Buddies Grill

Buddies is a great place to meet friends for drinks or dinner.  The inside of the place is huge with the regular bar / eating area when you first enter, then another mostly blocked off section to the left where you normally sit if you have kids with you or something.  They have plenty of TVs, trivia, and I think live bands / karaoke on certain nights.

The food, I think, is pretty darn good!  Their deep dish pizza is seriously probably the best I've had in Lansing (yuck to all the chains we have around here!).  The appetizers are all huge, and the rest of the menu is robust with anything from mexican, to pasta, to salads, steaks, burgers, and other sandwiches.

The only down-side here is the service.  It's usually pretty slow.  Don't come if you're in a hurry.  Even when it isn't busy, it's slow for some reason.  The staff is a mixture of high school students and middle aged women.  Last time we were here, there were only a few other tables and we waited probably 5 minutes before even being greeted, then the waitress forgot the booster seat for our child after two requests (ended up going to find one myself) and took 10-15 minutes after we finished to bring the bill, and forgot to bring our take out boxes after being asked twice as well

My friend and I were on a "shop hop," a cross-country fabric-buying expedition that brought us to a quilt shop in the same mall as Buddies Grill. The place is a sports bar, with lots of TV screens viewable from all angles.

We stopped in for lunch. The place was fairly quiet -- a few other groups. We were seated quickly and tried to figure out what we'd eat.

The eggplant sounded yummy, but I went for the smothered burrito, knowing that the fiber in the beans would sustain me longer. My friend ordered the same. She got beef, I got chicken. We got the "regular" size -- it was HUGE! We could only eat half. We asked for boxes.

Turns out that the leftover portion of the burrito was to become our dinner on the return leg of our all-day road trip. So keep that in mind. They give you a lot at this place. Bring friends to help you eat it or plan to take some home.

Went there at 6 pm on a Friday night.  The place was busy with no wait.  

The service was excellent throughout the entire meal.  Timely, correct, refills before we had to ask, and a friendly server.   The entire staff was smiling.  Nice to see employees hustling!  

The food:  Black and Blue salad - the steak was prepared perfectly.  Light on the blue cheese crumbles, and menu stated a mix of romaine and iceberg lettuce.  Did not see much romaine and a lot of white iceberg.  No onions, so be sure to ask for them if you want them.  

20 wings.  Order 20 plain with a side of Thai chili sauce.  I ordered extra crispy and they were done properly.  Decent sized wings.  

BLT and fries.  Bread was unevenly toasted and the lettuce was slimy.  Light on the bacon and overcooked.  Tasty fries.  

The ranch they serve is very good!  Much better than 85% of the places we have gone to.

Many game machines throughout the place, internet jukebox, one pool table ($1.25 a game), and 8 dart boards.  They were having a poker tourney that night with 4 tables with people yet to show up to play.  

Nice sized screened-in patio.  Keno screens and TV's views from all areas.  Bathrooms were clean, but need to have broken items fixed in the men's room.  

Very nice and fully stocked Bar that seats about 20 - 25.  Good selection of beers and liquor.

We will be back!