Big Boy

Always a favorite spot to stop when driving from Chicago to Detroit and back for our family. Again this visit didn’t disappoint (1÷7÷16). Friendly service. Excellent fish and chips and our order came out fast. The Big Boy burger is still a classic and the hot fudge cake is awesome. I wish they had this place in our neck of the woods.

Bad breakfast buffet. Too much fake eggs, cold hash brown potatoes but bacon is fine. Cooks need to do better job if they want the customers to come back or they won’t be earning their paychecks!

Salad bar all brown lettuce asked for fresh manager made a face so, now I am not eating salad changed to, patty melt, server Emily very sweet, manager should take a lesson from her. I now know why there are none in western n. y they would be out of business. Asked for medium rare patty melt was perfect thanks to Emily.

This was the only restaurant open on a Sunday night. My son loved the unlimited pasta, and the burgers were pretty good. The waitress forgot to put in for our appetizers, but was very apologetic and I appreciated that. They covered our appetizers due to the mistake. We will be back again in the future.

Stopped for a small bite to eat during a snow storm.
Our server, Tasha, was very friendly and has a contagious smile!
I just got a hot cocoa, crispy bacon and hash browns and it was all delicious and hot. My mom got eggs, crispy bacon and fruit and enjoyed it all!
Very easy highway access and the price is right.

Honest to God worst service I’ve ever seen. It was a scene from Idiocricy. If it wasnt entertaining because of how ridiculous It was, I probably would have lost my mind. We had to seat ourselves, 10 minutes before anybody spoke to us, hour and 15 minutes for the food. There were 4 servers and only 3 tables… wow

Very disappointed. Waited over 25 minutes for a classic big boy. The side of Mac and cheese was cold. I won’t come here again. McDonald’s next door would have been better.

The service was excellent and they managed to seat our group of ten only because the place was empty. The food was very good, but it took 45 minutes to get to us. I recommend the strawberry Belgian waffle.

Good service most of the time the staff is very friendly. Senior breakfast M-​F is good value.

This is a Love and Hate situation.
+ My wife loves their Big Boy Burger.
— I hate it.
+ She remembers this chain from her childhood in California.
— I don’t have any such memories … thank goodness.
The service was very good … and friendly.
I would only return … when she’s with me.

Take-​Out Review Only!
We stopped here on our way to St Joseph to pick up a meal to save for later on. I was on business and my hubby was lucky enough to join me, so we ordered a lot. When we first drove up, we weren’t even sure if it was open. The lot was hardly plowed of the snow, the lights were dim, and we saw no «Open» sign. While hubby waited with the car on, I walked up to the door and gently pushed to find out it was unlocked. I ended up walking in and finding that it was indeed open, with a mere two people dining. It was 5:30!
Anyways, when we asked if we could carry-​out, we received a perplexed look and a menu. I assumed we could order anything (since we weren’t told anything else). When I asked for recommendations, the perplexed look turned into pure irritation and she said, «Well, I guess the Big Boy.» Okay lady. Thanks.
Anywho, we ordered the Big Boy, mac and cheese with bacon, and mozzarella sticks and waited… for about 10 – 15 minutes. Quite the long time for carryout. There was quite the branding of the Big Boy around — lots of merchandise for sale.
Sadly, we never ate the Big Boy (it didn’t fair well when we got back to the hotel), and the mac & cheese was lacking cheese. It smelled great but tasted like noodles with oil and bacon. Odd. Mozzarella sticks were just that.
I don’t live anywhere around here so I can’t see myself returning, but it’s neat to say I visited this iconic restaurant. Just wish it was a more pleasant experience!

Stopped at this establishment for a late dinner on the way from Chicago to Greenville, MI. Service was slightly slower than desired. Seemed the staff was ready to get off for the night. I’m sure the slow night didn’t help. Food was tasty (I had a burger and my wife had the classic Slim Jim). If it weren’t for the slower service it may have gotten one more star.

Delicious greasy food and seasoned salt with more msg than Panda Express, what more could you ask for?

Like many others, I stopped by on a whim while en route back home to Chicago. I’ve always wanted to try a burger at Big Boy so I was happy to get the opportunity. I assumed it was going to be a typical fast food place, so I was surprised that there was tableside service and all. They actually had pretty healthy options for the kids too.
There is a salad bar, but we weren’t interested in that. We wanted burgers.
I got the big boy. The inspiration behind McDonald’s classic Big Mac. It’s pretty similar, but is better than the Big Mac. The fries were good too.
I was able to get spaghetti and steamed brocolli.
It was kinda busy in the restaurant and our waitress seemed a little distracted. But it wasn’t too terrible. She brought out the wrong sides twice (fries instead of salad, garlic bread instead of brocolli) but let us keep them.
The shake was pretty good and not too thick.
We got to take a picture with the big boy statue out front too.

Great food. Come hungry. Has all u can eat spaghetti which was great! Price is right, service good.

I dunno WHAT is up with this place, we stopped through on my way to thanksgiving with my family, thought I would try the fish and chips, and it was a solid BRICK of hardened deep fried disgusting mess… I wish I took a picture it was AWFUL!
Veggie burger replaced it… it was cooked better than the fish.
We bought pie for thanksgiving with the family, and that was good, but YEESH… someone needs to mediate what is going OUT of the kitchen, that was so gross and unacceptable it should have NEVER left the kitchen as it was, BURNT TO A SOLID BRICK LITERALLY…

This is going to be a weird review for me. I am normally not a fan of fast food at all, and to give it 5 stars feels super bizarre. But I am going to do it anyway in spite of the weirdness.
We were driving to the middle of nowhere in MI for a wedding this weekend and looking for somewhere to have dinner on Friday night. I told the husband that I had seen Big Boy signs on the highway the last time I had gone to MI and that I hadn’t eaten at one since I was a kid. It was the nostalgia — it got me.
So we pulled off and went into Big Boy — didn’t it used to be called Bob’s Big Boy? Anyway, I digress.
It took a few minutes to get seated but the place was extremely busy for a Friday night. Once we got to our table, we were advised that our server would be Brian.
Let me just tell you that if you happen to be in the area and go to this Big Boy, you want Brian to be your server. And yes, this is where the review is going to get weird. I’ve eaten at a few high end places that pride themselves on great service. Brian was better than any other server I think I have ever come across anywhere. Super friendly, super attentive, knowledgeable, funny, and he obviously cared about what he was doing. Because how often does a burger jockey care about what he is doing? Not a normal occurrence in my book but this guy was awesome and fun to talk to and I’m not going to lie — we left him a huge tip for his great service.
As for the food, I really, really liked my burger. We are in an era of burger boutiques and the Steakhouse Cheddar burger I had was better than ones I have had at a host of «better» burger places. The meat reminded me of a Fatburger (which is my favorite, not counting those few in Chicagoland, which taste nothing like the ones in the west in my opinion) and just had a great taste to it — very juicy, as well. I liked that I had an option for salad bar rather than fries, too — granted, it’s not the world’s longest salad bar but it was enough to make me feel like I was doing something sort of healthy. They also have all you can eat chicken, though I did not indulge in that.
So to sum up my weird review, please go to this Big Boy, sit in Brian’s section, receive awesome service and enjoy a juicy, delicious burger than I can’t imagine I would ever have thought to find in, of all places, a Big Boy.

This Big Boy might just be the closest one to Chicago. Good food at good prices.

On the way home from a family visit before we crossed the state line I was told we had to complete the Michigan Tradition and hit Big Boy. Uh huh.
I had one bad experience with a Big Boy further up on I94 years ago and since have avoided it like the plague but when you’re out numbered in the car, you suck it up and go in.
Our server was super friendly on top with the refills. The soup and salad bar was the nice surprise. It was even being refilled at 9PM on a Sunday night. Impressive. Good selections as well. 3 – 4 soups, pasta salads etc.
We all got burgers on top of that. They were all good, came out fast. Overall, I was impressed. This visit may have restored some of my faith in the Big Boy chain.
As least I know this is a place we can stop where we can get a decent meal and they are open pretty late on a Sunday night. Which can be a huge bonus.

We stopped here during a road trip through Michigan.
It was just okay.
The Chocolate Shake was the best thing.
Onion Rings were so-​so.
Fries were decent.
Burger was not fantastic.
I can’t say I would go back to this chain to try it again.