Stella's Table — Restaurant in White Lake Charter Township

We ate at Stella’s Table about six months ago and the fillet I ordered was so bad my 70 lb. German Shepard Dog would not even eat it when I took it home.

Current day. We stopped in to have dinner to see if things had improved. THEY ARE 100% WORSE! We knew we were taking a chance but we figured we would give Stella’s Table another chance. Mistake.

We ordered the special which was a shrimp appetizer. You could tell the chef was great because he actually disguised the fact that this owner is using the worst quality seafood available. The shrimp were the size of Sea Monkeys (remember those?) and the biscuit in the middle was extensively lathered in sauce to mask a less than palatable appetizer.

The main course-Margarita Pizza and the special, Cedar Salmon. The Margarita Pizza was subpar at best. The salmon? It came out on a piece of cedar wood, “to emphasize the taste of the salmon” per the server. I swear, the salmon tasted like week old halibut. I order salmon to avoid the gamey taste of fish, but this salmon was so fishy I could not swallow it. My wife tried it and later regurgitated her entire meal. Again, the chef did his best to disguise the poor quality fish this owner is buying.

The servers were great and the chef was obviously talented. The owner is buying very poor quality food as the base and selling it at exorbitant prices. Seriously, save your money or go elsewhere. Bad Bennies down the street, Kickstand Brewery, CJs, etc. All have MUCH...

The Root offers a contemporary dining room and bar along with a bustling atmosphere. Service is professional and friendly, though on our last visit the server we had keep forgetting things like a soup spoon, my drink, the dessert menu which was a little irritating for a place like this. Have eaten here a several times now and the food is always good. The Amish Chicken and dumplings was probably the best I have ever had and it’s an interesting take on chicken and dumplings. Not what you would expect but much better with the ricotta gnocchi. The chicken was moist, tender and had a great taste. Would highly recommend it. We also had a serving of the Michigan Shrimp and Scallop Risotto which was tasty but nothing special. The only complaint we had this time around…about mid-dinner the fans came out blowing cold air onto us. By the time we left my digital thermometer read 68, a little chilly for diners sitting under fans blowing out cold air. Considering it was about 38 out, I’d expected a little more cozy and warm instead of what felt like air conditioning. My pet peeve here having lived in the South is that restaurants especially in the summer all think having the air cranked to a 68 degree setting is somehow comfortable for diners. It isn’t. In the South, where it’s truly hot in the summer, I was almost never cold in a restaurant. Here, I actually limit my eating out because everyone seems to think 68- or 70 is somehow...

First time visitors, very busy. Could have sworn I had a reso for 4 but when we got there, they said it was for two, but had no problem fixing it. Hosts, were on point. Now as far as the server and kitchen, ehh, The shrimp special was ok (I liked it, rest of table did not), but the entree which was chicken parmesean was sub par. Bland Chicken and had to send back because pasta was overcooked. Not a fan of the pasta sauce, it's almost like a salsa type tomato sauce, I'm curious if the tomatoes are fresh out of the can and not allowed to actually cook. Arancini, 5/10 the salsa tomato sauce doesn't work and the dry Rissoto ball itself is bland and lifeless. I will give credit to the baked cod dish. That was really good and perfectly cooked. But, the whole meal finished badly when our server offered up deserts and per our request for a drink refill, disappeared for 5 minutes at which point we noticed her consumed in her phone texting. She eventually came back with the menu but forgot the drink. I will give the place another shot, but we will see. Places here have come and gone and I pity any owner who has to deal with the work talent pool offered nowadays in the Restaurants. Thank you Covid-19 and all who embraced it along with inflation because this is an example of a potentially great restaurant having to take what they can get when it comes to workers and wholesale...