Diners are nostalgic, simple restaurants that offer up hearty American food that tastes like home. And in Michigan, from Lansing to Benton Harbor, you’ll find that perfect home-style. Enjoy all of your favorite filling breakfast fare and late-night bites at these wonderful diners in the state!
Oasis, located in what used to be a Big Boy outlet, is a diner through and through. Featuring all-day breakfast foods ranging from impressively-sized omelets to waffles and beyond, as well as a range of lunch and dinner fare including Greek specialties like gyros, it's the kind of place that will put a substantial amount of food in your stomach for comparatively little cash.
State Street Diner in Hastings does exactly what a diner should: all-day breakfast with the great staples—waffles, omelets and pancakes—and a variety of burgers and other lunch and dinner-appropriate choices. State Street tops things off with a lineup of desserts, focused on pie and ice cream, though not always together. A set of weekly specials keeps things fresh, and in an exciting twist, salads and wraps get their own sections of the menu for a healthier alternative.
While it does do the standard diner fare, the Mason Jar Café also takes some really noteworthy departures that might make this one a stop for any diner buff. French toast, for example, is in play, but it's stuffed with mascarpone and covered in berry compote. Pancakes are served in straight buttermilk or made with bananas and oat flour. It goes on like this, and that makes the Mason Jar Cafe a real treat.
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The West Bay Diner and Delicatessen in Grand Marais offers up a home-style experience. Featuring staples like waffles and corned beef hash, as well as unexpected treats like biscuits and gravy topped with pulled pork, the result is a wonderfully mixed bag of options most will enjoy. There's even a gift shop to check out while you wait.
L'Anse's Hilltop Restaurant offers a wonderful array of traditional diner fare. A chicken tender basket, a variety of sandwiches, several burgers, and a homemade bread pudding are all part of the list, as well as, in an unusual twist for a diner, nine different craft beers. The unquestioned king of offerings here, though, is the cinnamon roll, a massive affair weighing over one pound and coated in a layer of thick white icing, all surrounding an apple center.
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Clare's Whitehouse restaurant has been in operation since 1935, which tells you a few things about this restaurant's overall quality. A place doesn't stay open for over 80 years without being great. The love for the burgers and fries alone makes it clear why the Whitehouse has stayed open this long. Throw in some breakfast options and more, and you'll have a full diner experience.
When a diner bills itself as hip, you know you've got something interesting afoot. The Fleetwood Diner in Lansing—a second location is in Ann Arbor—delivers just that, with “Hippie Hash” comprised mainly of vegetables as well as a recently added stuffed French toast and, for interestingly, saganaki. The fact that it's open 24 hours, meanwhile, only adds to the fun here, allowing you to get breakfast at literally any moment of the day or night.