How my I Yelp you?

I understand the importance of word-of-mouth advertising, but should reviews be credible sources? I always appreciate those that give honest feedback, but some just seem like they are trying to destroy businesses. I would like to take time to respond to some reviews so we can all have answers.

Exhibit #1: “I think they have a hard time keeping staff. They don't seem to let up control. They are both always there and don't seem to give up control. They always have different wait staff. Now it seems that there children are always working. Child labor laws?”

We have had the same staff for years, much better than any other restaurant you can find. Of course we don’t let up control. That would mean that we don’t care. The only reason you see different wait staff is because applicants come to us asking for a position. We give them a try, and they move on because it’s not for them or they have to move.

To answer the concern about child labor laws: Children who are 12 years old can work for their parents as long as the parents are the sole owners of the business entity (Iowa Division of Labor). Not only that, we love working for our parents. People complain that this generation does not know how to work, they are lazy, they have no respect for their elders. You cannot say that about us! We’ve had the opportunity to learn the value of money and hard work before many others have. We value family and hard work.

Exhibit #2: “This place is different. If you are a regular you seem to get good service. Food most of the time is ok. I like fresh hash brown potatoes, these come from a bag. They are a little greasy and not like the fresh cut ones they used to have. Omelets are excellent and good coffee.”

Most restaurants that serve breakfast actually use dry hash browns, then before they use them they soak them in water. Our hash browns do come in a plastic bag, but I’m not quite sure of any other way to distribute them. They are fresh hash browns even when they come from the bag, but in order to cut the preparation time, we have the sourced from someone else. If you have ever tried to freshly shred hash browns then cook them, they become an unappetizing brown color adding time to the already short order process our customers expect. These are the best quality hash browns around. We also use top of the line oil. We have been commended for the quality more times than not, so hopefully this changes your mind!

There have also been comments about a fixing up the place, and having a long wait.

This building has a lot of history behind it. Sure it isn’t the newest place, but those are the hidden gems that are still up because of the people that make it what it is. We wish we could fix up the whole place and make it brand new, but we would also be raising prices to unreasonable amounts and people wouldn’t be happy about that either. I wish we made the amount of profits that people think we do. “I want to start my own restaurant so I can have a place to hang out and become rich” – that is a MYTH.

When there is a long wait that is a good thing! When there is a long wait that means this is the place to be. There is a reason that we are busy. With the amount of grill space to work with and the amount of hungry people we love to serve, we sure do try our best to get you in and out as fast as possible.

Thank you for listening to my rant. I know we have more than enough support throughout the Cedar Valley, but I know there are also a few unanswered reviews that I felt the need to reach out to. We take everything to heart, everyone deserves a second chance!