Jack's Waterfront Restaurant in St. Clair Shores, MI

The Metro Times and Real Detroit Weekly honored Jack's Waterfront Restaurant as "Best Place to Get Docked" and "Best Place to Park Your Dinghy" and I respectfully have to agree. "Jack's" is a very relaxed, nautical atmosphere with a beautiful view of Lake St. Clair. Jack's Waterfront has 4 seasonal dining areas decorated with paintings, photos, caricatures, sails and memorabilia of nautical themes.

Jack's Main Bar has a fantastic dance floor beneath the tern of a full-size boats and plays live music four nights a week. The libations flow with nightly drinks special, cocktails, cold beer and wine. However, Jack's instead your typical bar. Quite often, Jack's does charity events and promotions. The most recent one will feature Monica Leigh, Playboy's 2006 Playmate of the Month, who will be signing photos and her Playmate magazine for charity. The proceeds will benefit St. Clair Shores Cops to Kids. They also have 50/50 raffles, a buffet and hourly drink specials. Jack's also runs contests along with their promotion, such as the upcoming swimsuit contest. Prizes are $100 for each category.

Jack's is not only a fun, relaxed place to hang out, but the restaurant takes pride in participating in charities. They have raised awareness and money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Michigan, Lupus, Special Olympics of Michigan, Children's Home of Detroit, Kids Wish Network, American Cancer Society, CARE House, Michigan Humane Society and others. If you are interested in a place to hold and help with fundraisers for a charitable organization, call at (586)445-8080.

Jack's hosts many banquets at their Commodore club and charity events (as mentioned above) and also a variety of company parties and family or class reunions and award dinners. Their main dining area, called "Union House" is ideal for group functions. It seats up to 200 guests, has a lakefront view, and event coordinators can make the event festive. Jack's is both informal and formal, so seeing one man in a tux and another in jeans and a t-shirt are common place. Our main dining area or the 'Union House" patio room are perfect for entertaining and feeding your next group function. Jack's also does engagement parites, bachlor/ette parties, retirement, sports, showers, reunions, proms, birthdays and even 'Divorce Parties'. At Jack's, you can even rent a private charter boat to take you about Lake St Clair aboard the the steam powered "TradeWinds IV" that seats 45 plus crew.

Open May through October, Jack's Tiki Bar serves up drinks and entertainment right on the beautiful shores of Lake St. Clair. The Tiki Bar is an open-air thatch-roofed hut that gives it a tropical appeal during the summer. Jack's makes great use of it's poolside bar. Patrons dance alongside the pool and there are also special 'poolside events'. If you want to get to the Tiki Bar (or Jack's in general), you can boat over and pull into there 1,000 full service docking area. It costs $1.25 per boat foot to dock overnight.

For all this, you would think that Jack's would serve expensively priced cuisine. That is not the case. Jack's menu is reasonably priced. They serve all sorts of seafood, such as escargot, mussells, calamari, crab, shrimp, and a plethora of various types of fish. Their menu also boasts classic sandwiches, savory salads, pasta and poultry. The highest priced meal is the Filet Mignon ($25.75), but it is well worth it.

Jack's Waterfront Restaurant is located at Emerald City Harbor, 24214 Jefferson Ave., St. Clair Shores, MI 48080. Phone: (586) 445-8080 Fax: (586) 445-8195.