For all people who love divey restaurants with great atmosphere and even better food, Honest John’s is your kind of place.

Located on Seldom Street in downtown Detroit, a breakfast and lunch spot by day is a great spot for people who love good food and don’t mind a divey atmosphere.

All over the restaurant there are lit up signs with extremely frank humor on them like for example one says, “sobriety sucks.” These signs and other small relics across the place are all a part of creating an old school and inviting atmosphere that I personally love.

Honest John’s had a change in ownership in late 2014, but the as the owners changed, the restaurant stayed the same and the traditions were kept.

Even if you don’t take the atmosphere into consideration as much as I do, the food alone is great for its price point. On the breakfast side, along with your typical breakfast items such as egg breakfasts, pancakes, french toast, etc. there are some quirky items on the menu as well like Fruity Pebble French Toast and Butterfinger Pancakes.

Along with those items, Honest John’s is best known for their chicken and waffles. You have the choice of chicken tenders or wings on your waffles and this is hands down the best item on the menu. The sweet and savory tastes blended together is one that is quite irresistible.

Along with the chicken and waffles, another item that I would recommend on their menu is the Monte Cristo. A turkey, ham and swiss sandwich served with french toast as the bread, drizzled in syrup, and topped with powdered sugar. This is another dish with a great mix of sweet and savory flavors that for me does it all.

Honest John’s overall does a great job with making their breakfast menu a little bit more interesting than any other breakfast menu, without leaving out the more basic items that many people often want.

Although the atmosphere and food options are great at Honest John’s, the service, on the other hand, is not so great.

When I went to dine there at about 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning there were people packing into this place from the front and back. There was no hostess seating people, or taking names down for a table, or any organization at all pertaining to all the people waiting. After over an hour of waiting, one of the waitress finally came up to us and asked if we had been helped and we said no. She then finally found us a table, and the next struggle was waiting almost 20 minutes for a server to even come up to our table.

We waited a long time for our food to arrive as well, and overall there was simply an absurd amount of waiting. Considering this was one of the busiest times of the week for them for breakfast, I understand that in general there is some waiting to be expected, but the terrible organization of the vast amount of people they had waiting was not well done.

Overall, if you decide to eat there on a less busy day I assume the service would be much better, but primetime brunch hour on a Sunday is definitely going to be at least a 3 hour process at Honest John’s.

Although the service is below par at Honest John’s on busy days, with less people trying to eat there at the same time, the service would be just fine. Regardless of the service, the great eats and unique atmosphere contribute to an experience that I simply love, and one that also overrides the downsides you face in the service department. There is no other place like Honest John’s, and it is truly an a great experience.