Wooden Spoon — Restaurant in Spring Arbor Township

The Wooden Spoon is a family restaurant and community hub just a hop, skip, and a jump off M-60, the main drag through Spring Arbor. Owners Steve and Theresa Tolles have operated this beloved breakfast and lunch spot since the early 1980's, serving delicious and delightful food from scratch, always with a side of neighborly welcome, connection, and goodwill. The food is uncomplicated, wholesome, consistently good, and breezily prepared. The cinnamon rolls and muffins are heavenly and a must-have. The decor is classic road trip Americana. A slightly-kitschy collage of vintage license plates, road signs, and enameled tin gas station and soft drink signs adorn the walls. Mid-20th century stained glass chandeliers Steve's dad put together from kits adorn the ceilings of the restaurant. The warm and soothing tones of wood paneled walls round out the mellow, natural vibe. The service is always friendly and welcoming, both to regulars and newbies. When you're here, you're a "Spooner," and that's all that matters. If you're a regular, you will most certainly be greeted by name and can bring your own coffee mug from home and keep it on the shelf for whenever you visit. Last but not least, no review can give the Spoon its proper due without mentioning its role in the community. Long since our culture has migrated to their phones and devices to find digital, but false connection, the Wooden Spoon stands as a defiant bulwark for in-person, human connection, as a gathering place for friends and neighbors, and a de-facto town hall for the Spring Arbor area. This is a place for catching up, sharing stories, and making joint plans. Of particular note is the long-running community table situated just next to the exit of the kitchen, which has a mostly flannel-shirt wearing rotating cast who come and go as they please, some staying just so long as to have a cup of coffee and catch up on the latest scuttlebutt, others staying much longer to entertain and kibbutz with the regulars about society and politics. If you are a politician running for office in this area, you will certainly hold coffee hour at "the table" to get to know your constituents and have some straight talk. This table is a place that traces its lineage back to the frontier wilderness origins of Jackson County, with the most common conversational themes being those of taming the physical world, farming, machinery, bewilderment over the ever-shifting and illusory nature of current politics and fads, and ultimately the eternal and redeeming virtues of common sense. The table has a story as long and true as time itself. So to wrap up, we are lucky to still be able to enjoy this place of food and love that is the Wooden Spoon. In a world that moves too fast and becomes unrecognizable before we can even catch up to it, the Wooden Spoon stays true to itself. It is a place of sustenance, not only for the body but also for the mind and soul. It is a warm and cozy place to gather with friends and enjoy the good and familiar, and share observations about an outside world which has moved too fast and now little resembles the places we all came from. Like life itself, its time in this world will be too short. So enjoy it while you can, and make friends and memories there. You'll be glad you did, and you'll have something - to know what it is to have been "Spooned" - that you can keep and...

Cozy neighborhood restaurant, where either everybody knows you - or no one does. And if you are part if the latter, don't expect much from most the staff other than to be ignored. Though after 10 minutes of being walked around and past by others, the waitress who did take care of us was friendly and attentive-seemed obvious she too was not part of the in-crowd. The food we had for breakfast was fine but was smooshed onto a smaller dinner or oversized lunch plate, which hid the sausage patties completely and left no room for anything else causing the toast to be the top layer on our plate. Had to move our toast to table-dispenser napkins to access the food beneath. And speaking of napkins...We don't mind the dispenser napkins, really, but prefer a real napkin with our silverware and to use the others to augment the real one if/as needed. Caused a waste of many small napkins where one + one or two would have been enough. Going back to those neighborhood folks...they have their own beverage mugs different from us strays...that apparently also helps identify the really inportant people ...the ones who are allowed to sit long, long after their meal is complete even though a line has formed into the parking lot. Oh wait, that extra 45 minutes of hogging a table that could have flipped again at least 1x was being saved for more friends and alleged vip family!? Really? Are you seriously that important? Come to think of it you must be for this place to get 5 stars. Not. Decent food. Hubby's was greasy; my small veggie omelet was good. Toast seemed stale but eatable. Did enjoy the old diner feature of a thermal pot of coffee left on your tableside. Would we return? Maybe if we happened to be in that area and we were not quite hungry, thus able to wait to be acknowledged. Not rushing back. Can go places that are not 20 minutes from home, out of the way to get there, for much better experiences. Hmmm, maybe this is what they want...just local-locals. SORRY. Really wanted to enjoy Wooden Spoon after reading its reviews, but just ended up sad and...

I haven't been able to be here for five years now, but it was always the best omelettes I have ever had. I have had a lot of them from many places, but these were the absolute best I ever had. The food tasted amazing and the quality was high. Some of the most amazing service you will ever receive at any establishment. I would sometimes go once or twice a month when I was in college there and they remembered what I liked ordering. It was a gem many people didn't even know about. I would give this review way more stars if I could. If you ever get the chance, go here, you will love this place. When I used to go here, it was a cash only place so do keep that in mind. Also, they close early afternoon. But I would be shocked if the place is any different and would be shocked if you did not have a good experience. Give my highest...