Social Profile: 
✔️Dinner ✔️Dine in
… View more
Address and Contact Information
Address: 129 E Bay St, Harbor Springs, MI 49740
Phone: (231) 412-6032
Website: http://www.willowharborsprings.com/
Menu Photos
Photo Gallery
Related Web Results
Willow Harbor Springs – Home
Willow is a modern American restaurant with an emphasis on farm-to-table fine dining in Harbor Springs, MI. We offer a globally inspired wine selection, …
Willow | Harbor Springs MI – Facebook
The best seat in Harbor Springs… ❄️ Reservations for our Outdoor dining experience are quickly filling up. Call (231) 412-6032 to save your seat.
Willow (@willowharborsprings) · Harbor Springs, MI – Instagram
True A5 wagyu imported from the Miyazaki prefecture. Pure luxury and decadence. We only bring in the finest sourced ingredients for our Harbor Springs guests .
Reviews
Tom Bellinson
I will qualify this review by saying that I consider myself a foodie — whatever that actually means. I have enjoyed meals that embodied the local, farm-to-table concept…and this isn’t it. They should rewrite the website to say “elevated bar food.” Had they said that, I wouldn’t have eaten there for our 40th wedding anniversary. However, this review is based on the elevated bar food concept because they wouldn’t even get two stars on a made-to-order, farm-to-table basis. In fact, there was almost nothing on the menu that is even in season in September in Northern Michigan (no squash, carrots, beans or even tomatoes).
This is a bar. It’s a nice bar. Small. Somewhat loud, but not overwhelmingly so. The music was an upbeat blend of popular music old and new. The staff was very friendly and set an unhurried pace that was nice, but I would have thought it slow had we been in more of a hurry.
Between my wife and I, we had five dishes: crispy potatoes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, tuna tostada, and shrimp cocktail. Let’s go in reverse order. The shrimp cocktail was supposed to have a “Bloody Mary cocktail sauce.” What it had was cocktail sauce. I don’t know which jar it came out of, but it didn’t taste of vodka or even the spiciness of a good Bloody Mary mix. The shrimp were of a good size and only slightly overcooked.
My wife had the tuna tostada. She said it was the best of the four things she ate (I at the shrimp myself). However, she was disappointed that nothing seemed particularly fresh. The whole thing seemed to be assembled from prefabricated components — possibly even the tuna!
The cauliflower was roasted and then deep fried to finish it. In fact, the potatoes and the Brussels sprouts were also finished in the deep fryer. This is a great trick that most bars with elevated bar food know well. Frying at the end allows you to make up a big batch of something and then heat and crisp it in just a few minutes when you’re ready to serve it. However, this is not what real chefs do when they’re preparing fresh, made-to-order, food. The cauliflower was missing one really important flavor — cauliflower. Lot’s of people don’t really like the flavor of cauliflower. It is in the cabbage family and has that sour note that cabbages have. If you like cauliflower flavored food, you will be disappointed here, but the grease from the fryer and the garlic and cheese gave it good flavor and mouth feel. If there were pine nuts, I don’t think I got one.
The smashed potatoes were boiled before they got their turn in the fryer. This made them nice and creamy in the middle and the charred lemon aioli was super tasty.
The Brussels sprouts seem to be from the same recipe every restaurant is using these days. The menu said chili, agave and lime, but it tasted like the same old balsamic reduction that everyone else uses. I don’t know how they managed to get those other ingredients to replicate the flavor so closely. Don’t get me wrong — I really enjoyed the balsamic reduction flavored chili, agave and lime treatment.
In the end, this just wasn’t the restaurant we signed up for, so that was disappointing. Hopefully, if you went to their website and then found this review, you will be saved from making the same mistake.
… moreThis is a bar. It’s a nice bar. Small. Somewhat loud, but not overwhelmingly so. The music was an upbeat blend of popular music old and new. The staff was very friendly and set an unhurried pace that was nice, but I would have thought it slow had we been in more of a hurry.
Between my wife and I, we had five dishes: crispy potatoes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, tuna tostada, and shrimp cocktail. Let’s go in reverse order. The shrimp cocktail was supposed to have a “Bloody Mary cocktail sauce.” What it had was cocktail sauce. I don’t know which jar it came out of, but it didn’t taste of vodka or even the spiciness of a good Bloody Mary mix. The shrimp were of a good size and only slightly overcooked.
My wife had the tuna tostada. She said it was the best of the four things she ate (I at the shrimp myself). However, she was disappointed that nothing seemed particularly fresh. The whole thing seemed to be assembled from prefabricated components — possibly even the tuna!
The cauliflower was roasted and then deep fried to finish it. In fact, the potatoes and the Brussels sprouts were also finished in the deep fryer. This is a great trick that most bars with elevated bar food know well. Frying at the end allows you to make up a big batch of something and then heat and crisp it in just a few minutes when you’re ready to serve it. However, this is not what real chefs do when they’re preparing fresh, made-to-order, food. The cauliflower was missing one really important flavor — cauliflower. Lot’s of people don’t really like the flavor of cauliflower. It is in the cabbage family and has that sour note that cabbages have. If you like cauliflower flavored food, you will be disappointed here, but the grease from the fryer and the garlic and cheese gave it good flavor and mouth feel. If there were pine nuts, I don’t think I got one.
The smashed potatoes were boiled before they got their turn in the fryer. This made them nice and creamy in the middle and the charred lemon aioli was super tasty.
The Brussels sprouts seem to be from the same recipe every restaurant is using these days. The menu said chili, agave and lime, but it tasted like the same old balsamic reduction that everyone else uses. I don’t know how they managed to get those other ingredients to replicate the flavor so closely. Don’t get me wrong — I really enjoyed the balsamic reduction flavored chili, agave and lime treatment.
In the end, this just wasn’t the restaurant we signed up for, so that was disappointing. Hopefully, if you went to their website and then found this review, you will be saved from making the same mistake.
Ghassan A
We just had 4 small plates because they sounded delicious on the menu and we were not disappointed. Everything would sounds classical but had a twist. Sweet potato soup with shredded coconut was to inhale. Brussel sprouts with a hint of mint (and other goodness) were really good. Great crab cakes as well. Tacos we’re very flavorful. The two of us had a lot of leftovers after these small plates.
Service, courtesy of Crystal G, was very friendly.
Great experience all in all.
… moreService, courtesy of Crystal G, was very friendly.
Great experience all in all.
Eric B
Service was very quick and attentive. Food was absolutely delicious. Cannot recommend the ravioli enough! Tried everything from the tostada to the brussels sprouts to the short rib. I doubt there is a dish on the menu I would not like.
… moreTom Barker
Incredible food with incredible prices, Willow is a must stop in Harbor Springs! The flavor and presentation of the food is above and beyond, try the halibut!
… moreMichael Vermeesch
High quality ingredients, expert preparation. I’d recommend you book a reservation in advance because it’s worth it
… moreM Hardy
I was very impressed!
First and foremost, I have an older sister who is wheel cheer bound and they had a ramp ready for us to enter and leave.
The inside was clean, simple and elegant. The food was definitely what they described. Share two small plates for apps and share a big plate cause you definitely can! Dessert was amazing and the service was prompt and they were very kind.
I’ll be back!
… moreFirst and foremost, I have an older sister who is wheel cheer bound and they had a ramp ready for us to enter and leave.
The inside was clean, simple and elegant. The food was definitely what they described. Share two small plates for apps and share a big plate cause you definitely can! Dessert was amazing and the service was prompt and they were very kind.
I’ll be back!
sarah tilden
Made a reservation to sit outside weeks in advance and was so excited to eat here. When we got there, the man at the host stand said the outside seating was taken and instead walked us over to a table inside and dropped the menus without talking and walked away. The person who served us came over after about two minutes of us sitting and asked us if we were ready to order (we were not). They were very cold to us (me, my husband, and mother) and it was clear we were not a priority. We ordered a bottle of wine and ended up pouring our own wine most of the dinner. When we were ready to order I asked if they could check on an item of food for a food allergy. They never came back to tell me one way or another and instead didn’t show back up to our table until our food had arrived. My husband had fish for his meal and found 7 bones in his meal. When it was brought up they just took the plate and said nothing. My mom found 2 bones in her piece of salmon as well. The server then brought over our check and let us know the one entree was removed but there was no manager or anyone that came over to apologize. The table next to us, a group of 4, had great service the entire time, which only added to the overall disappointment of our experience.
… moreTiffany Taylor Walz
The food and service were OK, but not worth the price. I got the duck w/ bread pudding. The beet sauce that came with it was not substantial enough to give the duck much flavor so it was rather bland. I got a salad with roasted cauliflower which was tasty, but a bit over dressed. The cheese plate was nice, but not worth $28. They only had black tea which I found very disappointing because I can’t drink caffeine at night. Overall an OK experience but the prices, lack of variety (in teas at least), and bland duck left me disappointed.
… moreMina A
Food was delicious. Server, Crystal G, was wonderful. Only complaint is it was somewhat colder because we were close to the door, but it was unavoidable and they offered to move us once a new table was available but we were settled. The pumpkin (butternut squash?) bisque was absolutely incredible. Would love to come back next time we’re in town!
… moreJudie Young
Tried Willow for the first time and had an excellent experience. After reading several of the reviews we were not sure that we wanted to go there because a few people had noted that the service was really bad. We found that not to be true and thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We tried the burger the brussels sprouts and also had an omelette. Everything was extremely good. Service was great. Wait staff was friendly. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for upscale food in a comfortable and well designed setting.
… more