Michael's Restaurant & Lounge

This place is awful. The most awful food and the prices for the quality are terrible. My husband and I eat out often and I enjoy good food. I will pay good money for a good meal. However this place failed. The waitress was very nice but the food hmmm the food was not worth a penny. Our bill was  around 60$ and this was the worst 60$ I've ever spent. The food was clearly not fresh and sides tasted like they came from a can. The steak and fish was over cooked and tasteless. Not mention the bread was stale. Never going back.

My grandmother brought my family here for my parents 25th Anniversary.  I made the mistake of Yelping this place the morning we were going.  I cringed with the low score and prayed for the best.  With this knowledge, I ordered safe all night, and I had a decent meal.  My family did not, and I got to see first hand many of the complaints highlighted.  The first warning sign should have been that on a Saturday night, this place was empty.

For the record, we did not have trouble with the cigarette smoke in the non-smoking banquet room.  But I don't think anyone was smoking much so take it with a grain of salt.

The family all ordered coffee, and I started with a Cosmopolitan.  The waitress was great about the coffee refills and water refills.  The cosmopolitan was a joke.  First of all, it was the smallest drink I have ever seen, and it was so practically all cranberry juice.  At $7, I was over it.

Then, a basket of bread came out.  The bread was pretty good.  There was a good variety and some unique things in the basket.

Michael's one highlight is the number of sides you get with a meal.  Our meals included soup or salad, potato, and a vegetable.  Just like grandma would make.  However, the soup was not the quality of grandma's.  We all had chicken dumpling soup.  3 little dumplings with a debatable about being homemade soup.  Not too impressed.  Another table got the salads, and the salads looked sad.

Meals:
Prime Rib-  As my mother so deeply said, "For being a special, you would think they would know how to cut and cook this."  It was mostly fat and apparently pretty awful.  I actually think my mother threw it away when we got home.  My grandmother handed the waitress back the plate and asked her to dump out the excess sauce because it was mostly that.

Veal Parm-  I played it safe and mostly won.  Two decent sized pieces of veal covered in cheese.  Safe choice.

Crab Stuffed Shrimp-  For being over $25 you would THINK Michael's used real crab.  Nope.  These things were stuffed with filler and the portion was tiny.  Not amused.

The sides, however, were pretty good.  The twice baked potatoes were excellent and the fried zucchini was a score.  I would just order the sides next time.

We passed over on dessert fearing for more disappointment.  The final bill was right around $100.

The moral of the story?  Michael's recipes are ok, but the food prices are simply not acceptable.  I can say honestly that the, "Meh.  I've experienced better." rating is completely accurate.

How anyone has given this place more than one star is ludicrous to me. I have been to this restaurant many times as my husbands Grandmother lives near it and always wants to go here. NOTHING about Michaels is good. The service is always slow (we're talking 45 minutes to place an order and a drink that is never refilled), the food is mediocre at best, and the whole restaurant stinks to high heaven of cigarette smoke. Last weekend I went there for dinner with the family, probably my 15th visit to Michaels. I came out smelling like an ash tray. My hair and my clothes reeked. Did I mention I was in the non-smoking section??? I don't appreciate this, especially considering I had my 18 month old with me. The previous time I was there, everyone's food came out at different times and my chicken Romano (when it finally arrived) was full of gristle and overcooked. My advice: SKIP MICHAEL'S!