing enjoyment. We started with some Bloody Mary’s, beers and mimosa’s, exactly how a Sunday should begin! The owner came and visited for awhile, and told us about an awesome charity 5K they were doing on New Years Day. I so wanted to run, but we had plans already, I guess the Winter Classic hockey game was a little but more important to Jon. :-)
We had some buffalo shrimp, really good, burgers, and I had a chicken sandwich. All our plates were clean when it was all said and down, so I take it that all were good. The fires were ok, I would have gotten something else had I known they were that bland, but oh well.
We had a great time, I would love to go back!

Been here a few times before, food is good. I was dissapointed when I received my bill for a 16oz beer and was served a 12 ounce plastic glass? Asked 2 different waitresses why and they said that is what management ordered. Why charge $ 5 for a 12oz beer, when receipt says 160z? I feel I was ripped off, over priced, not sure if I will go back again

We have a cabin up here and have been looking for a local sports bar to enjoy games at while we’re up here… I don’t know why it took so long for us to find it but thank goodness we did. Great atmosphere, generour pours, stellar service (even when they got busy) owner/​manager is engaged, clearly popular with the visiting boating crowd as well as the locals. Decent food – nachos were typical bar fare (on the good side) but the fried portabellos were perfect… just enough breading over these large planks of mushroom… yum.

I have not tried a full dinner here, but have enjoyed drinks in the evening on the outdoor patio. There is live music outside on most nice-​weather weekends, and it’s not too loud at all. Service is good, and drinks are reasonable.