Village Cafe and Pub — Restaurant in Pentwater Township

Having been a summer visitor to Pentwater for well over two decades, I have eaten at the Village Cafe and Pub literally dozens of times. Even last year, during COVID difficulties, eating at this restaurant was the pleasant experience it's always been. Not this time. They have started a system where you seat yourself, get your own beverage (even if it's just a glass of water), get your own menus (menu selections have been reduced by at least 70% - they cut their old menu covers in half and there's only a menu on one side of that), and place your order on a sheet of paper that you take to the cashier once you've filled it out. Instead of the traditional pay at the end of your meal, you now have to PAY BEFORE YOU GET YOUR MEAL...like a fast food restaurant? You are asked to add a tip to the bill before you even get your food!!! The food arrived quickly but it became immediately clear that the quality of the food has declined significantly. My Angus burger was "okay" (what can you do to that?) but I'd asked for a plain burger with Swiss cheese, no other toppings and mayo on the side. I received an Angus burger with cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce and onion. I'd ordered their onion rings which were pretty good but a bit overcooked. My dining companion however, got weird colored chicken inside of overcooked double batter chicken tenders. They were totally gross and he doesn't like to make a fuss so he picked off the coating and ate what he could of the chicken. I was super embarassed as I'd sung the praises of the food at this restaurant ahead of time too. This occurred on the first day of Pentwater's annual homecoming festival too, the single biggest boost to this village's income for the entire year. The first person we spoke to at the restaurant, a high school age gal, told me that this new ordering system was because they could not find people to hire. However, when I went back to drop off our order, there was an older woman I spoke with, likely the owner, who was completely rude and tried to tell me that "no, this is a wonderful new system, they love it, and they are never going back to the old system." Can't be that great - even though we stopped there in the middle of the afternoon for a late lunch there were only two other tables occupied...usually during the Pentwater Homecoming festival, the Village Cafe is packed full, from open to close, every day. Even last year it was substantially busier even with the COVID restrictions. Bad food, bad service, way overpriced, and a bad attitude means we will...

Stopped in for a quick bite and a drink, ended up getting the worst waitress there along with mediocre food.

1/10 service 4/10 food 10/10 decor/atmosphere

Summed up - Ended up waiting for probably 20 minutes total for water (two songs on the radio the first time, 5 songs the next), and a long wait time for our bill, only to be greeted with rudeness and arrogance when our waitress was there. When she refilled our water I said, "Thank you". She says, "yeah." while walking away. Almost had to go find her to get our bill. We saw her maybe 4 times total throughout the whole experience. The ONE time she checked on us, I said we were fine because we assumed we didn't read the description of the wrap we ordered (Fiesta Chicken Wrap), but after reading it on their website...it was very disappointing. Tasted like canned chicken warmed up with cheese, lettuce, and crackers. Not what you'd expect from a $10.49 wrap...at all. The waffle fries were good.

Heres the kicker....I wasn't going to leave a negative review, but as we're walking out we see our waitress eating in the entryway where the bar is...so this is why I sat there twice with no water...this is why we sat waiting for the bill for such a long time? My wife has worked for over 10 years as a waitress and I had to do everything I could to get her out of there and not cause a scene.

During one of the wait times, I listened to a few of the other waitresses interact with their tables and it was CLEAR that we got the rotten apple. They all seemed polite and engaging. Example: I tried to order a beer when we first sat down, "We can't do that before noon...its Michigan." (I live in Michigan I know I've gotten served before noon: back in 2010 Granholm made an amendment to that law) I dismiss it as a city ordinance. I then overhear the other waitress taking an order for her table for a beer when the clock strikes noon.

Honestly if it hadn't been for the waitress I would've chalked the food up as a fluke and stopped in the next time we were up there: the outside atmosphere was awesome, but...no. Just no. We'll go...

I have been to this restaurant many times. I enjoy the vibe of the Backyard Bar where they do live music. After my experience with the bartender last night though, it may be my last time. It wasn’t overly busy being Homecoming weekend and there being a concert on the Village Green. I had already ordered a drink, and was back for my second. There was a group of maybe 6 young men ordering so I stood behind to wait my turn. I know from going previously that the line typically goes to the left of the bar. But it is not noted anywhere that this is where they want you to form the line. Since the group of young men were standing all together in a circle group at the bar, I just stood behind them since no one else was in line and my seat was to the right. As the left one man kindly ushered me toward the register. I stood there a moment and a man came up from the left (remember there wasn't a line but his table was to the left). She ignored me and took his order. I stood there in disbelief as it was SO rude! The guy ordering picked up on my annoyance (even though I was silent) and asked if he did that wrong (by coming from the left). And in a horribly snotty tone she gestured to me and said ”No she did.” I stood there incredulous that this young girl spoke to a customer like that. He left and she asked for my order, which I gave her. She shoved the card reader at me and after paying she slammed her register drawer and stared at me angrily (likely because she saw I didn‘t tip her after her behavior). Again, I know that usually the line forms to the left but it seemed silly to stand there when the group moved all together and I was coming from the right…and NO ONE else was there. To treat me so rudely was unacceptable behavior from an employee. Today her photo is on the business Facebook page and I think everyone needs to know how the bartender treats paying customers. I will definitely hesitate to go back even though I previously frequented...