Getting our ice tea and coffee fix is pretty much a
daily thing for us, but even as the number of coffeehouses increased around our
area, the number of independent coffeehouses dwindled down to nearly none in
recent years.
So, we make a special effort to seek out small and
quirky indie coffeehouses as we travel.
We’ve driven up to northwestern Michigan many times
over the years—usually taking the same route by following I-96 out to Lansing
and swinging north to catch US-127 up to US-10 and getting off at the two-lane
M-115 for the last leg of the trip. Our drive up M-115 generally takes us
through the touristy area of Cadillac and skirts a piece of its large Lake
Mitchell, but we never got off of the highway to make the trip of several miles
into downtown Cadillac.
I’d read kudos about the town’s Shay Station in my
monthly Traverse Magazine. I decided to take the detour to visit the Cadillac coffeehouse
cafe and pick up an ice tea as I drove home alone from a trip “Up North”.
I quickly found Shay Station on Cadillac’s main
drag, Mitchell Street, right in the heart of downtown.

Stepping inside the unassuming store front, I
immediately wished I had more time to linger. The long, narrow space played
host to a 1920s-era soda fountain near the front of the store, a fireplace, tin
ceilings and large picture windows at the back of the café overlooking Lake
Mitchell, an old train-station-turned-veteran-center and a Shay locomotive from
which the café takes its name (check back at Midwest Guest later in the week
for more about Shay locomotives and their important role in Cadillac/northern
Michigan lumbering history during the late-19th and early-20th centuries).
We finally had the chance recently to visit Shay
Station on the way north and linger over lunch late on a winter weekday
afternoon.
We found the “half size” sandwich portions and a cup
of soup made for a plentiful meal, and the made-to-order sandwiches like my
smoked chicken salad with Romaine arrived quickly. The crunch of the crisp
lettuce and the soothing warmth of Shay’s loaded baked potato soup complimented
each other perfectly, and the beautiful lake view we enjoyed from our table
near the back of the café was the perfect lagniappe to the meal.

Checking out The Shay Scoop newsletter at our table
let us know that the café coffeehouse is about much more than lunch. Shay
Station books live entertainment Friday evenings and offers special events like
a class this month for kids wishing to learn how to make an old-fashioned ice
cream soda. Wi-Fi availability makes the business a nice place to do a little
work or Web surfing. A local chaplain also has regular hours at the café,
inviting visitors to stop by and say hello or chat any Tuesday morning if they
wish.
The café’s location in downtown Cadillac offers a
nice area for a quick post-meal walk before you get back in your car to
continue your trip.
We don’t get Up North nearly as often as we’d like,
but I suspect Shay Station will become one of our regular stops as we head
north from now on.
-Dominique King 2009
I have a bit of a different take on The Shay station coffee company.
My wife and I went to the Shay station coffee company to meet another couple for a few drinks and conversation Friday evening. The live entertainment was Luke Winslow King, who is a talented local musician with roots from New Orleans. We've seen him at other venues and really like him. The clean, smoke free environment is a plus too, since we are all polite, local professional people in our late 30s.
We were enjoying our evening until the point that we started to realize that wait staff continually walked by empty glasses and ignored us. This topic became the center of our discussion and our friend mentioned that this had happened to him here before. This issue was obviously not a result of them being understaffed.
Later we found that this was a result of the staff restricting their service to us as they apparently do not appreciate customers who only order drinks. None of us were even the least impaired. When we complained, management refused to provide a correction in the poor service and insulted us in several ways before we collectively decided to leave and never be guests at the Shay Station coffee company again.
Besides this, I have used wifi all over Cadillac and I can never get my laptop to work at the Shay station. I am not sure what setting they have there, but it is not friendly to all laptops.
The service at Shay station is incompetent at best. As a local resident, I would just say that I would like visitors to our community to have an enjoyable experience. Nobody should have to settle for experiences like we had that night.
There are ample places you can get quality food and solid service in the Cadillac area.
The Timbers on the West side of Cadillac is much nicer in ever aspect for dinner and/or drinks. Herradura's on the South side is one of the best Mexican resturants in Northern Michigan. For coffee and rolls, we've got the Blue Heron and for soup and sandwiches, There is Kodiak's and Herman's (who is owned by one of the best chefs in Northern Michigan by the way). Give these a try and I'll bet you wind up happier than spending time at the Shay station...that's my advice anyway.
Posted by: Geoff K. | August 01, 2009 at 07:43 AM
I forgot to mention Mineral Springs for dinner and drinks. After hearing we had been treated so rudely at the Shay Station earlier the same night, the owner of the mineral springs 10 miles South of Cadillac in Tustin treated us respectfully and graciously. The mineral springs serves the best pizza in the entire area bar none. Anyone who is in the mood for pizza should head to the mineral springs. That's not the only thing they do well there - a friend of ours was having lobster when we arrived and it looked awesome!
Posted by: Geoff K | August 01, 2009 at 07:49 AM
Geoff-
I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience at the coffeehouse. I've been a few times on the way through town, and it's always been nice as a quick ice tea stop or for lunch. I remember the guy behind the counter being especially friendly and helpful when I first visited one summer for tea and needed some directions to find a couple of things around town.
I've heard about Herman's before and always wanted to try it. That's one I'll be sure to check out next time I'm through town!
Posted by: Dominique | August 01, 2009 at 09:24 PM
I used to live in Cadillac and specifically miss The Shay for their fabulous muffins! The service is severly slow and I am not surprised to learn that it was difficult to be waited on in a timely fashion. That is par for the course with The Shay. I have always enjoyed lunch at Hermand Deli and the Blue Heron has some excellent pastries as well. I will say this though, I've been living in the beautiful metoropolitan area in the sunny south and have yet to find a muffin as scrumptious as The Shay served up; I think it's worth the wait if you ask nicely. One thing I've learned since moving south is that good manners usually gets you good service.
Posted by: Rachel Partridge | October 07, 2009 at 04:48 PM
Rachel-Thanks for stopping by!
We've always felt that we usually do decently with service when we go out to eat, and I agree with you in thinking that it has a lot to do with attitude.
Posted by: Dominique | October 07, 2009 at 08:21 PM
I was browsing the references to my coffee shop, and came across this site. I was very dissapointed to read the negative comments posted by Geoff, back in Aug of 2009. We have worked so hard to achieve the great reputation that we have around Cadillac. Many, many people regularly enjoy having drinks at the Shay. In the entire first year of having our Liquor license, this was the only incident where we had to cut someone off (One of the parties was ordering their fifth drink in less than an hour, and the others were close behind.) We try very hard to maintain a very positive family oriented atmosphere, and I'm truly sorry that these people had a bad experience. Oh, and we really work hard to get the food out in less than 10 minutes. Our average is about 7-8 minutes, and we are always trying to make our service even better, so please give us a try! If the service does not meet your expectations, please ask for me personally!! Thanks to all of you who have remained loyal customers of Shay Station! We appreciate you very much! And Dominique, thanks for the kind write up about your experiences at Shay Station. Beth - Owner, Shay Station
Posted by: Beth Bosscher | May 31, 2010 at 07:21 PM
Beth-Thanks for stopping by!
I enjoyed Shay Station when I've visited, and I'd make it a point to stop by when I'm up your way again. We don't have too many nice indie coffeehouses in the Detroit area, so it's always a treat when we can find a nice one where we can spend a little time as we travel.
Posted by: Dominique King | May 31, 2010 at 07:49 PM
It looks delicious. Really nice cafe!
Posted by: montreal florist | October 24, 2010 at 08:44 AM