Courses

When you go with the understanding that this is a culinary school, you’ll forgive small stuff – these are students. The consistency in the meal prep varies by who is in the kitchen.
Spousal unit and I went for an anniversary dinner – I had hoped to try the rabbit and he, the sea scallops… instead, we were presented with a prix fixe and decided to go with that.
Bread: soft, warm – a queso dill roll and queso herb roll. Tasty.
Course #1: Lamb chops, jimaca slaw. The chops were well prepared, tender. The slaw was ok. Didn’t really do much for flavor… more jimaca than apple.
Course #2: pan-​fried trout over quinoa salad – this, by far, was my favorite course. It was flavorful (fresh mint added a great layer) and the fish was prepared just right.
Course #3: 5 oz. filet over yukon mash and a demi-​glacé. Filet was well prepared, yukon mash was ok. Demi-​glacé was WAY too salty. I scraped that off and everything was golden.
Dessert: spousal unit got the Earl Grey crème brûlée – they really brought the flavor of the Earl Grey out in the custard. the sugar crust was crispy.
I got the mango Charlotte. It was flavorful, but there was some odd grainy bit around the edges of my serving… I rated merely ‘ok’
Two non-​alcoholic highballs – first made WAY too sweet, adjusted with club soda and they were ok.
Meal for 2 – around $ 50. 3 courses, plus dessert… decent food. We will be back.

This is a culinary school which runs a full service restaurant, the environment is very clean and modern. The food is outstanding icluding desert, changing all the time as part of the learning process. It is very affordable. The negatives: if you’re looking for a quick dinner you won’t find it here… it is drawn out. And they have very limited hours.

This place is so great! Everyone is so professional and everything I had was great! It’s a very classy setting! I had an arugula and goat cheese plate that was fantastic! I also had the cauliflower steak for dinner! Very happy! Will be coming back at least every semester to try the new dishes!

Birthday lunch Friday, the 22^nd, very disappointed! The presentation was very nice; but, more attention should be given to preparation of food! Tapas were practically inedible! Boiled Dinner was misrepresented as «Seafood». The Trout «micro salad» was bitter and, again, inedible. The chicken was, at best, average. The only bright spot was the Arugula & Goat Cheese salad. Presentation was nice; but, preparation and quality of food is more important!

I don’t want to be a wet blanket. I am a fan of Courses and supportive of this learning environment. Whenever I’m in town, Courses is a destination. Unfortunately, over the last year, everything I’ve odered at Couses has been subpar; I’ve stopped in for a meal 3 – 4 times. Dry, flavorless, etc. Plus, the most recent visit, I wasn’t given an evaluation to fill out. Every restaurant has an off day, but this has been a consistent experience for me. Maybe there’s a new chef instructor who’s trying to work out the kinks. Something has changed. I hope to see improvement.

I love the learning concept behind Courses, and their pricing makes it easy to make allowances for the occasional shortcomings. The dining room is upscale without being stuffy and offers gorgeous views of Hackley Park. It’s a quiet place for business conversation or a night out.
Service tends to vary quite a bit and is sometimes awkward since they are in training. Still, everyone has been friendly and accommodating. As a plus, the fact that the servers aren’t as «polished» (read «snooty») as some high-​end establishments actually makes the dining experience more relaxed and enjoyable.
In my experience, the food has always been excellent. Appetizers, soups, salads, main courses, and desserts are all high quality. Be adventurous. You’ll be well rewarded.
I have two suggestions for improvement. First, for some reason, the bread is usually tough and served cold. They create some interesting varieties, but they really need better quality control in the bakery. Second, the silverware has round handles and is uncomfortable to hold; it’s a small thing, but distracts from the experience.
It may be worth noting that the menu changes quarterly, and things seem to improve as the quarter progresses. If you’re particular, don’t go during the first two weeks of their academic quarter. Also, check their website for hours; they close a few days during school breaks and between quarters.
Overall, Courses gets an «A-​» from me. Lunch or dinner, it’s a great spot.

Upon first hearing about Courses, I was intrigued. A restaurant run as a hands-​on learning experience makes so much sense, I wondered why I hadn’t heard of such a thing before! Our service was wonderful, and our waitress was very knowledgable about the menu. The duck entrée was out of this world – perfectly cooked and moist. The pork fat fries accompanied by a killer ketchup and other dipping sauces were a great start to the meal. The dessert I had was a curious juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity, and this contrast best describes the meal in general. I walked away with culinary inspiration and not a huge dent in my wallet. I would plan a trip around eating here again!

first, let me preface my review with these facts: i’ve worked in fine dining, have eaten around the world and have a pretty good palate. so don’t think, oh she just doesn’t get the nuances of this food. the best thing about this meal was the waiter (very attentive, tho nervous which is understandable, their in school) and the water (go figure). that said, here goes:
bread/​rolls: served hard and cold; seemed like day old bread. couldn’t even taste the ham and cheese in that one due to it being so dry and cold. (when talked to the manager she said they don’t have anything to warm them in… really? it’s a cooking school, come on.)
bacon fat onion rings: doughy and under cooked. either fry them longer or fix the batter. the condiments that come with them: tarragon (what tarragon?) aioli (and i understand that aioli is olive oil based) was soooo oily that it literally coated your entire mouth with a horrible greasy feeling and was one dimensional, that dimension being oil. cilantro chimichurri was very pickly tasting to me. the chipotle ketchup was the best of the 3 but still lacking.
salads: had the MI harvest and the chopped. worst MI harvest version of a salad we’ve ever had, the chopped was fine if you just put salt and pepper on it. ginger vinaigrette: again with the oil, very oily on your tongue, very weak ginger flavor, mild initial orange that fades to oil. blueberry vinaigrette: was better but had a mustiness to it, possibly sage? the other option was a roquefort vinaigrette which we didn’t try. how about a creamy peppercorn/​parm or something other than the HEAVY oil vinaigrettes?
main: duck two ways, suggested MR, asked for M, came out closer to MR. didn’t care for the pan roasted portion at all. the drumstick confit was very good. however, the sides were awful. the carrot fennel timbale was awful (to me), i didn’t know what it was on the inside: carrot? sweet potato? some other mysterious orange fluff? the sweet potato hash browns seemed more like tasteless carrots, worse than if they’d just opened a can of carrots.
cedar plank salmon: good overall, sauce was good, but i’ve made better salmon at home. then there were the sides: quinoa salad that was weak and flavorless and supposedly a kimchi salsa, there was no kimchi on this anywhere (i’ve lived in south korea).
so needless to say this was a HUGE disappointment. i had been looking forward to making this a weekly visit for lunch and i very seriously doubt i will ever go back. could they been having a bad day? sure i’d say that if one or two things were off but there was so little to be enjoyed that i doubt this logic. my mom and i just kept looking at each other like, «is this really happening» throughout the whole lunch. i feel sorry for these kids going to this school if our experience was an accurate presentation of what they are training. again, i have to say the service was GREAT but sadly, i could never recommend eating here.

Reservation only.
Good menu, excellent servers. Everyone working here are culinary students, so no tipping required.
Really, it took forever to get our food! 1 hour and we were finally served our main course, and we were one of only four small parties in the restaurant. Ordered med-​well, got med-​rare. Great desserts. Very small no-​name, bad tasting beer selection. Overall it was very expensive ($ 145 for 3 w/​dessert) and very slow for as many chefs they have in back.
Been here 3 times, but not by my choice 2 of those times…

Had just the most well-​rounded experience here. Everything done perfectly — to the presentation (and taste!!) of the meals, the professionalism of the staff. We felt like we were being treated to a luxury meal with reasonable prices. And you’re not obligated to tip there! It’s still nice if you do though — gratuities go to resources for the students. It’s amazing what good service and food we had when the people working care about what they’re doing and making a good impression. These aren’t workers who are being paid for their time… They’re students learning to cook and wanting to just improve their craft and make sure everyone has not only an enjoyable meal, but experience as well. And they serve alcohol!
Uhmm anyone care to explain what’s NOT to like? Can’t wait to go back. The only thing I think could use improving is the atmosphere. I feel bad because the waitstaff are the cooks and some of them don’t seem comfortable in that position & frankly, I don’t blame them. These people want to make food, not wait tables. But I guess they do that so they get direct feedback on the food & they understand every aspect of the restaurant business. They still did a really great job despite some of them not being terribly laidback out on «the field» ;) Definitely (as you can see) did NOT detract from my experience. Loved everything. Cannot recommend enough.

«Courses Restaurant is an integral part of The Culinary Institute of Michigan — a student-​run public restaurant that not only provides practical experience by introducing our students to a restaurant environment, but also enables the community to enjoy a variety of foods freshly prepared and served by our students.»
I stole the above quote from the website but I thought it described the restaurant perfectly! We went as a party of four for lunch. We all tried different plates and enjoyed them immensely. I had the spring chicken salad with a strawberry vinagrette, my husband had the steak which was prepared exactly as requested (medium rare), we also ordered the eggplant canneloni and a wedge salad. We also tried the ahi tuna appetizer and a flight of wines. We didn’t order dessert but tried the French press coffee sampler. It all came to about $ 50’ish and tipping is optional since the place is run by students.
If in Muskegon, I highly recommend dining at Courses.