Milk & Honey — Restaurant in Harlan

The food well cooked. The repurposed old building is off to a really good start. The front of the house service was just off. The food and the efforts of the kitchen staff deserve a front of the house staff that is farm-to-table knowledgeable, that understands the importance of dish-complimentary table service, that can keep the tables bused, can say “Hello, Welcome to Milk and Honey!” (maybe even “ Here’s our menu…what can we get started fresh from the farm for you today?” Or “Please take a look at our menu… how can we help make your day a little sweeter?” Or “While you’re waiting would you care to browse our merchandise or our baked goods or get a handcrafted refreshment, or… —*— [insert some special Milk and Honey feature]” BUT SAY SOMETHING… Blank stares just don’t make the prices ($2.75 for cold tea in a coffee mug!! $14.00 for a burger, $5.00 scone… it gets pricey $5.00 cup of chai…) seem like a good way to spend your earnings… I mean, even Cattle at slaughter will look you in the eye and express something! The KIDS up in front of the house were young, with a lot lacking in the way of SERVICE and Involvement. I heard more “I’m sorry, BUT…..” than I heard anything ( besides giggling). Front of the house should not apologize… not without the shift supervisor’s approval and support. Also, Front of house should not giggle and carry on personal conversation while at station or at service. They should not act as if like they have made a mistake or they are just on the verge of making mistakes… Great food. Nice enough space. Trained...

My African American Girlfriend and I went there Saturday October 11th, We aren't from rural Iowa. We are from the cities. She thought the place looked nice, We walked in and the entire room stared at her, as if they have never seen a Black woman. She didn't feel comfortable enough to even order, I ordered a Monte Cristo to go. The white supremacist who took my order then told us to sit on the purple couch in the middle of the room. Here we sat for over 45 minutes. We watched groups, couples and entire families walk in sit down, order and get their food (all whom came in after us) They treated these people like gold... However the BLACK person in the room was invisible to them as they walked by us the entire time. I noticed a sack on the kitchen window and it had been there all of 25 or 30 minutes. I eventually went to the white tattooed Arian lady and asked her if that was our food. She grabbed it and handed it to us like we were like scum of the earth. We felt so little there. Needless to say the sandwich sucked it was dowsed in butter and cold and it was the smallest and Monte Cristo I've ever seen, the sweet potato fries were also cold and soggy, Matt Walsh should go there because Racism does exist on this rural white Iowan town. Racism does exist in this small Iowan eatery!

SO NOW the " Owner or GM" speaks out not to say hey we are sorry we owe you one but rather to double down that they did nothing wrong and make excuses. I do want to meet with you and the...

First time I've been there (and last). We ordered our food and went to find a table. All empty tables were dirty. Finally Sat down at one & hoped someone would come to clean it quickly. Every once in a while, an employee would go to a dirty table and pick up a glass in each hand and take it to the back. Leaving the rest of the dirty dishes on the tables. They did this repeatedly. We couldn't get anyone's attention. When we finally did get someone, she came to our table, apologized, said the bus boy had not shown up yet. Then she threw her dirty rag on top of our clean silverware that we had laid on knapkins....??? She apologized and said she would get us some clean utensils. She cleaned off our table right as they brought us our food. The food.. we're still not sure what it was. The chef salad did not have normal lettuce (looked like dandelion greens maybe?)and was covered with something that seriously looked like locusts (??) we know it wasn't but we haven't figured out what it was. My friend who had the salad ended up getting ill later that night. My food (breakfast skillet) was ok, but none of this worth the price we paid for it. A very...