Butcher Block Social — Restaurant in Caledonia Charter Township

Upon arrival was told we could sit anywhere we wished and a server will come to the table and take our drink order. Once our drinks were ordered our name was put into a handheld device, we were then told to stand in line to make our food order where we were met with another person who asked if she could run our card and keep our tab open. We ordered our food from her .... It is $14.99 for a half pound of brisket, $15.99 for 6 chicken fingers, $5 for a small basket of tots. The menu was available QR code at the table and also posted up on signage behind the order station. The menu is quite small with more items listed stating that they were coming soon.

At this point it became kind of weird because of not knowing the proper etiquette of standing on the other side of a Subway-style sandwich making station, but a lot longer....there were 6 kids all at their particular stations filling out orders, but we don't know who's they are filling out....do we wait? Are we supposed to move along and keep up with the people in front of us? There is no eye contact from the staff and I feel pressure to keep the line moving...

Once at the end of the line you are asked about various condiment needs and then a cashier inquires about if you want to pay now or keep the tab open. I kept it open thinking we might try the key lime pie for dessert.

The food: I guess I didn't realize that a half pound of brisket was four cut pieces about 2"x4"x3/8" thick....the rub was dry, the brisket itself I needed to put some form of sauce on it to make it palatable. The tots were well overdone and the chicken fingers were nothing special, still wondering why they were more expensive than the brisket.

While sitting there watching the whole restaurant unwind, people going through the line, walking past with trays of food I noticed the "dessert".... certainly not what I would have expected, it turns out the pies are about 4-5" diameter and come in a little tin. Pre-made from somewhere and pretty pricey ($9).

The server that first brought us our drinks never came back to check on how our food was or if we needed anything, just visited us once to have us ok the bill on her handheld tablet.

Overall this place is loud and doesn't know if it is a restaurant, a serve yourself place or a beer hall. I am the one who stood in line and ordered, then grabbed my own food and brought it back to my table where hopefully nobody tried to sit at and then once to the cashier there's a tip jar. Who am I tipping here? The server who got us the drinks was expecting a tip as well while we had to refill our own drinks. The real kicker is that I got double charged for my order because it works like a hotel where they hold a sum for incidentals and then run your card again for the final bill.

This model will not sustain itself. It is obvious that whoever owns this is a first time restauranteur and made several bad decisions regarding treatment of...

We arrived on a Saturday just before 5. Lines were short, meat was refilled while we were in line and we were able to get in line and begin to eat quickly. You order like a cafeteria and slide down the counter to pay after everything is added to your tray, except for beverages. You're offered the option then to cash out or leave the tab open, there's a 20% auto gratuity that pops up when you go to close out, which you can change but you're tipping here on them putting the food in your tray, not for any other service. Then you pick up your own paper plates and silverware and you carry your own tray and all of your tableware to a table. Then you wait for a waitress to notice you sat down. We had to go and find one 15 minutes into our meal with no drinks or water. Once we alerted the waitress that we were hoping to have drinks, she came often to check in throughout the meal, another server checked in halfway and we saw him a few times, and then she came back toward the end. It was weird but I saw this happen at other tables as well so this must be how they handle it.

Cornbread casserole was good, Mac and cheese with the crouton topping was delicious, and the baked beans were good too. We had brisket which was akin to pot roast, cooked fine but little flavor and certainly nothing special, pulled pork, also fine, and chicken quarters which were smoked, and in my opinion, the best meat we had there. I wouldn't waste my money on the brisket in the future. There are a handful of BBQ sauces on the table, a mild sweet, hot, a carolina, and a couple other varieties. I tried them all, nothing was outstanding, but the Carolina was good but not very mustardy and lacked the kick I anticipated.

The space is loud, the food is totally overpriced when you're doing most of the work yourself, and the food was cold. Other wait staff opened the back doors to the outside and left them open for extended periods of time making the space, and our food cold, but the meat was cold when we arrived at our table, even the brisket, which had just been cut. We've eaten at this style of BBQ in other states and it wasn't as expensive, nor was our food cold. It also didn't come with any extras like bread, pickles, etc. I think the worst thing about this place was the chairs. They're profoundly small and uncomfortable to sit and chat with family. Also, the silverware is the cheapest grade you can get and it is uncomfortable to use. I expect this from a cheap diner, but here it felt out of place. There were also no forks in the spot where you serve yourself, and I had to notify the person at the register, it doesn't look like anyone keeps an eye on the stock.

Overall, I would recommend skipping it. The sides aren't enough reason to come here, the elevated prices for mediocre or poor quality materials and delivery left a bad taste in my mouth. If we're paying $30/person before beverages, I expect good food and to not have to...

The 2 stars is really only because the owner was so kind and friendly, otherwise this restaurant is just kind of a hot mess in so many ways. We were ecstatic for this place to open and the building/sign made it look like higher end dining. So we were pretty shocked to walk and have the hostess basically tell us it’s cafeteria style and to seat yourself and wait for someone to come take your drink order. The line for food wrapped through the entire restaurant, so it made for a super packed atmosphere in addition to the insanely loud level of noise because the entire place is made of metal, concrete and wood. We intentionally chose a seat far away in the back corner and waited a long time before a “waitress” (can they even be called that if all they do is deliver drinks??) took our drink order. She told us to go up and wait in line to order food. There was no way to tell other patrons that the table was taken, so when we got up to get our food, a huge group came in and took our table we intentionally picked in the back. They either need to have the hostess be the one actually seating people or have markers on the table to tell others the table is taken. We stood in line for food for a solid 20 minutes, as soon as we got up to the girl to order, she flat out just walked away. Didn’t say she’d be back, or what was going on. Just disappeared for 10 more minutes while we stood there unsure what to do as the line behind us continued to build. When she came back she said “sorry the kitchen was backed up”, which would have been nice to know BEFORE she walked away. The menu was only half complete. Tons of options say “coming soon!” so all you can order are a few sides (btw where are the vegetable sides besides slaw!?) and a few meat options and dessert. After we ordered it took another 10 minutes just for them to spoon the food onto the tray. The food was crazy expensive, $55 for a few sides and 2 meats. And the food was terribly underwhelming. Lacking flavor and salt on almost everything except the brisket. Cheesy potatoes are awful, not cheesy and not flavorful and so mushy. The pulled pork has some sort of super strong bold smoke taste that was hard to get paste even with sauce. All in all, very very disappointing. Crazy high prices for basically cafeteria style and cafeteria tasting food. We won’t be back, sadly. So many other better tasting, decent priced BBQ joints...