Four verified stops within a half-hour of Lake, on M-115 in Clare County: pizza, a deck on the water, and breakfast worth the drive.
M-115 runs northwest out of Clare and does not slow down for much. It slows for Lake. A party store, a gas pump, a bar with a deck on the water, and a pizza place people drive in from two counties to reach — that is close to the whole food inventory, and for a long weekend it holds. Nobody here is chasing a write-up. The kitchens open when they open. What follows are four places, all real, all standing as of this summer, all inside a half-hour of the crossroads.
Buckhorn Saloon — start here
Right on the highway at 10092 Cadillac Drive, Buckhorn Saloon is a low building with a full bar and a kitchen that turns out pizza people order by name. Pepperoni and cheese, a crust the regulars defend. Burgers, subs, sandwiches, and a craft list longer than the town has stoplights. Doors open at noon, seven days a week — Monday through Thursday until nine, Friday and Saturday until ten, Sunday back to nine. Call ahead: (231) 734-5599. On a Friday the wait is real and the room runs warm and loud. Order the pizza anyway. Wait for it.
Lakeside Bar and Grill — the deck
Two miles off the highway at 7807 Mystic Lake Drive, Lakeside Bar and Grill sits with its deck out over the water. It took over the building that was Big Al’s Place and kept the view west. American plates, some seafood, the kind of menu built for people who came in off a boat and want a burger and a cold one before the sun quits. The kitchen runs Monday through Thursday to ten-thirty, later on Fridays. The phone is (989) 544-3502. Sit outside if the weather lets you — the lake does most of the work.
Jackpine Restaurant — the breakfast drive
For breakfast you get in the car. Harrison sits a half-hour north, and Jackpine Restaurant at 231 East Main Street is where that town eats — homemade plates that don’t photograph, breakfast served any hour the doors are unlocked. Six in the morning Monday through Saturday, seven on Sunday. It closes by eight most nights and by two on Sunday. Coffee comes fast and keeps coming. The place has held a strong reputation for years, which in a town this size is the only review that matters. Phone (989) 539-6162.
Horseshoe Bar — over in Marion
West of Lake, past the Osceola County line, Marion keeps the Horseshoe Bar at 142 West Main Street. Char-broiled steaks, burgers, prime-rib dinners, and weekend music that fills the room. It is a bar first and a kitchen second — which is the order most of these places keep, and no complaint. Reach it at (231) 743-9814. Figure twenty minutes each way from the crossroads.
Know before you go
Buckhorn does not open until noon, so it is a lunch-and-dinner room, not a breakfast one — that trip is Jackpine’s, and it means driving. The deck at Lakeside is a warm-weather proposition. Off-season, or on a cold weekday, call before you point the car at it. Weekend nights at the Horseshoe and Buckhorn run slow and full — the trade for a room with people in it. Hours drift at small kitchens, so the phone is worth a call before you leave.
All four sit inside a half-hour of a door if you are staying at one of our Michigan cottage rentals, Windover Lake Retreat. The longer read on the town lives in the Lake location guide, https://roamstays.com/location/lake/, and the piece A weekend in Lake works these stops into two honest days.
Start with the pizza.