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2
Tue, 3/19
20:00

Ratings and reviews

RATINGS
Food
Service
Value
Atmosphere

Details

PRICE RANGE
£8 - £24
CUISINES
American, Bar, Grill, Gastropub
Special Diets
Vegetarian Friendly, Vegan Options, Gluten Free Options
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meals, features, about
Reviews (282)
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279 results
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128
81
36
21
13
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LanguageEnglish
Traveller rating
128
81
36
21
13
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All reviews brunch trout salad fries pretzels slow service st joe joseph
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Reviewed 2 weeks ago

At first, we were looking forward to our visit and lunch. Then when we ordered our beverages, was under the impression they were driving to another store to get our beers. 20 minutes later, our beers arrived. The food was good and timely, compared to...our beers.More

Date of visit: March 2024
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 4 September 2023

5 for the food; 3 for the service. Ate here two nights. Lots of choices for dinner. The fish was flakyt; mediterranean chicken was amazing; ribs were tender and juicy; large choice of drinks. Prices were good. Service was quite slow; place wasn't full -...took 10 minutes to even get us water. Waiter missed one of our drink orders. We weren't offered dessert on our first night.More

Date of visit: August 2023
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Reviewed 20 August 2023

Upside : Beautiful day, lovely location by river for outside seating. Husband had moist cheesy, shroom "Roast Beast" w/fries. We shared a yummy "Wedge Salad" tasty dressing, eggs,bacon & tom. Courteous waitress, we appreciated her 2x lemon wedges in the iced water, tho we didn't...ask for 2x :-) Downside: Would have preferred salad arriving first. (Ideally I like mine quick grilled, but that wasn't in the description so, just me. ) My "Eggs Benedict/ Caprese" DID specifically say Basil with the mozzarella, balsalmic&tomato. No basil leaves ? Waitress must have never been asked before but did return with more basalmic( I asked for to give better flavor as had minimal drizzle & no basil leaf to balance) she said "Chef says the yellow sauce has basil IN it". . no comment of sorry we ran out of fresh etc. ?Ate it at $2 more than traditional with meat version, but really? That's not Caprese, not real Basil as advertised & expected & seems no excuse in August not to have fresh Basil herebut just mild flavoring the yellowing sauce. Last note to improve... waitress brought bill but never asked husband if he would like more water, though the 2 lemon hit glass bottom half way thru so he did ask, & she got it refilled. Just a bit more detail on that would have been appreciated. Without these detractions Planks visit today would have been 5 star!More

Date of visit: August 2023
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Reviewed 5 May 2023

Planks is always at the top of my list for special occasions. Food and service are exceptional. Grab your matey and head out to Planks!

Date of visit: April 2023
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Reviewed 14 January 2023 via mobile

Spa mother-daughter getaway, concluding with a very nice dinner at Plank’s. Plank’s is definitely the place to be in St Joe’s in January, it was hopping! Noise level high. A fellow local spa guest mentioned it’s the best restaurant in St Joe’s. Apparently it was...the first day of a new menu so service was a bit slower than usual, but the food was tasty. We enjoyed oysters, caesar salad, sliders w skinny fries, Gouda Mac n cheese, asparagus and a caramel brownie sundae. Our faves were the sliders, fries and Gouda Mac. Delish! Asparagus was a bit too greasy and slightly overcooked. However, overall we were very satisfied, full (!) and would certainly return if back in the area.More

Date of visit: January 2023
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Reviewed 11 December 2022

Great food with an eclectic menu, from an obviously experienced and passionate chef. A well-trained and friendly staff was the icing on the cake! If you are in Saint Joseph, you can't do better than Planks!

Date of visit: December 2022
Helpful?1  
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Reviewed 4 November 2022 via mobile

I was there for a catered event for 75 people in town for a football game. The staff was so nice and accommodating. It is sometimes challenging to make good quality food for a group of 75; however, the salad and vegetables were perfect- good...salad dressing choices. Excellent steak with variable mushrooms even for this mostly pescatarian. The trout was good. Medium level wine choices for a large group which maybe better for a single person order. The wine was across various regions and the head bartender had a good moderate wine knowledge and made good recommendations. I would rate it a 5 but I want to return for a single person menu order.More

Date of visit: November 2022
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Reviewed 3 October 2022 via mobile

Sunday brunch. Arrived. At 1115am. Informed by hostess they had no “busser” so tables were dirty unless we wanted to sit outside. We did. After 10 minutes waitress came over and said no one told her the table was filled. Took drink order. After 10...minutes passed 3 of the 4 drinks came. Waited 10 more minutes to get order taken. Waitress wrote it on a receipt. She said it was chaos at restaurant. After 25 minutes went by after placing order manager came over to check on us and apologized for the service. She got our food. All luke warm at best. Fourth drink finally came. During meal. Manager gave us a free dessert but nothing off of bill. Just a couple apologies. We saw four tables cleared but NOT wiped down before someone else was seated. Two tables were seated ahead of us (not sure how long before us) but we got our food before they did. Food was average. Service was poor. Almost every table had dirty dishes. Probably worst experience I’ve had at a restaurant. Not recommended. If you’re short staffed, don’t open every section. Have staff due extra duty (have hostess clear tables, have waiter/waitress clean own tables, manager(s) clear tables, seat people, etc). Poorly run by management this day. Saw a lot of unhappy customers this day.More

Date of visit: October 2022
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Brady Cohen, General Manager at Plank's Tavern on the Water, responded to this reviewResponded 26 October 2022

Hi Rebecca- sorry to hear about your experience. We did fail to live up to our service standards as we did have a few call offs causing us to be short staffed with a full hotel. I do agree with you, our Manager should have...More

Reviewed 13 September 2022

This restaurant is attached to a hotel, which I assume is the reason the prices are inflated. $20 for the "Big Ass Pretzel" which is, as you might surmise, is giant pretzel; $52 for a 16 oz. ribeye steak. The only reason we stayed is...that we were hungry, it was close to closing time (9:00 pm) for most of the restaurants in the area, and we didn't have to wait for a table (at those prices, I can see why!) Service was slow and inattentive. It was 25 minutes before we even got to order I suspect they may have been short-staff (a problem which seemed prevalent with other restaurants in St. Joseph)More

Date of visit: September 2022
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Reviewed 12 September 2022 via mobile

Came in on a Friday expecting to have lunch at noon but instead they had a brunch menu. I've never known a restaurant to only serve brunch and dinner. Not really a criticism, just an interesting approach. My main reason for the low rating, they...had flies galore inside the restaurant. I constantly had to swipe them away from landing on the food. They are all over the windows. They really need to find a way to control them. I could only imagine what the kitchen looked like if they were that bad in the dinning room. Brunch food was just ok. Mos def not worth the price. The flavors are a bit unique. Some may like them, but it wasn't for me. The homemade ketchup was too sweet. Grits seemed bland and I wasnt crazy about the flavor profile. Medium rare steak came out medium. Cocktails were great! I would go back for drinks.More

Date of visit: September 2022
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Reviewed 21 August 2022

Very, very , very good food. You can also have a drink in the chair on the water. Fair pricing, but...... very slow service. If the service can be faster that would be awesome!

Date of visit: August 2022
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Reviewed 27 July 2022

We had several meals here during our stay. The food was excellent, and we enjoyed the specials offered each night for dinner.

Date of visit: July 2022
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Reviewed 17 May 2022 via mobile

Strange menu. All over the place. We ate three meals there lunch and dinner, because the other restaurants in the area we wanted to go to were closed Sunday Monday or Tuesday. The best thing we had was the wedge salad. The prime rib sandwich...was made with prime rib that tasted like it had been warmed up several times very dry and very overdone. The calamari was very strange it was undercooked and had pieces that range from baby squid to the big round rubber bands. Drink prices were very high. They had several tap beers from microbreweries but those would depend on your taste beer. There is outside dining overlooking a commercial harbor. Our service was very spotty. It is a hotel restaurant and the prices were very high.More

Date of visit: May 2022
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Reviewed 4 October 2021

The food and service here was excellent. It was very busy the night we ate here and the service was still very good. I had the Wedge to start with, accompanied with fish and couscous and was just too full for dessert but all of...it was delicious.More

Date of visit: August 2021
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Reviewed 23 August 2021

There aren't a lot of upscale restaurants in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. Plank's, the hotel restaurant, is trying but it just isn't there. Service is hit or miss. We ate there three nights. The first night it was great, the second night it wasn't...bad but just slow and not attentive, and the third night it was somewhere between the first two nights. The menu is more like a sports bar than an upscale restaurant. No shrimp cocktails. Zero effort made in plating or presentation. The wine list is extensive. Some of the selections are overpriced by $20-25. Charging New York City prices in St. Joseph is a little bit much. I don't know about desserts because we were never offered any on all three nights. Definitely make a reservation but ignore Open Table and call the restaurant because Open Table availability wasn't accurate.More

Date of visit: August 2021
Helpful?1  
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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PLANK'S TAVERN ON THE WATER, Saint Joseph - Updated 2024 Restaurant Reviews, Menu, Prices, & Reservations - Tripadvisor

Frequently Asked Questions about Plank's Tavern on the Water

Yes, Plank's Tavern on the Water offers takeaway services.

Plank's Tavern on the Water is rated accordingly in the following categories by Tripadvisor travellers:
  • Food: 4
  • Service: 4
  • Value: 3.5
  • Atmosphere: 4