Where to eat around Canadian Lakes

Five sit-down kitchens inside a fifteen-minute drive, and three of them are dark on a Tuesday. Royal Grille stays shut into Wednesday too. Learn that before you load the car.

Canadian Lakes is a private residential community built around golf courses and water, so the eating splits two ways — some of it happens behind the gate, on the courses, and the rest is out on the county roads in Stanwood. Here is the split, and what to order at each. Hours drift with the season and the golf calendar, so treat what follows as a starting point and call ahead.

Royal Grille — inside the community

The one you can walk to from a house in here. It sits off Club House Drive East, two dining rooms divided by a stone fireplace, picture windows onto the 18th green of the Royal course. Order the fish and chips or the walleye, and if the prime rib is running that night, that. Regulars keep naming the chicken pot pie soup. The fireplace does real work come October. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday — open Monday and Thursday from 4, Friday and Saturday from 11, and Sunday midday into the afternoon. Call the kitchen at (231) 972-8450 before a holiday weekend. The community runs it, but you do not need a membership to sit down.

CL Pizza Co. — Stanwood, public

Out at 8401 100th Avenue, on the water, with a patio and a full bar. They have made their dough from scratch since 2019. Get a pizza, sure — but the tots and the fried ravioli are what pull people back, and there are key lime pie shots if that is the kind of night it is. You smell the fryer before the door. Open seven days, 11 to 8 most nights and later Friday and Saturday. No gate, no golf required. (231) 359-1341.

Antlers Fireside Grill — Stanwood, public

10107 Buchanan Road. A lodge room and a scratch kitchen, with wild game on the board when it is on — venison medallions, walleye, wings by the basket. Upscale-casual on one side, tavern on the other. It runs warm and loud on a Friday, the bar side louder than the dining room. This is the late one for the area, open to 10 on weeknights and 11 on Friday and Saturday. (231) 359-1161.

Fatbelly Deli & Creamery — Stanwood, public

Lunch, not a dinner-out. 20751 8 Mile Road. Cold subs built to order — the Italian Stallion, a Cuban — and a creamery counter for after. Order the sub, then the ice cream, and eat both in the car if the counter’s full. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Open Wednesday through Sunday, with an early close on Sunday. (231) 823-9667.

St. Ive’s Grille — at the golf resort, public

Out at the St. Ives golf resort, 9900 St. Ives Drive. A sports pub at the clubhouse — a cold beer and a plate after eighteen holes, a TV in every sightline, nothing fancy. It is a public resort, so you can pull in without a tee time. Closed Monday and Tuesday, open Wednesday through Sunday, afternoons into the evening. (231) 972-4837.

Before you go

The pattern to hold in your head: Royal Grille, Fatbelly, and St. Ive’s all close early in the week, and Tuesday is the one day all three sit dark. Neither Stanwood nor the community is big enough for a backup plan at 8:45 that night. CL Pizza and Antlers are the two you can lean on. Posted hours shift with the season, so a phone call beats a wasted drive. For how all this sits together and how to get around, see the Canadian Lakes guide and the companion piece, “Things to Do near Canadian Lakes.” Staying at one of our Michigan cottage rentals, Cedar Shores Retreat, puts most of these inside a ten-minute drive.

Two towns, five kitchens. Check the day of the week. Then go.