Oakwood Proper Burgers — Restaurant in Traverse City

First off, this place is like stepping back in time to the 70's, wood panel walls, formica tabletops, old beer signs and other cool details, a lot of thought went into it, just a really cool vibe and staff was friendly and helpful. The new dining area on the other side of the patio has an old tube tv with vhs tapes you can play, the other tv was playing episodes of my favorite show Twin Peaks and they had cool merch, a shirt that looked like the Black Flag logo and one with Henry from Eraserhead on it (they must be huge Lynch fans like myself). The french fries were delicious and they give you an enormous amount of them, enough for like 3 people, I really do wish they had a smaller size, if it's just you you'll either walk out with a ton of them, I'll put mine in the air fryer or you'll just toss them and I don't like wasting food. Mine I got with the vinegar salt, to me they just tasted like normal salted fries. I got the basic Proper burger, shredded lettuce, pickles, american cheese, and a variation of the classic burger sauce, they call it a smashburger but it's not a smashburger, it's much bigger, doesn't have that super thin patty with the lacy edges and a hard sear, also it wasn't really seasoned all that well if at all, the bun was fancier than it needed to be for something like this and the burger sauce wasn't particularly flavorful, didn't stand out at all, I found myself dipping it in ketchup which I don't ever put on my burgers but it needed something extra. The burger itself was also kinda dry. You want to go out and get a better thing than you could make at home and I just make a better smashburger than this. I would definitely go back though, they had a ton of interesting sounding specialty burgers on a menu that seemed very well curated and maybe one of those would hit the spot more...

In summary: One of the best resturants in traverse city I am ammending my previous review of this resturant. While I still feel the prices are in my opinion a bit high for burgers I think lots of places in traverse are expensive for what you get. What I can and will say about Oakwwod is this: Oakwood proper burgers has gone to great lengths to show their pride for their passion. They stayed small and have expanded and truly created a "community space" within a neighborhood of homes and businesses. They truly give of themselves thru their passion for their craft. Over the years they have perfected what they do and the system works. This is a place that I can almost guarantee will become a regular stop on your trips to TC. As a local I also want to point out that they are 100% here for their customers year round this is not a seasonal operation. The proprietors of this restaurant, take great pride in fixing any mistakes or negatives that you may think you have about the food or the service they don't want to leave you desiring more or better.

Every time I come here there's something wrong with my order. The burgers are good but would be better if made right the first time. No lid for the cups, no menus you have to go online. Limited seating but worst of all they close at 7pm. So no chance you can go for an evening outdoor meal once the sun is setting and it's coling off. Good food but you've got some work to do in getting to be one of my go to places. $70 for 3 burgers 2 fries and some drinks and I can't even sit inside or order from a menu and I have to get up to pick my food up from a window..... Listen to your customers they will be loyal in...

Response: thank you for taking the time to respond. Six burgers: three on Thursday and three tonight. I will send you my Amex receipt, I promise I am not making this up. And as to us noticing a decline in the food experience, I don’t know what to add: four different palates - over the course of several years, I don’t think it’s all “in our heads”. Thank you for offering a refund but it is not what we are after, we just miss greatly the Oakwood quality we used to know and we hope to taste it again some day!

We have visited Oakwood with excitement every summer, when traveling from the east coast. Alas my family went - without me - two days ago and reported that the food was not what it used to be. We decided to go again tonight, as I was disconcerted by their feedback and thought that it could be an isolated event. Indeed the food took a nosedive. The fries were not good, a bit too done and overly salted. The shakes (chocolate) were bland. But the biggest disappointment was the burgers; the patties were too seasoned/very salty and charred. The cheese had no taste or maybe there was too little, I don’t know. The bread was meh and too toasted so combined with the charred patty and the salt overload it tasted all wrong and we just did not finish our meals. Even the ketchup was all salt and no flavor. Most of the meal went to the waste bin. Something has changed in their kitchen in the last 1.5 years or so and we won’t be going back this summer. Perhaps we will give it another try next summer but just with one burger as a test,...