Clara's on the River — Restaurant in Battle Creek

I hate leaving bad reviews, and am generally very easy-going when dining out, but Clara's really needs to do a lot better (especially for the prices they charge) if they're going to survive. I know the restaurant industry is hard, but this was just sad.

tl;dr: Beer was warm and flat; food (perch basket w/ fries) was overcooked, chewy, and not flavorful; fries were bland and chewy; burger was generic and just ok at best.

So, the first red flag should have been the huge menu, but I thought I'd try them anyway since it was convenient for others in my party and it's in a cool old train station. But the setting is probably the best thing they have going for them.

Drinks: First off, they were out of several beers on tap, and the ones that were available were barely colder than room temperature and not carbonated properly (flat). Apparently they were having refrigeration issues (which I hope didn't extend to the food-side of things). They should have known about this and stated up front that the draft system was down.

Food: As for the food, I ordered the Perch Basket and French Onion Soup. The soup was fine; not remarkable, not bad. But the Perch... inedible. The batter lacked any flavor, the fish was overdone and chewy (and served skin-on for some reason), and the fries were not crispy or flavorful at all.

After speaking with the manager, she was sincerely apologetic, listened to my feedback, and thanked me for not just letting it slide. She was genuinely disappointed by the experience I had and offered to have the kitchen make something else at no charge.

So I thought let's go with a burger... hard to mess up. And it was fine. Again, not bad, not great. But really, it tasted like a burger made with a generic GFS pre-made patty; a Culver's burger is much better. The fries, though warmer, were not crispy or flavorful and quickly became chewy again. I don't know why, but the kitchen staff cannot figure out how to use a fryer it seems.

The restaurant venue itself is interesting and historic, and the manager on duty was kind and did the best she could, but that's where the good aspects of Clara's on the River stop. I wish I could say that this is a gem in otherwise fairly bleak Battle Creek, but it seems to be more of a reflection of the city's...

TL/DR: The prices are outrageous for the portions and quality of food you get here. The service was terrible. Before anyone asks, the restaurant was not super busy and there appeared to be 3-4 waitresses. So, I am not trying to be picky or be outraged by the service, but it wasn't very busy (plenty of empty tables) and they knew our group was coming. We had a group that had called ahead and made a reservation. We had a table right away when we got there and cups of water were passed out, so no complaints there. But, the point here is they knew we were coming. We were there 10 minutes after seating before anybody came to see us. Not even a drink order. We had to place drink orders when we placed our food order. And refills? Our waitress couldn't be found to even ask for ketchup let alone refill our drinks. When she finally did come back, we were all pretty much done with our food, so I asked if I could have a refill in a to-go cup and she sighed and said, "Yeah." in a tone as if it were the biggest ask in the world. I'm paying $3 for a fountain drink. I would think at least 1 refill wouldn't be too big of an ask. And because we had a group, it was a mandatory 20% tip. But we saw our waitress 2 times that whole time! We put everything on one bill which came out to more than $300, so the tip was sizable but we hardly got service. The food was alright for our group. I ordered the seafood enchiladas which were supposed to come in tortillas according to the menu, but it was a small baked dish with no tortillas. It was okay flavor-wise with the smallest scoop of seafood but for almost $20, I would think the portion would be bigger. The side dish was this tiny bowl with maybe a 1/4 cup scoop of rice and a scoop of black beans put on top of the rice. Overall, I would not recommend taking a group here unless you want to pay $15-$25 per person, pay a mandatory 20% tip, and have poor service and...

So the place is beautiful. It's exciting to go in and realize the building used to be a train station. It felt that they were severely understaffed and/or the dining areas were just too large for the servers to manage (the building is very sprawled out because of the layout). We waited 9 minutes before a server approached our table at all after we were seated. There was no apology for the wait, or anyone popping over to let us know someone would help us soon.

Now, the food was mediocre at best. I ordered the M.C.M. - which stands for mushroom chicken mushroom - and my husband ordered the chicken tenders basket. The mac n cheese side I received was definitely previously frozen mac n cheese; think TV dinner mac n cheese. I'm certain the mashed potatoes were instant potatoes. The "chicken breasts" were identical to frozen, pressed patties (basically what you'd get from some frozen Banquet/Tyson chicken patties at the supermarket). My husbands "chicken tenders" were the same style of previously frozen, pressed chicken. It felt like every oart of the entrées were lacking real, fresh ingredients.

On a positive note, the appetizer we ordered was very good. We got the sampler with potato skins, onion rings, and fried mozzarella. The potato skins were amazing. I also ordered a chocolate malt and it was excellent: creamy, sweet, and very good.

The staff were all very friendly, and there are no complaints there. Our server was obviously stretched thin and it led to us not seeing her often. We don't blame our server at all for the inattention, as it was apparent she was trying and working very hard.

I gave it 3 stars for the atmosphere, appetizer, malt, and our server. We won't ever be back, though. We go to restaraunts for the food, and this place has food that was overwhelmingly...