Berries Pancake House — Restaurant in Kalamazoo

I really want to love this place. We need more good breakfast spots in the area. I've now been three times and every time has gotten worse.

To be clear, there's one dish I love here. The lemon chicken and rice soup. It's a dish every Greek Diner in Illinois has but I've had an awful time finding a good version of here. The first two times here it delivered. I'm getting a side of soup with breakfast. Its that good. Today though it was weird. Big bowl was nice but there was no rice. On searching the whole bowl I found like 3 grains. I don't know if they were just short on it or if the pot needed a stir but it was weird. The flavor was still excellent but the texture the rice provides was majorly missed.

My Monte Cristo was also a bit of a disaster. Super full which sounds great but when you put this much meat in the cheese can't hold it together. The whole inside of my first piece slid out when I picked it up.

Upon putting it back together the taste was fine but the raspberry sauce or whatever they give you (definitely not jam/jelly/preserves as is traditional) was flat out disgusting. Took one bite with it and got rid of it. Without that though the sandwich was boring. Hot sauce saved the day but shouldn't be needed. Fries were fine but seem right out of a bag.

My wife liked her French toast at first but her second piece had a distinct after taste of onion which is pretty gross. Guessing a pan or griddle wasn't cleaned enough after a previous order.

Service was fine. Decor is a bit all American for my taste but I'm sure...

I recently had a disappointing experience at Berries, formerly known as Theo's + Stacey's, which was a beloved local breakfast spot. Unfortunately, Berries falls far short of its predecessor's standards.

The menu at Berries is overly extensive, but its sheer size seems to have led to issues in the kitchen. Our food arrived incorrectly prepared and lacked flavor. To make matters worse, our server was inattentive, leaving us to sit with plates we barely touched because they never checked on us. This lack of service was evident from the start; we waited about 10 minutes just to get our coffee while staff chatted among themselves, forgetting our order until we reminded them.

Having worked in the service industry myself, I understand how hectic it can get. However, when staff have time to socialize rather than attend to customers, it’s hard to overlook the lack of service. Adding to our frustration were the poorly prepared, overpriced dishes that did not meet expectations.

On a positive note, the server eventually returned and removed one of the meals from our bill, which we appreciated. They also offered us boxes for our leftovers, which we ended up putting together haphazardly and feeding to our chickens at home.

Overall, Berries was a letdown, and I think it's safe to say we won’t...

These guys are pretenders. As some others have pointed out, much of the food is frozen or previously prepared and reheated. Don't be duped by this operation.

I asked whether the fried chicken was freshly breaded - not the frozen stuff, but a proper piece of fried chicken, made that day. The answer was yes. Instead, I received three thin, dry, flavorless chicken fingers. Cutting into them, I'd debate they were even chicken tenderloins. You've probably had that kind of thing before - cheap freezer section chicken tenders your mom fed you in the '80s.

If someone had just told me the truth, I would have ordered something else. Adding insult to injury was a photograph on the wall of a delicious, crispy and juicy fried chicken breast. My server apologized (not her fault, of course), took it back, and brought me some corned beef hash. It was okay - the sloppier variety, not the fresh diced corned beef we all love. I'd call it serviceable.

Say what you will in response to this, Berries Pancake House, but we both know what you gave me and why. I'll finish with this - if Popeye's can do a decent job for $8 at the drive-through, then you you sure as heck ought to make the effort. Popular though Berries may be, I will not be going back there - too many better...