Bywater Cafe at Michigan Beach

A great location to stop by for a quick bite to eat while out at the beach. I tried the smoothie, magnificent shakes, root beer float, and the Coney. The friendly staff brings it out to you when it's ready.

I have been here a handful of times over the past couple years. Last time I was here I brought my 90 yr old client with me for a lunch date and she and I had an amazing time. We loved our chicken salad wrap and our seasoned bag of fries. The setting was perfect and the owner even brought our meal to us while we sat at the beautiful painted tables to our surprise we found out she even hand painted the tables and chairs. Highly recommended and sad that its only open for the summer season but definitely understand since its at the beach!!!

Very good cafe right on Michigan beach, in Charlevoix. They have all sorts of snacks like mozzarella cheese sticks, a bag of hand cut French fries, salads, burgers, bison burger sliders, and my favorite smoked whitefish cake sliders. These are like little crab cakes on a nice fresh slider buns with a fresh mix of greens and a remoulade.

My family loves the Bywater Cafe!!
Annie takes great pride in making sure her food is fresh, fair priced and always made to order.
It saddens me to see negative reviews about there being “too many hand cut fry’s” or “bland”, or that it’s a “concession stand”….or that Annie or her staff would be considered “racist” ( that couldn’t be farther from the truth)
Annie has young-teenaged kids working for her, for many of them it’s the first job And I have never been treated unkind by any of them.
Annie not only runs this cafe but she also takes great care of making sure the litter is being kept picked up not only on her patio but on the beach as well.

Simple rules to live by while visiting…
Be kind to the staff
Don’t vandalize their property
No smoking on patio
Pretty easy!!

Bywater cafe Staff & Annie, don’t worry about the petty comments left by angry, entitled customers.
Anyone who knows what a great place this is, will keep coming back.

Hardest thing about end of summer is saying goodbye to the Bywater. Go through French fries withdrawal all winter. End of season brought some limitations to menu, which caused us to get something other than our regular order and so happy to have a new favorite. Thanks for all the great meals this summer. Look forward to 2023.

We loved the burgers. If you don’t like spice ask for the fries with nothing on them. The spice made me sick. My husband loved the fries. So it’s a choice I didn’t know about!!!

The location cannot be beat - beautiful views. The variety of the menu is amazing. It looks like a little beach shack but has menu items such as bison sliders, whitefish tacos and lots of vegetarian options. However when we visited, we were disappointed. The fish in the tacos was not tasty and the mango salsa also was not to my taste. I was looking forward to the “bag of fries” (handcut) but had no idea the bag would contain at least three helpings. We bought way too many. We all felt they were extremely salty, too spicy, and greasy. Very disappointing. My husband liked the bison sliders, and my granddaughter liked the hot dog.

We love the ByWater Cafe! Seriously my favorite spot to eat with my young kids. Awesome food they kids andI like, quick service, kind. Kids can play at the playground, they have great desserts! Pickle spears and Mac and cheese bites are awesome! It’s a wonderful place for a relaxing fun outing! My kids also really love picking out what beautiful painted table they will sit at! They all chose different ones 💜💙 if you have kids, I wouldn’t go anywhere else. Easiest place to enjoy a meal out with kids

Best views of Lake Michigan! Lovely walk-up cafe with some surprising food options. Cherry chicken salad sandwich on a croissant, fresh cut French fries, and after 5pm some insta-worthy extreme milkshakes for $10.50 a piece but looked like they would beworth it! Gorgeous view from patio seating.

This is one of my favorite places to eat! The food is fabulous, but save room for dessert. The service is always wonderful, and they even have contactless ordering this year. If you are looking for great food, and a beautiful view, this is where you want to go!