Cherry's Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Polk Township

Not sure how this place stays in business. Us locals just don't have a lot of options, otherwise this place could not compete. This is our 2nd attempt, and I assure you our last. Our first experience was undercooked food, bad service, and plenty of excuses. We should have known better, but against our own judgement we decided enough time had passed from our first trip that maybe they got their act together. Unfortunately no. We can add poorly managed to the list of weaknesses this place suffers from. We made a reservation for a special family event. The day of the event, we arrive 15 minutes early as a courtesy to let staff know we are committed to the reservation. They ask us to wait 10 minutes while they set up. Of course we had no problem waiting since we were early. They escort us to the area and it is 3 small tables put together end to end with chairs all facing a wall. They tried to cram a party of 8 into a walkway. It was like sitting at a bar, but with a black wall in front of you. Naturally this is unacceptable so we asked for a different arrangement. They had a party of 15 who hadn't shown up for their reservation, and after 10 minutes of going back and forth they decide to break down the table for 15 and give the area to us. As they are doing this, the party of 15 shows up, an hour late with no communication to the restaurant, just as we are near sitting. The restaurant gives them back their table and once again we are being shuffled. They take us to the back section they consider a "banquet hall" which is a dark, airless space with 5 tables set up for a party coming in an hour. They set up 4 tables, no presentation, food crumbs littering the floor and we now have to order and eat within an hour otherwise deal with a large party coming and going who probably expected to have the space to themselves. This place is poorly managed, reservations clearly mean nothing, they are not structured for multiple groups, are subpar at planning and preparing, and have no business accomodating more than 1 large group. This is a low level diner, not a restaurant. I dont care how long they've been in business, this place survives on patrons that live within blocks of the location that don't feel like venturing further for better quality. This experience embarrassed us for suggesting this place and inconvencing those in our party to have to wait while we scrambled to salvage a family celebration. We should have known better, but we try to support our local businesses post-pandemic. This is one place if it closed tomorrow, we...

• This place is under new ownership and is now called "Cherry's Sunset Restaurant and Bar" *

SUMMARY: Pros include decent food and excellent service. Cons include some frozen food items, upcharge on items greater than the price difference, and a manager / owner that is more concerned with the bar than the restaurant.

My overall rating is lower than my individual ratings due to the inclusion frozen food items (even when the menu advertises fresh) and lack of customer service by the manager.

FULL REVIEW: I decided to come to the restaurant for dinner with two guests. The menus advertise the new owners and that all the food is fresh. I have been here before and know that the restaurant was previously focused on the bar for locals. I have always gone for full dinner service and it has been okay. This time, my experience has been different.

To start, Kaylee, the server was absolutely fantastic and attentive throughout the service. Three dinner entrees were ordered Chicken Parmesan, Meatloaf, and the Crab cakes over shrimp. The crab cakes were part of a dinner special that comes with two sides. Any of the sides priced at $3.95 were included. If any of the other sides marked at $4.50 were chosen, it was a $1.50 UPCHARGE for a 55 cents difference. While this may seem petty, we decided to pay the upcharge.

The soups and salad were exceptionally good. The entrees came out and they all tasted fresh. We tasted the pierogis and they tasted frozen. I asked Kaylee to ask the chef if they were frozen. She came back and told me they were FROZEN, but used to be made fresh until recently. I asked for the upcharge to be removed. All interactions with the manager had to be done through Kaylee as the manager refused to come to the table and talk to us. Furthermore, the dinner came with TWO sides, but the manager asked Kaylee to take the side and not provide another. Essentially, it was an entrée with one side.

With the bar being crowded, the kitchen was backed up. The manager spent all her time over at the bar area and very little time in the restaurant. Overall, I recommend that if you are looking for a local bar with some decent bar food, then Cherry's is a good spot. There are some select good dishes, but the restaurant is definitely not the focus. Also, ask ahead of time which foods are fresh and...

Yesterday I attended this breakfast spot with my family, and I’m honestly sad to say that we had to experience racism attending this popular spot. First of all, the employees were debating where to sit us (it wasn’t that much to debate about there were plenty of tables) and referred to us as numbers. The group of 5 that were white were able to sit in the front, and us the group of 7 that they referred to us had to sit all the way in the back of the establishment. They said they felt bad if they sat the group of 5 that were (white) where they placed us at because they know it wasn’t cleaned at all! The tables were dirty, you can tell that the tables and floor haven’t been cleaned in lord knows in how long. The floors were dirty and filled with old food and stains. We were sat sat way in the back of the establishment.There were plenty of seats in the front, they chose to sit us away from every one. There was also dirty used dishes where we were sitting at. It’s kind of bizzare to experience racism in 2023. You would think people would stop judging you, by the color of your skin, instead of your own individuality of a personality. Our dollar is just as good as any colored person that walks in that establishment. We wanted to support a homey, popular spot. I would never come back here, or recommend this place to any one! My whole family realized we were NOT being treated fairly. I have young brothers and sisters. I hated that they had to experience what we went through! Our service was also poor, the food took very long and the waiter acted as if we were different. It was also very cold where we were placed. This isn’t to bash the place, it’s to bring awareness. We still payed, and tipped as normal of course because we don’t judge by color. We love everybody! Do better people. We’re all just human....