The Whitehouse Inn

You better eat what they serve you or go hungry. I ordered a meal that the menu said it was a little spicy and instead it was very hot. I told our waitress that it was to hot to eat and she said” that’s how it is”. I told her she told me it wasn’t really hot just a little spicy. She said that’s how they fix it. In other words, to bad. I asked for something else and was told I would have to pay for two meals. That it was my fault the meal was to hot. I asked to talk to the manager but was denied. I did pay for my meal. But, I will never go back. They think they are to good and better than everyone else.

To bad there is not a Minus Star… nasty place… fellow guest found a bug… A LIVE BUG… in his salad… all the waitress did was to offer another salad…

This has been one of our go-​to places since there is not to much in the Whitehouse/​Waterville area. Not sure what had happened to this place. Since hostess «Stephanie» is no place to be seen, the service and food quality has become lacking. Always could count on the only 3 good dinner items: Prime rib, Perch and Shrimp. Oh, and of course, French onion soup and Margaritas. Dinner items– Perch not like it used to be. Shrimp as well. Prime rib o.k. but a little too cold for med rare. I ordered asparagus for my side dish that was offered that day and I almost fell over when small 1 inch asparagus «butts» were served. Looked like something you would throw away after trimming your asparagus tips! I would have been embarrassed if I was the owner. Every time I come there are new servers. Hmmmm? Problems? What’s up? Place is fairly empty as well. At least there is no blasting music and you can have a discussion with your peers! Drinks are good.

we drove kinda 25 minutes to get there,. bartender kinda busy, doing tables and run the bar, over all ok, took some food home, sandwich was kinda dry. the mixed drinks were very strong. only needed 2, good savings there. also was hit on by two people while i was sitting at the bar.

Prime rib burger and italian salad were both very good. Got the pork nachos and a $ 3 ladies night glass of wine special. Service was attentive,.

Can’t say I would go back. The service was nice but very slow and lacking. Waited at the door for almost 10 minutes before we were greeted. Once greeted we were seated right away and our drink orders were taken. We ordered the pork nachos and onions rings. Both were good! Almost everyone ordered the onion soup and prime rib. Soup was delicious. For the prime rib the server said medium would be a warm pink. Medium came out with no pink. Any time we needed our drinks refilled we had to ask and we also had to ask for our dirty dished to be removed from our table. The restaurant was busy but not to busy that our drinks and dirty dishes should go un-​noticed.

We always go here in the summer and it’s so good!

Went in @ 6:40pm on a Thursday. Seated soon, 4 empty tables. 10 min. For server to greet us and take drink order. 15 min to bring drinks and excuse herself. 10 more min. Before taking order. Dinner took 1 hour 20 min. Food is great! Service is horrible. If they would hire more servers, they would be able to handle the rush and have more happy customers.

Was recommended for the prime rib hubby is the carnivore cant remember the size it was like $ 28 he left half on the plate he said it was the worst he’s ever had of course he won’t complain no one even bothered to ask if something was wrong with it… nada
I had chicken fried steak it was tender. Gravy was good thank goodness because the potatoes were very tangy to much cream cheese or sour cream & garlic whatever they put in it. The french onion soup was amazing. Having said all of this I’m reading the reviews and guess our visit was a fluke…

Best French Onion soup & Prime Rib! Came here for a rehearsal dinner and the service was on point. Also just for a dinner night and the food was awesome! We started with the French Onion & I got the smothered blackened chicken and my BF got the prime rib! Never disappoints, must try!

Horrible. $ 70 for a steak and burnt, dried up chicken breast. The servers are snooty and uninterested. The best thing we ate there was a roll bought from the freezer section at Meijers. The portions are large which probably allows them to sleep better at night knowing their food is such poor quality and their prices are entirely too high. The garlic mashes potatoes, again bland and almost uneatable. I have been wanting to try the place because I’ve heard many people rave about it years ago… maybe I shouldn’t have waited so long because obviously their quality control, training and overall customer service as well as food preparation has taken a dive.

The Whitehouse Inn used to bring a giant basket of crackers to every table, as a way of saying «thank you for choosing The Whitehouse Inn… enjoy this complimentary basket of crackers!» But now, they do not. No more free crackers. Take this bitter lament and do what you will with it.

Never disappointed, the prime rib, ribs and steak are great, but their salads are delicious and huge, Nancy and I always split entrees there.

Happy we stopped. After shopping at Smoke n Fire store, we were hungry. I Googled for a restaurant and found this one. Mom had their daily special, a fried pollock sandwich. I had a hamburger. Both came with a ton of fries that were really good. The burger came with coleslaw also which was just ok.
Mom said the fish was better than she has had in a long time. It in fact rivaled the taste of one she had 53 years ago. I must add she loves her fish sandwiches and has them fairly regularly.
Looking at the rest of the lunch menu, there are many dishes for many tastes. You should be happy to choose this restaurant in a small community.

We made a reservation for 4 people at 8 o’clock. when we got there about 7:50 the hostess informed us that they were out of prime rib, which is why we choose this restaurant in the first place even though we had to drive 45 minutes to get there. After about 15 minutes, we were seated. the server also informed us at that time that they were out of prime rib and ribs. I ordered the chicken Marsala as that would be my second choice when i was looking at the menu online. the server informed me that they didn’t have it and that the website was wrong.2 other people at the table ordered the steak MEDIUM which came out RARE when it was served! we told the server about this and she ignored the request so that she could chit chat at another table for several minutes before we had to «interrupt» her little «chat» so that our guest could eat her meal. The server FINALLY took it back and this time it still came out really RARE when she ordered MEDIUM! another person at the table ordered fillet medium rare and it came out medium. the server offered to refill ONE drink but not the rest. very disappointed that the restaurant didn’t offer anything for being out of prime rib even after we explained that’s why we drove 45 minutes here. VERY DISAPPOINTED and NONE of us will be coming back ever again!

Ok, so it has been 2 years and three days since my last visit. That was not so great. I had heard about changes, but after this visit I’m thinking they may have been largely cosmetic. I see the Rib Roast is still the main selling point. I refuse to call that cut they serve «Prime». It did look a little better this time. I did not get it, but over half my table of 8 did. I tried a «new» entrée they highlighted on the menu called Madison’s Medallions and SWMBO had the half rack of St. Louis ribs. Before I discuss those, let me make a few observations.
First, before going I checked out the menu on line to see what they were offering now. I have to say that it appears the menu on line is misleading on some prices. My entrée was listed for less online and so were the ribs and the First Lady cut of rib roast. Judging from that, I’m guessing there are other similar pricing differences. Price is not that big a deal, but misleading pricing is annoying. You bother to have a website… keep up on it. Even if you have changed the menu pricing since the last update, YOU KNOW YOU CHANGED PRICES WHEN YOU PAID FOR THE PRINTING. Update the web menu ASAP.
Second menu observation. CHUNKYARD? Really? What a perfectly horrible name for a food item (or in this case group of items). Beyond the junkyard/​chicken chunks 10 seconds of vaguely funny pun correlation, bad choice. It is too reminiscent of blowing chunks, especially when you consider what the items are. A pile of french fries covered with fried chicken chunks then most are drowned in sauce and other toppings. Nice pile of chunks. I’ll pass. Between those, the 40 or 50 count potatoes and the 36 ounce cut of rib, it seems like a cheesy menu looking to get recognition for eating challenges.
My wife asked if St. Louis ribs were the cut she likes or that I like. She’s a baby back person. I like spares and louies. I told her, but she was in the mood for ribs and since the menu says «These slow roasted BBQ ribs are slow cooked so long the meat drops off the bone» she decided to go with them. These ribs maybe had an hour and a half in the oven. There was no discernible carmelization of meat from heat and the meat required gnawing, tearing or cutting from the bone. She finished a quarter rack and brought the rest home for me to try. I’m wondering if I’ll get that hungry before I just toss them. Her baked potato, like mine was huge and barely melted the butter. A huge, foil-​wrapped potato like that should maintain heat for a while. I’ll just leave that observation at that…
The Madison’s Medallians: «10 oz’s (sic) of petite filet medallions sautéed with herbs, spices, and our housemade red wine portabella mushroom sauce» suffered from my understanding of how they SHOULD be made and how they were actually handled. My interpretation: 1 ½ to 2 ounce rounded pieces from the tail end of the tenderloin seasoned with salt and pepper and spices (optional) then sauteed with like-​sized pieces of portobello in a blazing hot pan to start the maillard reaction to give color and develop flavor-​giving fond in the pan. After that, the pan is deglazed with the red wine. The last step is to finish the pan sauce by adding a demiglace or at least a good beef stock. The dish is then cooked until the medallions reach desired temp. The sauce should be just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and, if stock is used, may require a tablespoon or two of butter at the end (monte au burre) to give it the required gloss and velvety mouth feel.
What did I get? Underseasoned planks of various size that were (except for one piece) cooked to well done rather than medium. This was cooked entirely separately from the «sauce». That was more of a beef gravy with mushrooms, red wine and NO SEASONING. Glopped on top after the steak was hammered. Sure, you can add salt and pepper at the table, but it’s not the same. You have bland food with a dusting of seasoning that never permeates the dish.
I don’t understand how this place gets the raves they do. The prices are good. We had a bill of only $ 41 for two of us, and my one beer was the same price as my wife’s soda. But there is more to good eats than cheap and being served so much you can take some home. At least for me. If I can’t do it better at home, why bother? And these things I can do MUCH better at home.
Sadly, I’ll probably be back here for some family get-​together again. If the Chunkyard is still open, maybe I’ll try the Chili Cheese Chunks or Summer BBQ Chunks. What the hell.
The food is not BAD. It’s edible. It’s cheap. The place is comfortable if loud.
It’s not special. It’s not memorable for good reasons and it’s not ever going to change (it seems). The drinks are strong and cheap. I guess that goes a long way.

Ya know, I can put up with their food getting gradually more sucky, because it’s convenient, but I am tired of walking into this place and having the absolutely WORST experience with the greeter. This is the second time I’ve walked into Whitehouse Inn for a meal and instead of a «hi» being greeted with a «do you have a reservation?» Only today, I had the added bonus of «we have 800 reservations today, we just don’t have time for you today.»
Awesome, Whitehouse Inn, I no longer have time for you, either. Or stomach, because frankly, you’ve jumped the shark and are a sinking ship.
I won’t be back. Ever.

Great Restaurant with fun Presidential theme!
Try the steaks, prime rib, burgers, fish … all great!
My family of 6 loves this place and always requests it when we are looking for a great meal out.

After an afternoon of hiking at Oak Openings we decided to head on over to the Whitehouse Inn for a good meal. I haven’t been here since I was a kid, and they have clearly remodeled. Everything seems bright, clean, and new.
The restaurant features portraits of all of the Presidents as well as a prominent mural of the White House. The plates have American flags on them and so on and so forth. I think the owners skew Republican as there are two colorful pictures of the Decider as well as a huge portrait of St. Reagan.
I wish they would play with this theme more; instead they piss away all this great material by naming Onion Rings after Harry Truman. This is akin to going to see Bill Cosby, only for him to do fart jokes for ten minutes and leave the stage. But I digress.
The french onion soup was a standout: rich, flavorful broth and plenty of melted cheese. They actually serve it with a small pair of scissors so you can cut the cheese while you eat (fart joke!).
My partner ordered perch which he described as light and flaky. The salad that preceded it could have been a meal unto itself. The $ 0.75 charge for homemade bleu cheese dressing was worth every penny. The homemade tartar sauce was a little sweet.
I had the Texas BBQ platter featuring ribs, brisket, and chicken. The chicken was a little disappointing — certainly not worth docking a star over — but it would have been nice if it had the same blackened, smoky goodness as the fall-​of-​the-​bones tender ribs. The ribs were outstanding. The brisket was surprisingly complex. They must have used some kind of dry rub on it.
I could have powered through and polished off the whole plate, and there was a LOT of food. It was simply that good.
Hopefully they’ll rename some things on the menu. Who wouldn’t order an Impeachment Cobbler or an Obamarita? Wasted material, I tell you.
Can’t wait to go back.

We visit the Whitehouse Inn once a year due to wonderful friends that love it. I have to say, Man they are packed for dinner! You have to fight for a place to breath while you wait for a table. Watch out the people waiting by the bar for a bar-​seat. They are mean and aggressive fighting to get a seat.
We started with the Truman Tower, Hand battered golden crisp HUGE onion rings and the Black & Bleu Chips– Homemade chips topped with melted bleu cheese sauce (probably bleu cheese dressing), Colby Jack cheese and Cajun seasoning. This was good but the heavy salt content caught up with me quick. Our server was amazing having be sat a 12 top, plus us a 4 top, and another 4 all at the same time with other tables in her care.
Due to the over packing of seating and people standing around you waiting for a table, this is a very loud restaurant so it it is better to text back and forth with the people that you are eating with so you don’t loose your voice.
This place is known for their huge cuts of prime rib 36 oz. plus, huge salads and sides. I prefer my prime rib to a have a heavy crust of spices coating the outside edges and medium rare to rare, but this not that type of cooking more grayish look. Although the flavor was good I sent my prime rib back twice. The first time my rib and my broccoli were cold cold and then my rib was well done,. The third time it was cooked perfect medium rare.
I did notice the sides are smaller than they were a few years ago. Not a bad thing some times too much is too ridiculous.
I wish restaurants that were this busy took the time our to make their own dressings and condiments they would be so much better and if they do use better quality ingredients.
The wine selection isn’t the best. We ordered an Pinot Noir (Heavy on the grapefruit taste) and a Cabernet, lacking in flavor and aroma) The water was good.
I will go back every year due to my wonderful friends.
If you want to go somewhere for big/​huge food options go here. If you are going for quality and flavorful food don’t go here.