Oaks Eatery — Restaurant in Three Oaks Township

TL;DR: Food was ok, we found a nail in a dish, owner/manager was an unprofessional jerk about. Wouldn't recommend.

This was among the worst dining experiences I've had in a long time. It became evident by the end why, but if we hadn't been there with kids who needed to eat, we would have left without eating.

To start, we had a big-ish party: 4 adults, 4 kids under 9, and we're in town for a short fall vacation. When we sat down, the table wasn't set, no biggie, but we didn't receive silverware until after our food was delivered. We also didn't receive napkins until then, and when we did, they weren't folded, just grabbed from the box and piled on our table .

The service was slow, and our server seemed very disinterested in our table. In her defense, she was clearly overwhelmed as she looked to be the only server handling at least 5 tables if not the whole dining room.

We placed our order, which included an order of biscuits and gravy. I think the make this dish to order because it took a while, but when it came out most of the food was good. However, the biscuits and gravy had a NAIL in it - I've worked in restaurants before, I understand how these things happen, but we only found it because the 5 year old who ordered it didn't want the green onion garnish.

We asked for a new order of B&G which took 30 minutes. The whole table had finished our food before the new B&G came out. And when the server brought the check teir was a perfunctory apology and a 50% comp on JUST the B&G.

We asked if that was right, not even comping the full order, and then realized that the server had used an employee food discount to discount the order. We asked to speak to a manager (note we had to ask for this, the only person we had interacted with to this point despite finding a nail in our food was our server), and a guy who I had initially presumed was a maintenance person based on how he was dressed and presented himself came over and argued with us, saying about the food, "Well she's eating the new order. And there's nothing in the kitchen that would have fallen into the food. What do you think we should do?" I said, as a person who's worked in food service for several years and run restaurants, I would have at least comped the full ticket if not the full table. So after arguing with us, somehow insinuating it was our fault the nail fell in a five-year-olds food, then playing dumb like he didn't know how to handle a situation like this like a normal food service manager, he reluctantly agreed to comp the dish.

It was clear that the manager is an awful person to work with and the servers seem very unhappy, as the server was trying to help by using her own discount instead of asking the manager to do what he was supposed to do. The whole thing was absurd. The food was good, but I would never recommend this...

TLDR: Think twice before you drive here, because they might decide to close even if you confirm by phone that they will be open. I have been many times before, but I recently called before I headed to the restaurant to make sure they would be open until 3pm since it was July 4th. They confirmed, but once I got ready and drove ~30 mins to get there, they said they were closing early for the holiday... and then mentioned they were running out of food. It wasn't clear which was the right reason. I did express my frustration for the inconvenience, and the staff member got pretty 'huffy." It was definitely not the attitude/posture I was expecting from someone after causing the inconvenience for a customer. In expressing how this was frustrating, she said "it is on you if you write a bad review." !!! There were many chances for her to resolve or at least smooth it over, but she pursued none of them. I'm not upset that they closed early for the holiday - I am only upset that I called to make sure, only to be denied seating in the restaurant with...

Food: 4/5 (I want to give 4.5. Food is delighful!) Service: 5/5 (Awesome!) Atmosphere: 5/5 (Lovely environment!)

Oaks Eatery was an amazing place to eat. Located in Three Oaks, Michigan, this restaurant was lovely to experience. The quality, the love, and the atmosphere were my favorite. Incredible restaurant!

The food was amazing! The grit cake dish was my favorite! I appreciate the quality of the food and thankful for the experience of Duck Bacon! I was inbetween 4 and 5 on the food, as I wasn't a huge fan of the steak breakfast dish (it was great, just dry), but the quality of all the meals was incredible!

The service was amazing! I love staff who talk and have a good time with the people they serve. They sent over the menu with us, our water cups stayed full, and the waitress made sure we were okay. Great service!

The atmosphere had a cute and intimate vibe. I love the pictures and setup. Again, the staff treated everyone so well, creating a culture of love.

Lovely experience at...