Taste of the Town: Great Lakes Shipping Co.

By Jonathan Chong
Western Herald

Great Lakes Shipping Co. is a restaurant located just down the road from Western Michigan University’s main campus. Just across the road from Oasis Hot Tubs, Great Lakes Shipping Co. provides a warm dining environment for those in search of a simple and quite evening.

The dining room is a huge slate of dark brown colors with a cracking fireplace that gives a nice warm ambience to the dining room.

On the Friday night the dining room was filled with students, professors and some older folk. We were seated promptly and given a chance to go through the menu.
After a little discussion, we decided to order from almost every section of the menu. From the appetizer section we had the fried calamari served with roasted garlic aioli and marinara sauce. From the soup and salad section we ordered the seafood chowder, which was made with four different kinds of seafood. From the company specialties section we had the roast half duckling, oven baked with plum sauce on the side. And from the fish and seafood section of the menu we chose the salmon, which was broiled and served with a garlic dill sauce.

The only two sections we did not order out off were the sandwich and the aged custom steaks section. Both had a good selection, however, the aged steaks were quite pricy.

After a short wait our appetizer of fried calamari arrived, as well as the seafood chowder.

The fried calamari was nicely cooked, crispy on the outside and a tender bite of the calamari on the inside. The garlic aioli that came with the dish really went well with the fried calamari and was a simple favorite at our table. The seafood chowder however did not yield a similar outcome. The chowder was a little too thick for my liking, and the seafood in the soup was over cooked and not the most pleasant.
Next came our entrees of roast half duckling and broiled salmon. The duck surprisingly was really quite good. It was nicely seasoned and quite moist with a crispy skin on the outside. As for the broiled salmon, it was a little overcooked and flaky. Furthermore the rice that was served with both dishes lacked flavor and seasoning.

Even though many come to dine at Great Lakes Shipping Co., I find the food to be mediocre at best. Service was quite good, however the presentation and execution of food was lacking.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Feb 25 2010. Filed under A & E, Weekend Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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