This place meets a need not only in South Salem but the rest of the City. If you like fresh, high quality food, not fancy though, along with great atmosphere, go there. If not please stay away because I can see that it may be getting real difficult to get a table once word spreads. read more

Just now got around to trying out Acme after 6 years in Salem...a nice surprise! Very friendly service, yummy comfort food, huge portions, rustic but pleasant ambiance. We will try Acme again and use their outdoor dining area if the weather is conducive, and imbibe a few of their creative cocktails if the sun is over the yardarm:) read more

My friend and I were meeting in the middle so to speak and she found this restaurant online. It was lovely sitting outside with her dog Filbert under the umbrellas where the noise from the road was not that noticeable. Our server was spot on with attentive service to our wants and brought water for Filbert. Our food was delicious gluten free bread was very good and the homemade white bread was so fresh. Now the sauce was outstanding. Highly recommend it. Loved the whole experience read more

$2 worth of fish for $14 each. Husband and I both ordered the fish and chips. Child sized portions. And I am child sized! I got 3 thumb sized fish pieces. Husband got 4. The fish did not taste fresh and the batter was too salty. The slaw was bland and bitter. Had not intended to finish fries but was only thing really to eat. Still left hungry. read more

Our first meal @ the new restaurant ACME. Enjoyed a tasty breakfast in a fun atmosphere. Well done Cecilia & Jeff!

Went to dinner there tonight despite the mixed reviews. These owners are listening. The service was excellent. The portions quite large. They were out of the things I wanted to try (short ribs). The food was just okay. Order a bottle of wine rather than a glass as they are a bit stingy with their pours. read more

Heard great things about this restaurant, and so was excited to give it a try. We were there around 1:00 and was seated promptly. The waitress arrived at our table and right away figured she wasn't real friendly. Wasn't real informative and seemed like we were wasting her time by asking her questions about the menu. I ordered a chicken Caesar salad and I asked if it came with bread. She said yes, only if they had any left. My salad came on a small plate and was hard to eat as the lettuce kept falling off my plate. Our waitress and another helper took garbage out right down the aisles in the middle of the restaurant. I usually give a restaurant a few try's before I decide to never walk thru there doors again. Hopefully next time it will be better. read more

Lunch was average. Black bean burger was more aglop of beans. Fairly pricy for what it is. Fries were way, way too salty.

Great casual contemporary cafe, but don't think that the food is anything like a cafe. We went for the fish and chips, and it was delicious. Paired with a micro brew and actually several samples of their other culinary fair. Although that was because they were celebrating their 2 year anniversary, it was a special treat that solidified the need to come back soon so we can try some of the other items on their menu. So, this first time guest was very happy with our dining choice. I did expected a wonderful experience because of the respect I have in the "Wild Pear" has in my own eating adventures. Wonderful non-pretentious environment and wonderful food, I highly recommend. My only regret is that it took 2 year to discover this jewel in Salem. read more

This place has such a fun vibe. Loved the decor! The service was great and the food absolutely delicious. I love how many items are house made. I can't believe I've lived in Salem for 6 years and this was only the first time I visited! read more

Met a friend for lunch. The food was very good and the service was great. Will definitely be going back. read more

I took my family of four to enjoy a great meal at a low key location. Our three year old absolutely loved the mac & cheese, and the short ribs were awesome. I had the steak of the day ( New York with an awesome sauce). Our three month old watched, and greeted the owners niece with a big grin. The owners were cooking amazing food, and greeting guests while their extended family enjoyed a meal, and the Blazers game was on the one TV behind the bar. That is what a diner is all about in my opinion. It is great food without the frills of a huge beer list or second wine menu. I am giving Acme Four Stars for being a great diner (You still can get an awesome beer minus the decision). They do have spirits for those who need a nice Manhattan, or Scotch. My favorite diner is Ruth's in Salt Lake, and the second is the Sunriser in Tacoma. However, Acme falls just shy of those two based on my number of visits. Hopefully Acme stays consistent, and customer focused over the next couple years. read more

Me and a friend went to the cafe for lunch. We were both surprised at the prices and even more surprised by the portions you received for the money. We spent $14 dollars for 6 wings and some fries which we didn't finish because they were way to salty. Then we gave $2 dollars for a tip. It means we paid $16 for hardly anything. I guess we should have looked at the menu and left, but we wanted to give the place a try. I tried to call the owner and tell him about how expensive the prices were for the portions we received, but he seemed to think he was competing with the local restaurants and had very fair prices. I have to disagree. Lunch prices for a sandwich are more like 6 to 7 dollars on average not 9 to 12. Even less if you buy from a fast food restaurant or buffet. The host came by later and offered us desert. I asked him what they had and the price. He said for a piece of pie it would cost us $7. I can buy two pieces of pie most places for that price. In some places a whole pie. I f it wasn't for the friendly service we received I would have not even given this place one star. The owner should considered more options for lunch at better prices and larger portions. I don't considered this place a five star restaurant it is a cafe. The prices should match the portions size. I wanted to work this out with the owner but I don't think when I spoke to him he really cared about what my concerns were. I don't recommend this cafe until they match prices and portions sizes to the time of day. read more

i have read some good reviews and some poor reviews for the acme cafe before reviewing my experience. i went there today for the first time and was very impressed. i was seated immediately(i went at a good time of day). the server(molly) came to my table seconds after seating to offer me a drink. less than 2 minutes later she was there to take my order. i had the special of the day which was bbq pulled beef sandwich with fries(delicious). i looked at my watch and realized it only took seven seconds for my food to arrive! the ONLY negative comment is that the fries are too salty. molly said that i can request less salt next time i come. i joined yelp today just so i could write this review. i am looking forward to coming back for breakfast. read more

The third time that I have given the Acme a try. Unfortunately it continues to disappoint...The staff is friendly and attentive, but the food lacks. It seems like they are trying to be something they aren't. $16.00 for chicken fried chicken with smashed, not even mashed potatoes is way too much. This last time I tried a sampling of deviled eggs and meatballs. The meatballs were cold and flavorless. They continue to disappoint with quality and value. read more

Food is hit or miss. Menu lacks imagination and is limited for lunch selections. Service mostly is bad. Wait staff in back section is ok. Front section wait staff needs work. Someone needs to curb all of the yapping and get customers served. Someone needs to step up and become an alternative to the perpetually packed Word of Mouth and Acme isn't it. Don't know why ownership hasn't looked at the negative reviews and fixed the problems. read more

Without a doubt the most consistently pleasing restaurant in Salem, OR. Innovative American Cookery with attentive yet unobtrusive professional service catapults ACME to the pinnacle of my 'fave list.' read more

You sit down in this place and look at the menu and you immediately get what they're going for. It's a trendy, upscale diner. And they've nailed it with the decor and the menu design, and the options available. And you think, Ok, I get it. The food is going to be diner food, but better, right? It will have some sort of flare to it, something that makes it special. But... no. It's kind of just diner food. I mean, it's fine. It's just kind of straight forward diner food. Guess I was expecting a little more. Good gluten free options- nice to be able to get a Benedict. Breakfast and lunch is reasonably priced. Looking at the menu, I don't think I would bother with dinner. The choices don't interest me, and seem expensive, especially if it's as run-of-the-mill as breakfast and lunch. They had a cocktail special the first time I went here. It was hard cider, served hot with a shot of whiskey, with whipped cream on top, probably a few other things. Um, yes please. Very good. I could live off that. read more

Had a great experience at ACME. The food was good and so was the service. Very clean inside and out.

Server forgot my straw, fries are okay, fish for happy hour is cod, regular is rock fish, decent prices, cute decor, no dressing on the Cesar salad, only 1 lemon slice, and brought me a cold biscuit, I asked her to warm it up and she happily obliged which I was happy about. read more

So yummy! My fiancé and I love going here for breakfast on the weekends. The breakfast sandwich is by far my favorite item on the menu. My fiancé enjoys the biscuits and gravey, and also the chicken fried chicken. It's even more awesome in the summer time when you can eat outside and enjoy the fresh air. All around delicious! read more

I thought their food was pretty good. I ordered a shrimp Po boy which was decent. I wished I had ordered the special, which friends of mine did, which tasted delicious!!! They have several local beers on tap as well as wine. Laid back casual dining environment. Would go back! read more

Limited menu. Excellent big salads, where you get to choose your own toppings. Staff is supper efficient with great attitudes. Usually packed around lunch time. Parking overflows into Office Depot. Prices are a little high for the quality you get. Acme seems to love salads and sandwiches. And so if you love salads and sandwiches this is the place to go. Been here 2 times, and both times was satisfied. Just don't expect something great. read more

Wonderful food. Fun environment. Awesome story of how it came to be. Can tell owners love community and family. Can't remember what my sandwich was called but was like a hot rueben. It was awesome!! read more

Pastrami/Rueben was ok not terrible but definitely overpriced, for 13.50 I wanted lots of meat and wanted it to be amazing and it was just average. Tried some of their ice cream which at least for me was unusual. Caramel IPA was not working for me. Also the chocolate candy cane tasted like soy or something strange and it was 3 bucks for 2 very small scoops. read more

It is hard to explain how bad the service is at this restaurant. We were seated quickly upon arrival as they were not very busy. 25 minutes later, still no order taken. We weren't even served water until after I went to the bar and asked. Surprisingly, this didn't alert anyone to the fact that we hadn't been helped at all. We left after waiting an additional 10 minutes without service . As we walked out with an empty stomach and nothing to show for the time spent sitting in this restaurant we received at least three "thanks for coming" comments. Well, at least we were noticed at some point. read more

2.5 Star Food/Service...We were really excited to try Acme out as it's small local restaurant in our South Salem neighborhood-Also because we had read that it's the brainchild of the Owners of J. James/Wild Pear. We read an article about Acme on Saturday and found out that they had Homemade Ice cream-Yumm!-and available to go by the Pint. We stopped by Saturday afternoon to pick up a pint and when we inquired at the front service counter, we were told by the young man that greeted us that he'd have to check to see if they had enough. Then without checking, he told us that it was only available to pre-order (call ahead). He then handed us a card and sent us on our way. As we left I grabbed a take out menu. On the "Take Us Home" section of the menu it lists Ice cream (Pints) stating: "Don't worry if you forget, we sell Pints of our Ice cream to go!" This first impression left us dissapointed for a couple reasons. One we felt that the way they advertised the product availability was misleading. Second, I'm the type of customer who likes a can do attitude with regards to service. He easily could have turned this situation around by asking us if we'd like to pre-order some ice cream to picked up the following day-which he did not-and which we definately would have ordered. Instead we were told no, and thanked for coming in. We were dissapointed but still excited to try out the restaurant. We came in for breakfast the following day (Sunday/Today). We were greeted by a friendly hostess and sat outside. It was a beautiful morning and the patio seating is very cute. We ordered our drinks-water for my BF and Coffee for me. When the server came back she brought us two coffees. I ordered the french toast w/bacon and scambled eggs. My BF ordered Chicken Fried Chicken with an Over Medium egg and homefries. Our food was served expediently. My french Toast was good-Thick slices of texas toast and the custartd base was yummy. The bacon was also very very good-Probaly the best thing about my meal--thick slices cooked extra crispy. My eggs were VERY soft scambled which I didnt like. I don't mind a soft scamble but this was so soft that there were parts of the eggs that were extremly wet. They were so undercooked that I wasnt able to eat them. My BF ordered over medium eggs abut he received the super soft scrambled eggs as well. His chicken fried Chicken was good-the only negative being the size-it was in essence a chicken strip (maybe the size of a quarter breast?) It was served atop the homfries and with a very small drizzle of gravy. He said that his food was teriibly underseasoned-coming from him this means alot because he is more sensitive to salt than anybody I've ever known. The waitress did come by and check on us once and I guess we could have said something but we both hate to be those people that would send anything back. The table behind us (which was a large group) also had major issues with their breakfast such as the Bloody mary drink order being wrong for everyone and having to be redone, and their food order being wrong and missing food. I was in the restaurant/service industry for over 10 years-I worked at a really popular breakfast/lunch joint here in town for 6 years and have managed two fine dining restaurants. I think that this actaully makes me more tolerant of mistakes. I have never written one of these reviews before but I felt it was important because I feel like this place could be phenomenal if they could work out the kinks-which I think is doable. Perhaps they should have someone expediting the food to ensure accuracy/consistency. I feel like great service & food are the first line of defense regarding bad first impressions. I really hope Acme smoothes out the edges and works out the kinks because if they did it could be an amazing little local fav. Kudos: Kudo's on the omage to Don's Big Mess-YES!!-and Sally's Deli. Sally's Deli was the first deli (previously located in the Acme building many years ago) in which I had a truly great deli sandwich (with 2 inches of sprouts YES!!)-and it was really great to see Acme pay tribute. Kudo's on that! read more

Had breakfast here a few weeks back. Good meal, but I'm not a big fan of the "community seating" concept that seems to be expanding. Will definitely be back, though. read more

Poor service, very poor quality for food and drinks. Don't bother coming here. Much better choices in Salem.

Food is great! Service is slow. We still come back but make sure to plan a chunk out of your morning to eat here.

We loved this place! Sister restaurant to Wild Pear, this place has more of a classic diner feel. On Saturdays, there's a limited lunch menu, with breakfast served until 3 p.m. My sister and son were happy with baskets of cornmeal battered shrimp and fries. I loved the veggie scrambled eggs with avocado, with breakfast potatoes -- crispy outside, tender inside -- and a delicious, soft biscuit with homemade blueberry jam. Yum! read more

We have been to Acme several times. We have always had good to great food and excellent service. We like it because it is convenient and usually full of diners but still easy to get a seat. Great to take kids there without having to worry about them being too loud. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are equally good. My only complaint is that the menu is somewhat limited. I find myself wishing for more choices or more interesting food choices. You can't go wrong giving them a try! read more

Was excited to try the Acme, finally! I ordered the Monte Crisro sandwich, and my daughter had the Shrimp Po' Boy. Mine was good, but had to ask for jam, not the honey mustard. Good flavor, but was expecting a classic. My daughter said her shrimp and coleslaw was great, but the roll got too soggy. Service was our issue. We let our server know that wanted to take an order home, but after waiting an eternity for her to come take the order, we declined. Then it was a wait wait wait for the check. Lots of busy bees all over, so why the wait? Will be back, no doubt. Will re-review and fingers crossed for another star or two! read more

The breakfast is pretty darn good. Eggs over easy were perfect. Home fried potatoes very good, not sure how they do that, looked like baked potatoes cut in chunks then deep dried, but I don't know for sure. Bacon thick and crisp. But the toast...oh my! Wheat toast from bread baked on site...a meal on it' own. read more

We had one waffle and two pieces of bread, which was supposed to be French toast. The French toast may have had a drizzle of egg mixture on one side but definitely not on the other. They were definitely not dipped. I asked for fresh fruit instead of the sugary syrup and was offered about a quarter of one peach sliced neatly on the top and was charged three dollars extra for that. I couldn't flag down any waitress for a little butter, I'm not sure anyone is actually assigned to the bar area. So $18 for two basic breakfasts with poor service that probably cost the restaurant $1.50. I would definitely not recommend this place. read more

This is one of our favorite restaurants! We've been regularly going to dinner at ACME about once a month for two years or so. Occasionally we make it in for breakfast which is superb! We love to take out of town guests because they always love the food and they find he decor charming. We are actually moving this weekend five hours south of Salem and eating dinner one last time on Saturday is our farewell to this area. We will definitely miss this establishment. P.S. Make sure you leave room for dessert. Coconut Cream Pie and Blueberry Sourcream Pie are to die for! read more

90 minute wait at Word of Mouth. Walked right into an outdoor table at Acme The food was awesome love this place. Five stars.

The food is VERY salty; the menu run of the mill; I won't be back.

Great restaurant if you want awful service. My family was seated, and left forgotten for over 30 minutes. Super busy, you might ask? No, there were only a couple seats taken when we arrived. We ended up eating drive-thru since we were tired of waiting and didn't want to go anywhere else. When we left, we had three of the staff thank us for coming as we left. Uh, thanks? read more

If I could give anyone life advice it would be this: get the shrimp po'boy! It is hands down the best sandwich I have ever had the fortune of eating. The coleslaw is the freshest thing I've ever tested, and combined with the shrimp makes for a perfect meal! This place is under rated and is the best place to eat in Salem. Strongly recommend!! read more