Great Restaurant!
Lamplight Restaurant in downtown Ionia has GREAT food at GREAT prices. The owners are just wonderful as are all those who work there; bartender, chef, and wait staff.    [17 Dec 2006 13:24:03]

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Recommended Dishes: Sizzler Steak

     ­Darlene Thompson   darlenej at charter dot net

Wonderful!
We were new to the area and it's our favorite place to eat at! The waitstaff was great, and the food is outstanding! The salad bar looks small, but I get filled up on that every time we go!    [22 Nov 2007 20:07:48]

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Recommended Dishes: prime rib

     ­Shawn Z   

Disappointing
This restaurant has the capability of being really great but falls from the mark. The salad bar very often has "unfresh" prepared salads. On several occasions the mushrooms were very dark, the onions a tad flabby, and the cheese dried out around the edges. Not having the prepared salads labled gives the diner little clue as to what they are. The large soup covers in a crowded spot make it difficult to manage serving oneself. We had the all you can eat fish and shrimp. Some of the fish was very good while other pieces were grey and strong tasting under the batter. Cocktail sauce, sour cream and tater sauce were served in plactic cups with covers. I realize that this cuts down on waste and allows sauces to be portioned and the refrigerated but small dishes filled to order would be so much better. Ordering a second serving of the fish when we first ordered was a good idea as we noticed other diners waiting for additional portions. The food was decent but pricy for what it was. We will go back to check out the Sunday buffet as I have heard very good things about the prime rib.    [04 Jan 2008 00:07:18]

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     ­gmom   

Salad Bar Disaster.
The area around the salad bar is dark. It's almost impossible to see let alone reach items because of the depth and position of the "sneeze" shield. Nothing is identified so is it ranch or bleu cheese, green godess or ceasar? Several containers were complete mysteries because of the lighting and lack of lables. Some of what was presented looked like it might be something they needed to get rid of so they chopped it up and put it on the salad bar. Was that cubed chicken, tofu or califlower in that container way back there? The mushrooms were terribly discolored and several offerings were dried out around the edges. Made me even more nervous about the lighting, what are we not seeing? The soup area is difficult to manage and frankly not worth the bother. Thick mucky "soup" with unidentifiable ingredients. I'm getting the idea here that nothing gets wasted, put in the soup or on the salad bar. I'm certain that they do many things right, deep fried items seems safe enough, but overall the price doesn't reflect the food or it's preperation. It always seems such a shame for someone to be in the food business and not have a passion for what they do. The staff is courteous and attentive but I must say that one woman had overdone the perfume by a long shot. That is something all restaurant owners and managers should be adamant about, if I can smell you across the room, you don't work. Speaking of smells, customers should never be able to smell cleaning products, there should never be scented air fresheners or anything of that nature in the vicinity of dining. In this geographic area, it would take so little to pack this place with people appreciative to have a good meal at a reasonable price. Maybe the cost is high compared to the quality because of the lack of customers? Good food, prepared and served well, will find a large, loyal clientele. Some owners and customers are happy with mediocre, this place is an example of that.    [10 Aug 2008 22:11:56]

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     ­Anonymous   

A Good Place for Lunch
My wife and I ate lunch at Ionia's Lamplight Cafe on Saturday, October 4. Our beverage of choice with our lunch was coffee with no cream nor sweetener; we found the coffee to be good.

I chose their hamburger with a side order of french fried potatoes, which arrived accompanied by an individual portion of ketchup in a covered plastic cup. In my opinion the half-pound hamburger was excellent, as were the french fries.

My wife selected a lunch special which consisted of bratwurst served on a bed of sauerkraut along with boiled redskin potatoes. She felt the lunch was excellent, as was the cheesecake she had for dessert.    [04 Oct 2008 22:13:15]

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     ­Rod