Firefly Restaurant

Overpriced for the quality, loud music, messed up bills. Salmon was a little overdone, beef skewer was mostly fat, edemame was overly salty, hummus was dry, spider roll had rice packed too tight and seaweed too damp & chewy. Waiter was nice but very inexperienced.

Visited on Sunday eve with a group of 7. Service, admirable. Food, noms. I thought the TC salad was very good. I also had the Philadelphia roll, mmm cream cheese and smoked salmon. Tasted great but, texture issues, but that’s a personal problem, lol. Prices were fsir, it was dinner. I liked the artwork and atmosphere of the place.

So good!!! The avocado salad with fresh basil dressing is absolutely amazing. Fresh corn, Gorgonzola cheese, avocado, amazing dressing. I got the walleye small plate and it was so good! Mashed potatoes with Gorgonzola cream were decent but not to die for. The carrot cake was the highlight of the night — so fresh and so good!!! Also love the pita chips and hummus to start!

This place is great! It’s right on the river and it has great food! It’s very veggie friendly which is a major plus! We ordered the Brussels sprouts snack and black bean sliders and they were both delicious. If I am ever back in town I would definitely come back and try the veggie burger or veggie sushi rolls!

I have been going to this restaurant for over a decade, and it still doesn’t disappoint! This place was the first that I ever tried goat cheese, and also sweet potato fries. Though these ingredients are commonplace now, they definitely weren’t 12+ years ago. Though many items on the menu look amazing, it is hard for me to visit and not get the Avocado Salad. It has corn, zucchini (my zucchini was missing on this visit, but the salad was still great), avocado, goat cheese, and the most AMAZING dressing on earth: creamy lemon basil. Seriously, the stuff is delicious! I have tried to replicate it at home when I can’t get my Firefly fix, but it never delivers the big basil punch that I get in the restaurant. My server must also know how awesome the dressing is, as she automatically brought two sides of it to the table with my salad. This visit we also tried the blue cheese fries, which were delightful! My boyfriend had the bluegill, and he loved it as well. Please book a trip to Firefly if you are visiting TC! You won’t regret it.

Okay place. Prices a little high. Staff businesslike but not personable. The boring, canned music was loud at our outside table with the speaker right above. Asked the waiter to turn it down. She said someone would do it. Asked a few times. It was never turned down. A little thing, maybe, but the loud, crummy music was an annoyance through the meal.

A co-​worker highly recommended Fire Fly. After reading reviews we were skeptical, but very glad we chose to trust someone we know over Unilocal.
Fire Fly has the most unique and well prepared food! My husband and I shared 3 small plates: asparagus prosciutto, arugula salad and blackened walleye. We didn’t have a bite left.
Go here and get this rating up to a 5! We almost passed and are so glad we didn’t!

Cool music. Great ambiance. Food is… Meh. The menu has a lot of conflicting themes, and as can be expected from that, all of the food is middle ground. The sushi is «beginner» sushi without creativity or really much raw food. Normal sushi lovers will never order off this limited menu. The small plates idea is nice and most are well executed, but each one seems to skimp on the sauce. Order extra to begin with! With two bars, great music, on the river… With a little re-​direction this could be a phenomenal restaurant. Right now, they’re just missing the mark.

went here with a huge group for a bachelorette party, service was slow even though we had two servers for each side. our end server seemed really irritated and inattentive even though we were all really nice to her.
ordered the general tso stir fry, it was terrible! my friend and I ordered the same thing and could count on one hand how many pieces of chicken were in our stir fry, i know it’s a «small plate» but for $ 12 it was disappointing.

Good food and service. Nice atmosphere. Decent price. Enjoyed their sushi. Was impressed with their mushroom burger.

We love their sushi and small plate selections. Beautiful restaurant with great wait staff. My wife and I ate here the night we got engaged and eat here whenever we are in town. (Since 2010)

They know how to hire great servers! Food is meh… atmosphere is nonexistent… Really the place is unremarkable. It’s sad really. Maybe I just wanted it to be «Firefly» themed motif. Who knows. I do know this place does not aim to misbehave!

I’m obsessed with this restaurant. Every time in in Traverse City, I insist on going here. This time around I had the black bean avocado cakes and the avocado goat cheese salad with lemon basil dressing, corn and zucchini. I added chicken — which was the only downside, it was cooked too long and slightly chewy. But the salad was amazing and the black bean cakes.
We were there for lunch. Our waitress was polite and attentive and the cost was reasonable.
I’ll be back in August!

In general a good experience. Our waiter was excellent and the setting was not bad. It’s flopped on the shore of the Boardman river just outside of TC downtown proper. The food was underwhelming but not terrible. The place has an almost corporate feel to it despite the fact it isn’t. It is owned by a restaurant group entity that owns several restaurants in the area which may explain the corporate-​ish feel. But overall nice place to eat. And before 17:30 it’s ¹⁄₃ off the menu for the value conscience. Bonus!

So we were really hoping for a great sushi place to satisfy our local cravings. Wanted to enjoy a nice Sushi restaurant in TC, but was left very disappointed. Service and atmosphere were good I really liked our waitress, we just were not impressed with the food. Loved the coffee, had a Salad which was very large and didn’t taste fresh. The fish in my boyfriends sushi was not particularly fresh or well executed. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be back.

Sushi needs to be made with the proper rice
NOT REGULAR RICE
Sushi Rice.
2 cups uncooked glutinous white rice (sushi rice)
3 cups water
½ cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
Rinse the rice in a strainer or colander until the water runs clear. Combine with water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Rice should be tender and water should be absorbed. Cool until cool enough to handle.
In a small saucepan, combine the rice vinegar, oil, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool, then stir into the cooked rice. When you pour this in to the rice it will seem very wet. Keep stirring and the rice will dry as it cools.

Great meal tonite, my mom had 8 oz. steak and I had the 5 oz. pork chop with surf and turf meal. Great beer choices !! Quick to be seated and prompt service by the wait staff.

Wakeme in a martini glass over rice noodles? Great presentation and great flavor!!!
Big Sky Bobo’s Porter on tap is excellent.
My sushi specials, half price Tuesdays was very very good and you can’t beat the price. I’d recommend too!

I went there about a week ago. I love this place because of the copious amounts of small plates offered. The menu unfortunately has changed though to reflect a more traditional restaurant menu. They cut the tapas menu down by ¼ which is a bit of a bummer. They offer more entrees now. The also have a a substantial sushi selection which is fab.
My waitress Halleigh was fabulous. Very friendly, efficient. & competent.
The restaurant has a great location. Way off the beaten path & situated on Boardman Lake/​River. They have a great wrap around patio so u can sit outside with your dog. There are floor to ceiling windows overlooking the River so not only a great view but lots of natural light.
They have a small bar when you first walk in & two other indoor seating areas which are spacious. It has a great light, airy, pleasant, relaxing vibe :)
They provide complimentary pita & hummus. Pita was fresh, grilled & soft with a DELISH garlicky side of hummus.
They have a fab drinks menu with lots of stylized martins, Wine & great microbrew selection. I had a bell’s Oberon…
I ordered a half salad of avocado, fresh grilled corn, tomato, with a creamy lemon vinaigrette. It was divine.
I then ordered the sirloin kebabs which were much smaller than I had hoped. I had them over rice instead of French fries which was a nice option. They were cooked more medium altho I ordered med rare. The marinade was tasty tho.
I also ordered a ny strip med rare to go which was cooked perfectly.
I really like this place. I usually go here every time I am in town bc it’s consistently a very good restaurant with all the right amenities!
RECOMMENDED!

We ate here for this year’s Mother’s Day and it was wonderful! The house-​made pot stickers were amazing! It is kind of a half-​tapas style place, half-​traditional entrée meals. Yet no matter what you get, it is delicious! Once, I had the filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms and roasted garlic mashed potatoes! YUM! On the most recent visit, my Mom and I shared a sushi roll as an appetizer but we both ended up wishing we had each gotten our own because it was so good we didn’t want to share. I definitely could have eaten another 6 of those sushi rolls.
If you are looking for a great, casual place for dinner, don’t pass this place by!