Cloverleaf Restaurant

One of favorite little hole in the wall diners. Good food, good service, good location.

I love the Cloverleaf restaurant. It’s not fancy, but it’s casual and friendly. It has a wonderful, comfortable, unpretentious atmosphere that is too rare in Ann Arbor. The omelettes are terrific, as are the pancakes, and they make a great Ruben. It’s a great place to have a reasonably priced breakfast or lunch in a laid-​back atmosphere.

I would definitely agree with previous reviews: this place is nothing fancy so don’t expect fanciness! It’s a tiny diner on a nice corner of Ann Arbor.
We went here for lunch for the first time and it was alright. We ordered a cheeseburger, mozzarella sticks, a blueberry shake, and a strawberry shake. The best parts were the burger and the mozzarella sticks. The mozzarella sticks were super crunchy and huge! There was no marinara but the ranch was a decent substitute. The blueberry shake didn’t really have many blueberries and the strawberry shake was decent.
I think I’ll try breakfast here just to get an even review.

I didn’t think that brunch could get so bad. We came to Cloverleaf on a Sunday around 11:30 AM because all of Ann Arbor’s usual brunch spots were packed. We got menus after 10 minutes, and our food took over 40 minutes to get to the table. The waitress explained it was because it was a busy weekend, but the restaurant only holds about 20 small tables. The breakfast food was BAD. My omelette had hash browns cooked in, but the hash browns were still cold. The ham tasted freezer-​burned and there were only a tiny amount of veggies. My partner got hash browns & veggies; his broccoli was ONLY stems and there were some mysterious burned bits scrambled in. Our bill came to over $ 20 for two small dishes and one cup of coffee that all together shouldn’t have been more than $ 15 based on quality and awful service. This places needs a deep clean, new wait staff, and a serious upgrade on food quality. I won’t be back.
As I left I heard the waitress say to the cook as he headed toward the bathroom, «Hey, remember to take your apron off this time.» Yuck.

I love places like this, old style diners, privately owned.
We had the lumberjack, the breakfast burrito and and omelette.
Food Quality
Omelette: 2 out of 10 barely edible. Seriously, needs improvement!
Breakfast Burrito: 5
Lumberjack: 5
Price does not match food quality.
Coffee was fine and plentiful!
The service was great. She really took good care of us. Very friendly, checked in us just enough and coffee was never empty. Excellent.
When paying the bill was $ 29.10. I gave $ 30 and received a dollar back… any chain and you get 90 cents and have change in your pocket. Love local places for these little perks.
Review based on 1 visit. Unfortunately the food quality will not bring is back which is a shame its such a neat little place and have breakfast available all day as well as lunch menu. Ann Arbor is competitive for food and there are just too many choices to risk a second bad meal.

According to the menu the place has been around more than 45 years. It’s an old fashioned diner — nothing more, nothing less. There is absolutely nothing fancy about this place — linoleum floors, open grill, itty bitty restroom.
Stopped in for a quick lunch and had a gyro which was quite good and reasonably priced for what I got. Nothing fancy for us — two sandwiches, fries and sodas for under $ 20.
If you’re just looking for food and not for dining, this is a good place to go.

Cloverleaf is what it is — they will treat you like you are their own kid at the restaurant.
I wanted a gooey cripsy not that greesey but classic grilled cheese and it hit the spot. White Bread & Kraft Singles (im guessing)
The fries were also perfection — see photo — not greesey at all
Egg Whites perfect
Side of Coney Chili — pretty good — could have abeen a bit hotter but its okay i ate it all up !
I’d like to do a price comparison to another diner — i paid about $ 12.50 … seems a bit high for the basic ordering i did —
Totally would go back if i was in the mood for any of the above !

Cloverleaf is my favorite breakfast place in all of Ann Arbor. As was said in prior reviews, it is entirely unpretentious, and very un-​Ann Arbor. These folks are not wasting any time trying to impress you. They fill your tummy with food that was cooked with love, then they call it a day.
My breakfast favorite is the farmer’s omelet. For lunch I like the chicken sandwich (they do something magical to the chicken) and a chocolate milkshake. If you need something to stick to your ribs, order the Italian pancakes. It’s a stack of pancakes with peanut butter slathered in between each layer. Perfect for Michigan winter mornings.
The best part, by far, is the old lady who runs the place. She is a serious coffee-​pusher, and if you order pancakes with no sides, she just looks at you and says, «no meat?»

had Lunch there today, a club sandwich good sandwich, nice people working there give this place a try, you’ll save alot more then going to the bistros on main st

My boyfriend and I ate at cloverleaf a few weeks ago. We came for lunch and Everything tasted ok as far as I can remember. Not amazing, not bad at all. I was surprised to find that they don’t serve cheese fries. Not a huge deal but with them being a diner I guess I kind of assumed they’d have them. The thing i noticed most was that the atmosphere was kind of weird. I realize its not a five star restaurant but the man who waited on us didn’t really know the menu too well, random people would come in and walk behind the counter… it was just weird. Everyone was very friendly though so maybe it was just an off day? I’d eat there again but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to do so.

A-​OK restaurant that closes at 5pm. Cheap but tasty breakfast, and you can duck in for a hot chocolate for under $ 2
I hear the pancakes are choice. I will have to try them soon.

The Cloverleaf is sort of unique amongst eateries downtown, in that it is about as unpreintentious as it gets and is dirt cheap. I stopped in for lunch today because my office is about a block away and I walk by it all the time.
There’s nothing standout about this place from the inside or out. It’s small inside, but their dining room in the back makes it not too bad.
I ordered the cheeseburger special for $ 5.99. It wasn’t the best cheeseburger I’ve ever had, but it was really good. I’ve paid more for much worse. Fries were delish — you get your choice of steak fries or skinny fries, I opted for the steak fries. Food was hot, very fresh, and out to my table very quickly. Waiter was very friendly, and I left satisfied for about what I’d pay at McDonalds for lesser quality.
All in all, don’t let the simplicity fool you — it’s worth a try. I know I’ll be back.

The bf and I went here on a whim today, and I’m surprised by all of the negative reviews this place got! The service was very friendly, and even though it was cold out (45 F), the waitress let us stupidly sit outside because we insisted on being outdoors. Even though there were plenty of seats inside. I felt bad for making her have to go out there to check on us. But I digress.
I ordered the country skillet – ham, sausage, bacon, green peppers, onions, cheddar cheese, and country gravy served over a bed of hashbrowns (well, hashbrown-​like potatoes)… topped with two eggs and toast on the side. The portions were huge for $ 7 (before tax+tip), and I ended up taking half of it home in a box.
The bf got the greek skillet, and I snuck a taste while he daydreaming – also pretty good, but it was cold out, and I preferred the delicious fatty pile on my own plate.
So two (large portioned) skillets + two coffees (at $ 1.60 per person) + tax + 20% tip came out to about $ 21 or $ 22.
All in all, a positive experience. I would go again.

Oh Cloverleaf. I wanted to like this place when I walked in. It was a warm reprieve from the January freeze and the service was very friendly.
But the food was bad. I ordered the eggs benedict – which is nonexistent or mutatedly unrecognizable in Ann Arbor, by the way – and it was gross. I don’t even like the word «gross,» sounds so stuck up, but this was pretty nasty. The hollandaise sauce looked like curdled neon yellow cheez whiz and tasted like sour, clumpy gravy. I don’t know what was sadder, the insignia on the menu saying that this was a cloverleaf favorite/​signature dish or that I was a trooper and ate almost half of my food. :-(
My partner also ordered the chicken wings, which looked nothing like the picture on the menu. Curly fries came with some mysterious burnt bottom-​of-​the-​fryer-​bits. These were edible, although fried food usually is.

I’m a little bit creeped out by Cloverleaf, honestly.
The food wasn’t bad at all, but I was extremely underwhelmed by a few things: the service was slow and kinda shoddy, and it was pretty clear that we often got purposely overlooked a few times.
The place is also pretty filthy, and I’m surprised it’s lasted this long in downtown Ann Arbor, when it’s literally just a few doors down from places like Pacific Rim & West End Grill.

I don’t think this place is awful, but I don’t know if I can say I enjoy going here. First of all: it is absolutely filthy. Don’t let your eyes stray too much or you will seriously lose your appetite. Those ceiling fans in the back? Yikes. This machine covered in grime and dirt and dust is spinning away directly over me and my food. And circulating air that I’m breathing. No thanks. I mean, The Fleetwood isn’t exactly the cleanest place ever, either, but for some reason it’s not as disturbing as it is at Cloverleaf.
The food is fine – it’s greasy spoon diner food. I order The Standard every time I go and it is the perfect quintessential breakfast plate. I actually enjoy the hashbrowns, even if they are more like fried mashed potatoes and less like the traditional shredded variety. Also, every time I’ve been the service has been nice, although it took probably 15 – 20 minutes to get my food last time which is way too long for a small diner.
Something that’s grating on me, though, is how many reviewers keep saying this place is cheap. It isn’t cheap. I got The Standard and a soda and my bill was $ 8 and some change after tax. So with tip you’re looking at $ 10 for breakfast which isn’t expensive, but it isn’t «cheap» either. If I’m downtown and I want a diner breakfast this is usually my first thought, but I think that’s just because I don’t know any better. If I’m not downtown, Bells Diner on Stadium wins this battle hands down.

What a great little place. With great big food-​Chicago sized helpings!
I’m not kidding. Order a greek salad with Gyro meat and your taking it home. Their chili is delish also.
They serve breakfast all day. Try the omelettes. Their burgers will leave you feeling stuffed.

Looking for something that accomodated both a healthy eater and a greasy spoon lover, we took a gamble here.
Luckily for late risers, this place offers breakfast all day, along with all other items at any time of the day. The «standard» breakfast as well as all veggie with feta hash were pretty great. Only complaint was there were simply too many potatoes in one sitting and we felt like we needed to be rolled home.
The wait staff and owners were incredibly friendly and attentive. For under $ 20 you can easily get two bevs and two meals. Definitely not the healthiest, but still great.

I love my greasy spoons (Blimpy and Fleetwood are Nectar of the Gods). I had never gone to Cloverleaf because I always lived closer to other joints that I love. However, I now live a hot second away, so I’ve found myself coming in and trying things out.
It’s not that Cloverleaf is bad (for a greasy spoon — keep it in context people) it’s just that there are far better just short distances away (see Nectar of the Gods above). I do like the Cloverleaf burger — quite delicious. But, there is little on the menu and nothing outstanding. They only stay open until 7pm and my body doesn’t yearn for its dose of arteries thickened until well after 10pm.
Good place for a morning cup of joe or a decent, fast burger — I can be in and out almost as fast as I can sit down at other places. Besides that, I make the grueling four block trek to satisfy my impending coronary in the making to my favorite digs.

My Uncle Quentin swears the fish and chips we had here were ten times as good as the broiled fish over at The Real Seafood Company.
Cloverleaf is an unpretentious greasy-​spoon diner. It looks really small in the front, but there’s another room in the back with plenty of space and large booths. It’s usually easy to get a seat, except if you go for breakfast or lunch on Sunday, and then it might be a bit overcrowded. There are also a couple of tables out on the sidewalk.
Breakfast is good and inexpensive. They serve it any time of the day.
The bean soup is awesome, and if they have it when you’re there, you should try it. All the other soups are adequate, but they come out of a can, so if they don’t have bean soup, I usually get chili.
If you’re a meat-​eater, try the half-​pound bacon cheeseburger.