Aunt Lu's Cafe — Restaurant in Lawrence Township

While the food quality of this place was sub-par, that's not what compelled me to write this review.

We always hear about how some people feel unwanted in certain places because of their ethnicity. The majority of us who never experienced this, primarily because we are white, just shrug it off since we tend to think of it as an exaggeration or that we simply just do not care. After visiting this establishment, I now have a completely different outlook and understanding of this concept.

I stopped here while on a road trip with someone who is a minority, and not only did the customers constantly stare at us and give us dirty looks but so did our waitress. She gave us the bill to pay before we even started eating; insisting that we leave.

As we were at this establishment, which was more than 50% filled, we noticed that we were the only table being pushed to leave. While we received the bill immediately and were suggested to leave multiple times by our server, we overheard her talk to other customers when they were finished as she asked them "You sure you don't want more food first, or should I get the bill?" With us, it was the complete opposite. While everyone else was treated with warm hospitality, we were met with hostility and aggression.

This was an "all you can eat" buffet, but it was obvious that they wanted us to leave before we could even touch our first helping. We didn't even get to eat our first plate before leaving because we felt THAT unwanted and unsafe.

It is 2023, but the people here are still mentally living in 1963.

I will say that, as weird as it sounds, I am very thankful to have witnessed racism like this right before my eyes with someone I know because it has helped me understand the perspective of people from other backgrounds when they say that they feel unsafe or unwanted in similar scenarios.

That being said, I will never in my life, even if it means starving to death, support a business like this again. This place is an absolute joke! They should just put up a banner that says "minorities not wanted" or "minorities enter at your own risk."

I cannot stress enough just how much I do NOT...

Was greeted as soon as I sat down and ask what I would like to drink. Browse at the menu that is always at the table. Ordered the smothered chicken entree which states on the menu comes with vegetable the day garlic toast and one side. Told my waitress I would like fries as my side. I received my meal and all it was was one piece of smothered chicken which was pretty small portion and a decent size portion of fries. My waitress never came back to check on me. When she did come back it was just to drop off my bill. Looked at my bill and I got charged $14.99 for my meal which is the smothered chicken entree price. I could never get her attention so I asked another waitress if she could get my server for me so I can talk to her about my bill. She asked me what was up and I told her there was no way I was paying $14.99 for a piece of chicken and fries but I did not receive the garlic toast or my vegetables. I'm assuming she was a manager cuz she said she would take care of that. She ended up taking 10% off my bill which was not a whole lot. It's nice having a sit-down restaurant being open for truck drivers still but the service was poor on a...

The atmosphere of the establishment was very homestyle. The service was pretty good and they stayed on top of getting refills and checking to make sure everything was good. I ordered the buffet to get a little variety. I’ll start off with the bad. The scallop potatoes and green beans were bland, not much flavor or seasoning used. The salad bar had a nice assortment of options for salad and toppings and also things like macaroni salad, tuna, and a soup bar at the end. The fried chicken was salty, but other than that didn’t have much flavor either. It tasted like it was fried in some sort of lard or like bacon grease, can’t quite put my finger on it. The meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and the apple crumb cake were very good. The mashed potatoes had a very buttery and fluffy taste and texture and cooked well. The meatloaf was good and it meshed with the potatoes kind of fit the home style feeling. Then I finished it off with the apple crumb cake which is a personal favorite, which was definitely a must get. All in all my experience was pleasant, I’d just critique a few things to adjust, but if you’re looking for a decent meal this is not a bad...