The Railway Cafe — Restaurant in Dowagiac

Im going to start this saying that we just moved to dowagiac. This was our first experience at a, mom and pop, type establishment in this area. I can understand being busy, i can understand the pandemic shortstaffing, but what i cant understand is how disorganized, dirty, as well as poorly ran this establishment is. We walked in, entry way dirty and wall dust all over the floor, and we're told to sit wherever we could find an open table. After proceeding to walk inside we were told there was an open table in the corner, cramped as well as filled with the smell of bad perfume. The table was not cleaned fully, and it made me uncomfortable how close, during the pandemic, we were to the other tables while all other establishments close down every other table or booth. This was not the case here, and makes you worry about possible covid exposure. After 10 minutes of us sitting down and looking at digital menus, as our menus were never given to us and our server never stopped at the table, we were finally given menus and asked what to drink. We told the young gentleman, who was scattered and less than enthused to be there, two coffees and a tea. He then disappeared. 20 minutes later, after not recieving coffee, tea, or even bothering to ask us if we were ready to order, we decided to leave. I also noticed the response above to my wife, telling us to seek fast food if we want faster food, that is a poor manager response. You couldnt bother to even sit us down with menus and coffee, and you expect us to be ok with that after a half hour with no sevice? I recommend you do a walk through inspection of your establishment, as well as managerial training as it seems the place is a hot mess of confusion. Your staff also does not seem to want to be there, or they are not trained for their positions. Next time, address the concerns of your customers rather than place blame. Its obvious the place needs help. Also this is public. Google reviews make or break your establishment, i highly recommend improving upon what i have said here as i am a high level reviewer. Have a great day and i hope the place turns around as it seems like it was once upon a time, a great...

The food is amazing! When they say they have the best bacon in town, they're not kidding. We recommend the bacon cheese burger, french toast, biscuits and gravy, eggs and pancakes. Yum! The restaurant wasn't the cleanest. Bathroom electrical was a little sketchy and no changing table. There was a large rack of plants littering dead leaves in the front of the restaurant. Soda products came in cans with a cup of ice. I can't imagine that's a cost saving measure, but it worked. It looked like many tables were evened up by old sugar packets and napkins. Many menu items were blacked out, but there were still plenty of items to choose from. There was only one server, but she was super friendly and seemed she knew a lot of the regulars. Food was a little slower, but they even have a phrase on the wall, "Fast food isn't good and good food isn't fast." Truer words have never been spoken in this establishment. When the dining area and bathrooms look neglected, I often wonder what the kitchen looks like, but honestly, the food was amazing, so I'd eat here again and we even recommended it to nearby family as we were in town for a funeral. The server mentioned to another table that they were waiting on the landlord to fix something. You've got some great food, you just need a building that reflects that - perhaps relocating to another building to get out from under the landlord who won't...

My husband and I ate here for the first time today because we recently moved to the area and love trying the Mom-n-Pop stops. I will say that this place has some of the best bacon around, hands down. I ordered the country fried steak breakfast and the steak seemed to be a little rubbery. I think that this diner is known for doing their meat "well done" though because a lot of regulars there prefer it that way. I'll know for next time when I try the NY Strip breakfast on our next trip there. They seemed to be out of a few things such as Decaf coffee, American fries and lemons for water and iced tea. The server, although kind, could've used a smile when greeting customers or a more peppy attitude. Overall, we enjoyed our experience and will be back. Prices are great considering the portion sizes are big. I like the signs on the wall in the diner. I loved that it's a small establishment. The bathroom could use an update but from the reviews I read, it sounds like the guy they rent from is dragging his feet on helping them out with this. Either way, make your own judgements. Oh, also, I seen a lot of people complain about the wait time for menus and food... There were a few people ahead of us and I feel like we were given menus and drinks immediately and food was out within...