Dusty's Cellar & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Meridian Charter Township

We reserved a room at Dusty's Cellar for a friend's 22nd birthday party. We've had the worst service of our lives.

Our reservation was for 6:30PM for a total of 11 people. When we went to use the restroom, we could clearly hear our server gossiping about us staying late (we did not know that they closed at 8PM. They should have given us a reservation earlier since there is no way they could have accommodated 11 people in 90 minutes. Our food was still not out by 8PM). She was also complaining about lighting the candles on top of the cake (there were seven).

She did not answer our questions or misgivings about the menu. She also did not check on us throughout the evening. Some of our orders were brought wrong. We really only saw her at the end of the night before she brought our checks. She said that there will be a $50 fee for the room, and she knows that no one has informed us about the fee until this point. If we wanted to dispute it, we would need to come back tomorrow to talk to the manager. I think it's common sense to know that you cannot charge people for something you have not informed them about. We said that it's not okay and we cannot come here tomorrow to fix their mistake. We would need to talk to someone right now.

They said that there were no higher ups/no manager. After we refused to pay the $50 fee, of course, a higher up did show. He was nice and happy to take off the fee.

In the meantime, we were not personally mean to any server. We did make it clear that our lack of knowledge about this fee was not okay. Also, there is a mandatory service fee that is 20% of each check (we guessed but once again we should have been clearly informed prior. Also, the mandatory service fee applies to the $50 fee for the room. So you pay a fee on a fee).

After we left the restaurant, the manager, Jeremy, called us. The servers had told us they don't have his phone number, but apparently, they got a hold of him somehow. Jeremy was extremely rude and argumentative. When we told him in a calm manner that he did not inform us about the fee for the room when we made the reservation, he replied: "That's your problem." We hung up the phone on him.

We spent really good money at this restaurant (a party of 11 fine dining with a mandatory service fee). And the service we got was horrid. It's just really sad that this happened on our friend's 22nd birthday. We're also all girl college students, and we believe we were taken advantage of because of it. For older people, we highly doubt that this would be the service they receive. Moreover, as college students, all of us have been and are servers. That is what made the situation so upsetting because we knew they were lying to us and treating...

Dusty's is one place in the Lansing area where you should NOT waste your money. I have lived in the area for 25 years and it used to be a solid place to eat. But over the years I have watched the restaurant go from being a place to celebrate to a very sad place. My most recent visit only confirmed what I already "felt" from earlier visits in the past few years. They fail on the big 3 of dining: Prices, Food, & Service.

Prices: With the cheapest non-appetizer/non-salad costing almost $20 and their upper range stuff over $40 / plate, Dusty's prices are very high for this part of the country. And if you read reviews elsewhere online (here and other forums), you will find that the constant refrain from the restaurant/management is that they use great ingredients (and such), thus necessitating the cost. I don't buy that. The reality is that that explanation doesn't hold water. Costs at Dusty's are comparable to multiple Michelin starred restaurants in Chicago (e.g., Boka, Blackbird, Elske, Sepia, and others, not to mention Bib-Gourmand places like The Publican, etc.), where the food is SO much better. Plus, those restaurants are paying Chicago rent. So you do the math.

Food: If the food was on a par with the restaurants I mention above, I wouldn't mind the price. But on a recent visit with friends, nearly EVERY person at a 7-person table had to send their food back. One salad had a bottle top on it. Another's steak was way underdone. Another had their stake served with meat thermometer still in it! Are you kidding me? I had the 5-cheese pasta -- figuring they couldn't ruin mac & cheese, and the quality was worse than Zingerman's' in AA. In addition, the salads were flavorless and the duck dry and bland, among other flaws :( Such a bummer. On the other hand, a couple days earlier I ate pasta from the Good Bites food truck at Bad Brewery in Mason and it was substantially better and much cheaper.

Service: If waitstaff at a restaurant directly see that the table they are serving is receiving food with caps, meat thermometers, etc. they should DO SOMETHING about it. Talk to the manager. Talk to the guests. Make it right. It is not like we received food that was too salty, etc., and never said anything about it. It was very clear! This low level of service and attention to detail is indicative of a systemic problem at the restaurant. The bright spot? The water pourer was there all night refilling water glasses. That kid...

Very mixed experiences in food for the price point.

Is Dusty's a high end dining restaurant with plenty of choices? Yes. Does it's prices reflect that? Also, yes. does the end product reflect that? Ehh....

I came here and ordered a few apps with my wife, and we ordered a few main courses. Due to an issue of my wife forgetting her ID, only I managed to try any of their alcohol selection. For what it's worth, the cocktail was great. The presentation of the food was great, we ordered the fondue though and recall it was very underwhelming. Both our dinners were rather good (Hanger Steak and Duck), and presented well. But the real issue here is price.

For the price point Dusty's is putting out, I expected to be wow'd. I expected fantastic depths of flavor, expert level crafting, and the torch the Creole gave up as our local "Fine Dining" go-to to be picked up. What I got was a place that's better than average, but charges considerably more. I can't in good conscious put out a recommendation for this place unless A.) the prices drop or (What'd I'd like to see) B.) Some truly innovative new spins on dishes and consistent excellence in not just the ingredient quality, but the final end product.

I'm willing to give them another shot, but paying $120+ for a dinner of two entrees, a cocktail and an appetizer that none of which was even worth finishing is really a hard sell. I have a hard time saying what I think they need to change, because they have what SEEMS like all the makings of a fantastic place here. Perhaps shrinking the menu to focus on core specialties would help elevate those dishes?

Worth a visit... but maybe...