Five Star Dive Bar — Restaurant in Elkhart

Lets start by saying please look at my previous review below. I have been here 100s of times. I spent years working just up the street a few doors and it was my favorite lunch spot. Now... today. I have ordered and enjoyed the "Bourban Chicken Salad" for years. Today it was terrible. As it comes normally, and stated on the menu, its supposed to be fresh blackened chicken on top of a house mixed salad with cheese, onion, tomato, bourbon dressing and ranch. Today it was clearly frozen chicken (not even browned) topping shredded lettuce. Few chuncks of tomatoes and cheese. What really makes it worse was talking to the manager (the owners daughter apparently) who had a "whatever" attitude, accused us of just trying to get a discount, and litterally told me that since they have changed providers that may be why the chicken isnt blackened and looks different. My girlfriend and i both had the salad and a large beer... also.. the beer was chilled but not cold and was in a plastic cup during dinner hours. I dont even mind plastic if the beer is nice and cold. That makes up for the lack of insulation in plastic lol Honestly... the real kicker was the managers attitude which made it 100% clear she didnt care. At least fake it, hit me with the customer service, i could care less about knocking $4 off a $50 meal. I also get pairing down a menu to reduce cost and overhead. But the offest is making the item you do have enjoyable and delicious! I wont be back anytime soon to find out though.

Still, 2 good things from this trip: our server was nice and did a good job. Mozzarella stix...still awesome.

My old review:

Good food....try the mozzarella stix....they are hand cut, battered, deep fried cheese logs of heavenly goodness that will make your mouth happy and give your soul bliss. And the live bands on...

Service: 4 star, good, but not excellent if you ignore the staff taking shots behind the bar. Waitress was attentive. Food arrived timely but cold. Food: This is a place where you only order appetizers and drinks. The mozzerilla sticks were amazing! (Pictured) We loved them! I ordered the 'grilled cheese' (pictured). The 'cheese' was shredded cheese, not even a slice or multiple slices of cheese with a sliced tomato and a piece of bacon with toasted texas toast bread. This is NOT a grilled cheese! It was made with toasted bread, not grilled at all! I was VERY disappointed. I say one star because while the mozzerilla sticks tasted excellent they were cold. Freshly deep fried mozz sticks are typically hot to the touch and loaded with fryer grease. These seemed, precooked and reheated. I've had better at the fair from a food truck! But still, delicious. The fries were basic frozen fries. My husband ordered the Nashville Chicken sandwhich and the patty was a frozen patty with sauce that had so much sugar added. I can say the ingredients were basic but not well exectuted. We have frequented local places such as The Kitchenette in down town South Bend with basic ingredients and still successfully pulled off a 'homemade' meal, however this place did not. Overall, I don't recommend this as a place to bring your family or come for a dinner. If your looking for drinks and appetizers while checking out a band or event, it's a place worth checking out. Atmosphere: We went during dinner (6pm) on a Friday afternoon and they were mostly dead. There was a band setting up, so this lead me to believe this was mostly a night time bar hang out with bad menu options apart from appetizers. Go to Madison Oyster Bar if you want better...

I would recommend Five Star Dive Bar for a fun night out in Elkhart anytime.... been there several times myself and had a great time... HOWEVER... I had one of the worst experiences with a waitress there during the Jazz Festival that I've ever had. This woman wasn't just a bad waitress, she was a toxic human being. Ignored us every chance she got, walked right by us and didn't even acknowledge us while trying to flag her down several times after waiting forever for her to come back and she didn't. We sat forever before having to flag her down to take our order & she acted bugged that we were even there. When I wanted to pay and she ignored us again after waving our money around, my son finally caught her attention while she was casually socializing with someone she obviously knew... she was SO rude that I was shaking and had to leave the building. I've never had someone in the service industry be so vial in their behavior towards me in my life... it was shocking. I am currently a bartender and have been in the industry myself for over 20 yrs. I am normally the one giving them a break when they are busy, defending them to others and rarely see anything other than a server trying to keep up. That was not the case. She was just straight out nasty. If I were the owner and I caught her speaking to a customer like she spoke to us, she'd have been fired on the spot. Don't know her name but she's short, overweight, dark scraggly hair with a nose ring. I don't know what her issues are but she really needs to get out of the service industry if she can't hold it together enough to at least be civil to...