Just about a month ago, my wife and I took a trip to Manistee, MI. I have already posted one or two other stories about our trip there. Check my profile out if you want to read about them.
The Fillmore is actually right next to another restaurant called the Bluefish Kitchen and Bar. The Bluesfish is very well advertised and I have heard good things about it from several people.
My wife and I looked at the menu ahead of time though and it appears to be quite seafood oriented (hence the name) and also quite pricey. I did some more research and finally settled on The Fillmore.
There are actually two parts to the Fillmore, one is a small shop where you can buy the locally sourced products like they use in their recipes. It also has a small seating area.
The other side of the Fillmore is what I showed in the cover photo. The establishment itself isn't that big unless there was an area that was hiding on me. I would guess besides the horseshoe shaped bar in the middle of the building there is probably only enough seating for less than 50 people.
It had a nice atmosphere and though it was a little small, I really enjoyed our dinner there. 
I think part of that comes from The Fillmore's commitment to use as much locally sourced products as they can. They don't do a lot of things, but they try to make sure the things they do are really good.
It had been a pretty dicey drive over to Manistee through some snow and ice, so our first order of business were some cocktails.
The Fillmore offered a small list of specialty drinks that my wife and I browsed through. She settled on the Manistee Storm Watch which is pretty much their take on a Moscow Mule but with rum instead of vodka. I went with a classic Old Fashioned which was basically a Manhattan.
The drink were mixed well and very enjoyable. As we were sipping on those, we started to look over the menu.
The waitress came back and we soon placed our order. I am a sucker for a good meatloaf, so I knew that was what I was going to get as soon as I saw it on the menu. My wife went for the Southwest chicken wrap.
As we were waiting for our food to arrive, we noticed a lot of pizza's being brought out from the back to other diners in the establishment. They looked really good and based on the quantity, it must be one of their hot items. If we ever come back here in the future, I think we will probably try one of them.
As I mentioned, it isn't a very big place, so it was a little hard to get some shots of the inside. I did my best though:
This one is looking towards the front. You can see the entrance just behind the guys arm on the left side of the picture. The bar takes up most of the area to the right and they have some tables and couches at the front.
Looking back there are only a couple more tables seen here and then the bar to the left again.
The service wasn't as fast as I would have expected for the number of people that were in the restaurant, but it was friendly and we weren't really in a hurry. Eventually, my salad arrived that came with my entree'.
It was fine as far as salads go. I am not really a salad connoisseur, I see them more as something I need to eliminate before I can get to my main dish. That isn't to say I don't enjoy a good salad, I just don't have a lot of critique for them.
Shortly after I got my salad our main dishes came. My wife chose the truffle fries as a side for her wrap and they were very good. She was very happy with her wrap and said that the flavors were really good.
Here was my entree' and this part I actually do have some critique. The broccoli was good, but it was steamed and I prefer it to be roasted or baked. I knew it was going to be steamed, so I wasn't dissappointed, I am just stating that I prefer it prepared differently.
The mashed potatoes had good flavor, but they had a consistency pretty close to glue.
The meatloaf was fantastic! I think they mixed some sweet Italian sausage in with the beef they used because I could distinctly taste a bit of fennel or something similar. The glaze on top accompanied it well and I ate all of it without hesitation.
I think in all we were at the Fillmore for maybe an hour and a half. Like I said, a little longer than I would have expected for two meals and two drinks, but again the staff was friendly and we were having a nice conversation.
I don't feel like just under $50 is too bad for a nice dinner out on a Friday night. As you can see a decent portion of that was just the drinks. FYI we didn't get any bread with my salad, not even croutons. I just noticed that when I was looking at this picture again.
If I lived in Manistee, I could definitely see this as a place I would frequently hang out. Even to the point of being a weekly choice. Since I don't live there though, I will just have to settle for it being a place I would probably return to on a future visit.
If you make it to Manistee before I do again I highly recommend the Fillmore.
The Fillmore
318 River St, Manistee, MI 49660, USA
The Fillmore : A Tasteem Review
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