Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen

My wife will tell you that I am a food snob. I disagree. I just want good food served promptly by a pleasant person. This is why I generally despise chain restaurants. You normally get premade food served by someone working a part time gig who couldn’t care less about your dining experience.
Cheddars was not like this.
Firstly, all the food was fresh, made from scratch, and tasty. Not haute cuisine by any means, but they don’t pretend that it is.
Secondly, our server, Kaitlin was absolutely stellar! Friendly, courteous, and upbeat even though it was Father’s Day and she was slammed! Our apps came out quickly, followed by perfectly timed entrees, our glasses were never empty, and she was kind enough not to interrupt our daddy daughter time unnecessarily. What a pro! Thanks Kaitlin. If you ever move to Oakland county, look me up at the Union Woodshop, I will see that you are hired on the spot!
Chicken fried steak was crispy and delicious, spinach dip was creamy, hot and tasty and my daughter loved the philly steak sandwich. Corn and mashed potato sides were also tasty, not just plate fillers.
Thanks cheddars, thanks Kaitlin for a very satisfying Father’s Day dinner!

Great food everytime. Long long wait everytime bordering on ridiculous. I love that it’s a scratch kitchen but 45 minute is nuts everytime you go is nuts.

We don’t have a Cheddars in our area so this is the closest one for us. We have eaten here only once or twice a year but have always had consistently great service, quality food, good portions, and reasonable prices. There dishes are scratch made and delicious. We have had similar consistency at Cheddars in Ohio and Kentucky. Frankly I am surprised the Unilocal rating isn’t higher than it is. I have tried their burgers, catfish, salmon, chicken, whitefish, and various appetizers and desserts. Today I had Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy, Loaded Baked Potato, and Corn and my wife had her usual Bourbon Glazed Salmon seared, with Corn and Broccoli. Everything was done perfectly and was delicious. The Spinach Dip with fresh Chips is a must try appetizer. And save room for dessert! Apple Crisp A La Mode!

We’ve been here twice when visitng our son and it has always been a pleasant experience with great food and service.

We visit Cheddar’s occasionally because we have a picky eater who enjoys their grilled salmon, and because we always share a monster cookie sundae for dessert, which is fun and tasty. But really there isn’t much that’s exciting or fantastic here. Décor is nice. Food is pretty average. Service varies. Prices are average. Usually a wait on weekends.
I enjoy the vegetable platter because I love side dishes and you get a soup or salad plus four sides (vegetables, fries, potatoes, mac and cheese, beans and rice, etc.) and you can request a tasty croissant with it. Kind of a unique dinner option and one that I appreciate.
Kid friendly place (has a kids menu, noisy so people won’t hear your little ones when they use their outside voices, cool fish tank to peruse plus a neat ceiling fan to admire).
Like I said, we go occasionally and it works fine for us but expect chain family restaurant quality.

Stopped here randomly to try something new. The restaurant is really awesome looking from the outside, looks like a castle! When you walk in you kind of get the impression that it’s going to be expensive but when you open the menu it’s pretty reasonably priced. Ryan got the grilled fish tacos with a house side salad, I got the maple bacon chicken sandwich with mac & cheese and we shared table chips and queso. The homemade queso and salsa (kinda spicy!) was delicious. Ryan liked his tacos and my mac and cheese was yummy. The only complaint I have is that the bacon tasted like it was fried in old oil, it had a really weird after taste so I took it off and enjoyed my sandwich without it. The waitress was nice and attentive, she actually brought out the wrong salad dressing for Ryan’s side salad but fixed it immediately. I look forward to trying it again.

Positive: spinach dip is great.
Negative: ran out of ribs on a Sunday at 6. Host and server didn’t tell until after order was put in…“they forgot to tell our table.” We ordered a cheese burger kids meal we got a over cooked, dry patty in between two buns. No sauce, no cheese. The patty looked as if it came out of a box from the freezer.
Since my meal was not available I ordered an appetizer it was out with in minutes. That would be great if I was not going to be be my meal. So by the time the rest of the food came it was cold.
Service was mediocre at best.

Went here with a friend, very busy on Saturdays– call ahead and make a reservation!
Friendly service and very fast considering how packed it was. Food prices are great! And I was very impressed with the size of the portions!
I had the white fish meal, great healthy option, with rice and salad for less than $ 8!
Great selection of alcoholic drinks as well.
Clean bathrooms too!
I’ll be coming back for sure!

We were seated at a table where our server, Nicholas, greeted us in an appropriate amount of time. He took our drink and appetizer order and returned shortly with drinks. We asked for a few minutes to order dinner as I was still deciding. When he returned, he took our order and shortly after he left, another server dropped off our appetizers. He showed up right away to assist her in dropping them off and at that point we had to ask for silverware as we weren’t provided with any. He brought the silverware over immediately and we began to enjoy our appetizers. The cheddar bites and spinach dip were incredible. My salad arrived to the table within just a few minutes after the appetizers were dropped off, which seemed a little too soon for me.
Nick stopped over and cleared my salad bowl as soon as I was finished with it. At that point, I asked him for a box so that I could box up the remainder of my spinach dip and get the plates out of the way to make room for the entrees.
Some time had passed and Nick stopped back over again to ask one of the children at the table if he wanted a refill on his strawberry lemonade, he politely declined and my boyfriend and I both said, ‘just water’ … Nick returned a few minutes later with another strawberry lemonade…
I then asked Nick to please remove the stack of plates we had built at the end of our table and once again, asked for a box for my appetizer.
A few minutes later he returns, with our entrees.
After placing our entrees down, he asked if everything looked good, we all agreed that it did. I started into my Key West Chicken and Shrimp by eating the shrimp first. They were cold! I then felt the rest of the meal and it was room temperature at best. The other 3 meals at the table were a more appropriate temperature.
I would have expressed my lack of warmth in my dish, had Nick ever stopped back to ask how everything was going.
We finally saw Nick again when everyone was ready boxes. He then brought over boxes and the check very promptly.
He returned just as soon as everything was boxed up to make sure the ‘check looked good’ (more or less checking to see if I wanted him to take it yet)… The check was all correct.
He then left, and did not clear any of our now empty plates from the table.
I finally decided what I was going to tip… Being a server, I struggle with leaving ‘poor’ tips. I handed him the cash to cover the check and his tip and we left.
Between the poor service and the cold food… A 2 is the best I could give. For Nick to not understand the words, ‘box’ and ‘no thank you’, I just couldn’t look past it.
Also… Have you ever heard of pre-​bussing a table? That’s restaurant lingo for getting the dirty inactive dishes out from in front of the guests!
I would have loved to talked to a manager, but I never saw one.
A successful restaurant has a manager on the floor checking on their guests!
Get it together, Cheddars!
I won’t even be returning for spinach dip, I guess we are both losing on this one, Cheddars!

Service was slow when we were one maybe three tables there and the wife and I ended up with explosive diarrhea. What more is there to say.

Food was surprisingly good really enjoyed their massive fish tank. I’d return for the drinks. Wouldn’t be a bad family dinning experience or a first date. Wouldn’t recommend for a game night. Not a bad option for a work gathering S well.

Good food. Service was a little slow, but nothing to bad.

Crazy small portions. My side of mashed potatoes was about two forkfuls.

We went for lunch on my husband’s birthday. Overall, had a very good experience. I very much enjoyed my salad which came with a sweet croissant. The vegetable plate was decent enough. Loved the look of the brownie with sundae. Will surely go again

Great food. Only problem is there is not one in every city in Michigan. Expand, expand, expand.

A favorite for my wife and I, and lately we’ve been stuck in a most delicious rut; she loves the grilled bourbon salmon, and i really enjoy the Sweet Heat chicken & shrimp, both served on a bed of rice. The sweet heat is also served with a salad.
I’ve also stopped in for a burger at lunch time, always good, and sometimes i add a side of red beans and rice.
Deserts, the monster cookie and the chocolate cake sundae, are best shared by two. Repeat, for two.
Seating is usually quick, although might be 20 minutes wait, on a Saturday evening. Service ranges from just fine to excellent.

Phew! The stinky cheese of Lansing, most definitely.
The food here is average or slightly above on certain menu items. It has been awhile since I ate there because the last two times I dined (one and two years ago), the service was so lousy. My wife and daughter talked me into giving it another chance this evening. Same story, different night.
The waitress took our order but when the orders came, part of the order was missing, and another part was incorrect. The man who brought us the food was different from the waitress, and of course he looked at us like we were crazy and said he would tell our waitress. We waited another six or seven minutes, and I flagged down another waitress since ours had not been seen since taking our order. I felt sorry for the older ladies at the next booth who I swear were probably teenagers when they came into the place.
Another few minutes and she finally showed, and I almost sent her to the other booth first because those ladies were just waiting for their check all that time.
The same manager has been there for a number of years. Consistently bad service is a refelction of the managerial style and hiring practices.

Cheddar’s is acceptable but not something to write home about. I had fish taco’s. The fish was slimy like It was still swimming. The black beans were good and my drink was refilled promptly. Our other entrée was a chicken sandwich. It looked unappealing and was dry. Our waiter was fine, not particularly personable but brought out food and drinks fine, checked on us once and brought the bill. We’re here on a business trip and won’t be back to cheddars. Ordinary at best.

We go here all the time and every time it’s delicious and hot. I’d your a onion ring lover like me this is your place. They are home made and a lot for your money.

Family meal this afternoon, which wasn’t bad overall. Prices were quite reasonable and portions were large.
Perhaps too large.
When a restaurant serves large portions, I get concerned about quality being substituted for quantity to build value. I don’t get that sense about Cheddar’s — I think they are producing a ton of a reasonable product at a reasonable price. I would challenge them to elevate this dishes, halve to ²⁄₃ the portion size, and maintain the price point.
Take my Buffalo Chicken Wrap entrée as an example. Good Buffalo flavor, and I actually like the overall flavor profile. Use blue cheese or goats cheese instead of shredded, a higher grade tortilla, red cabbage instead of green for color, and halve the portion size. I would have been much happier with that wrap, and now you’re serving elevated, delicious food at the same margins. That said, my brother’s Monte Cristo was spot on — gorgeous color, flavor, portion size… that made me jealous!
Final Take: I really like the overall atmosphere and the food our family was served. There’s room to grow, and I’m hopeful this feedback is taken to heart, because I think management actually has their heart set on making good quality family dining a thing again. And THAT makes me smile.

Arrived and no receptionist at front. Finally sat down, ordered a drink and waited and waited. Waitress came back and wanted to know what my drink was! Again I waited and waited. No drink. She came back to take my order, without my drink! All this on a Sunday at 9pm? Meal finally came, a very good Pot Pie. If you have plenty of mindless time on your hands… this is your kind of place!

This visit it was so bad I had to edit my review.
First the bar was unattended for a while so I asked for someone at the host counter. The bar tender was seemingly lost. I sat at the sticky bar and she did notify me she’d assist me. She had a few other patrons. There were to go containers waiting to be picked up. She had realized one patrons food had been there all while she was waiting, she didn’t offer her a free drink or anything while she waited for her food to get cold.
She picked up my card, brought my food, didn’t offer hot sauce or ketchup or any condiments. I left. I shouldn’t have. My coleslaw was dryer than grandmas cat, my cornmeal catfish was not cooked well, it was soft, slimy and semi firm. My fish was NOT seasoned, at all. No salt no pepper. Ive gotten more fries in the bottom of a mcdonalds bag and the tartar sauce was oily on top.
Im not sure if I can let them get me like this again. I tried eating the fish, i doused it with my own hot sauce and still, it was like eating hot jello. The few fries I had were great. Crispy warm and seasoned.

I’m not a complainer so please take this review as a sincere and genuine review.
My fork and knife and napkin were dirty with old food on them. My cole slaw plate and water glass were dirty as well. My girlfriends fork was dirty and her garden salad had brown lettuce. My coleslaw was dry and very very small. The croissant that came with my girlfriends tossed salad was good. My hamburger was not cooked according to my temp request and was pressed and dry. Very very disappointing lunch and I will never ever return. Service was ok

I used to go to cheddars all the time as a kid. I came here not too long ago, they sat us and kept us waiting for 20 minutes. Finally we got up and told the hostess we were going somewhere else because we haven’t gotten a drink order or food order. They brought the manager over right away and he took us back to the table again. She took our drink order and food order. Got it all wrong. Took way too long. It was a Wednesday night so it wasn’t too busy. I just saw the lady chit chatting with her friends.
Another time I found a long black hair in my cheeseburger. I hate coming here. Food isn’t even that good.

Every time I end up in one of these places I 1) wonder if I have been before and 2) question my marriage. They all look exactly alike (I generally avoid corporate chain restaurants partly because this bothers me). My wife loves the chicken tenders here. I’m sure there are lots of things she’s done, places she’s been to, just to make me happy. It all is balanced out by having to come here and that one brother in law. I wish I could do a Unilocal review about him. I’m possibly being unfair, the décor is much nicer than comparable chains like Cracker Barrel, Applebys, or Chili’s. Most of the entrees are fried, most are palatable, hardly any are healthy choices. Service is good, parking is easy, it’s very kid friendly. There’s always a really nice aquarium, quite the classy touch. No hidden drink upcharges.

Wow, what an unexpectedly good meal. We were traveling through the Lansing area at dinner time and decided this would be a good place to stop based on reviews and price. I was surprised at the décor inside, expecting more of an Applebee’s than something this upscale. Service was friendly but a tad slow. Our waitress was apologetic knowing that we had waited a bit to place our drink order. Hubby decided on the chicken pot pie and was disappointed when he was told they were out. Although they were making more, it would be an extra 25 minutes. Since we were anxious to get home, he selected another entrée — chicken tenders. There’s a ton of them in an order and he had plenty to bring home and chop up in a salad the following day. I had a grilled chicken and shrimp combo with rice and salad. It was very good. If there was a Cheddar’s in the Detroit area I would visit it occasionally when looking for a nice chain restaurant.

I think Cheddars have a great concept, great tasting food with ton’s of options and affordable. I wish they had restaurants in the Detroit area as well.
We came here on a Saturday night after 7.30 PM. I expected a 30 minute wait but we were seated immediately. They have a good variety of drinks. I like flavored ice tea and they have awesome mango ice tea which is a plus in my book.
The ambience was really nice at this location as well, the restaurant feels very updated.
We ordered the queso with ground beef. So far this is the ONLY restaurant I’ve been to in Michigan that actually makes queso like the queso I had when I lived in Texas. This is a REALLY good queso, I could probably make it the main meal!
I opted for the blackened salmon. For some dishes like the salmon you can actually get the lunch sized serving which I think is great. It was good and the broccoli I had with it was quite good.
It was the Sweetest Day so of course you have to eat something sweet. We opted to go with the monster cookie Sundae. It was Texas-​sized, you definitely will want one other person to share it with you.
The service was good during our visit.
We’ll definitely be back next time we’re in the area.