Food, Ambiance, Restroom maintenance, etc. To be fair, this was at about 2 pm on the 4th of July. Our waitress was fine but the pizza was the worst I've ever had. Perhaps the kitchen crew resented having to work on the holiday. The men's restroom was not clean and the stall was very cramped. We will probably bypass Blake's Backyard in the future. read more

Wow I just saw that I never finished this review so I'm going to just post the pictures I had taken! Sorry folks!! These are from Oct 2022 to go with the review it looks like! Oops..... read more

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Went to their Tales & Cocktails event, we made an Apple Pom Julep. It was to hear a bit of the history and it wasn't a cocktail I would normally order but very delicious. Also ordered some food. We had the Farm Crisps aka Pork Rinds, very fresh with the nice amount of seasoning, the jalapeño ranch really makes it a wow dish. My husband ordered the stacked apple smash burger. On paper you think it can't be good, but was delicious. I had the backyard chicken sandwich which was good it said honey mustard, kind of more a brown honey mustard, I'm not a big brown mustard fan but it was still tasty. All the staff were great super friendly and a beautiful, fun place to eat and have some cocktails. read more

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First time visiting and we had a great time. The parking lot was an absolute disaster but once we found a spot, the rest of the visit was great! We enjoyed the small vendor event they were having and enjoyed shopping the market and pulling up a stool at the bar and having some cold ciders while having great conversation with some regulars. read more

The food is phenomenal! We came in for an intimate dinner in an igloo for New Year's Eve and it was everything we needed. The heated igloo was great and our server was excellent. She answered all questions and made sure we were comfortable ordering. There was so much food left that it was unbelievable! The drinks were also very tasty. We'll be back! read more

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WISH I COULD DO NEGATIVE STARS!!! Love how the website says... "Stop by on your way up north or as you're just passing by and grab a cold beverage and a bite to eat... yet my donuts were three days old??? And no employees in sight to assist me. Sucks that they continue to up-charge premium prices for expired and low quality products. With no one around to help, when I FINALLY DID find an employee to help me, i seemed to be bothersome to the sleepy employee relaxing/playing on her phone around back. Will not be back, feels like it just gets worse every year !! shame to see the Blake's name go downhill. read more

For us this was a fun discovery. We were going to Imlay City to a lavender farm when we passed this place and I declared we must stop here on our way back home. I am glad I did. This is a lovely addition to the original Armada location. It looks like a nice property. I liked the store filled with all of their classic Blake's items, like cider and donuts, plants, cups, souvenirs. They had a nice tasting room with plenty of seating plus an additional room for parties. They were hosting a baby shower in the private room and it was lovely with a stone creek, nice ambience. I did not try any of the food and drinks this time in the tasting room. Instead, we got a hot cider, cider slush, a cherry hand pie, an apple fritter, and blueberry turnover. The cherry pie was so fresh, I love the crust, it is an elevated hostess fruit pie that you want to eat again and again. The apple fritter tasted so fresh, like the best donut ever. I need to get one again. The cider slush was nice and sweet, and we ate in the tasting room. I liked the swinging chairs near the faux leaf wall, a camera ready spot to take pictures. The only thing I really did not like was the restroom situation. I do not know what it is like for the gentlemen, but the ladies room is like an outhouse with a working toilet and sink. But the stalls are smaller than an actual human being with no room, you can barely fit in there. There is so much land here, and they could have built an actual bathroom like the one in Armada. It is not accessible for people of varying needs and not idea for a place with a bar where people will be drinking a lot. But this is a charming spot and we will visit again. read more

Blake's Backyard - Fruits & Veggies Near Me - Almont, Michigan

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I'm torn on this review because I had a very mixed experience here at Blake's. First, I want to say the place looks great. There was a lot of fall decor, pumpkins and haystacks everywhere. You really feel in the Fall mood coming here as it's tucked all the way up in Almont. I met up with some friends here and we were able to grab some food and get some drinks while we caught up. Aside from the food/drinks you can order there is also cider, donuts, fudge, cookies and lots more treats in their little shop next to the restaurant. While overall I would say we had a fun time, the main issue is the service being slow. Now, I'm not one to complain when a place is slammed packed as the servers are usually doing the best they can, but we did have to almost track down our waitress twice to ask about our food and the place didn't seem that full. I want to to say that I believe this may be a thing with that one specific server not being very attentive , and not a full reflection of Blake's but I'd have to go back to find out. When we did get our food we could tell it was sitting out for a little but still warm enough to eat since we were starving at that point we just ate it. I'm still open to trying them again because we really do want to believe it was an isolated event but overall a nice spot. read more

Enjoyed our meal and very family friendly! Loved getting a flight of different ciders to try. read more

Blake's Backyard - Kids menu - Fruits & Veggies Near Me - Almont, Michigan

Going to Blake's Backyard is like going to eat in the back yard of a friend who has awesome landscaping. It's a thoroughly casual experience no matter where you sit. And, this friend also serves excellent food and drinks. The food part of the menu is simple, but there's enough variety here to please any palate, with sandwiches, fish and chips, and salads. The drink selection is vast. Blake's brews a wide variety of hard ciders, and serves a dozen on-tap. For those who don't care for ciders, there's a selection of beers and wines. No hard liquor. My wife ordered a Greek salad with a beautifully cooked plank of salmon on top. There was an absurd amount of Kalamata olives (maybe 30 of them) and feta cheese. I'm certainly not complaining. The dressing was understated, which worked perfectly with these assertive flavors. The fried chicken sandwich was crispy, not at all greasy, and very thick. It was served with a massive amount of wavy potato wedges with a robustly seasoned coating. The service was good, too, even though there was only one person behind the bar most of the time. And, you can't enter or leave the restaurant without going through the amazing shop area. Besides all those amazing ciders, there are donuts, candy, and variety of other things guaranteed to satisfy a variety of cravings. My only regret was not having enough of an appetite to get the gargantuan pretzel on the starter menu. It's $25, and slightly smaller than a tire on your car. Next time through, for sure. read more

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I grew up in the Almont area so I have seen how much Blake's has grown over the years. The addition of Blake's in Almont was at first surprising as it seemed small but it has expanded to include a bar, restaurant, and igloo dining. We have stopped in several times a year when visiting family in the area and have always enjoyed their products. My husband was turning 60 and my family (who still lives in the area) felt this would be a good time to try igloo dining as it's something hubby has mentioned over the past year. Our reservation was for mid-week so we easily were able to book the igloo we wanted (3 different available). We were promptly seated and greeted by a server. Once we browse the menu, we placed an order for a few appetizers and then our dinners. And of course we had to order from the bar menu for beverages. I don't know why I expected an experience to not go asas well as it did, but we were all blown away at how good the food was. The menu is small, don't get me wrong you're not gonna find an extravagant menu. But you've got a good selection of " country cooking". I ordered the backyard burger and asked for a side of garlic aïoli as I had seen that on another menu item. I used it aïoli on my burger and also dipped my fries in them. I passed around the aïoli and others tried it with their fries. When the server came back, we mentioned how much we liked it and she said she would bring more sides of garlic aïoli. Everybody enjoyed the food - Mac n cheese with pulled pork, wrap with chicken, fish n chips. Personally, I tried a bit of the pulled pork and found it too sweet BUT it is described as having a jam sauce (so that is where the sweetness came from). We topped off this wonderful meal with a few brownie desserts and donuts. Overall, a great experience and a few folks already have plans to meet back there for dinner this week. My only complaint is on the restrooms. They are not conveniently located and you must walk up an incline to get to them (we did have two folks over 80 in our group so that was a bit of a walk for them). Personally, I am not a fan of hand dryers only in restrooms so some hand towels would have been nice. Finally, the restrooms are located at the back of a room that could be rented - that room would be great for an upcoming 50th bday party BUT I would not want folks from the bar or igloo dining having to walk through our private party to get to restrooms, especially if our party was to have an open bar. I can't imagine somebody giving a toast to the 50th bday recipient and folks from bar walking through the middle of the party to get to restroom. Blake's - you need to address this. read more

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When life gives you a rainy day, you go to Blake's Backyard and get a hard cider flight and street-corn! Also, Blake's is a fun family outing with their U-pick fields (check their website to see current pickings) and their special Fall/Halloween festivities! The staff in the shop and tasting room were pleasant and the store was clean and well presented all the lovely seasonal joys of Blakes, including their home grown produce, plants, jams, locally sourced honey, wines, pies/donuts, and of course their delicious, renowned hard cider! The passion seeker is a personal fave, but of the flavors I sampled, the Grand Cherry and American Berry were a highlight! Also loved their raspberry fields wine! read more

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Their Easter bunny event is great! Great for the little ones and they keep participants at low numbers so everyone can enjoy! Lots of time to enjoy crafts, the Easter bunny and egg hunting . Laurie is amazing. Always friendly, upbeat and keeping you informed and organized along the way read more

Blake's! What can I say- their spots seem to hit all the highlights. You can buy produce, pick produce, buy plants, and now get hard cider, beer, and wine. This spot also had an event space and restaurant. They have a lot going on! You walk out of the restaurant and can get cider, produce, jam, pie, and or cheese. Had a unique rice salad for lunch. My companion had a burger. No complaints! read more

Great cider mill food drinks everything 5 star very busy but worth waiting in the lines

We came here for Mother's Day brunch. This is the second brunch event we came to and this time it was a little bit of a miss. I am not sure if we picked a bad seating time or what. We arrived at 1:30 and were sat immediately since we had reservations. The server asked what we wanted to drink and we had to ask twice for a drink menu. We finally ordered drinks and they took a while to arrive. Several people ordered bottomless mimosas and couldn't get more than 2 due to the slow service. The food on the buffet was also hit or miss. Many items were empty from the buffet and not refilled. The chicken was dry and had been sitting out. The French toast was amazing! The dirty plates were not cleared and we had a stack of plates after everyone had gone to the buffet twice. We had to bring the plates to the bar in order to have room for the dessert plates. read more

The chillest of the Blake's properties - hands down! It carries the cider, the cider slush, the donuts, the apples, the other produce, a little pumpkin patch, and this is the only one, that I'm aware of, that's dog friendly! Plus if you're in the market for apple trees - you can get them here too! We came here after our plans to go to the Blake's Tasting Room fell through, given that the location was at capacity, & we honestly preferred it this way. There were way too many people at the cider mill, there were hardly any people at Blake's Backyard! Tons of outdoor space to sit & enjoy the ciders & they also had a few hot dog options as well - we got the mac & cheese hot dog and the coney dog. They're not the best hot dogs, they don't use Koegel's either, but they hit the spot! If you're not feeling hot dogs, there's a great BBQ food truck / soon to be BBQ store & restaurant set up just a little bit up the road from here, so get your hard cider / general Blake's fix here, then head to Country Smoke House! read more

Blake's Backyard - Great vibes with the outdoor seating at Blake's Backyard! - Fruits & Veggies Near Me - Almont, Michigan

The BEST of Blake's properties. It's so relaxing and the traffic isn't that of a small city! Being dog friendly with the amazing views and openness really brings it all together. You truly get the best of Blake's without all the craziness and crowds. The only thing I would like to see is a breakfast buffet similar to the one at the main location. The space here is welcoming and ready to be filled with amazing breakfast buffet food! read more

Blake's Backyard - Fruits & Veggies Near Me - Almont, Michigan

Upon my arrival to the restaurant , there were only six customers during lunch time. The wait time was extremely long. A waitress and the chef were arguing. There was a gentleman that came in waiting for his carry-out order and he said they told him on the phone there would be a 10 minutes wait, however the wait time was actually 25 minutes. This was not the type of service and experience that I would have expect from a high price restaurant and by the way, the food was just average today. In the past, service and the quality of the food has been superb. Unfortunately, it appears that things have deteriorated. read more

Stopped by for a quick bite to eat Had the cherry club wrap and fries with a cosmo Sandwich had plenty of meat , fresh veggies and a cherry sauce it was delicious Menu small but easy to find something yummy read more

I brought my girlfriend here for a private Yarn Christmas Tree making workshop (check out the photos), and we had an amazing time. The staff was friendly, and the facility worked well with the ladies who ran the workshop. When things go back to normal (will they ever?) I'll definitely be bringing my girl back here in order to create more memories. read more

Blake's Backyard - Yarn Christmas tree workshop. - Fruits & Veggies Near Me - Almont, Michigan

If you want a more low key Blake's location with just as cute ambiance, and the same delicious drinks and food-- the backyard is your place. A limited and slightly different menu from the main Blake's location, the backyard still offers many of the same ciders and menu items. There's also fruit and vegetable u pick service in the summer, and there's a mini market with fresh donuts and cold ciders. A must stop if you're in the almont area! read more

Great place if you're looking to bring your dog with you to have a few drinks and food.

Food not good or worth the price. Experience wasn't great. Don't plan to be back. Restrooms inconvenient.

This was the cutest find!!! We love this place and wish it was closer to home! We were driving from Port Austin to Livonia and stopped for lunch. I'm so glad we did. For lunch we shared pirogies, a burger & some fries. The pirogies could use some butter but the burger and fries were excellent! We had a couple of Blake's delicious ciders on tap to round out the meal. The space is HUGE! It is the kind of place you would want to hang out all day and play games. There is tons of seating, games and a little shop where you can buy some goodies on your way out! This would be the perfect place to hold an event. Showers, parties, even a wedding rehearsal. Blake's knows how to do it right! We will be back! read more

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Easily a five star experience if you bring Fido along. The patio is clean and well kept. There is plenty of easy parking nearby. They were nice enough to bring over a bowl of fresh water for my puppy. The Dry cider is 99% English in style and elegance. A truly beautiful product that is perfect for a summer afternoon. The food surprised us both. The massive 24oz pretzel was VERY well made and the beer cheese was likely the best we have tried in all of Michigan. A basket of boneless wings easily will feed two adults or three children. High quality and nicely presented. Service is above par, The patio is well represented and coverage is awesome. A great place to visit. read more

Easy to get to location for many years. Great variety,downhome farming family very well known in area. Fruits, veggies, baked goods, and a whole lot more. CHECK IT OUT! read more

I am often in this area and pass by Blake's a lot. Never stopped into this location though. I am covering the NPs in Flint and Bay City, and decided today would be the day I stop in. They open at 7 am, so it's a great spot to grab a snack for breakfast. Today was gorgeous so I stopped in and grabbed a donut and a cappuccino. The donut was warm and fresh out of the oven. The cappuccino was perfect! I went and sat on the patio and enjoyed the call before having to get on the road and battle traffic. I most definitely had no need for another coffee mug but I have a bit of an addiction. I have so many they don't all fit in my cupboard haha. I told my son I stopped there and he made me feel bad about not grabbing more donuts for the house. So I had to go back and get some cider and donuts. So delicious! We frequent the main Blake's location often but it was a nice location and very charming. They feature a lot of food specials too! Monday is burger and a beer for $10. Tuesdays is taco Tuesday for $8. They have $2.00 hotdogs on certain days. But happy hour every day too. Whoop! I definitely will be back! I want to try their delicious food! read more

Blake's Backyard - French vanilla cappuccino, and a delicious straight from the oven. Warm donut! Way to start out the morning! - Fruits & Veggies Near Me - Almont, Michigan

Went to Blakes Backyard for Fish and Chips, had them many times here however it appears they've changed chips they used to be really nice spiral cut potato's and now they are Gordon Food service Crinkle cut fries Fish was good , fries were a disappointment read more

Cute restaurant, good service- Food disappointing- Fish and chips over done- sandwich bread was stale poorly put together.. read more

We stopped by Blake's Backyard for lunch on a Saturday. This space has that modern farmhouse vibe and feels big and airy. The flow between inside and outside is very nice. Several small private events were going on, but the space is big enough to accommodate that and not feel crowded. We got the Beast Burger with fries and the chicken quesadilla with bacon, both were excellent. We ordered the Killer Robot IPA and our longstanding favorite, Blake's Farmhouse Red wine. We were very impressed by this newest addition to the Blake venues and will be back! read more

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I loved it here! My friends and I went here for breakfast one morning, and it was so delightful. I got a breakfast sandwich, and it was literally the best breakfast sandwich I have ever had!!! I got it on the croissant and it was SO yummy! Besides breakfast, we got a bunch of tasty Blake's goodies, and also picked up some veggies from their little market. And don't even get me started on the adorable aesthetic of this place... it's so cute inside! Truly the perfect place to spend part of your weekend. I would recommend this place to everyone and anyone who is looking for the perfect fall day! read more

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My husband wanted to take me here for dinner and we loved it! The food was delicious and the live music was great! Everyone was really friendly. We stopped in the market afterwards and got donuts of course! I love the whole atmosphere, food and wide variety of goodies. Highly recommend!! read more

not sure why this place would let someone make a reservation for 6:45 but they close their kitchen at 6:30. website says they close at 7 but we assumed that meant they stop letting people in at 7. i even received a confirmation text an hour before my reservation which stated that it was in fact confirmed. update your goddamn system people. drove 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back after being told the kitchen was closed. was really excited to try this place but i am extremely pissed off that they would allow reservations to be made up until 7. f this place. read more

Such a great feeling in this location. Very quaint and relaxing. Bright colors, organic decorations, and comfy seating. Nice spot for breakfast and a coffee or a pint and a dinner. Only thing that would make the breakfast experience better is if they had gluten free options. Menu in photos. read more

Blake's Backyard - Coffee and bar - Fruits & Veggies Near Me - Almont, Michigan

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Best place for a cider AND good food, all the while getting the best service from Ashley and her crew!!! If you want a good time you have to come here and experience the great ambiance that Ashley and her team creates!! 5star nothing less!!!! read more

Blake's Backyard - Two happy people - Fruits & Veggies Near Me - Almont, Michigan

Beware of the Turkey Reuben on the menu. It's very far from being a Reuben and is actually a cold turkey sandwich with coleslaw. The waitress did not point out this huge discrepancy to us when we ordered. When I told her this was not a Reuben, she said it's our Rueben. No...I hate to break it to you but Reuben implies this will be a grilled sandwich. Other than that, I like the place. read more

We have brought our dog here twice and love how dog friendly it is. The cider and beer are amazing and we love splitting the triple jam wings. You'll never leave disappointed! read more

We went for the Mother's Day Brunch today. Unfortunately, the food was very disappointing. Most items were cold, the Salad bar was sub-par. The Prime Rib was Well done to slight Medium. No Medium Rare, and we even waited twice for fresh Prime Rib. We had very High hopes as we have been lifelong customers of Blakes. The staff was nice, but seemed understaffed. Also, My wife went to order a Mimosa, and they don't have them. What they have is a Hard Cider mixed with Orange Juice. Not a Mimosa. read more

Food and service and the other things were amazing. I would so go back there again. It was a hike but nothing I wouldn't go back for.