Stanz Cafe — Restaurant in Grand Haven

I should have read more reviews. It seems that Stanz is a hands-down winner for breakfasts. Problem is, we didn't go there for breakfast. That being said, I wish we would have, because it's much more likely that we would have enjoyed it more.

But we went for dinner during a tour of western and northern Michigan. Growing up in a Polish household, but having family that has since moved to New Orleans, the idea of a Polish/Cajun restaurant had me excited as hell. Gumbo and pierogies? Yes, please.

Unfortunately, although the food was good, it wasn't anything spectacular. The kielbasa bites (pictured below) were tasty and it was interesting to see such a presentation. The gumbo was good, but to me it tasted exactly like Progresso Split Pea soup with some chicken, sausage, and rice. I liked the onions on top of the pierogies - they were sauteed to perfection, but the uniformity of each pierogi suggested they came out of a box; grandma would not be impressed. In hindsight, I guess that may be my issue -- I had Stanz hyped up in my mind as this old-world Polish and Cajun fusion restaurant churning out handmade specialties from "Chef Bob and Miss Net" (according to their website), with cuts of meat so fresh from Frank's Meat Market next door, that when reality hit me, it was a bigger blow than I was ready for. And that's my fault. I should have seen the warning sign of a golabki being called a cabbage roll on their menu.

I'm not sure if it's a health code violation for employees to be wearing flip-flops, but that seemed to be widespread as well. It didn't impact my meal, but it was something I can't remember ever seeing before. But the worst thing was the amount of unnecessary noise! We were seated in the back, closest to the kitchen and restrooms, and the amount of pans slapping together, items being dropped, and loud talking from the staff was almost unbearable. I would not return - at least not for dinner. Maybe, as many other reviewers state, breakfast is an entirely...

Went here for the first time today. I guess I had high expectations based off reviews and word of mouth from others. Maybe we just caught them on a bad day? Not sure if I would give it another go. We walked in and had to seat ourselves, which wasn’t really a big deal.

Then our waitress got our drinks and food order… that was the last we saw of her. I mean we saw her walking around and working but never checked on us. A different waitress gave us our food. No one checked on us after to see if we needed refills, how the food tasted, or if there’s anything else we need. I had to get up and go to the bar and ask for a refill on my coffee (this was after waiting a long time for someone to check on us). I also had to get up and ask for our bill. Again, maybe we just caught them on an off day but it disappointing as a first time customer.

The food was pretty good except the hash browns were a bit underdone and flavorless. I couldn’t tell anyone that because no one checked on us. We did enjoy the meat the most, you could tell it was really fresh. The atmosphere it’s a cafe but it’s kind of loud. Not as in music wise but as in it’s all wood and open area so voices travel. Unless you sit outside I wouldn’t expect a...

I want to share my families experience for others safety. My 10 year old daughter went last Wednesday to Stanz for lunch. She had a burger and onion rings with grandma. This was the only thing that she consumed that was different from us. Wednesday night she became ill, fast forward to Saturday night we were at Helen Devos with a very sick kid. She was diagnosed with campylobacter infection. It's from spoiled meat or contaminated food. Today I called to let the establishment know what had happened, so they could be aware and keep others safe. At this point I was not upset at all, accidents happen. The manager I spoke to was very defensive and said more or less that it wasn't them , it couldn't be. She did not ask any details or seem to care to alert any other customers. I was very disappointed in her reaction and lack of concern. Food posing is no joke and not something anyone should brush off. First time I have ever wrote a negative review, hoping this will make what happened seem of importance to them since a phone call did not and if nothing else be a...