Barnacle Bill’s

Good place for drinks and getting your boogie on during the weekends. Friendly staff and better than average bar foods. They have shuffle board and I am the Tawas unofficial champ!

Hmmm what can I say. It’s a bar that is trying to serve «better bar food». I was a sucker to it, I tried the Lobster Mac N Cheese and it was bland with fake lobster. Should have been called «Lobster delight Mac n cheese». The beer and prices for it were good. I will prolly just stick to Wing It when I’m in town.

Pretty good restaurant overall. They have good burgers, good fish, good appetizers. If you are looking for bar food, this is the place. They also have some kind of all you can eat chili dogs on wednesdays, im not sure for how long out of the year. Those are alright. Other than that this place is typically filled up. The general consensus is that everyone is happy with this restaurant

I have only eaten breakfast here and it’s not too bad for a bar. I mean, it’s breakfast, you really can’t screw it up. But, be prepared for a long wait to get your food. It’s always at least 30 minutes.

Been coming here off-​on for 15 years. Usually fun nite time bar. Last few times in it seems like Saturday nights usually include 1, or 2 brawls. Both guys and girls. Normally broken up quite quickly, but still makes ya feel a little uneasy.

One of the few places in town that opens early for breakfast; great lunch specials and excellent dinner. Also a night club right on the main drag that offers DJ, and live music for most event weekends. What’s there not to like? This is where the locals go to party and walking distance from the campground and most places in town.

Not sure what’s going on at this place. Ordered two Bloody Mary’s and I swear there was no vodka in either one of them. Tasted like straight tomato juice. They always had the best Bloody Mary’s…not anymore.

First time to East Tawas, first time to Barnacle Bills. Place was filled with regulars, which is a good sign. Our waitress was efficient and friendly. I see comments about bar’s negative views towards non– locals. Well, we didn’t see it. Drinks were made well, and very cheap, IMHO. Vodka with cranberry for $ 2.50? (Well vodka, obviously). Pretty darn cheap to me. They also had .49 wings which hubby and son loved. I had their special, blackened tuna bites. Cooked perfectly. We will be back! As I looked around, all the food at the other tables looked just as good.

Loved the media reports about this small business supporting breastfeeding!
With all the gloom and doom these days, it sure is nice to hear of s supportive family atmosphere!
Keep up the good work!

It is a bar but my family and I usually go just for a cheap breakfast in the morning! It’s breakfast food, you can’t screw it up!
The only thing that was bad was the service. I feel bad that there’s usually only 1 – 2 waiters/​waitresses on staff! They need more help. The food comes out usually over 40 minutes which is a ridiculous wait time.

I don’t know where to even begin with this one. I will try to sum it up quickly as possible.
We go out to East Tawas a few times a year. My boss has a exquisite home out there.
We had a girls trip and decided to stop in this bar around 10:30pm to spend some $.
We are all in our 30, s besides one 24 yr old. we got hassled at the door for id. Ok, understandable, whatever.
We sat down at the bar (after just being carded at the door) to only have our 24 yr old friend be CARDED AGAIN. how ridiculous and embarrassing!
There was 3 barmaids. It took 10 min for them to even want to talk to us. We got 4 shots that was $ 20. Kinda shocking. But as we later found out, they UP CHARGE «townies» on purpose. Apparently the owners at this place, dislike all «down staters» EVEN THOUGH 4 months out of the year, that’s how u make ur $ is off us «down staters». There was a group of locals who were making this guys (owner) business known. He doesn’t seem very liked.
We then ordered rum and cokes, vodka and cranberry and the drinks were so over run with the coke and cranberry portions, there was literally NO ALCOHOL in these beverages. VERY disappointed!!! I know they do this on purpose and it’s very ridiculous. WE WERE READY TO SPEND SOME FRICKEN $ IN THIS PLACE BUT THEY BLEW IT. o well. We are going up to East Tawas in 2 weekends from now and will not be going back to barnacle Bills.

Tuesday build your own burger. Was delicious and inexpensive compared to others within walking distance. Sociable and friendly staff. Worth the visit.

Friendly, good food and lot’s of fun.
This is sort of a biased review because I know the owner and we party together at times.
But, I still wanted to put my two cents on this site and let people know that it’s a nice joint to patronize,
«Open the door you dirty whore, it’s Barnacle bill the sailor…» (It’s a verse from a song, there are no whores in Barnie’s)

I’ve been coming to Barnacle Bill’s for many years. It’s pretty much a landmark in East Tawas. Folks complain about the prices, but I don’t think it’s that bad. I guess they expect it to be cheap because it’s small town. Well, small town folk have to make a living too.
I have never had a problem with my food. It’s my stop for great fish and it’s always amazing. Never been disappointed. Our service has always been great. We’ve come peak season and off– season without any problems.
Last time we were there we tried their new hummus dip. It was really good and different from other places I have eaten it at.
It’s not 5 star class dining, but it is a good place to eat or have a drink.

Extremely poor service. Had to chase down a waitress for a menu. Then she never came back to take my order. I flagged down another girl, who was apparently a busser, and she said she couldn’t take my order. Do you think she had the concept to find me someone who could? Nope, what a complete zero. Finally chased down the original waitress and told her to send the manager over. Got the deer in the headlights look. Why? she said. I told her I would discuss it with him. Manager came over and I told him the story. His answer, «We’re busy». Has asked me what I wanted and waited on me personally. Kudos. Food was good. If your too busy to take orders, why are you working there?

Prices were a little high for what you got. I got the wings and was very disappointed. If the management is reading this, you should reconsider your wing dispensor, why not just batter your own? My wife got nachos. We split everything. Nachos could easily be made in my own kitchen. I think I’m gonna go put down this already unhealthy meal with a Sundae frome dairy queen. Much lazy. Very scream for ice cream

We popped in here for a little break from walking around and just meandering through town. We were able to get good beer and a tasty snack. Dive-​y atmosphere and they have KENO which is always a plus in our book. We will definitely be back.

Kind of an old fashioned dive bar — the good kind, though. Group of six of us had dinner there. Great food special options and good choices for fish which you’d expect. I got the bacon cheeseburger with chili fries and so did the wife. Others got the fish and prime rib entrees. Food was good and you can tell that most of it is homemade.
Bathrooms were very clean — a surprise plus. Service was a okay — friendly but not super fast.
Would give a 3.5 if I could.

Ordered the dinner salad. It was iceberg lettuce with 2 spoiled slices of cucumber on it and some croutons. The ranch dressing on the side came in a plastic take out cup with the lid on and it was greasy and tasted spoiled as well. Ordered a club sandwich and the bacon was rubbery and poorly cooked. The whole sandwich was a mess that was drenched in mayo when I had asked for the mayo to be on the side as well. The waitress was barely civil, never asked if I wanted a refill or another beer. Service sucked (left a 15% tip) and I always tip 20% and have been known to tip 50% when I get really good service. The food was not great, not even good. This was a one and done and will never return here. Yuk!

Barnacle Bill’s is one of only a few local restaurants located on the main drag of Tawas. It has a variety of bar & grill fun things to offer such as pool, darts, and even a shuffleboard. There’s plenty of TV’s and a nice sized bar.
The food offerings are the traditional American staples — burgers, pizza, etc. I had the buffalo burger which I got to top myself at the burger bar. The bar has onions, mild and hot peppers, pickles, tomatoes, ketchup and mustard. The burger was OK, not very big but right-​sized in my opinion.
The appetizer we tried was a veggie hand-​dip tray (read: deep fried) which was pretty good… cauliflower, onion rings, pickles, and mushrooms. The onion rings had a good batter on them, the onion and batter stuck together bite after bite w/​o falling apart!
The best part I liked about the place was the free internet access! The food hit the spot but I was really looking for a place to hook up and Unilocal,among other things :-)
This review was Unilocaled on site!