The Salty Heifer Diner — Restaurant in Manistee

If 0 or negative stars were an option that's what I'd give. Literally just left this place. First (and regrettably) and definitely last time.

Where to begin? Actually I'm going to just sum this up:

Service is non-existent. Yes, there was a sign about understaffing and that wasn't an issue with us regarding time. However when you here people who are regulars whispering "If you come here just expect no service". The same guy, an elderly gentleman, needed a knife and never received it while we were there. There were two times I asked for a refill of my drink and while it was acknowledged by the guy who was serving it never happened.

EDIT: My wife reminded me of this: There was a guy sitting behind us and hadn't received ANY service. Nothing. When the daughter asked him if he needed anything he said "Yea, a waiter". She laughed and from her response I legitimately thought they knew he each other or he was a regular. He was not apparently because about 10 minutes later he just walked out. This was also commented on, and laughed about, by the same people who are mentioned in "The Mouse" section. Unbelievable.

The mouse. I understand that things happen and that's fine. What isn't fine, as a restaurant, is to have your employee (who based on what I heard is the daughter) do nothing and laughing about it. This was compounded by the table next to us laughing and making it an obvious issue, making jokes, etc. Maybe I'm in the minority here but people, paying customers, generally don't want to hear about a mouse running around and seeing nothing done about it.

This is subjective but the entire environment/atmosphere/vibe felt awkward as hell. Hard to explain exactly but it was quiet and just uncomfortable. Based on what I saw on the other customers faces I wasn't alone in this opinion.

That's great if you want to have your kids work in your business. However there should be an expectation of maturity that comes with it. It can and does have an impact on your business and its reputation.

I could keep going or be more detailed but I've enough time and money on this place. It definitely wasn't $40-50 well spent and if you're reading this I would advise going...

Cute place. The salad wasn't a salad, lettuce and cheese mostly. 1/8th inch chop on the green pepper and onion. Cucumber was to be on it, but they were so busy and short staffed the server forgot to mention they were out of cucumber. No biggie, just not worth $10+ for a salad. My husband didn't like the opened beef sandwich, either. But wasn't going to say anything. He regretted eating that night. The manager came around to the tables to ask if we were satisfied. When I told her I didn't think the salad was worth $10 no matter how much lettuce you put on a plate. There weren't all the items listed on the menu in the salad. I pointed out the size of the chop on her peppers and onion. That you literally had to search for them. She became really offensive and said the server was supposed to tell me there were no cucumber. She then turned around and told the server to just delete the entire $43 order because she was overwhelmed. When I went to pay for my order, the server was put in a very uncomfortable position. I insisted I pay for the entire order - salad. gave her a $50 and left. As I was leaving she proceeded to let me know she is just a small restaurant and she is short staffed. I was trying to shop local while camping with 2 grands at Orchard Beach and was a little disappointed. I will be hesitant about stopping at mom & pop establishments in the future...

I was excited to try this newer diner which was close to our hotel. However, when my husband and I walked in on a Monday morning, we were not greeted by anyone and the entire time we were there, the waitress, who eventually appeared, never once smiled. I ordered very specifically FLUFFY scrambled eggs, WELL DONE hash browns, sausage links and an English muffin. It didn't take too long for the food to come out and to be served by the still-unsmiling waitress; however, I was VERY disappointed at the well done scrambled eggs which weren't even warm (!), the hash browns that were NOT well done, and the English muffin was barely toasted. The only good things worthy of praise were the sausage links that I feel are the best tasting ones I have ever had, and the super fresh strawberry jam. At least they did some things right! I will probably go back but avoid scrambled eggs and hash browns and when I do, I certainly hope that the waitress will have learned to use up a few facial muscles...