17th Street

I found this place online because I was looking for a new restaurant to go for lunch with coworkers. We decided to give 17th St. Bar/Grille a shot. When we showed up the place was practically empty, no music playing, TVs were on but the volume was off and the place was dark. We were the only group that sat at a table (the other few patrons were sitting at the bar drinking). Being that we were the only table, it still took 10 minutes for a waitress to show up to take our drink orders. After she took our food orders it took (no exagerating) 45 minutes to get our food. The hamburgers were obviously made from frozen patties because each patty was perfectly round. The fries were drenched in grease. And to top it off, it was about $4 dollars more expensive for hamburgers, fries, and drinks than going to a reputable place like The Shamrock in Utica (which is rated as having some of the best burgers in the area).

This is a straightforward and pretty honest bar with a redesigned/renovated look and feel in a cozy part of Sterling Heights. Since 17 & Ryan is very accessible to me, I am definitely digging the location. There is plenty of seating area, pool tables, a bar area that can seat 15-20, and tons of TV screens. There are HDTV's hanging in the corners and 2 huge projections as well - so it's a great place to catch the Detroit games at. It seems that this place got more patrons with the previous ownership, but the new owner, Ralph, is doing a great job at treating customers well so numbers should pick up this summer.

There are often $2.50'ish beer specials - even if they usually are on 23 oz. domestic drafts - and on Thursdays they have their bring your own mug up to like 52 oz. and they fill it up with domestic drafts for like $2.50! That's more cost effective than buying a 40 oz. at 7-11 and drinking it at home! (Not that I do that. Really!) And my favorite deal they run is on the chicken wings during Detroit sports games they are 30 cents each which is way better than how high the Buffalo Wild Wings Tuesday wings have crept up to be! Especially since now Buffalo Wild Wings Tuesday wings are the 'buy x wings get x free' so you're limited to increments of 12, 24, 48, etc. wings.

Visit this site to conveniently see their drink specials based on date/day:
<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.17thstreetbar.com%2Fcalandar.html&s=092ccd79bee2b0422c9f964afd46ffc4b47d6f51645348ea22b95f02d3e744d3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.17thstreetbar…</a>

One kind of odd thing is that every time I'm here I always notice police drive through the lot and inspect/observe - like every time I'm there - even though the crowd is not really rowdy at all. Maybe they're after me, lol.

Overall this is a place with pretty cool, modest people - having drinks, enjoying the game or some music depending on the night, and leaving without too much damage to the wallet. You can expect 20-somethings, 30-somethings, and 40-something hanging out around each other with no problem. It's that local sense of Sterling Height unity that bridges the generation gap, especially in these tough times. It's a good place and I recommend giving it a shot as your trusty local Sterling Heights sports bar!

EDIT: Remember to ask for Angela - she's the best waitress there - much of the other wait staff is slow/forgetful/careless. I've had some slow/bad experiences with other wait staff. I won't let it lower the score since with Angela the 4-star rating is maintained. If she leaves I may lower it to 3, however.