North Peak could not pick a better setting location than beautiful Traverse City. They are located in a big, old brick factory building that looks historic in some way. Inside the style is contemporary and has really nice paint, tiles, and decorations. Great atmosphere for a brewpub and a nice change from the industrial and hunting lodge theme that seems to dominate every new opening. Now, I am just guessing but this place appears to be owned by the same people who do Grizzly Peak in Ann Arbor. The menu is similar and the logo is almost identical. After sampling a few of the beers, I think I have confirmed the suspicion. The menu is creative and a lot of fun with its vegetarian and eastern influenced dishes. I got the sesame walleye sandwich with Chinese cole slaw and pub fries and my girlfriend got the veggie cheese steak sandwich. The walleye sandwich was a small nugget of walleye breaded with sesame seeds on a bun and served with an orange dressing on it. It was VERY small and extremely bland. The Chinese slaw was also incredibly bland and didn't live up to its menu description. To top off my meal were the cold and soggy pub fries. My girlfriends meal was not much better with the cheese steak sandwich served on a really bad looking bun (the type that you see half off at the Kroger bakery) and cold pub fries. Neither of us went beyond finishing half of our food before we called it quits. The waitress was not exactly observant that we were not pleased. She looked at 2 full plates of food, smiled and said “we all done here? OK, thanks for coming” and brought us a bill. Overall an incredibly bad dining experience. I rarely leave a restaurant feeling cheated, even if the food was not to my liking. Three weeks later there is still no response to the comment card I filled out explaining the situation. The beer I'm afraid was not much better. The cask conditioned Porter was extremely bland with a harsh alcohol finish. They also have a red, brown, light and stout plus a few seasonals. With Mackinaw Brewing just a few blocks away, I doubt I will be spending my money here again.
Joe has not reviewed this brewpub yet.