Van Born Tavern & Grill — Restaurant in Dearborn Heights

We are looking for more places to visit for our dinners out, spread the wealth so to speak. Last Wednesday was our first visit. This is more of a 3 1/2 than a 4, but good food adds value.

Clean, and good sound level to be able to have a conversation. Things started really rough with what appeared to be a maybe new waitress? That or she just isn't efficient yet. I know these are tough times for many servers and eateries, that's why we are trying to patronize various places instead of our old routine like Cliff and Norm.

I have a few simple rules for eating out:

-Acknowledged upon sitting. Great job. -Drink time. This was an eternity for the first. From someone coming to take the order to filling it, was long enough we almost left (for the first time) Did improve tremendously for remaining time. -Time to take main meal order. Awful. We almost left (2nd time) after the appetizer because the waitress made us wait while she "had to drop off one more thing". We sat and watched as she did everything but take our order, including get other tables their food, bus a table and take another order! Knowing how quickly food comes now I'll be less anxious if that happens here again. It was late dinner for us and we were hungry. -Time to receive order. WOW! Faster than fast food. -Time to receive bill/return with change. Slow. Again, waitress was doing many other things. We still tip 20% plus for benefit of the doubt on first visit.

The appetizer and meal both came extremely fast when we did order. Glad we stayed. And we will be back to try again and venture into higher value menu items, as I suspect they are delicious looking at a other diners plate go by. We just tried potato skins, a burger and Reuben to test the waters. You can tell a lot about a place by those 3 items. Very good. Really liked the potatoes cut width wise instead of lengthwise for the skins. Cooked perfectly.

Prices are very fair, food is good. Nice to get a bun or bread toasted just enough to make it crisp, but not so hard it destroys the roof of your mouth. These folks appear to like to serve good food...

7 out of 10 stars for the food, but horrible service. I sat at the bar, so you'd think service would be great? Wrong. The female bartender was friendly, but clueless. Be prepared to ask for things two/three times before getting it. She would pass an empty beer glass on the counter several times; even in the drip tray, without checking in. I almost finished my entire meal without a drink. At one point she picked up my empty glass from the drip tray, placed it in the washer, then went to the end of the bar for seven minutes to text. Oh, but not without stepping outside during all of this so she could smoke, and check her phone. Finally when she realized I hadnt had a drink in 20 minutes, she asked "do you want another beer? Ummm, where's your glass?" I told her "you took it miss" she then proceeded to find some sort of 7 oz beer stein, and filled it up after I had been drinking 12 oz pints all night. Never saw a beer so small in my life. When jokingly asking her if the "baby beers" were cheaper, she became very defensive, and couldn't figure out the reference even when being shown the glass next to my buddy's normal beer. Getting the bill split between two people took the bartender (her) and a manager fifteen minutes to do. All whilst the manager decided to drink a beer himself, then step outside. The two guys next to me had told her they wanted two shots of Crown before the bill debacle, to which she clearly (after twenty minutes) forgot. I jokingly reminded her of this before leaving to which she became very snarky saying "I KNOW. I WAS JUST GETTING IT FOR THEM!" Four minutes later as I walked out, I heard them yell down to her "ummm could we ever get those Crown shots?" Hahaha what a mess. Two burgers/fries, about 6 beers, and two apps (hummus and spinach dip) was over $55 (not including tip). Not the greatest experience at all....

I live near to the VanBorn tavern and visit it regularly. I was highly dissatisfied when today I called an order in instead of eating in. Through the VanBorn Tavern website, their menu clearly showed 20 wings for 13.99. When I called to order the girl gave me the total for $19 and I said on the website it says 13.99. She asked me if I was looking at the right menu... I'm wondering if she was. I went to pick up my food and asked them to grant me the price shown on the menu which is 13.99. The owner, I believe his name is Nick, said he would not. The reason he said is because someone was supposed to have changed that on their website already but hasn't. They want to charge the customer more money for their staffs negligence to update their online menu. The bartender is a phenomenal bartender and great at customer service and she tried her best to help me because she knows my family regulars here. After paying 25% more than advertised I asked to speak to the owner to ask him respectfully to get this changed. He declined speaking to me after asking politely twice. Being a small business owner for 7 years I know this is no way to treat a customer. You've now lost my future business for a one time upcharge. I won't be going back or recommending your establishment. If the customer comes first, I'd hate to imagine how you...