Ronald "w8in" v.'s Profile

I went here to pick up some beer for in the hotel room. The people behind the counter are nice and friendly. Their beer selection is OK, but not too extensive. They had some beers from Short's Brewing I haven't been able to find in South East Michigan.

I think they could add some more beers to their selection to make this a great place to go to. I would still recommend it to anyone looking to buy a nice beer.

I picked up from this tiny strip mall restaurant. I was still pretty much packed at 9:15pm on a weekday.
They had run a bit behind on cleaning some empty tables, but what do you expect if it's busy and it's not a full-size restaurant.

I had their peanut Pad Thai and ordered it spicy. The spice level was perfect. Nice and spicy without spoling the flavor. The dish was very good, but they didn't give me any silverware or napkin with it (you would think they would expect a lot of their guests to be people who stay in hotels)

I didn't see a lot of other ethnic food places in Traverse City, so for being the only Thai place in town (??) this was a good choice.

I was in town alone and wanted a not too heavy dinner with a nice beer, so I chose this place. The place looks nice enough inside...it's an old warehouse. I liked the style.
I sat down at the steel-plated bar and the bartender was working hard, friendly and very casual. They had ran out of seasonal beer, so I had their Porter, which was as good as any Porter I have had (although I must admit Porters are one of the most consistent beers, wherever you go).
I had the Wasabi grilled salmon Ciabatta and it was great. Had some trouble finding the wasabi in it, but the salmon was superb in combination with the Ciabatta and the Chinese slaw.
I had their stout as a second beer and that was pretty forgettable.

They also had outdoor seating, which I didn't use, but it looked like a nice biergarten/terrace.
I would recommend this place for a nice dinner and micro-brew.

I stayed here for three nights because I had a work assignment in Traverse City. They gave me a room on the parking lot side, but hey, I wasn't here for vacation, right?

I would say the biggest pro was the speedy wifi without having to enter an access code. The internet was down for a few hours on one day, but they had their provider on site to fix it right away.
Breakfast was nice...lots of variety.

Then the not so nice part: This hotel is awesome if you like your average old fashioned hotel color combinations and furniture. The room was clean, but blah. No coffeemaker and no mini-fridge (you could rent the latter for $10 a day). After a long day of work, working until almost midnight, it would've been nice to come "home" to a nice cold one, but alas.

The lobby was smelly and way over-sized. I think the smell had something to do with the pool that was next to the lobby, but it didn't smell like pool.

Some technology-related stuff: Wherever I had my blackberry in a radius of 8 feet from the alarm clock, the alarm clock's speakers would make that annoying cell phone signal sound. I turned off the alarm clock to get rid of it.
If you like to check your blackberry/iPhone, Droid or whatever while sitting on the toilet (and who doesn't?), be prepared for a free LSD trip. The tiled floor makes you dizzy when looking at your phone.

As a place to stay for work this was pretty OK, except for the lack of coffee maker. When I return to Traverse City for a personal trip, I'll be sure to look for something better though.

This is my new favorite restaurant, but unfortunately The Common Man is only in New Hampshire.
I could see how this would do well in the ski resort Lincoln, NH seems to be.

The atmosphere is great...a very homy and cozy log cabin and old days style. I think the old 40s and 50s music they played completed it.

The staff was very friendly and helpful. There was free cheese and crackers for us to get in the lounge, where people were sitting around the fireplace.
The food was great. I had a baked onion soup and apple glazed pork and it was delicious.
The white chocolate that came with the check was a nice touch too.

Please open up in Michigan :-P

This was obviously a pretty old motel. Weird smells in the lobby (musty old smell in the entry, then the smell of the restaurant while walking to the desk, and air freshener smell at the desk.

The room was pretty OK and had a semi-private balcony and a fridge. The bed scared us a bit when sitting on it. Very noisy and "springy". However, it was potentially the best bed we had slept in during our vacation.

The whole place feels like it's been there for decades (since 1956) and I actually liked that about it.

Very small place with a very local feel. Our waitress was very young and a bit tomboyish. I overheard her talking to an old local at the counter about how she wanted to "get out of here, because there's nothing here". She was also explaining him how she learned about Emmett Till in school the previous day...great to overhear these conversations.

We hear a baby cry and it seemed to be coming from behind the counter or from the kitchen. When we were looking up and looked at the waitress she said "Yeah, that's a baby".
I don't think we got any more local than this during our vacation.

The food? It was decent breakfast....my omelet was a bit too cheesy.
If you're driving on US1 along the Maine shore make a stop here...just for the experience.

"Have a rotten day", said the old geezer in the wheel chair as his son pushed him out of the restaurant. "You too", our waitress said, while not blinking an eye. She explained to us that this is how they always treat each other. Certainly a place where regulars go, I guess.

This place is filled with Americana memorabilia. Decent breakfast, but what was strange is that we didn't get asked what we would like to drink until we ordered our food.

Nothing to complain or rave about. We used this as a transition hotel between Maine and New Hampshire.

What struck me is that we got actual keys for the room, not plastic cards. The place was clean

Definitely a tourist place, begging for attention and with the route 66 theme going on (in Maine, of all places).
We were the only guests when we were there at 4pm on a Wednesday. We just wanted something to eat, so we could have a real dinner late at night. Lots to see inside...a bit gimmicky. But hey...the overkill decor was more interesting than your average Applebee's.

The food was good. I had a decent burger and the fries were crispy and tasteful. Nice to have been there, but not worth revisiting or pointing out to others as a place to go when in Bar Harbor