Went for dinner tonight. The view of the Kewenaw waterway is amazing. The shrimp scampi was delicious, with green beans and Mac and cheese. The salad also came with the meal and was large enough for two! Our server was Amber, and she was very attentive and made sure we were enjoying everything. The blueberry beer was delicious also, with frozen blueberries as garnish. Would highly recommend and will come back again next time we're in Houghton. read more

I wish there was an option for fewer stars. I've eaten at a lot of restaurants in my life and most of the restaurants all over Houghton have been fantastic. But after eating at the library this was definitely the worst dining experience I've ever had. To begin the beer was lukewarm from both the tap and bottle. Now let's talk about the food. I had ordered the shrimp Italian Palermo which was described as a creamy linguini pasta. After placing my order and waiting a significant amount of time I received was wrong dish then after an additional 15 minute wait I received a dish that was smotherd in a grotesque amount of butter. I highly recommend you to avoid this restaurant or at least the pasta read more

The Library - Shrimp Italian Palermo - New American Near Me - Houghton, Michigan

We were excited to give this place a try just to see the inside of it. I saw the reviews were not great for food, so we figured we'd go for after dinner drinks. We were talking about our plans at dinner, and our bartender at the restaurant we ate at said that this place has a new owner, and the new owner is a jerk (although the bartender used a different word lol). So that's a shame. Definitely a great choice for after dinner drinks though, since it turns out they have a section on their drink menu that is just drinks made with ice cream! I got the Brandy Alexander, and honestly it was just ok and I would get a different one next time, but that's likely just my tastes. My boyfriend got a chocolate martini and loved it. Looking around the room, people's food did look really tasty, but obviously looks don't tell you a whole lot so I can't really speak to that. Definitely a fun place for dessert drinks though! read more

Tap system was down so there were no good beers available, even in cans. Server suggested a cocktail. Asked for a Manhattan. He countered and said they could do an old fashioned. I said sure. First was ok. 2nd had way way too much sugar. House soup was quite good. Blackened salmon very good. Green beans good. Mac and cheese didn't have much cheese sauce and cheese was so so. Server said the Philly was top notch. Bread was dry and overall not worth it. Open to going back to try the beer and maybe try something else to eat. Salmon and soup were good after all.... read more

We enjoyed a quiet dinner the week after graduation. Food was decent-good burgers and apps. Not many beers on tap which was disappointment. Good service. read more

This is a hidden gem! Take not they are officially changing their name to The Copper Country Brewery. The entrance is down a side street - the tiny Library sign hangs above the door to this otherwise unassuming exterior facade. Inside you will find ample seating, Beautiful views of the River, books and interesting art. They offer In House brewed craft beers and fantastic food! Everything about this place was great. The music is unique and peppy, perfect level to hold a conversation but also hear the music. The best I can do to describe it is Reggae island folk. Our waiter was friendly, knowledgeable and very attentive! The food is impressive. We had Blackened White Fish fresh from Lake Superior. It's got a little kick so if you're not a fan of heat- order the alternative. Bring a big appetite, the dinner comes with a full filet!! Salads were large, and very crispy -fresh. The sides also come in generous portions. The mac&cheese is house made, slightly sweet and very creamy but not soupy. I also had the Brussels Sprouts. They were cooked perfectly- just a little crunch no mush. My husband had the green beans and a bake potato. The potato was a full russet and the beans had a nice dressing, although I couldn't tell what it was and I forgot to ask. They were slightly sweet and lightly crunchy. Definitely fresh! 10/10! read more

The Library - Fresh Blackened White Fish, mac&cheese and Brussels Sprouts - New American Near Me - Houghton, Michigan

A great menu for both meat eaters and vegetarian folks. Lots of drinks options. Good service and friendly staff. Seating was lovely looking out onto the snow area. The staff even handled our 7person party like a champ. Definitely worth a trip when in the area. Reasonable prices as well. Parking is close by as well. read more

Hubby and I stopped here for lunch and we were very pleased. It was not busy, so service was excellent. There were 2 servers both were attentive and friendly. We split a pizza and salad. The pizza was slightly crispy on the bottom, chewy and flavorful. The sausage was slightly spicy, mushrooms were generous and fresh, not canned with plenty of melted cheese and served piping hot. The apple harvest salad was large and contained nice tender greens, a generous helping of blue cheese, nuts, and apples. The dressing tied the flavors together wnderfully. The restaurant was attractive and clean. The view of the river from our table was gorgeous. We left happy and satisfied. read more

I really have tried to give this resteraunt the benefit of past memories. When food was good, beer was cheap and service was always done right. I know its not 1972, lots of things have changed, a fire, a pandemic, a shortage of staff, new owners. Tonight just did me in. It was a busy Saturday eve in Hoton, I truly get that. What I don't get is waiting at a table ten minutes to order a drink then waiting 15 minutes for that simple drink. Upon receiving the drinks we were ready to order to try and speed things along. Had been told food may be 30 minutes from time of order. Thats a great heads up. When food came in about 25 minutes I thought great. Then I realized my baked potato wouldn't melt butter. My tuna was not just cool in the center but cool where the grill marks were. Forgot the warm sauce as well. After waiting 10 minutes to catch our waiter I asked if the couldnt nuke it 30 seconds and not to worry if the tuna became more well done . After waiting 10 minutes i decided I needed to nab our waiter. Took 5 minutes. By then I was sure they must have prepared a new meal. When I asked the server if he knew what was happening he left to find out. 3 minutes or so later he came back with my original meal, now nicely warmed at least. Getting refills on drinks required going to the bar to remind them. And the last drinks didn't show up. In defense of server I was not agressive in catching him and waited for him to check on us. Thats on me. My wife wanted to leave and come back to pay the next day. Oh well, I'm sure we were in the minority, as l did not see others around us going to the bar for help or service. I just know I wouldn't bring customers here any time soon. We will probably come back late this summer and see if things are better. I hope they remain busy, we need the resteraunt downtown to succeed. M read more

Great atmosphere and views overlooking the water. Friendly staff. Good food. Amazing martinis.

Second visit. Won't be a repeat visit. Mediocre Reuben. A small amount of meat/thin bread and the cheese was a cheddar blend. Shrimp tacos....the shrimp was borderline not fresh. No real flavor. Pico de Gallo would have been a good touch to add. We moved seats to the bar to be served quicker after not being greeted. Asked for an orange for my Blue Moon beer after it came and she brought it over to me with her bare fingers from the bar. I felt I bothered her with this request. The orange was dry and sour.They had no Heineken. Good location is my positive part of the experience read more

Waited at a table with my family for 20 minutes. Staff completely ignored us for some reason. Not sure why but I felt horribly unwelcome. Ended up leaving hungry. read more

This place used to be a very nice fine dining establishment back in the 2000s but has lost touch with that. We stopped for dinner and service was very slow despite not being busy. The quality of the food was very poor. We ordered the calamari, Caesar salad, and the shrimp pasta. The only thing that was ok were the calamari. The salad was mediocre. The pasta was terrible. The sauce was lukewarm, tasted institutional and the pasta was mushy from being overcooked. I would not recommend eating here. I feel it would be a waste of money. read more

I'm not normally one to leave reviews, period... especially negative ones, but... here it goes. The beer was ok, and the server is friendly, but I'm literally still sitting here after walking in an hour ago, and still haven't received me SALAD! It has taken them an hour to make a Caesar salad with grilled chicken. I've watched the entire sunset from my table. read more

I make a point to have dinner here when I visit my son in Houghton. Very good food. You must try the Parmesan truffle fries and the creamy Swiss Au Gratin soup. So good! I also had the shrimp Italian Palermo pasta. Very good! Try their Copper Country beer too! read more

The Library was lovely, nice service and a beautiful view. After reading some reviews on the food, they stated that it was poor, however, it was the opposite for me and my 3 companions today! They also had Gluten Free buns which were perfect for me and my sister. I hope to come back! read more

Good food and good ambiance. there is a beautiful view of the river but service can be a little slow

Poor service. My wife and I came for a late dinner 9pm. We sat at our table for over 8 mins and no one even acknowledged us, They were not busy, I guess they don't need our business. read more

Service was slow and all of our meals were wrong. It was empty and overall just a bad experience.

Excellent service-not over bearing Blackened White Fish is fantastic House beers are perfect complement to the menu read more

We wanted a fun place to experience and this was definitely it. Mark was awesome as the waiter, bartender and host. We started with the bacon wrapped shrimp with the maple sauce. It was very delicious! Could have ordered several more to make it a meal. The margarita pizza was baked to perfection! My husband raved about the rib dinner! I was disappointed with my choice of the shrimp po boy as there were only 3 shrimp. The Parmesan fries were awesome, even warmed up in the oven the next day! Need to give it a try if you want a lot of atmosphere! read more

Truffle fries were great. Parmesan was sprinkled perfectly and the sauce was awesome. Food came out quickly and the waiter stumbled was was able to recover and didn't drop any. Can tell staff is well trained and friendly. Great atmosphere read more

Everything tasted great and an amazing environment. All of the food that we ordered came out quick and the waitress was a great host.

The bartender who was training in was delightful. The food not so much. The RB2 had two pieces of roast beef in it. So sad because this used to be the "go to" place "back in the day". read more

It's a 50/50 shot here. I have come here and had amazing burgers and great sides and other times the food takes an hour to come out just to be cold or over cooked. read more

I have heard about The Library since I was a little kid. Always the joke about college kids at Tech telling their parents they were at "the library". My daughter now goes to MTU and so we were visiting her and decided to give The Library a shot. We got there around 3:30 on a Saturday and the place wasn't super busy but the waitress told us upfront it would be at least 45 for food. No big deal, we had time and there were 7 of us. I ordered a burger the other orders included a couple of cold sandwiches (BLT type), a caprese salad, a Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, and chicken tenders; nothing crazy. After about 45 minutes the food came out, well except the Caesar salad and burger. Our waitress said, "I completely forgot to tell the cook about your burger, my bad. It will be about 5 minutes. Oh, and I have to go back and make the Caesar Salad." The salad quickly came out. The burger came out after about 10 minutes. Pretty much after everyone else was done eating. Sadly, it wasn't even that good. I anticipated maybe it would get taken off the bill, but I was wrong. I didn't really care, I mean I ordered it and ate it, but typically there is some kind of acknowledgement of a screw up other than a, "my bad". The place is cool. I get it, it was Saturday and it appeared there were only a handful of servers. After all of the lore of the library growing up, I was disappointed in my first experience there. read more

We had a wonderful dinner here! The reviews made us nervous but were completely off. The food was incredible, the wait staff very kind, and while the beer tap was being repaired they had great options to replace what they usually offer. We thoroughly enjoyed the whitefish and left feeling well-fed/cared for. read more

Nice location near the waterway, but food and service not as good as it was 2 years ago. Grilled Tuna entree was supposed to come with a warm buerre rouge sauce. Instead it came with none. When requested, our waitress brought sauce. I tasted it...it was cold horseradish sauce, and arrived after a wait of about 15 minutes. My husband was nearly finished with his meal by then. When told that sauce was unacceptable, she said it wasn't horseradish (it was), and she missed the meeting where the menu updates were reviewed. She asked what would make it better. I said warm butter, which she brought. Barely warm, for a meal that was by now, lukewarm. No offer to reheat, and barely an apology. Disappointing and not enjoyable. Not the place we remembered. read more

Waited for 20 minutes, no acknowledgment by the wait staff. Finally received a menu and placed our order. During the time we waited for our hamburger with chips (45 min.) FOUR couples left without ordering... no acknowledgement by wait staff. Short staffed?? Poor training?? Bad management?? All of the above? read more

Riley was very attentive, spunky and just a very fun person! She recommended drinks and they were great!! I would recommend The Library!!! The SOUP is to DIE for! read more

Very friendly bartenders and good drinks too! We didn't eat a meal but the shrimp appetizers were great..

Great service! Our server took care of our party of 12 like a true professional. The specialty martini was delicious but one was plenty. The Swiss au gratin onion soup is the best I've ever had in the last 27 years (last I was was at The Library). I shared the phillycheese steak sandwich and fries with my sorority sister and it was the perfect amount of food. Great ambiance and view of the portage from the large windows. read more

The Library - The chocolatier martini and Swiss al gratin onion soup - New American Near Me - Houghton, Michigan

Been here before and always enjoyed it. Something has changed. I give it two stars for the atmosphere and beer. One star for food. I had the RB2 sandwich. Pretty much deli meat on a bun with american cheese. Disappointing is being kind. The table next to us complained about their meal. They were right. Be a while before we return.... read more

Shelly killed it! Coming to a new place out of town, always ask your server what to get. She recommended the hand breaded chicken tenders with bespoke Chipotle side dressing with their seasoned fries. Despite being busy we were able to exchange stories and had a great time that wouldn't have been possible without her. 10/10 would hire; especially given the Godiva Liqueur used to make our mudslides we had for desert. A-Tier read more

Meh service and meh food. I know in part they're struggling because of COVID with staffing, but it was pretty much a mess. Looks like it was once a great place! read more

If you don't mind waiting, don't order anything other than the beer. The service was incredibly slow and it was not busy. Food was edible but sub par. Ordered the Au Gratin soup, which is like a thin cream of onion with a handful of onion pieces. The burger ... it's a third pounder. That should say it all. The ahi tuna tacos were heavy on the wasabi, but certainly better than the burger and soup. The best and only item worth the money was the beer flight. read more

I've loved The Library for years and would eat here every time I came to town. Because of their disappointing customer service, they've lost a loyal customer. I ordered take out and one of the items was a salad. The salad came dressed and was sitting on a hot meal on my drive back to where I was staying. 20 mins later when I went to eat, the salad was completely soggy and inedible. I called The Library to ask for a refund because I wasn't able to make a 40min round trip back for a new salad. I was told they could only give me a refund if I came back in person to show my credit card and that they can't deal with it tonight so I should come back the next day. I asked to speak to a manager and he said he was the manager. I went in the next day with my card and was told they couldn't give me a refund because it was the next day and the couldn't reopen the order on their computer, but they could have provided a refunded the night before over the phone. I asked to speak to a manager again, but was told there's no manager working and nothing they can do. I was told that the person I spoke to the night before lied about being a manager and being unable to refund. read more

Hippy Bartender / Manager was absolutely rotten. Completely and utterly worthless. Never got served. Was looking for places for a larger group and this so-called "manager in charge" made the decision easy. This isn't the place. What a joke. read more

Wonderful staff, delicious food, and such a neat atmosphere! Would definitely go again read more

Arrived about 8pm on Saturday. After a short wait we were seated in the bar area. Wanted a craft beer but all they had were domestic bottles or cans. So ordered a chocolate martini described as "to die for". Was served just a bit cooler than room temperature! Was really looking forward to the creamy Swiss augratin soup. The photos looked so delicious but they were out. We ordered the bacon wrapped shrimp, was ok. I ordered steak dujuor with a baked potato and veggie. After about 10 minutes the server came back to tell us they were out of baked potatoes. The steak was just an average steak. My dining companion ordered the shrimp Italian Palermo . There were no scallions in the big plate of pasta and one small piece of Italian sausage along with a couple pieces of shrimp. It was not overly crowded when we got there and there were no apologies by the server about the lack of items read more