Bud's — Restaurant in Green Lake Township

Some meals nourish. Some meals satisfy. But once in a while… a meal changes everything.

Our morning began not with sunshine, but with suffering. Jim, our ever-stalwart friend, had emerged from a tent into the frigid grip of a 42-degree dawn. His body stiff, his soul cracked, and his mood? Shattered. The kind of mood where you question every life choice that led you to sleep outdoors in northern Michigan in late May.

Hoping to salvage the day, the three of us — Jim, Aiden, and I — stumbled into Bud’s, a glowing beacon of warmth tucked into the Interlochen woods. We were hungry. Cold. Faintly delirious.

And then — the miracle began.

Aiden and I received our meat skillets first. Towering plates of glory: golden hash browns, velvety scrambled eggs, ribbons of sausage, crispy bacon, rich ham, and cheese melting into every crevice like a hymn. The aroma alone felt like a hug from the universe. We dove in instantly, forkfuls of joy healing us from the inside out.

But Jim… oh, poor Jim.

He sat. Waiting. Watching.

With the deadpan gaze of a man scorned by fate, he eyed our sizzling skillets as we devoured them bite by bite. Jealousy hung in the air like steam. Each crunch of bacon, each satisfied sigh from Aiden or me, was a dagger. He tried to be brave, to hide it. But his eyes said, “Why must I suffer so?”

And then — like the final scene of a feel-good movie — Bud appeared.

He delivered Jim’s skillet with a smile and a reverence usually reserved for sacred relics. Jim took his first bite, and in that moment, the world shifted. His anger melted. His spirit returned. The man who had trudged into Bud’s was gone, replaced by someone reborn through breakfast.

Even the salt shakers, overenthusiastic in their generosity, contributed to the magic. A single tap would send a cascade of flavor — not too much, not too little, but exactly what we didn’t know we needed. It was as if they, too, wanted to be part of this holy experience.

And just when we thought it couldn’t get better, Bud returned once more, bearing gifts from the heavens: fresh, warm donuts. One bite in and we were silent — not from lack of words, but because we were full of wonder. The kind of stillness that only comes when the universe says, “Here, just be present.”

So here’s to Bud’s.

To a morning that began in misery… and ended in miracle. To friendships, freezing tents, jealousy turned to joy. To a meal so powerful, it stitched together the frayed edges of our very beings.

Thank you, Bud’s. You didn’t just serve breakfast. You...

We arrived here at 6:10pm. There was a family of 4 ahead of us prior to ordering. (Our friends) We ordered 2 salads and one plain kids hamburger. The sign above counter said “please know we cook everything fresh, so average wait time is 25-30min” Ok, we can respect that. 45 min go by and 3 more orders had walked in since we arrived. A couple who came in to pick up an order they called in an hour ago complained. My husband then went up to ask about our order. The staff went to the cook and asked about our order. He looks at ticket and said oh I haven’t even started that.” Girl goes to board and changes wait time to 50min. After waiting 1 hour and ten minutes we went to counter and requested a refund. We are told, “we are only 4 people”. I get that the workforce isn’t easy right now. The problem here wasn’t the workforce. it was the process. The owner literally was back there making one meal at a time, meanwhile each meal in that party sat and got cold. I grew up in the restaurant business and managed one of our restaurants. If you have 4 employees in there and 12 people to serve, then train your staff to run a line! You’re serving sandwiches, burgers, panini’s and salads. It isn’t that complicated to train 18-25 year olds to make a salad, cook a chicken breast or throw a patty on a grill. If the owners has control issues over what he serves then you need to stick to serving ice cream, coffee and desserts. Your reviews show this is a pattern. You lost a lot of customers tonight and refunded a good amount of money from several parties. I hope you find this review and it opens your eyes. Your place has a ton of potential to flourish but your going to need to make some changes or your not going to survive much longer Bud. Oh as we left, your staff changed the sign to say 1 hour 30 minutes wait time. 🤦🏼‍♀️ ditch the sign. It’s not...

I gave one star because I cannot give zero and still post! First, the woman at the counter acknowledged me in a timely fashion, and I thought GREAT! But it all went down from there! Her rudeness overpowered her acknowledgement! She told me there was no way she could take my order, and that SOMEONE would try to get to me, sometime! I should have left then! I want these facilities to recognize that not every customer comes in every day, so some of us DON'T UNDERSTAND THE PROCEDURES and we are NOT there for your benefit! Once my order was finally taken by a gentleman, he vaguely gestured in the direction of the door... again, I should have left!!! Finally, I figured out how to find the simple coffee I actually came in for but once there, I was confused because the language of the writing on the pump canisters looked as if it was in Rhune or some other antiquated script!!! A local customer pointed out the regular coffee and I thanked her very much! Finally, the regular coffee had less than half a cup in it!!!

I almost threw the contents of my cup on the floor along with the STALE pecan roll I ordered!

I had no idea the roll would be stale, but after taking my less than half cup of coffee outside and going to the MI COFFEE vendor located north of buds, (to get a full cup of coffee) I tried the pecan roll and it was most definitely STALE!!!

There was no best by date so I can only speculate on it being 2 days old...

Will I return? NOT ON A BET!

Would I recommend buds?

NOT ON A...