El Nibble Nook — Restaurant in Livonia

Most horrible ambiance. Cramped, low ceilings, claustrophobic, tables are so close you can have no private conversation, lodged in a very old building that stinks, floors are sticky, the furniture is at least 20 years old and uncomfortable, rude staff, food is good, but the owner is a jerk and a bully who inherited his grandfather's restaurant and is running it into the ground by his pompous ways, a true dump, surviving because once upon a time it was a good place to eat and hang out at. After going there for 35 years - the last 10 only because it falls on the way from my office to my house, and my financial adviser/lawyer lives close by and so we were used to conducting our business there while having dinner and couple of drinks - we were suddenly subjected last Saturday to great rudeness by the owner while seating us and who then assigned us an African-American waiter because according to him none of the white waitresses were willing to serve us as I had been rude to them in the past. On inquiring as to what exactly I had done wrong they could give no instance of my ever having raised my voice, used foul language or even spoken one harsh word just the excuse that I treated them like servants. The truth is far from putting anyone down we never ever noticed who was serving us, always happily engrossed in our business conversations and the only explanation is that their marijuana and Vicodin addled brains, for they all look like they just rolled out of Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center, is that they could not tolerate my quiet dignified manners, expecting a black man to act inferior to their white supremacist existence. My wife, who always accompanies me to these business meetings tried her best to recall what I could have done other than showing up there with my brown face and she could think only two occasions where I was a little out of line. Once when after taking the drink orders and the waitress not showing up with it for twenty minutes, and then coming back all ready to take the food orders, I told her sarcastically to worry about my drink first before worrying about my food, and once I told one of them curtly to take the dirty plates off so we can spread our legal and financial papers and conduct our business. We often, when we need something, and the waitress is avoiding us, motion with our hand to get attention or ask another waitress to get our server to the table, and my Jewish lawyer, a genius in many ways, but somewhat socially awkward runs after the waitresses calling them Miss Miss if he wants something urgently, but none of it was ever done dismissively or with rudeness and his behavior is more endearing than discourteous. If these waitresses finds two doctors and a lawyer, all in their Sixties and older than their parents, as not worthy of serving , the problem is more likely with the waitstaff. I see similar behavior creeping up in hospitals too where yesteryear's ward orderlies, now rechristened as Mental Health Technicians so their self esteem is not hurt, do not want to take doctor's orders but sit on the computer to write brilliant notes about the patient instead of doing what the patient needs. When the discussion got a little heated for it is very insulting to be told to leave a place in that manner, the waitress who was called to explain as to what had I done wrong to her stated "Now you are showing your true color." The way she savored telling me about my color was clearly a Trumpeter's dig at a man of color. I would advice no black or brown person to go to this restaurant. For what these waitresses really resented was an Indian man, who generally are meek and subdued in their speech, spoke with them on equal footing and in normal tone of voice - still much gentler than what the average American employs - and they resented being told to do their job right by an immigrant. It is not I who is rude but the waitstaff of this restaurant...

This would have been a five star, but the shredded beef burrito was so sweet. They must marinate the shredded beef in a sugar-based sauce, and it was far too sweet for my liking. In fact, I couldn’t even eat more than four or five bites of it it just overwhelmed, and it made everything else taste sweet. I’m not sure if this was a mistake and somebody added too much sugar to the sauce, but it ruined the meal for me. I would like to try other entrées or even have this again, but don’t want to take the chance and spend the money only to find that I won’t eat it and I’ve wasted $15-

I’m so thankful I added the ranchero sauce which was absolutely delicious and wish they would marinate the beef in that. It helped cut some of that sweetness.

The refried beans were perfect and I was a little skeptical because in the pictures that People posted they just look like a glob of dry, bland looking beans- These were creamy and tasty.

The medium salsa was delicious and I like their chips because they are thin with a light bit of salt

The order process was easy, but confusing. I didn’t realize that the meal included a small chips and a small salsa and wouldn’t have paid four dollars to get that as a side- I wanted extra cheese, because who doesn’t like everything cheesy😁 I didn’t want rice, but would have gotten extra beans and there wasn’t an area to request that. You could either choose beans, rice, or beans with cheese.

Everything was package superbly. They did a very nice job putting it all together and there weren’t any errors in the order. I liked that. They packaged the Ranchero sauce on the side, versus adding it to the burrito and making everything...

This restaurant is an all time favorite of my sister-in-law and her family. They go there every time they have a birthday. I always make an effort to attend these important personal milestones because I love them so much but., after doing this for so many years I have learned my lesson........... always EAT BEFORE I GO THERE.

All of my prior experience was the food was ALWAYS COLD. The food had little flavor, if any, and sometimes tasted almost foul or sour. The service was very slow and the server seemed disconnected, as if in another world! IE; We asked for more water......waited a while, asked again.... "Oh, oops I forgot". We asked for more Chips and Salsa.....waited, asked again....."Oops, I forgot". We asked for our Spanish rice to be reheated, it was so cold.....never saw it again.

The decor is a weak representation of the Southwest/Mexico, its just plain old LAME. The restaurant its filthy. All one needs to do is just take a moment to look around to see how filthy it is. Lots of dust on the decorations, splattered sauces/food on the walls and here's the cake topper, the carpet is so filthy that only those wearing a hazmat suit of protective clothing should come in contact with it.

All n' all, this restaurant reminds me of a bowling ally that has a sombrero hanging...