The Early Owl — Restaurant in Muskegon

I have gotten food from Early Owl (dine in and take out) maybe 15-20 times since they opened. I've always found the food very good, the value great, and have considered it a stand out among downtown's restaurants. It's usually the first place I bring someone when they come to town to visit. So, it was the first place I thought to bring my bachelorette party for brunch this weekend. I called to make a reservation on Friday, and we set a reservation for 11 people for 11am on Sunday (today). I received the confirmation text (pictured) after the call, and didn't notice at first that the text says both "eleven am" and also "10 am". When the second confirmation text came yesterday I noticed the error, and asked my friend to call the restaurant to confirm that we did have the reservation for the correct time. She called and we were told that the situation was corrected. This morning when we arrived at 11a, we were told that we had missed the reservation at 10a, and that if we wanted to eat there we would have to wait likely an hour. I showed her the text I had received and explained that we had called the day before and confirmed our reservation was for 11a. Because of other obligations we had to be ready to leave the restaurant at 12:45p, and would not be able to wait that long. There was also no way to get a reservation elsewhere for 11 people for such a short time. She went to confer with the floor manager and said they could get us seated in 15-20 minutes. There were several empty tables, and when we inquired about them the hostess said they were being held for a 12 person reservation at noon. Although it was only 11:15, they wouldn't seat us in the open tables. We waited 30 minutes and asked to speak with a supervisor, and the hostess was reluctant to let us speak with the floor manager. Again, despite the reservation error on the restaurant's behalf, we were told that we couldn't be given the open tables held for the later reservation. Shortly afterwards we were seated when other tables became available.

The service from our waitress was great. After we asked she agreed to take our orders while we were waiting so we could save time. I heard rave reviews on the food from all my guests (and my food was also great, as expected). My frustration with this experience was with how we were treated when we tried to explain their error with the reservation. Rather than try to fix the problem (which was their fault) by seating our party in the section that wouldn't be used for close to an hour, which would give time for other tables for the next reservation to open, we were made to wait and treated like an inconvenience rather than as guests. I've been a consistent patron since they opened, and I was really looking forward to brunch at Early Owl with my friends and family during this special weekend. What happened today left a bitter taste, and I won't be planning to return...

Had an opportunity to go to the soft opening for The Early Owl yesterday afternoon with my coworkers. The restaurant is planning on opening later this week.

For those of you that love Dr. Rolf's BBQ in Grand Haven and Muskegon - This is the same family, the Hissom's!

They had a limited dinner menu but it WAS AMAZING!

They were still making updates to the menu so I can't share that just yet, but I am SOOOOOO excited to see what makes the cut and to go there for Brunch.

We got a chance to meet the GM, Geoffrey. He also is responsible for most of the artwork in the place. Super talented guy.

Carter, our server, did an AMAZING job! He was patient with a large group of us (9 in total). He told us it is his first serving job and you never would have known. Such a nice guy!

I am so looking forward to coming back and am so thankful for the invite to the soft opening.

07/15/2023 I had such a good time and enjoyed such great food during the soft opening that I had to come back to The Early Owl…And bring my fiance (a former chef)!

Let’s start with what’s not pictured: Blake’s Hard Cider (on tap!) and a Moscow Mule. The Mule was amazing! I can be picky about them because I don’t really like ginger, but this was mild, while still having great flavor. Would happily come here just for a drink and dessert and can’t wait to try brunch with a Bloody Mary!

On to food!

We started with the Chorizo Con Queso as an appetizer. This seriously could just be sold as Chorizo Queso Soup…And I would get it every time! It was amazing, and those chips are soooooooooo good.

For my entree, I went with the Schwarma Plate again. I was thinking of the Gyro Smash Burger Taco, but they had just run out of the beef/lamb mix for it. I don’t get mine with the jalapeno or pickled onion, but I think it’s going to be hard to get me to try something different because this is SO good.

For my fiance’s entree, he had the Bacon Cheeseburger Smash Burger Tacos with Truffle Fries. The tacos were so good - They were well seasoned, the fried tortillas added some nice crunch. The fries were seasoned well and the lemon pepper aioli was on point!

Desserts: So for me, I had to stick with the Key Lime Pie. It was too good the first time to pass up. The fiance had their chocolate pie. I didn’t think I would like it because there were nuts on it, but no, not nuts. Bits of TOFFEE! The fiance was joking around and said, “This is one of the best Chocolate Pies I have ever had and I may cry”.

This time, Gwen was our server, and also did an AMAZING job!!

TLDR: Awesome service, great drinks, yummy apps, amazing entrees, and THE BEST desserts. ...

DO NOT GO HERE!! Horrible service and rude staff. If I could give 0 stars I would. Went here with 4 people for reference. This place was absolutely horrible. No hostess up front, so we waited 10 minutes to be seated. Then after being seated we were greeted by our waitress who seemed to be on another planet. Not attentive to us at all. She took our drink order (4 waters with lemon in 3). She comes back 7 minutes later with 4 waters, but no lemon or straws. We had to ask after she walked away and did not come for 15 minutes, which then she took our food order. We waited for 45 minutes and when she comes back the order was totally messed up. She forgot our friend’s blueberry pancakes and went to order them. The rest of us ate our food after she spent 10 minutes trying to figure out who ordered what. We didn’t get the pancakes for another 20 minutes. We asked for the checks. We only need 3. She comes back with 2 checks with the food orders all wrong and trying to charge us for stuff we didn’t order. After she discovered she was not getting any sort of a tip from all 4 people invovled due to the horrendous service we received, she threw my boyfriend’s card on the table and comes back with receipts and tells us that “it’s good customer service when you go out to eat to tip.” I got up and spoke to the manager who was on the floor and told her of the horrible service and this waitress stood behind her laughing and smiling like what she had just done was funny when it was disgusting and rude. All the manager had to say was “Oh, I’m so sorry.” No offer to give us our money back or anything. We will never go to this restaurant again. And just to put it out there, customers are not required to give a tip just because you order. Customers tip due to good service, which we did not receive from the moment we walked in. The place was totally unorganized due to an obvious lack in staff. Which I do not mark them down for, but I do not appreciate being treated like dirt by the very little staff they do have. I have been all over the US and have never been treated like this anywhere.

The food however was good, could be better, but I do believe they...