Big Boy Restaurants

My girlfriend and I have been coming to this Big Boy for years. We have noticed that the cleanliness is very dirty. We seen spiders on the window cill and ants on the floor. The men’s bathroom was very very disgusting. The wait staff is very friendly and the food good but the establishment is very dirty! It is also in dire need of renovation.

It’s been awhile since our last visit and Oh Boy!, did Big Boy change. Two young girls came to our table to solicit us for some raffle thing as soon as we sat down. That was rather uncomfortable and I felt as if I had to purchase a raffle ticket. I couldn’t tell you what in the world it’s for.
Waited some time for a waitress. Finally one who was not assigned to our table nicely came to help us. I suppose our waitress was off some where else attending to empty tables.
I got a Slim Jim and the soup and salad bar. The soups were old as I pretty much thought they would be at 8:30 p.m. which is fine. What was upsetting is the lettuce from the salad bar. It had a fishy taste to it as if the lettuce was chopped where fish may have been. It was disgusting and scary all at once. I didn’t draw attention to it as our waitress was mingling with friends and I felt as if it were rude to interrupt. The place was dead and I can understand being bored at work.
Waited around for some time hoping the bill would appear on the table, but to no avail. Finally got tired of awaiting this magical trick of a bill and listening to my whiney 5 year old complain, went to the register to seek help, and who helps me again?! The waitress who helped me before. Thank you, Miss Waitress. I wish I knew your name, you got your stuff together apposed to «our waitress». You deserve better than the people you work with at this place.

The hubby and I had our first date there 11 years ago today so we went back there this evening to celebrate. The foyer smelled musty. On our way to our table, the floors were dirty and sticky. The entire building smelled like mold. As soon as we sat down in our sticky booth, my breathing became bothered by the mold. I could taste the mold and my hubby’s eyes started to itch. We left after 5 minutes and won’t be back. We went to Carabbas instead. I used to eat here many times years ago when I lived there. But it sure went downhill. I don’t want to leave any stars, buts it says I have to.

Still great service after all these visits. The staff is warm and friendly and the food is fresh and well prepared. We always order the weekend breakfast buffet and the options on the soup/​salad side are nice.

If you come here with kids, you will most likely be seated in a separate room that I assume, is for banquets or meetings, and forgotten about. When they finally realize you’re seated there after they remember whose food is sitting under the warmers, your food will be served nice and cold. Portion sizes are ridiculously small and forget about being offered drink refills. In fact, you will probably have to approach the hostess at the front of the restaurant for your bill because remember, they forgot about all about you being hidden away in a side room and all. I used to love this location because the wait staff was wonderful, the food was consistently decent and it was clean. Now I feel that they assume all kids are lacking in table manners, raised in barns and unable to be integrated with the rest of the diners. We get much better food, service and attention at Applebee’s. I guess they appreciate the business and generous tips more.

Hey, it’s Big Boy! So many memories from my childhood! It’s nothing fancy, just quick and cheap. Food is decent, I was a little surprised by the price increase on the buffet, but it was good all around. We came here on New Year’s Day because our normal favorite was closed.

I went there with my wife hoping that It would be pleasant but god we were wrong. The food mediocre, the service was bad, and the worst part of all Is that I got into an argument with one of the staff because my wife ordered a milkshake and as he was walking away he murmured ‘I gotta make a F****** Milkshake… AGAIN?’. Its a restaurant bro. you work here. its you job!

The worst Big Boy around. Portion sizes are much smaller than those stores which are run properly. The owner takes liberty with ingredients, portion size and quality.

They used to be good, but the service was awful and the cooks screwed up the most simple things. My grandma ordered a scrammy hammy and it came WITHOUT HAM. I ordered fries well done and they came soggy and limp. They took forever bringing out food out just for it to be lukewarm and WRONG. when we brought it up, they gave us $ 2 off for the ham. I told them that was not enough, so they gave us $ 2 more off. Absolutely ridiculous. I will never go back there again.

HOW have I never reviewed Big Boy! Maybe because it’s been a family staple for so long that I don’t even actively think about it. We don’t have the Boy in Chicago, so it’s understood when I come to visit family in the Detroit area we will go at least a couple times!
Despite the occasional addition and adaptation, Big Boy still has all my favorites: fish and chips, the Brawny Lad, an array of breakfast options, and of course during strawberry season a lovely selection of desserts (I love the pie!!)
It’s sad that the number of locations in the area is shrinking. My grandfather used to practically live at the one in Farmington, which has been gone for at least a decade (of course, so has he). :(
But for good, consistent, enjoyable food from an iconic restaurant, I will make this my meal stop every time when in MI!

Place is cozy and clean, and give you a glimpse of that past. The building was built in the 50’s after all! The waitstaff are all super friendly and the food is delicious. If you want a place to drink coffee, have a nice dinner and read a book/​study, it’s a great place to come!

Awesome waitstaff and amazing food! Just recently did lots of updates to the place and menu! Had a great time and left with my belly happy and full.

This has got to be the dirtiest big-​boy I’ve ever seen. There were dirty tables all around me, food on the floor it looked liked hadn’t been swept all day. The place is dusty. The waitress had her hair tied in a ponytail to the let side of her head a little up and was wearing a blue tshirt that was worn out and to big. Have a little respect for your customers and look reasonable. I ordered the steak and shrimp and asked for it medium, obviously the cooks here are a bunch of idiots. Medium is suppose to be a warm pink center, this steak was clearly xtra well done. So much for me to think I can get a decent steak at big boy.

So the restaurant is a great supporter of local community events. From high school booster clubs, local sports teams, theater production companies and many other local groups needing a fund raiser, this restaurant supports their efforts. They are a good local supporter and community leader.
They have good pies, ice cream and decent coffee.
If I see they are having a fund raiser for something I support, I will stop in and have a piece of pie. And depending on your waiter, the better ones are usually working during the dinner hours, you get good services.
There are other issues, but pie and coffee are good.

Has the typical Big Boy food… which is middle of the road fare. Better than a burger joint, not as nice as a steak house. We enjoy it when we eat there. The atmosphere is classic Big Boy… if you expect a bistro environment you are in the wrong place. Waitstaff is always pleasant, too. And we LOVE how they are always helping out someone in the community with a fundraiser night. They always support community events, too. Talk about a contributing member of the community!

For me, visiting the Big Boy after nearly forty years doing so, has become like «Cheers» where everyone knows your name. The food is consistent, but not fantastic. The waitresses are superb and the atmosphere is comfortable. I can only comment on morning visits as I am a Big Boy breakfast person.

I have been coming here for so long, I seem to like everyone that works there… Friendly. clean…good service… Modays a must!!! Candian Cheese Soup… primo…lol…Slim Jim Addict. Stop in coffee was great… Big Boy Rocks!

Had errands to run this AM in/​around Walled Lake. One store I needed to visit wasn’t open till 9am and I also needed to mail a package and the P.O. didn’t open till 9am.
So with 2hrs to kill, for some weird reason I pulled into the Big Boy parking lot. I Have NEVER been to this location before that I can recall. Although other Big Boy/​Elias Bros as a kid I remember a breakfast buffet with my Dad on Friday mornings.
My 1^st impression walking in was — a crowd of senior citizens were in one corner and maybe a half dozen other customers scattered around.
they had Free newspaper or at least I assumed it was free… The Detroit News… a republican rag, but something to look at.
the waitress sat me down at a booth and I had a hankering for an Orange Juice. my 2^nd mistake I suppose as I think in hindsight.
I ordered the breakfast buffet and a water as well. the juice came and I was a bit miffed when the gal had automatically given me a large.
The buffet included a hot and cold bar. hot bar had usual stuff — pancakes, biscuits, waffles, 2 types of potato — hard/​crunchy and rubbery, overcooked bacon, undercooked sausage links, and eggs that did not quite look or taste like eggs. the cold bar had salad and fruit.
I attempted to eat some of the eggs, bacon, and potatoes. then attempted to snag some fruit — cantaloupe, honeydew melon and pineapple.
my initial reaction was spot on — eggs that do not quite look or taste like eggs, I can assume they are from powdered mix with God only knows what in them. the bacon was not only overcooked but some pieces had a funky char flavor. the potatoes were rubbery.
the honeydew melon had a slightly off smell and tasted like flowers… a sure sign of it being past its time. the cantaloupe was even worse — it smelled sour! i couldn’t force myself to eat it. the pineapple was palatable at most and had little or no flavor.
I told the waitress about the cantaloupe. and I must give her credit as she went to the back and told the kitchen crew. a mexican looking dude came out picked the cantaloupe out with the honeydew melon and put his nose to the bin and inhaled deeply. then he shook his head and it appeared he threw it in the garbage. I was not far from the view of the kitchen. However less than 10mins later the guy came with another bin of chopped melon/​cantaloupe… I have no idea if it was from the same batch or not. I was not going to chance it.
The place seemed to fill up with more old white folks. and I soon felt that aside from the Young gals pretending to be waitresses that I was one of the youngest people in the restaurant.
When the bill came my suspicions were correct… they gave me a large OJ and charged me $ 2.09 for it. wtf… Next time if I ever come here I better either ASK specifically for a Small or forgo it completely… Its a real sham what they do to people… If I wanted OJ that bad I could of bought a ½ gallon of it for $ 2 at the local grocery store.
2 stars for the substandard food, the outdated blah atmosphere, and the shoddy business practices.

OMG! I am not a fan of Big Boy restaurants, so when I say this is the WORST, I mean it is literally unredeemable. The service sucks (as in no coffee refills until asked multiple times — on more than one occasion), the place is dirty, and the food is terrible.
Because of a family gathering, I end up going here once a year, and it gets worse every year. Take my advice and avoid this place. Dining out doesn’t get any worse than this.

I’ve never really gone to Big Boy so I don’t know if my review holds true for all of the chain, but eating at WL Big Boy last week was GROSS. The service was good, but the food was terrible. Maybe I’m asking too much from Big Boy, but I thought the salad bar would at least be edible. It was not. Everything looked and tasted expired. Do yourself a favor and go down the street to Leo’s.