A few of us came here the weekend after Halloween and I don't know if the staff is overworked, but I will not be returning to Blakes anytime soon. I do not blame the staff, management is clearly the problem, ESPECIALLY since the service seems to be even worse at their secondary location. There were different rules depending on who you talked to, and the "rules" in place make it to where things run difficult and not smoothly. TO THE CEO: DO BETTER. read more

Great food, atmosphere and service. This eatery is a gem of a find. They have a great selection of all your favorite Blakes wine and cider and they even have an awesome gift shop. The decor is adorable and the food was well presented and delicious. We started with chips, salsa and Mexicali dip. This was very good. I got the Mac n cheese with pulled pork - I can say hands down this is one of the best I have had. The pulled pork was perfectly seasoned with Blakes BBQ sauce and cooked perfectly. The cheese sauce On the Mac had a delicious cider flavor. My husband had chicken strips and fries.Their was a healthy serving of chicken and the fries were perfectly crispy. But the best part was the slaw - it was fantastic. I stopped in the gift shop and picked out six ciders to try at home. We will be back :) read more

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Winner, Winner!! Blake's has my taste buds singing. I had the cider flight to start off with and all 5 of the 4oz samples satisfied my craving for craft beer. They've done a nice job of making this place warm and inviting. I chose to relax on the patio by the fire pit. Blake's has lots of tables set up ready to serve you inside and outside. I ordered the Margarita flatbread pizza which is made in there olde world style pizza oven. It tasted really good from start to finish. Before my pizza arrived though I asked my waitress if I could stop next door and buy some cinnamon donuts at the Blake's store next door to the winery. She said no problem and I was back in 10 minutes with a bag of donuts to take home for desert. The clean wooden and stone construction of the building is very unique and warm. It's almost like the feeling you get when you go to the family dinner during the holidays.. minus the drama! lol Give them a try and I think you come back again. read more

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If I had to write a one-word review for Blake's Ciderhouse, I would probably say overwhelming! I've been to a few cider mills before so when I learned about this one I was initially hesitant because of the distance involved. After all, there are a number of great cider mills much closer for me. What grabbed my attention was learning about their annual Lavender Festival from a fellow Yelper. So I bookmarked it a few months ago and today was the day so we went with some friends. We had missed this year's Lavender Festival but I assumed they would still have some around. As we arrived around 11am Saturday with perfect weather, we found it was quite busy as others seemed to have the same idea. We ended up parking across the street towards the back of the parking lot. Parking was free. But it was still only about a 5-10 minute walk to the main building that had a crowded area for buying Cider and Donuts, a working Cider Mill, a gift shop, restrooms, and more. There were six of us so I bought a gallon of Apple Cider and a dozen Cinnamon Cider Donuts. The Cider was delicious and refreshing although at $8.95 per gallon a bit pricey. The Donuts were fresh, warm, and delicious and seemed reasonably priced by comparison. Once we had our snack break we started asking questions to find out what all was there to see and do. There are a number of buildings with a variety of Cafes serving everything from Hot Dogs to Sandwiches to Pizza. There is one building focused on everything related to Lavender and Lavender products. One is a place where you can taste and buy wine. As we made our way from one building to the next, eventually we came to an area with tents selling various things. We bought a small pumpkin at one of them. They have a Pick Your Own Fruits and Veggies and Pay by the pound or size. Then there is another whole part of Blake's that is more about entertainment and probably more of interest to kids. It offers hayrides and other activities for a flat price per person for the day (I think I was told $10.95) or a season pass if you expect to be back often. We did not take this option and just focused on what we found in the buildings. I did buy a jar of Apple Butter and another of Peach Jalapeño Jam which we later tasted and they were delicious. I especially liked the Jam and would definitely buy it again. Also, I must add that all of the employees we dealt with were friendly, knowledgeable, and pleasant. If your mainly looking for Cider and Donuts, there are plenty of smaller Cider Mills around. We never did find the fields of Lavender that had caught my attention initially. I was told that I would have to buy the day pass to take one of the rides to see them. As I stated initially, this place is big and can be overwhelming. Oh, and this is one of three locations in this general area! read more

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Went here during the day, the place was extremely under staffed. It took over an 1.5 to get our food. Also, I recommend getting the bottled water unless you like well water. The food was good but Id rather choose a different place. read more

Blake's Tasting Room - Must have bottle water - Wineries Near Me - Armada, Michigan

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If you're looking for a nice and speedy place to eat while enjoying some good cider then this place ISNT for you. Their service was piss poor. Got there at 1pm to put our names in, ended up EATING at 4pm. They had a total of 3 servers for a place that seats 99 This reviews is directed towards the horrible management of this establishment. Hire more servers!! Food was good but waiting for 3 hours for it wasn't. read more

I recommend Berry Canders and the Blueberry Lemonade. Hank Gogerty liked Cherry Cordial and Caramel Apple. Dominique's recommendations are Strawberry Lemonade, Cherry Cordial, Passion Seeker and Saint Cheri. The truffle fries were delicious too! read more

Came here for a special ticketed event a few weeks ago and had a lovely time! Blake's is definitely a haul for me out in Ann Arbor, but I'd certainly had their cider in other places (including canned from the party store across the street from my house!) so I was excited to see where it's made. It was dark by the time I arrived, so I couldn't get a great look at the grounds but the event space and my experience made the drive worth it. The event (a Bees in the D fundraiser) was so fun and the room they had the event in was so cute and comfortable. Perfect for a special event. We tried several of the ciders as part of the evening and each one I tried was excellent. I'm more of a cider gal than a beer gal, tbh, so this was right up my alley. The special ciders they shared that evening, the Santa Rosa and the Wild Nova were particularly fantastic. After the event I went into the main dining room and got a few cans of cider to take home. We had out of town guests coming the next week so I thought some of the fun cider varieties they had would be a nice welcome gift. I did two of the "make your own 6 pack" packs and picked up Grizzly Pear, The Tonic, Black Phillip as well as blood orange, mango/habanero pepper varieties. Our guests loved them! I also had a bite to eat at the bar and enjoyed the caesar salad with salmon. The salmon was cooked perfectly and the salad was a huge portion. Speaking of huge portions, I also got one of their insanely large soft pretzels to go to take home to my husband. I couldn't resist some of the warm goodness so I broke into the box during my hour+ drive back to AA. The perfect midnight snack! Looking forward to coming back here in the summer for some of the wonderful events they have planned then, too! read more

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I used to love going there for the cider and live music. It was a great place to take the kids and enjoy a relaxing night. The service has been very slow the past two times we went though and the music was not good. read more

Food is good service is fair at best. We were there oct 18th no presence of management therefore the staff does what they want. We have been several times and is usually very good. We will look past this past experience and give it another try read more

Great restaurant/bar. Wonderful, scenic outdoor patio dining and large cozy indoor restaurant. Large bar area and giant fireplace in the middle of the room. Good menu with plenty of options. Love hanging here with just my wife and I or with a group of friends. Also has a separate open-aired bar serving wine and hard cider. Adirondack chairs are nearby grouped around fire pits where you can enjoy your cocktails. read more

Blake's Tasting Room - Outdoor bar patio area at Blake's - Wineries Near Me - Armada, Michigan

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The tasting room was ok. The service was good. The food was mediocre and not worth the money. They have a great variety of ciders and beers. We loved the El Chavo which is a spicy cider. Go around the back of the tasting room and try their bbq platter because it looked amazing. There was live music on the pavilion and plenty of bars to grab a cider from. Heat lamps and firepits were fired up to keep us nice and warm. read more

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Giving a one star review is generous since we didn't even get waited on. We got sat in a table in the corner of the patio right in front of the window which the waitresses and waiters put in the orders. While we waited for someone to come take our order another table got seated as well as got drinks and food before us. We sat there for over 30 minutes waiting for service. Clearly they saw us sitting there while putting in orders. Every time we tried flagging someone down they would turn their back and walk away. I used to love this place and was showing it to a friend from out of town, but I will not be retuning any time soon if ever. read more

We had a reservation for a date night. Hostess was polite and seated us immediately. Our waitress came right out. We ordered a cider flight, a sangria and a water. We asked her what was in the seasonal egg rolls. She said she'd be right back to let us know. That was it. We sat for more than 20 minutes. Watched people order and get food in that time. Had no choice, we had to leave. So disappointed. We were really looking forward to a nice evening. read more

First, I do want to say that Blake's used to be a better experience, but sadly it has gone downhill. We have been going to Blake's for many years, but probably won't be back anytime soon. When we got there for dinner, we arrived to an extremely noisy environment. I am totally fine with on-site music, but the volume level was extreme and made it difficult to hear anyone. We (2 people) were the second group in line (there was a family of 4 ahead of us), but it still took about 10 minutes before we were even able to put our names in with the hostesses, and that was difficult too because of the noise level (hard to hear each other). We had to wait around 30 minutes for our table (Saturday night), which we understood and were fine with. While we waited, we went to the outside bar where my husband got an alcoholic cider. I like plain cider, but for some reason they are able to have cans of pop out there, but are unable to keep a container of their own cider out there, so I always have to go to the inside bar if I want one which is really annoying when it would be an easy fix on their end. Although it was a bit chilly, we decided to eat outside since the noise level inside was insanely high, and we wanted to be able to hear each other. Our waitress was nice and did check on us, but we didn't get plates when our appetizer came out. And when she came back to tell my husband that they were out of the special that he ordered, she did not bring a menu back with her for him to see. We normally get their giant pretzel, but they had a large price increase...$25 for a pretzel?!? I understand inflation, but it is a pretzel and I think that price is ridiculous for a pretzel with mustard and cheese. On the positive side, the view is still nice, and the food was fine. The outside area with the fire pit is nice too. But with their prices going up beyond normal inflation, and the service going down, I think that we will be going elsewhere. read more

Incredibly inefficient seating and management of reservations... I drove my elderly mother 30 minutes to have a late lunch at 3:30 and was unapologetically told the wait would be 3 hours because they had a big party reservation coming in 2 hours. I can not believe that they couldn't find a way to seat 2 of us for a 45 minute lunch. I won't ever return-- over priced, average food with inefficient seating-- not woryh the drive nor worth my money. read more

Blakes Tasting Room is so yummy! If you are planning a day at Blakes, I recommend making a reservation online and planning your activities around it. Sometimes the wait times can be very long. The food never disappoints and the cider flights are so much fun. read more

Stopped in for a drink ... happy hour has some good deals from 4-8 half off drinks ... server was helpful recommended some of his faves. Had the heatseeker cider and darlin draft ... wasn't too busy for a weekday nice relaxing atmosphere. read more

Ill try to keep this brief. We were sat at a filthy table where we sat for about 5-10 minutes, without server contact, before i saw a rag on another dirty table. I grabbed it and wiped my own table. Our server was curt and snappy. It seemed busy but the server sections looked to be no more than 4 tables each. She seemed very displeased when we ordered flights, but that was all anyone was ordering. The flights come in 4 or 6 - 4oz pours. You can choose from cider, beer or wine which is pretty cool. They let you mix and match. The wine is about 2/3oz (half the flight glass). All in all everything is on the sweeter side so be prepared for that. We ordered apps and entrees. The server gave us two plates that looked like they came from the dirty dish tank! They were covered in mustard. We had to get up and grab fresh plates across the restaurant because the server waited 10-15 mins to check on us. The cheese board only comes with four slices of bread. Order extra initially because it takes 15 minutes to get four more pieces. Honestly, i was disappointed because i was so excited to try this place out!! Either way, its an incredible oasis for parents at the cider mill if granny is there to take the kids thru the children attractions. Enjoy! read more

In the past we had enjoyed blakes , but in recent months it has went downhill. Tonight the garbage in the bathroom was overflowing across the floor. They were also out of what i wanted which i guess happens. Staff was ok & manager did discount my girlfriends meal.. read more

We've been coming here for years, food was always mid. However, yesterday was TERRIBLE!! We made reservations . It took the server 10-15 mins to take our orders, keep in mind it wasn't busy. She was rude and added extra items into out bill that we didn't order. We couldn't split the bill and gratuity was 20%. It We had 10 guest everybody food was horrible, the dining area INSIDE was full of FLIES and BEE's. Water was dripping on my friend from the air vent, It was hot AF as well! Wine flights were served in PLASTIC CUPS, really?!? The waitress stated there were no dishes clean, how?!?! It wasn't busy at all. We had out of state guest with us, embarrassing!!!! I'll stick with the other location for doughnuts and cider... read more

Great appetizers and friendly service. When we were first seated, we were ignored for 12 minutes wit no one arriving to serve us so we moved to the bar. Much better fast, friendly service with a smile. We ordered the giant pretzel with two dipping sauces. Delish!! We tried a flight of beers and liked most that we chose. Overall, a nice place and fun time. read more

The tasting room is good. The spit beer is very good. I had a Apple burger but it was not to my liking. I will come back again but I will just have the beer and cider and donuts. read more

Didn't have any food. Enjoyed 1 good cider, second cider was awful (cherry something?). Nice tasting room and retail area. Worst of all was the service. Waited for our server to return for more than 45 mins in between drinks. Service != acceptable read more

I first visited this taphouse during the Cider Dayze festival (which was excellent!) and knew I'd want to come back. I've visited since and really like this place! The space is beautiful; like a log cabin. It's great for groups, too. The bar is long with plenty of seating. Menus and prices are readily available and the service has been mostly friendly, bar one surly bartender who refused to smile. Drinks can definitely add up, so keep that in mind if you're a bar-goer that likes to hang a while. Jacob and I got two ciders apiece and our bill was $22... add in the exuberantly-priced chicken tender meal we split to sober up and our bill was $35. Ouch! That's probably my biggest gripe. Blake's has excellent cider so it's worth the premium price but there's no reason a chicken tender meal should be $13. If you're a hard cider drinker, Blake's makes some of the best in the state and I recommend a visit to the mothership to try everything they make! read more

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Told us a 1 hour wait. We checked in at one point and we're updated to 30 min left. Then I got a message it's gonna be another hour. Checked in and was told it would actually be 3 more hours. What a joke! To serve drinks and a very limited menu. This place can't handle it. You should probably get out of the restaurant game until you can figure it out. Maybe we should nominate y'all for Bar Rescue... read more

Had a great time at Blake's a few weeks ago. Fall time madness is in full effect and it's much busier during this time of the year. Still love the ciders and I'm willing to wait a little while for it. Grizzly Pear is my current go-to, but I still always love Traffic Jam and Rainbow Seeker. I tried the caramel apple cider and it was not my style, very caramel-y in flavor. Also I had a Queens apple (shout out to my homie Leo) from the barn next door, and it was amazing. read more

Blake's Tasting Room - Me and the boys at Blake's - Wineries Near Me - Armada, Michigan

So, yea,, I guess Blakes has dove into the wine game as well. Which I'm definitely glad they did because not everybody is into drinking cider that's about to turn into vinegar. Maybe some are, but It just isn't my cup of tea. So, let's do the winery stuff and do flights. Capricio, meritage and pinot noir please. We also order bbq chicken and smoked gouda flatbread to share as drinking food. The capricio was a bit on the sweeter side, I call it a nooby red. The meritage is easy drinking medium bodied. The pinot,, is definitely my favorite of the three. I just enjoy a really nice full bodied wine for some reason. And maybe because I'm a red wine geek. The food was really good too, the flatbread was tasty and a little on the crisper side which I like. The service was really good,, we made a bee line for the bar because 9 out of 10, we usually get the best service from the bar and we definitely did. They were curteous, direct and prompt when it came to service. I really enjoyed getting my tipsy on before getting my pumpkin and apple picking on. Thank you for reading my review, I hope this helps. Enjoy your yelptastic day!! Weeeeeeeee! read more

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Wow -shocked how busy this place was on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. Have been here before, but never to the tasting room. Gave number for reservation, then wandered around many of the different buildings they have. Found some oversized rocking chairs outside of a hard cider building. Tried a 3 berry, along with an apple orchard. Both were good - the Apple one tasted like butterscotch. Turn out area I chose to sit was next to petting zoo.they advertise the donkey as friendly Freddy - today I renamed him overactive bowel Freddy - pew. After looking at menu and waiting 45 minutes, chose elsewhere for lunch. Also I picked wrong time to get a good car wash that morning- left with few inches of dust from parking lot. read more

Love coming here and always make it a priority to come in for a drink and try out all the beers and wine they make. When this opened a couple years ago it was a smart move as now you can hang out and grab a drink with cider and donuts. The place is kid friendly. The food is not bad and the drinks are pretty good. On Thursday from 4 to 7pm is happy hour which is half of drinks. Who does not love happy hour. The only reason I did not give then the whole 5 stars is the service was lacking a little bit and probably needed more staff as the place was packed. Our server did her best but at times it was long periods of time before we saw her again. Besides that we have always had good service here. read more

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I went to Blake's Tasting Room today because I was hungry and so we had to wait about an hour to get a table. After we got a table, we got cups of water which left a metal aftertaste. I couldn't even drink the water because of how awful it tasted. The water should not taste like that. It was either the water itself, or the ice that was in it that wasn't sanitary at ALL. We ordered the BBQ Chicken Ranch Flatbread. From the looks of it, it looked good... but when I went to taste it, it was not good at all and I was very dissatisfied and disappointed. It was poorly made and did not even have any ranch on it. The cheese on it was just plain American cheese. Why am I paying $13.00 for something that was made so poorly? Another concern I had was the service I had received. I wanted to order the Strawberry Lemonade alcoholic drink and when I ordered it, our waitress asked for our ID, which I know is procedure but continued to look at me as if I wasn't 21 after the fact I showed my ID, which I thought was very rude. On top of that, they didn't even have the drink I wanted which I was kind of thankful for because I don't think I would have enjoyed it with the awful tasting ice they serve. Overall, I would NOT recommend going here to eat. The food is not all that great. I would just go to Blake's for their donuts and cider. read more

Blake's Tasting Room - bbq chicken ranch flatbread - Wineries Near Me - Armada, Michigan

We have been back twice this year and the food quality has definitely been stepped up a notch. Beer is also a nice to see on the menu. Blake's has added and outside tasting room only and a snack bar. Always a fun time when visiting Blake's. read more

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Always a great time visiting Blakes. They have really built the place up with a variety of attractions for all ages. My favorite has become the Tasting Room (the the store also is great & a great variety of goodies). Great variety of ciders & wines. Staff is always friendly. Food is great also and love the fact they change up the menu seasonally. Definitely worth the trip out for a fun evening or afternoon. Be warned weekends tend to get busy so be prepared to deal w/crowds. read more

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I'm sad to write this because we really had a nice time at Blake's last Christmas season for their Santa experience and tree farm. We finally tried the tasting room today and were seated quickly (probably good timing before the thick of lunch rush came in). There was a larger 12-15 table that took main priority over the other smaller tables around. Our server didn't acknowledge us at all, and after 20 min I uncomfortably had to flag another staff member down. Then the server took our drink orders and forgot to put them into the system - came back 15 min later asking us to remind them what we asked for. The entire experience was honestly bizarre, and I expected at the very least decent service for this well known brand. It was interesting that the table of 6 Blake's corporate workers got seated 25 min after us and received their food before we even got drinks....The food was ok, but not worth the poor service. read more

We love this place so much! From all of the amazing food to all of the cider options. Everytime we go we have never been disappointed! Now there is even more seating options outside because it has became alittle commercialized and wayyy busier each time we go! Which is alittle annoying to be honest but because I love the food and drinks so much it is still worth it to us! read more

Blake's Tasting Room - Wineries Near Me - Armada, Michigan

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I wanted to like this place but it just really missed the mark. We ordered lunch and waited SO long for our food to arrive. Once it did, it was very disappointing. The best looking item we received was the kids hotdog. I ordered a BLT and there was so much cheese and sauce (on a BLT?) that I couldn't even eat it. Even the apple cider seemed watered down. read more

This was first stop post-quarantine restaurant closures. I was so excited to be back everything was spotless, delicious, and following the cdc guidelines. New menu alert!!! The poutine was amazing. I will be back several times over the next month to celebrate the reopening of course! read more

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Honestly one of my favorite restaurants, bars, wineries, cideries, etc.! I love this place so much my husband and I got married here last August in their Apple Barn event room. The drinks are amazing and the food is very high quality. My only complaint about them before was the lack of seating since it was just a tasting room with small patio, but now they have an additional tap room and huge tent with a lot more outdoor seating. Blake's is one of those places that has really stepped up their game in the last few years and knows exactly what the public wants. Absolutely love it here and will keep on returning! read more

Blake's Tasting Room - Wineries Near Me - Armada, Michigan

Came here for lunch with about 35 people and they had the staff to accommodate us. The service was excellent for such a large group. They broke us up and had different servers help different areas, which alleviated additional waits. The ambience and feel inside was very cool and well decorated. Granted I went on a perfect chilly fall day, so it was right up their alley. I was very surprised with the outdoor fire pit and other games you could play for free. As for food, we started with a pretzel and cheese...oh wait, a GIANT @ss pretzel, LOL. It was awesome, but you need enough people to make a dent in it. For the entree I went with the Caesar salad which was very different than a traditional Caesar, but in an awesome way! Their dressing was great! I was not going to go with the Caesar, but tried a friends and was instantly hooked. So glad I did...it was phenomenal. As for the beer, ummmmmmm, just so so I guess. I sampled a bunch, but wasn't impressed with that, but they had enough of a selection that I was able to find something I could handle. All in all, I'm definitely going back sometime, hopefully sooner than later. read more

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I am pleasantly impressed by Blake's! I know it may sound crazy to you, but this is actually my first time visiting this establishment. If you're from Michigan, Cider Mills are just part of the northern culture it seems. I do enjoy cinder mills in the fall and there are plenty in the area to choose from, but today was my lucky day. We made a special trip out to Armada for a few things and Blake's happened to be close by. It was a picture perfect day in the month of August, which can be quite muggy. We had several seating options to choose from: the patio, inside seating, or a brand new tap room. We opted for sitting at the bar and enjoyed quite a few samples of their ciders, beer and boozy slushies. It was hard to decide so we ended up ordering one of each and sharing them. Normally, I am one to appreciate the smaller breweries, but I have to be honest here, we were so impressed by the selections. They were out of many ciders and a few beers, but with so many options, it was an easy adjustment. There is a small store to purchase items to take home and of course we had to buy some freshly made donuts for our car ride home; no question about that! We walked around the outside area for a few and noticed a space for games (cornhole) and a large tent area with live music playing. We strolled past the tent and ended up in another tasting room which was "brand new" only a few weeks in operation. Of course we had to sit down and split another drink before we headed out to our next stop on the Armada trail. I am so impressed by the cider mill that I am planning an event for the fall and Blake's will host the party! We will certainly be back soon, very soon! read more

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